We had another productive class yesterday. One of my favorite aspects of teaching writing is getting to know students through discussions and their writing. This week I learned from many about their favorite books. For the Quick Write, I brought up two dates: 1890, which is the birth date of one of my favorite authors, Agatha Christie; and 1984, which is the birth date of Prince Harry of Wales. I asked students to write about either a mystery, a favorite book, or the concept of being part of a royal family. For an extra credit assignment, I asked the students to bring in the name of their favorite book and an explanation for why I should read it.
We took our Words of the Day from my book of foreign words and phrases:
Enigma -- fr. Greek ainigma, fable -- a puzzle or mystery
Relievo -- fr. Latin relevare, to raise -- a painting or sculpture that is raised, giving the appearance of a third dimension
Tokamak -- fr. Russian -- a device that uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus, which we discovered is a donut shape.
We took some time to clarify some of the Homework that needed to be handed in. None of the students had handed in their Class Policies. Those who had them handed them in. those who didn't can bring them next week. I had also forgotten to tell them that I would like them to hand in rough drafts with final drafts. Again, if students had them, they could hand them in. If they don't, I will still be able to grade their Final Drafts; I'll make sure that they are reminded for the next round of essays.
On the same day that students hand in one rough draft, we start with the next round of essays. Our next writing project is a Personal History Essay. We took time to talk about how this not just retelling a personal event, but it's a "story with a purpose." This purpose could be a lesson or moral; in other words, in the essay the student should tell why this event was important. (Note: I suggest a length for the essay, but if that can be a flexible number. If a student is having difficulties with this number, feel free to contact me.)
Their essays should be thesis-driven, and I game them the equation that I use to explain the thesis statement:
Topic/ Subject
+ Opinion/ Stand
THESIS STATEMENT
We've read 4 chapters of Animal Farm, and the students have done a good job answering questions for the study guide questions and the Take Home Quiz. For her Senior Project at her high school, she adapted Animal Farm into a radio play and recorded sections of it using student performers. We listened to Old Major's speech and a rousing rendition of "Beasts of England." George Orwell wrote that the song sounded like a cross between "Clementine" and La Cucaracha." To get a feeling for how that might sound, I had half of the class humming one song while the other half hummed the second song.
We took more time at the end of class to work in groups for our Parts of Speech projects and presentations. I heard some great, creative ideas and am really looking forward to hearing from our resident experts on their various assigned parts. I will start next week with a presentation on Conjunctions. Next week we will have a Pre-Test about the 8 parts of speech.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Ch. 5 & 6
-- 2 Study Guide Questions
-- 2 Vocabulary Words
-- Rough Draft of Personal Essay
-- Parts of Speech Presentation
Links for this Week:
Class Notes
Have a beautiful weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
No comments:
Post a Comment