Writing 1 Class Notes –
Week 9 (March 13)
Greetings!
We're starting to feel
a little Spring in the air. Days are getting longer, AND our
Spring Break is here.
Our Quick
Write this week was about communication. On March 10, 1876,
Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone to his assistant, Watson.
The students wrote about their favorite mode of communication and then we
listed as many types of communication that we could think of: smoke
signals, Morse code, carrier pigeons, Pony Express, etc.
The Words of
the Day were:
pathetique --
Italian; a musical term that means with feeling; moving
che sera sera -- Italian; "Whatever will be, will be."
Jai alai
-- Basque; a game similar to handball but using a wicker basket to catch and
throw the ball
Nihil ad Rem
-- Latin; "nothing to the point/matter;" inconsequential, irrelevant
zabaglione
-- Italian; a whipped custard made with egg yolks, sugar and Marsala
The final drafts of
their Character or Theme Analysis Essays were handed in this
week. They worked hard on their rough drafts, and I look forward to
reading these essays. Our next writing assignment is a News Story.
For this essay, they can write it as a newspaper article which doesn't
always have a thesis statement. Or, they can write it more like a longer
magazine article which might have a thesis. We talked briefly about how a
reporter of the news might have a bias towards a topic but would appear to write
from a non-biased perspective. For this assignment they must do a little
research to find news-worthy material.
Three questions came
up as we discussed this assignment: 1) Can it be fictional? No, it
must be a real event, person, place, etc.; 2) Can it be something from the
past? Yes; 3) Can it be about something from a personal family
experience? Yes, if it is factual and it has something in it that
required a little research
Our Short
Stories took a back seat due to other discussions. For the next
time that we are together, they have only one story, but it is the longest one
in the book: "The Ransom of Red Chief." This has been a
Prichard family favorite, so I hope they enjoy it as much as we have.
They are to fill out both sides of both of the worksheets for this one
story.
I handed out slips of
paper to some of the students with missing assignments. I
usually do this near the end of the term, but I thought that with the extra
week between classes, this would be a better time. Sometimes, an
assignment has been handed in and graded, but in my enthusiasm to continue
reading and grading, the score doesn’t get put in my grade book. If a student has completed, graded an
assignment that I listed as “missing,” he/she can either send me an e-mail
telling me of the score, or bring it to the next class.
Unfortunately, I've
found that I made a mistake with a couple of the assignments. Since I had entered in my grade book
scores for a couple of literature assignments, I was temporarily mistaken that
these were assigned exercises. Au
contraire! Some students either did these for extra credit or simply
forgot that they didn't need to write out answers to study guide questions.
Therefore, the
following two assignments DO NOT NEED TO BE DONE unless you would like the
extra credit:
Chapters 7 & 8 Questions
|
Feb 13
|
Extra Credit
|
|
Chapter 9 & 10 Questions
|
Feb 20
|
Extra Credi
|
If students have any
questions about their assignments, they should e-mail me, especially if they
missed a class and an assignment needs clarification. If any worksheets or
handouts are needed, be sure to let me know. (I've had more students
gone, sick, or injured this semester than any other that I've taught.)
Missing classes and turning in work at different times has added a little
to the confusion about homework.
Assignments for March 27 (No classes next week)
-- Read "The
Ransom of Red Chief"
-- Fill out both sides
of both worksheets for the story
-- News Story
Pre-write (Outlining & research)
This Week’s Links:
Enjoy your break!
Mrs. Prichard
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