Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 7)

Greetings!

We started class today with our usual Quick Write.  Since today is Billy Graham's 95th birthday, we wrote on the topic "Evangelism."  Many of the students were only vaguely aware of who this man is, but I have friends and family members who were saved through his ministry.  For those interested, here's the link to the program "The Cross," which his son, Franklin Graham calls his father's last message to America.

Our Words of the Day:

berserk -- Norwegian; literally an ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle; refers to something wild or violent

je ne sai quoi -- French; literally "I don't know that;"  refers to a an intangible quality that makes something distinctive

macro -- Greek; large & complex; pertaining to a very large scale

dumdum -- Hindi; a city in India; a hollow-nosed bullet that expands on impact

jodhpurs -- Hindi; riding breeches for equestrians

cheongsam -- Chinese; a long dress; a long traditional dress with a slit up the side and a high collar

We welcomed a new student, Jayden, to our class today.

They handed in their Final Drafts of their Examples/Illustration Essay.  Along withe the essays, they were to include their 5 reasons for corrections and the answers to the 2 questions below.  If these were not included today, they can be handed in next week.

1.  What topic are you making clear by giving examples?

2.  What specific examples are you giving to explain your topic?

We combined some Grammar discussion with the introduction of the next essay.  Before I explained the Biography or History Essays, we reviewed the 8 parts of speech and articles (a, an, and the).  Our grammar discussion began when a student asked why I had written "an historical."  For those interested, here's an excerpt from a website:

Except - The rules before "h" are a little tricky, but clear: if a word begins with an "h" sound and the first syllable is stressed (like "hotel"), then it never takes "an". If the first syllable is not stressed (like "historical") then it is possible to use "an". Some usage authorities would say you must use "an" in those cases, but Nohat is not one of those authorities. You find both "a" and "an" used before words like "historical".

They can choose to write either a Biography Essay or a History Essay.  We discussed how to develop a thesis for this kind of essay.  For next week, they are to do some pre-writing that can include any research, brainstorming, mind-mapping, charting, or outlining.  In other words, anything that will help them write their rough draft.

We had just enough time to introduce A Christmas Carol and to read aloud the first page.  I'm hoping they enjoy this book as much as I do.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Stave 2

-- Choose 3 questions from the Study Guide and write out the answers

-- Prewriting for the Biography or History Essay.

This week's blogs

Class Notes

History Essay

Biography Essay

Pre-Writing Excercises

Have a great weekend!