Another good class this week. I handed out some postcards and asked them to pretend they had been on a vacation to the place on the card. For the Quick Write, they were to write a message to someone about their "vacation." Most of the postcards were from our summer trip to the North Shore, so they didn't have any exotic destinations to work with.
Our Latin phrases for this week were:
ad perpetuam rei memoriam -- for the perpetual remembrance of a thing (This was a common introit for papal declarations)
adsum -- I'm here or "Present" (young Roman students responded with this when attendance was taken)
ad verbum -- to the word or verbatim (We discussed the connection of the the Latin word for "word" is verbum and our word "verb" which is the action word of a sentence. Sometimes, the discussion of vocabulary and grammar can become a little philosophical)
advocatus diaboli -- the devil's advocate
Continuing with our study of the comma, we looked at how to use a comma in a series. One wouldn't think that any type of controversy could arise in grammar, but you can find passionate users of the Oxford or serial comma; you will also find those who firmly eschew the final comma before the word "and" in a series. (E.g. "I ate eggs, bacon, toast, and cheese for breakfast." uses the Oxford/serial comma following "toast.") I explained to the class that many purists prefer the serial comma, and therefore I am teaching them to use it. Those who are not strict adherents to its use, choose to use it only to avoid potential confusion, but otherwise feel that it unnecessarily breaks up the flow of a sentence. Who knew that such a small bit of punctuation could be so news-worthy -- see Wikipedia, The Falmouth Institute, or this grammar blog.
We have finished our reading of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We discussed the themes of identity, reputation, good vs. evil, and split personalities. Their next essay is either a Character Analysis or Theme Analysis Essay. The students have been filling in charts with information about one of the characters or one of the themes; these will serve as their research and note-taking for this essay in which they write about literature. Their rough drafts are due the next time we meet.
Since we are done with one book, we're ready for the next, a book of short stories by O. Henry. We finished our first book a week early, so I will be adjusting the syllabus for the second half of the semester. They are to read 2 stories and fill out 1 side of the worksheet that I handed out for each story.
We do not have class next week. Our next class is March 6.
Assignments for March 6
-- Write your Character or Theme Rough Draft
-- Read "The Gift of the Magi" (p. 1) and "After Twenty Years" (p. 21)
-- Finish the Comma Worksheet
This week's blogs
-- Class Notes
-- Information about O. Henry
Enjoy your week without classes!
Mrs. Prichard
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