Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Writing 1 Class Notes -- September 27

Greetings!
We had a productive class today. But then, this is always an enjoyable group of students.
Our Quick Write was to use the title as "The Worst Pet Ever" as a starting point for their writing. For our Vocabulary Exercises we listed various verbs that could be used for a persons movement, e.g. walking, prancing, jumping, jogging, spinning, etc. I discussed the value of finding more sophisticated words for their essays. I also brought out one of my copies of Roget's Thesaurus and listed about 25 words related to "traveling on foot." Our English language is so wonderfully diverse and colorful. The students have one extra credit option related to our word study: find the definition and word roots for "peregrinate."
We completed a worksheet dealing with correct placement of prepositional phrases. We also looked at parallel structures.
I handed back the students' final copies of their personal essays. They all did a wonderful job. I grade them in three areas: content & organization & mechanics. For these papers, each section was worth 10 points for a total of 30 possible points for the essay. They handed in rough drafts today of their narrative essays.
We had a wonderful discussion about the book, Animal Farm, talking about government structures, balance of power, and the value of checks and balances. My primary question for the students was, "What have you found surprising so far?" We had many great responses.
As always, if you have any questions about the class and the assignments, feel free to to contact me.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Extra Credit option: find the meaning and roots for the word "peregrinate."
-- Read Chapters VII and VIII.
-- Answer 4 of the 5 questions in the section from the study guide.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard
PS. I'm missing some worksheets that someone may have accidentally picked up. If anyone has them, please bring them to class next week.

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