Writing 1 Class Notes -- January 16 (Week 1)

Greetings!

We're back at it again!  It was good to see the students again.  They are such a great group of kids.  For those new to my classes, I write a weekly class update after each class.  Usually, I try to do it on Wednesday.  Unfortunately, I returned home from classes not feeling too well; I'm just now getting back on track.

Usually we begin each class with a Quick Write.  Since I had gotten a new game for Christmas, Funglish, we played that.  This game is a vocabulary guessing game that uses adjectives as clues.  After a couple of rounds, the class got the hang of it, and we had a hearty game.  Anytime I can get my students to think creatively and intentionally about words, I count it as a success.

The students received fresh syllabi for this semester.  (I've attached a copy to this e-mail and have it posted on the blog site.)  As you can see, we'll be reading from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, O. Henry short stories, and short poems.  They will be writing 3 fresh essays and re-write an essay of their choosing.  Our grammar focus for this semester is punctuation.  Many of the marks I make on their rough drafts have to do with the misplaced or forgotten comma. 

To begin our discussion of the Robert Louis Stevenson book, we looked at background information about the author, Victorian life and times, and the novel.  They are to read chapters 1and 2; from the study guide they are to choose 2 questions for each chapter and write out their answers.

Our first grammar lesson (link to the blog) for the semester dealt with commas and compound sentences.  Hopefully, by the end of the semester they will be "masters" of the comma. (The other links are for further study.)  They have a worksheet due next week.


The first essay assigned for this semester is a Narrative Essay.  For this week they're to work on their pre-writes.  Pre-writing activity includes any brainstorming needed before they start writing the rough draft.  This can also include an outline or mind map; this is also a good time to do any research.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Chapters 1 & 2 for Jekyll/Hyde
-- From the study guide, answer two questions for Ch. 1 and two for Ch. 1.
-- Week 1 Grammar worksheet on commas (only the section on compound sentences)
-- Pre-write for the Narrative Essay.

Blogs for this week:
Syllabus
Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde background info.
Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde study guide
Week 1 Grammar Lesson
Week 1 Grammar Worksheet
Narrative Essay
Class Notes