Our Quick Write for today was this prompt: If you could learn anything from anyone, what would it be and from whom would it be? The purpose of this prompt was to cause students to look inward, forward, and outward. In life, it helps when we can identify what we want to learn for the sake of our futures; then we need to engage in the world around us to find mentors and teachers. They shared both practical ideas and more abstract, personal growth ideas.
The Words of the Day were taken from our book, Animal Farm:
taciturn -- adjective; fr. Latin taciturnus, wordless, noiseless -- to be reserved and uncommunicative in speech; saying little
morose -- adjective, fr. Latin morosus, peevish -- sullen, ill-tempered
infanticide -- noun, fr. Latin, infanticidium, infant -- the killing of children under a year old
spinney -- noun, fr. Latin, spinetum, thicket -- a small area of trees or bushes
This week the class handed in their final drafts of their Personal Essays, along with their rough drafts, so it was time to assign another essay. This time, they are to write a Biographical Essay. We took a bit of time to talk about the difference between a report and a thesis-driven essay. In a report, a student would give details and information, but in a thesis-driven essay, a student needs to take a stand or form an opinion and then chose details to support that opinion. As I explained, it might help to think about what parts of a person's background were especially formative or what kind of impact that person has had on the world.
During our discussion of the essay, I also explained the new stage of the writing process that we will be using for this and the rest of our essays. In addition to a rough draft and final draft, students are to do a Pre-Write for their essays. This can look like a mind map or an outline, and the goal of a pre-write is to facilitate brainstorming and organizing. (Here is a link with a picture of a mind map.) This will give them an extra week to plan, research, and organize their essays. (In fact, for this essay, they have the extra week of fall break.)
For our Grammar portion of the class, we had an excellent presentation about Adjectives from Josie, Gabbie P, and Nalani. They had a helpful video, a detailed slide presentation, an in class activity, and homework. Next week we will have the Nouns presentation from Ethan, Carson, Michael, and James.
Finally, for the Literature Discussion, the students broke into their literature circles and shared whatever they had prepared for their roles. I circulated among the groups to listen to their discussions, and I heard many thoughtful and insightful comments. One aspect of group discussions is that they often trigger fresh ideas. We have now finished Animal Farm, and for next week students are to complete the final exam. In addition to that, they are to prepare for a discussion about the characters in the book. To do this, they are to choose one character and list 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses of this character. Then, they are to write a sentence that gives a full understanding of the character.
A note about My GradeBook: I worked with a couple of students and discovered that they were putting the class code where the password should go. If you are having difficulties, remember that the temporary user name (until you change the primary log in) is the class code, and your student's first name and last initial (unless I've had to change it for you) is the password.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Take Final Exam for Animal Farm
-- Prepare Character Sketch (choose a character and list 3 strengths/3 weaknesses; write a sentence that encompasses that character's qualities)
-- Adjectives Homework
-- Pre-Write for Biographical Essay
Links for This Week
Class Notes
Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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