Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 5 (September 26)

Greetings!

After a few weeks of lighter-hearted Quick Writes, I chose a more serious topic for today.  Using the following quote from Mark Twain, I asked to the students to comment on the relationship of writing to truth. 

"Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use."

I also chose our Words of the Day since I had forgotten my alphabet dice at home.  The words were:  jojoba (Spanish; a small shrub whose waxy substance taken from the seeds is used in shampoo products), jodhpurs (Hindi; a style of riding breeches cut wide at the hip and close fitting at the calf), and joie de vivre (French; enjoyment of life or general enthusiasm).

I handed back their first Final Drafts for this class.  They all did a very good job.  I'm excited about seeing them grow as writers.  I'm trying at new method for evaluating their papers. (As a matter of information, pre-writes, which we will start doing after this next paper, are worth 5 points; rough drafts are 10; final drafts are 40; and 5 reasons for corrections are 5.)  In the past, I gave 10 points in each of the following three areas:  content, organization, and mechanics.  I've devised an Essay Rubric for Writing 1 that looks more holistically at different areas related to the writing of the essay.  I've attached an unmarked copy for you to look at.  I've found that students will struggle in one area but will do really well in another.  This rubric also helps to show them areas where they can grow.  Today we went through each area and each level of writing (Beginning, Developing, Proficient, Exceptional).  Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

After our writing discussion, we covered some more Grammar.  Again reviewing the 8 parts of speech, we looked at Noun categories, Adjectives, Adverbs, and Prepositions.  I focused on adjectives and adverbs and the questions they answer.  Adjectives, in describing nouns, answer the following questions:  Which one?  What kind?  How many?  Adverbs answer these questions:  How?  When? Where?  To what extent?  How much? and How often?  When we look at phrases, these questions will be important to keep in mind.  (AND, they may see them on a quiz.)

Our literature discussion was brief.  The animals in Animal Farm gave us plenty to talk about:  they are as hard-working with just as little freedom as they had with Mr. Jones; the pigs are clever and take advantage of the others; the sheep are dumb; most of the other animals are not too bright; and sometimes the value of the individual doesn't count for much when the "cause" is so great.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 7 & 8 of Animal Farm

-- Answer 2 questions from the study guide for Chapters 5 & 6 and 2 for Chapters 7 & 8

     -- Choose from either the short writing questions or the discussion questions.

-- No grammar worksheets.
This week's blogs

Class Notes

Essay Rubric

Week 4:  Adjectives, Adverbs, Prepositions

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard