Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 6 (February 20)

Greetings!

We had shortened classes at CHAT this week due to the impending blizzard.  Since I had to travel south into the "blizzard zone" after classes, I was glad to get an early start for my ride home.  Even with the shortened class, we were able to accomplish quite a a bit.  These are hard-working, conscientious students.

For our Quick Write, I asked for a favorite activity, favorite type of book, and a favorite food.  So, today we wrote about playing basketball, pizza, and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.  They could either write a story or a comparison/contrast quick write.

Our Words of the Day were

factoid -- fr. Latin, factum (deed or detail) -- an unsubstantiated detail; something presented as a fact but without support

fatuous -- fr. Latin, fatuus (foolish, insipid) -- adj. meaning foolish, silly, or stupid (We also discovered that the word "infatuated" comes from the same Latin root.)

fungible -- fr. Latin functio (performance, function) -- adj. meaning exchangeable or replaceable (multi functional)

I handed back the  final copies of their Narrative Essays. They all did a wonderful job.  We discussed the scores and the rubric.  I had asked the students to "grade" their own essays.  Most of the students felt that having this rubric was helpful.  These rubrics can be tools for them to use as they write their next essays.

The students are now working on Character or Theme Essays.  The Pre-writes were due this week, and rough drafts are due next week.  As I mentioned in class, if pre-writes are handwritten, they can be kept to be used to write the rough drafts and handed in next week with the rough draft.  These essays can be a bit more challenging, but I have great faith in these kids!

We've finished the Jekyll & Hyde book.  (If you haven't read the book, I'm afraid this may spoil the ending.)  Some students suspected that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person; others didn't find out until the end.  We discussed the ideas of good and evil.  In a Christian classroom, we can discuss this idea in the context of grace and forgiveness.

I handed out our next book:  The Gift of the Magi and Other Short Stories by O. Henry.  According to Wikipedia, O. Henry's "short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and clever twist endings." I find his stories delightful, and I hope my students do, too.

The students were given Short Story charts.  One worksheet is about Characters on one side and Story elements on the other.  The other worksheet is about Themes on one side and Setting on the other.  For this next week they are to fill out one worksheet for one story, and the other for the second story. 

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read the following short stories:
     -- "The Gift of the Magi" (p. 1); "After Twenty Years" (p. 21)

     -- Fill out 2 short story charts,

-- Write Rough Draft of Character or Theme Essay

-- No Grammar Worksheets this week

This week's blogs

Class Notes

Links to Videos for the short stories

Have a great weekend.  Stay safe and warm!

Mrs. Prichard