Writing 1B Class Notes -- Week 12 (Nov. 14)

Greetings!

We had a good class time this week.  Some of our Thursday afternoons have been challenging because it's the last class of a long day of classes.  All of us seem a little droopy by that time of day.  I do my best to provide them opportunities to engage and interact so that we can have this class be a strong learning time.

For the Quick Write prompt this week I asked students to give me a list of at least 10 prompt ideas.  We've had 11 weeks of writing these quick writes to they have an idea about the types of prompts they like.  I will take those prompts and use them for most of our Quick Writes for the rest of the year.  I had each student share one of his/her ideas.  I'm looking forward to using their ideas throughout the year.

Our Words of the Day (click here to see these words)

cattywampus -- 19th century slang; askew or disarrayed

bumfuzzle -- to confuse, perplex, or fluster

gardyloo -- an interjection yelled before throwing slops out the window; possibly from the French phrase garde a l'eau ("Attention!  Water!")

The class has been assigned a History Essay, and the rough draft and pre-writes are due next week.  Writing a clear thesis statement that includes the topic and the writer's stand on that topic can be really difficult.  Thesis statements are different from topic sentences in that they are meant to give purpose and to direct the focus of the paper.  We reviewed the elements of the introduction and did some brainstorming how to come up with that elusive thesis statement.  Along with the rough drafts and pre-writes, I want students to fill out the rough draft rubric.  This rubric can serve as a checklist for students to determine the strength of their introductions, conclusions, content, and organization.  

We have just finished reading Stave Three of A Christmas Carol.  In this stave, the Ghost of Christmas comes and takes Scrooge to visit his family and Tiny Tim.  Next week we will read about the Ghost of Christmas Future.  (I also warned them that there might be a quiz, so if they should get caught up on their reading.)

Our Grammar portion of the class was a presentation of Prepositions by Brooke M.  We had a video and did our homework in class.  Instead of paper copies (due to printing issues) we projected the homework on the whiteboard and did it at a class.  

Assignments for Next Week

-- Rough Draft & Pre-write of History Essay

-- Rough Draft Rubric (self-evaluation)

-- Read Stave Four

-- 3 Study Guide Questions & 4 Vocabulary Words

-- No preposition Homework

-- Parts of Speech Review Packet

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Student Notes

Rough Draft Rubric

History Essay

Parts of Speech Review Packet (blog)

Parts of Speech Review Packet (pdf on Drive)

Have a beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

History Essay

History Essay 

Definition 

An historical essay demonstrates that you have a good knowledge about an event or a period of history and a good grasp of its importance and contributions to our world.  A typical essay will consist not only of the details surrounding the event or period but will reveal an understanding of some of the “big picture” of history. 

Thesis Development 

Writing an essay about a historical topic requires that you make some judgment about the evidence and details.  Generally, a thesis explains the “why” and the “how” of something that happened.  Your thesis should take a stand on an issue or historical problem and requires some judgment and interpretation of evidence.  Your thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. 

Organization 

Information can be presented chronologically (in a first to last sequence), in order of importance (least to most important), or in order of quantity of information (least amount to greatest amount).  Your essay can be divided by themes, geographical locations, or personalities involved.  In writing the essay, you will analyze the facts, not just describe them. 

Tips on Writing 

• Everything you write about should support or be related to your thesis. 
• Be sure that you include enough information and define any unfamiliar terms.  Assume your readers do not know as much about the topic as you do. 
• Prove your arguments:  explain how and why a thing happened. 
• Suitable evidence includes data (facts and figures) and authorities on the subject (what historians know). 
• Use a variety of transitions in the text of your paper. 

• This is not a research paper, but may require some outside reading and note taking.  Remember to take notes in your own words. 
• Keep the language simple. Remember, this is an essay, not a story.  Use good, accurate vocabulary, but not overly flowery words. 

Essay Guidelines 

• Due dates:  Pre-Write due November 14; Rough Draft due November 21; Final Draft due December 12. 
• Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages) 
• Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced. 
• Final draft format:  
• Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know) 

• 1 inch margins 
• Name and date on the upper right hand corner 
• Number the pages on the lower right hand corner 
• Title centered above the text of the essay 

History Essay

Definition

            An historical essay demonstrates that you have a good knowledge about an event or a period of history and a good grasp of its importance and contributions to our world.  A typical essay will consist not only of the details surrounding the event or period but will reveal an understanding of some of the “big picture” of history.

Thesis Development

            Writing an essay about a historical topic requires that you make some judgment about the evidence and details.  Generally, a thesis explains the “why” and the “how” of something that happened.  Your thesis should take a stand on an issue or historical problem and requires some judgment and interpretation of evidence.  Your thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.

Organization

            Information can be presented chronologically (in a first to last sequence), in order of importance (least to most important), or in order of quantity of information (least amount to greatest amount).  Your essay can be divided by themes, geographical locations, or personalities involved.  In writing the essay, you will analyze the facts, not just describe them.

Tips on Writing

– Everything you write about should support or be related to your thesis.

– Be sure that you include enough information and define any unfamiliar terms.  Assume your readers do not know as much about the topic as you do.

– Prove your arguments:  explain how and why a thing happened.

– Suitable evidence includes data (facts and figures) and authorities on the subject (what historians know).

– Use a variety of transitions in the text of your paper.

– This is not a research paper, but may require some outside reading and note taking.  Remember to take notes in your own words.

– Keep the language simple. Remember, this is an essay, not a story.  Use good, accurate vocabulary, but not overly flowery words.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due November 17; Rough Draft due December 1; Final Draft due December 15.

– Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)

– Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced.

– Final draft format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 6)

Greetings!

We began our class with another Quick Write.  The day of our class, November 6, was James Naismith's birthday.  He was the inventor of the game of basketball, which he did as a class assignment.  The topic of the Quick Write was to write about a creative project they had done or would like to do for school.  One thought that was expressed is that sometimes a project that is hard or takes a lot of work is often very satisfying once it's done.

Our Words for the Day were:

Mademoiselle -- fr. French, ma damoisele, my noble young lady -- the title for an unmarried young woman

Madonna -- fr. Italian, ma donna, my lady -- refers to the Virgin Mary

Madrigal -- fr. Latin, carmen matricale, simple song -- a part song for a small unaccompanied group 

Maestro -- fr. Italian, maestro, master -- an eminent composer, teacher or conductor of music

I reminded them that we will have a test at the end of the semester with these words.  The test will be a combination of multiple choice, true/false, matching, and fill-in-the-blank.

They handed in the final drafts of their Examples/Illustrations Essays along with the self-evaluation rubric and list of common errors.  The consensus was that figuring out the errors from the list was difficult.  That's not surprising.  In order to write well, students need to master a lot of Grammar.  It's a process.

Our next essay is either a History Essay or a Biography Essay.  They can choose to write on or the other; they may also choose to do both, one for extra credit.  We took some time to discuss the difference between a report and an essay.  Since these are to be essays, they need to be written with a thesis, in other words a stand or opinion.  We talked through some examples.

We've begun our new book, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  I read aloud some portions from Stave One.  Not only is this one of the best-known Christmas classics, it's a delightful book with great images and language.  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Stave Two

-- Write the answers to 3 Study Questions

-- Write the definitions for 4 Vocabulary Words

-- History or Biography Pre-Write

This week's links:

A Christmas Carol Study Questions

A Christmas Carol Vocabulary List

Class Notes

Keep warm; winter's coming!

Mrs. Prichard

History Essay

 Definition

            An historical essay demonstrates that you have a good knowledge about an event or a period of history and a good grasp of its importance and contributions to our world.  A typical essay will consist not only of the details surrounding the event or period but will reveal an understanding of some of the “big picture” of history.

Thesis Development

            Writing an essay about a historical topic requires that you make some judgment about the evidence and details.  Generally, a thesis explains the “why” and the “how” of something that happened.  Your thesis should take a stand on an issue or historical problem and requires some judgment and interpretation of evidence.  Your thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.

Organization

            Information can be presented chronologically (in a first to last sequence), in order of importance (least to most important), or in order of quantity of information (least amount to greatest amount).  Your essay can be divided by themes, geographical locations, or personalities involved.  In writing the essay, you will analyze the facts, not just describe them.

Tips on Writing

– Everything you write about should support or be related to your thesis.

– Be sure that you include enough information and define any unfamiliar terms.  Assume your readers do not know as much about the topic as you do.

– Prove your arguments:  explain how and why a thing happened.

– Suitable evidence includes data (facts and figures) and authorities on the subject (what historians know).

– Use a variety of transitions in the text of your paper.

– This is not a research paper, but may require some outside reading and note taking.  Remember to take notes in your own words.

– Keep the language simple. Remember, this is an essay, not a story.  Use good, accurate vocabulary, but not overly flowery words.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due November 11; Rough Draft due November 21; Final Draft due December 12.

– Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)

– Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced.

– Final draft format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

History Essay

History Essay

Definition

            An historical essay demonstrates that you have a good knowledge about an event or a period of history and a good grasp of its importance and contributions to our world.  A typical essay will consist not only of the details surrounding the event or period but will reveal an understanding of some of the “big picture” of history.

Thesis Development

            Writing an essay about a historical topic requires that you make some judgment about the evidence and details.  Generally, a thesis explains the “why” and the “how” of something that happened.  Your thesis should take a stand on an issue or historical problem and requires some judgment and interpretation of evidence.  Your thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.

Organization

            Information can be presented chronologically (in a first to last sequence), in order of importance (least to most important), or in order of quantity of information (least amount to greatest amount).  Your essay can be divided by themes, geographical locations, or personalities involved.  In writing the essay, you will analyze the facts, not just describe them.

Tips on Writing

–   Everything you write about should support or be related to your thesis.

–   Be sure that you include enough information and define any unfamiliar terms.  Assume your readers do not know as much about the topic as you do.

–   Prove your arguments:  explain how and why a thing happened.

–   Suitable evidence includes data (facts and figures) and authorities on the subject (what historians know).

–   Use a variety of transitions in the text of your paper.

–   This is not a research paper, but may require some outside reading and note taking.  Remember to take notes in your own words.

Pitfalls to Avoid

–   Keep the language simple. Remember, this is an essay, not a story.  Use good, accurate vocabulary, but not overly flowery words.

Essay Guidelines

–   Due dates:  Rough Draft due November 28; Final Draft due December 12

–   Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)

–   Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced.

–   Final draft format:

–   Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

–   1 inch margins

–   Name and date on the upper right hand corner

–   Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

–   Title centered above the text of the essay