Because October 31 is the anniversary of the day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, I used as a springboard for our Quick Write. Students could either write their thoughts about Revival or Reformation (for example, where do they see a need for either or what might either of these look like in the 21st century). Another option was to write about a cause or issue that they are passionate enough about to engage in protests or to make sacrifices for the cause. We had some strong opinions shared and yet the conversation was respectful.
Below are our Words of the Day. (Again, I had students create possible definitions, and some got pretty close to the actual meanings)
ergophobia -- an irrational or excessive fear of work
omnishambles -- a situation, particularly political, in which poor judgement leads to disorder/chaos with results that are disastrous
deracinate -- to separate or isolate someone from their native or cultural environment
I handed back the Rough Drafts of their essays. I usually take time to discuss the common grammar and usage errors in the rough drafts, but this time I focused on the structure of the introductions, conclusions, and individual paragraphs. A number of essays had introductions that were missing either a clear thesis statement or road map (plan of development.) A strong thesis statement gives structure and focus to the essay, and sometimes it is the hardest part of writing. We also discussed the need for paragraphs to have clear topic sentences and to include sentences that support the topic. And everything needs to back up the thesis. I used a Rough Draft Rubric for the first time; I hope it will help students to see more clearly the aspects of their essays that need revising. The Final Drafts are due next week.
This week we had a strong presentation about Adverbs from Maddy, Ashley, and Faith. They had a slide presentation, a video, a scavenger hunt game, and homework. Next week we'll hear about Pronouns from Tyler, Ingrid, and Philip.
We did not discuss A Christmas Carol this week, so students should be ready to discuss Staves One and Two.
Assignments for Next Week
-- Read Stave Two
-- Answer 3 Study Guide Questions
-- Define 4 Vocabulary Words
-- Final Draft of Biography Essay
-- Adverbs Homework
Links for This week
Class Notes
Have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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