Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (Januarly 22)

Greetings!

We had a productive class yesterday.  Students were alert and engaged in our discussions and during instruction.  Sometimes students can be a little sluggish after 2 long classes and a lunch break, but they are really doing a great job.

Our Quick Write was in recognition of National Popcorn Day that was on January 19.  I had the students write about either their favorite salty snacks or something popcorn-related.  

Our Words of the Day were the following Latin roots:

amo/ami -- fr. Latin "to love" -- derivatives:  amiable, amicable, amorous, enamored

aqua -- fr. Latin "water" -- derivatives:  aquarium, aqueous, aqueduct, aquifer, aquamarine

audi -- fr. Latin "to hear" -- derivatives:  audiotape, auditory, auditorium, audiophile

Following these beginning of class activities, we quickly discussed the progress on their first essays for the semester.  This first writing assignment is a Narrative Essay.  These can be a bit tricky; students understand the part about telling the story, but doing it with a thesis is sometimes harder to comprehend.  The Pre-Write was to be done this week, and the Rough Draft is due next week.

The next order of business for our class was our Grammar discussion.  I went over again the elements of a sentences.  In order to know where you put the comma for a complex, compound,  or a compound-complex sentence, you need to understand what independent and dependent clauses are. And you need to know what subordinating conjunctions and coordinating conjunctions are.  You see, learning where to put commas also involves learning a lot of other bits of grammar. 

The next comma rule deals with the comma used in lists.  This is often called the series comma, the serial comma, the Oxford comma, and the Harvard comma.  The Oxford, etc. comma is the final comma that is inserted before the conjunction and the last word of a list.  Take this sentence, for example:  I like to eat cookies, brownies, cake, and pie.  The comma between the words "cake" and "and" is considered the serial or Oxford comma.  Students have a worksheet to go with this lesson.  By the way, the syllabus has this week's lesson as "Introductory Elements;" I switched it for something a little simpler since I considered the previous lesson a little more challenging.

Our discussion about our book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, centered on the character development of Mr. Utterson, Mr. Enfield, and Mr. Hyde.  The language of the book is not overly difficult, but the students have encountered some vocabulary that is a little challenging.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters  3 & 4

-- Read through the Study Guide questions.  We will discuss these in groups next week.

-- Complete the Series Comma Worksheet

-- Rough Draft of the Narrative Essay

-- EXTRA CREDIT -- Bring to class an article about the Oxford comma.  Extra points if you bring an article that discourages/disapproves of this comma.

This week's links:

-- Class Notes

-- Series Comma Worksheet

-- Dependent Clause Love Story video

-- Compound-Complex Sentences video

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Prichard