Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Writing 1 Class Notes -- September 12

Greetings!

We started our class today with a Western Quick Write.  Last week my town Northfield celebrated the Defeat of Jesse James, and I thought I would extend the theme to my class.  I did my best to put on a cowboy/western accent.  The students can be the judge regarding how well I did.

We spent the bulk of our time discussing grammar and writing issues that came up in their Rough Drafts.  I find that you can teach a lot of grammar rules, but it isn't until a student does his own writing that the rules start to make sense.  If your students are having any problems or don't understand my comments, please have them contact me.  For first essays, the students have done wonderful jobs.

As the students work on their rough drafts preparing them as Final Copies, they should pay special attention to the marks and comments that I've made.  I'd like them to hand in both the rough drafts and final copies together.

Because we spent so much time on the rough drafts, I didn't cover the other materials from the Grammar Plan.  I sent home a worksheet about nouns.  They are to give 2 examples for the types of nouns listed with the exception of "nouns as adverbs" and "verbal nouns/gerunds."  We'll discuss those next week.

The students were assigned chapters I and II of Animal Farm which we discussed this morning.  The Introduction and Preface, assigned for last week, were more challenging to read because they written as historical and critical analysis.  It felt good to get into the real text of the story.  The first chapter introduces the major characters and sets up the details for the animal revolt.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Final Copy of Observation Report.
-- Fill out the Noun's section of the grammar worksheet.
-- Read Chapter's II & IV of Animal Farm and be prepared to discuss the questions on the study guide.
-- Extra Credit:  bring to class some information about the "Oxford Comma."
-- Extra Credit:  Watch one of the videos (message with links in another e-mail) and list 3 new grammar details that you learned.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard




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