You may want to ask students what being more autonomous would be like for them—for example, setting their own bedtimes or curfews, determining how much screen time or device time they are allowed, or deciding when and where to complete their homework.
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In pairs or small groups, have students brainstorm examples for autonomous. You may want to start them off with the following example.
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Ask each student to choose one of the two target words and write a short paragraph (two to five sentences) about how he or she can apply or has applied each term in his or her own life. You may want to model or share your own example to get them started. For example, I might tell students that an example of autonomy for me was when I chose the college I wanted to attend, saved my money, and went there at age seventeen, even though it was an hour from my home and I had no car. I knew that once I arrived there, I would be almost entirely independent or autonomous.
Scaffolding
Offer students who struggle with the writing (P step) ideas individualized for them. Give them examples of when you’ve seen them being autonomous. For example, you might say to a student, “Yesterday you were being autonomous during silent reading time. You chose your book, got busy reading, and didn’t even need any help from me.”
Acceleration
Students can work independently or in pairs and view and discuss the slide show “Root Word
Beyond the Lesson
You may want to tell your students that if they’d like greater autonomy in the classroom, they need to do certain things to convince you they can handle it.
Roots: ben, bene, beni and mal, male, mali
The following two minilessons focus on the roots that basically mean good and bad: ben, bene, beni and mal, male, mali. Because these roots have a similar meaning, mal, male, and mali are included here rather than in the next chapter where roots starting with the letter m occur.
Students may already be familiar with the word benefit or beneficial. Students may also know the word maleficent because of the movie by that title starring Angelina Jolie. See if you can build on their familiarity and move them to a few sophisticated yet less frequently used words.
Lesson R7: benefit, beneficial, benevolent, malevolent
In this minilesson, teachers will teach the roots bene and male, such as in the words benefit, beneficial, benevolent, and malevolent.
Difficulty level: 1
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The following lists target words students should see and say for this minilesson. You can use the following four words with fairly young students because they may already be familiar with the words benefit, beneficial, or both.
Consider adding teacher gestures (see chapter 2, page 23) if you feel it will help your students remember the words’ meanings. For example, for every word that contains bene-, you could add a sweeping gesture with your arms (showing openness), a broad smile, or both since they exemplify a positive reaction to something. In contrast, for malevolent, you can cross your arms and demonstrate a frown, which symbolizes a negative reaction.
You may want students to practice benevolent and malevolent several times, as they are more difficult to pronounce than the other two words.
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Consider saying something like the following to your class.
Benefits you get from something are the good things that you receive. For example, some benefits you get from attending our school each day are that you’re able to see your friends, you learn new things, and you get help from teachers when you need it. The adjective beneficial can describe these benefits.
Pause to ensure the relationship between these two words is clear. One is a noun, and the other is an adjective, but their meanings are very similar. They cannot, however, be used interchangeably. This is a syntax error students may make. Provide clarification and examples as needed.
Then you might say something like the following.
Remember, benevolent and malevolent are both adjectives that usually describe people. Again, the word that starts with bene- is the positive or good word, and malevolent, that starts with male-, is the opposite of that. So, a benevolent person does kind things, but a malevolent person does mean things. I would say that teachers are benevolent people, and people who hurt animals are malevolent, the opposite of benevolent. In a moment, I’ll ask you to come up with examples with your group of fictional characters in books, on TV, and in movies that are benevolent and malevolent.
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