Thursday, September 20, 2012

Class Notes -- September 19

Ahoy Mateys!

As many of you may have heard, yesterday was "Talk like a Pirate Day," and we had a Quick Write along those lines.  We had some conversation about common pirate vocabulary:  Ahoy, Avast, Aye, Aye! Landlubbers, Jolly Roger, Buccaneer, Crow's Nest.  I borrowed Mrs. Nelson's son's pirate coat and hat for the occasion. 

The students handed in their first Final Copies for this class.  I look forward to reading them. Since we only meet once a week, the turn around on papers has to be pretty quick, so they are already starting on the next assignment.  This week they are to be writing the rough draft of a Personal Essay.  They have a handout explaining this essay but should feel free to contact me if they have problems with this essay.  We spent a good deal of time discussing how to come up with a thesis.  Sometimes this is the hardest part in writing an essay.

For our Grammar discussion, we looked briefly at 3 parts of speech:  adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions.  Grammar is not very exciting, but it's an essential aspect of being a good writer.

We took a longer time to talk about our literature, Animal Farm.  They've done some careful reading and shared some insightful comments.  Orwell did a fascinating job of using a farm and simple animals to illustrate some complex social and political ideas.

Assignment for next week:
-- Read Ch. IV and V of Animal Farm
-- Read the Study Questions in order to be prepared for the discussion.
-- Write the rough draft of your Personal Essay
-- Extra Credit:  Watch any of the videos from last week and list 3 things you learned

Enjoy this beautiful Fall weather!
Mrs. Prichard

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