Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Writing 1 Class Notes -- January 24

Greetings!

We had an enjoyable and productive class today.  We began with a
Quick Write in which the students were to write a sequel to a favorite commercial.  They were very creative.  Our Vocabulary Words were from the O. Henry stories.  I put the words on the white board and the students took turns looking them up.

We discussed the three short stories assigned for today:  "The Gift of the Magi," "After Twenty Years," and "Makes the Whole World Kin."  O. Henry is a wonderful writer and is able to sketch creative pictures with some few well-chosen words.  He also is good at twisting an unexpected, creative ending.  We will read three more stories for next week. 


Their next writing assignment is a
News Story.  We discussed some of the parameter of this assignment.  Both O. Henry and Mark Twain were reporters/journalists.  Both writers were excellent observers and writers about every day life.  For these papers, the students are to write a description of an event or person.  It can be an interview or a profile of a person or an account of a venture related to a business, non-profit or other organization. 

In a News Story, the writer begins with a "bang" which is a strong opening and lead that grabs the reader's attention.  The story then should pick up momentum in the body with support, background and details.  Unlike an essay with a thesis, journalistic writing gets the primary information out at the beginning of an article because the reader often has a limited attention span.  As the students are 1)Choosing a subject; 2) Gathering details; and 3) Bringing focus to the writing they should consider whether what they have chosen has "news value."  In other words, does it have impact, timeliness, closeness or human interest.


A note about
Grammar:  I will continue to teach grammar details in connection with their written work.  I also plan to focus on the comma.  That's the one little bit that continues to trip us all up.

Assignments for Next Week:

--  Read A Retrieved Reformation (p. 49); The Ransom of Red Chief (p. 71); The Pimenta Pancakes (p. 29)
-- Fill out 1 Evaluation of a Theme essay
-- Fill out 1 Short Story Chart
-- List 5 similarities found in the 6 stories.
-- Rough draft of News Story.

I've attached the two worksheets in case anyone has lost his/hers.

This week's blog entry.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

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