Greetings!
It was full day in Writing 1 today. Our day started with our Quick Write, titled “Magic Mailbox.” The students were to imagine a mail box that could send a letter to anyone, anywhere, in any time period. The letter would get to that person, and that person could reply. We had letters to famous soccer players and celebrities.
Our Words for the Day were:
ombudsman – Swedish – a government official whose job is is to investigate other officials.
ipse dixit – Latin – “he himself has said it” – when said, the speaker means, “that’s the way it is simply because I said it.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipse_dixit
Following the Quick Write and vocabulary words, I had three important points on the agenda for the day: the grammar quiz, the explanation of the next essay assignment, and discussion of our book, Animal Farm. I let the students choose which they wanted to do first. It was an unanimous decision to take the grammar quiz first.
The Grammar Quiz was worth 70 points and was 1/3 fill in the blank, 1/3 sentence correction, and 1/3 writing. I gave a similar quiz last year that was 100 points and almost brought students to tears. I pared this one down, and the students worked diligently to finish it. I’ll have them graded and ready to hand back next week.
We took a longer time to discuss the book, Animal Farm, since we have reached its conclusion. The class had great thoughts and insights into many of the themes, characters, and underlying lessons embodied in the book. The book does not have a “happily ever after” ending that you might hope for. Rather, it’s a bit frustrating, disappointing, and sad. We also considered how some of the ideas could have applications to our current world events. We decided that we didn’t want to be as dumb and naïve as the sheep.
As a closing activity, each student is to prepare a short Presentation about one of the characters in the book. In this presentation, they are to give information that describes and explains the character, including the following information:
-- Physical description
-- Patterns of speech (How does he/she talk?)
-- Activities (What does he/she do?_
-- Character qualities (motivations, values, treatment of others, disposition, etc.)
These presentations should include at least 4 specific references/ details from the book. If more than one student chooses the same character, we’ll set up a panel discussion. Otherwise, the students will give short commentaries on the information they have gathered.
The next essay assignment is to write an Example/Illustration Essay. The class was given handouts for each type of essay. They should re-read the handout and decide whether they want to write an essay that gives multiple examples to explain their topic or whether they one to use a longer illustration (an extended example) as an explanation. This essay will be done in 3 steps: pre-writing (which includes making lists, brainstorming, outlining, and researching), writing a rough draft, and finishing a final draft. The pre-writing is due next week. I will check to make sure the work was done, but they can keep their pre-writing work and hand it in with the rough drafts.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Prepare the Presentation about a character from Animal Farm
-- Do the Pre-Writing for the Example/Illustration Essay.
This week’s blogs:
Class Notes
Animal Farm Character information
Grammar Quiz
Examples/Illustration Essay
Have a great weekend. The weather should be stunning!
Mrs. Prichard
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