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TEACHER: So what I’m going ask you guys to do.  Actually, first, let’s just go over the definitions of the words. This is also in the chart in your book—on what page is that, Frannie?

STUDENT: Page 44.

TEACHER: Page 44. Okay? Some weeks we’ll do the chart. Today I want to do some word posters, okay? But let me just go over the definitions. Wiretapping. Listening in on a telephone or telegraph wire to get information. Notwithstanding. Did you guys see how it— did you notice how it was used in the passage? Essentially, it means despite. Okay? So if I give you the word notwithstanding, go back in here and take a look and see how they used it. And when you’re coming up with a—trying to come up with a sentence with the word on Friday, you could actually craft one that begins with despite or has despite in it, and then substitute in notwithstanding. Okay? Eliminate is to get rid of, to remove. Suspicious, believed to be potentially dangerous. Source, something that supplies information. And I’ll give some of you guys the bonus words. Covert, which is secret or hidden. Okay? They talk about secret wiretapping. You can certainly say covert wiretapping, as well. Warrantless, which means that you don’t have a warrant or you don’t have permission from the court. All right? A lot of this wiretapping was secret, and it was warrantless because they didn’t get permission from what’s called a FISA court. And if you want to look that up. That’s the court that gives you permission to kind of do this wiretapping that President Bush wanted to do. Or did do, actually. And then finally, surveillance, which is keeping watch on a suspect or suspicious activity. They were— a lot of newspapers were referring to this as President Bush’s surveillance plan or his method of secret, covert surveillance. Okay? So how many students do we have? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. We have fifteen students, and we have eight words. All right. With your partner— does everybody have a partner? Or did some people lose their partners? Why don’t we just do a quick high five buddy? High five. High five.

STUDENT: We have sixteen, because of Erin.

TEACHER: High five. High five. High five. High five. And you guys will be a group of three. Okay? I’m going to assign you guys a word. All right? And the definitions of the words will be right up here. I’ll put them over week one. If you need to know the definition, you can certainly look up here. And I’m going to give you guys sheets of paper. Can you hit that for me? And you’re going to create a word chart or a word poster. All right? You guys have done this before. You put the word that I assign you in the middle. You put the definition in the left hand corner—and you can find the definition over there or we have dictionaries around the room, as well. I’m going add a little new wrinkle to it, as well. I want you guys to come up with a synonym, as well, okay? Synonyms might be tough for wiretapping. I don’t know if you’re going be able to find a synonym for wiretapping. But I want you guys to get in the habit of using thesauruses, as well. Okay? See if you can find a synonym for your word, or a couple of synonyms. Don’t do more than three, if there’s more than three. Okay? Then, just like if we were using the charts in the book, I want you to change it into as many different forms as you can. All right? Down here on the bottom, I want you to use two sentences, or create two sentences using your word. And you can change the form of the word if you want. All right? People with notwithstanding, this is going be hard for you, and if you need some help, I’ll be around the room, all right? And finally, I want you to create a picture of what your word looks like. Okay? There’ll be some interesting things with wiretapping and suspicious and covert, I think. So how many groups do we have? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and we have eight words. What do you guys think is the easiest word up there?

TEACHER: Eliminates? Or suspicious. You guys know suspicious, right? All right, we’re going get rid of—we’re eliminate ‘eliminate’, all right? You should know the word after that. Think eliminate ‘eliminate’. All right?  You guys are going to have wiretapping.

TEACHER: You all are going to have notwithstanding. Good luck. You guys have suspicion. You guys have source. You guys have covert. You all have warrantless. And you guys have surveillance, which is a tough one, as well. Okay? I’ll give you all about— I’ll give you all a solid twenty minutes to work on these, so don’t feel rushed, all right? Are there any questions before we get started? Alex?

STUDENT: How come my group got the hardest word?

TEACHER: What’s that? I think there’s a couple hard ones up there. Notwithstanding is the hardest one to use in a sentence.

STUDENT: Or surveillance.

TEACHER: Surveillance is pretty tough, as well.

TEACHER: What’s that?
STUDENT:  How many synonyms to use?

TEACHER: Try and come up with a couple, all right? If you have a word that’s really hard, and you look in the thesaurus and you can’t find a synonym, just let me know and maybe.

STUDENT: [over Teacher] Surveillance is like when you—

TEACHER: Hold up, Rashawn. Raise your hand, wait for me to finish my point, okay? If you can’t find a synonym for it, just say, “Mr. Buttimer, I can’t find a synonym,” and we’ll go from there. Okay? Rashawn.

STUDENT: When you watch somebody, it’s surveillance.

TEACHER: Surveillance is when you perform surveillance— You might see it in, like, military movies, like we’re doing surveillance, we’re scoping out the enemy. Okay? It can also be— our government performs surveillance on people who they think are up to suspicious activities. Okay? Any questions? All right, I’ll let you guys move around the room. Markers are down there in the supply cabinet.

 

- Teacher reviews definitions using the chart on page 44 and relates the definitions to the weekly topic.

- Teacher groups students as partners to do assignment.

- Word posters to include: assigned word, definition, synonyms, illustration, various forms, sentence using the word.

- Students are given 20 minutes to complete assignment.

 

 

- introductory passage - comprehension questions - word chart

Word Posters created by students:
- wiretapping (2) - surveillance - source (3) - suspicious - notwithstanding - covert - warrantless