Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 5 (February 10)

Greetings!

We had a delightful class today.  Our class time was quite full.

We started with a Quick Write, and these were our prompts:  

• Ask me (Mrs. Prichard) 3 questions, and I will answer at least one of them.
• Tell me something you've not told anyone.
• Write about keeping a secret or planning a surprise.
• Tell about something mysterious that has happened to you
• Whatever . . . 

Our Words of the Day came from Ike, Megan, and Grace.  

kalopsia -- fr. Greek; the state in which everyone and everything seems beautiful

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious -- extraordinarily good

peladophobia -- fear of bald people

We are now in Week 5, so students need to check in on their homework. I give students three weeks to get assigned work in (actually, they have 4 weeks from the assigned date until I will no longer take it.)  After that extended time, assignments will be given zeros.  According to my late homework policy, any assignments due on Week 2 is now overdue.  You will be getting a Grades Report sometime over the weekend.  

Students handed in the final drafts of their Narrative Essays.  I'm really looking forward to reading these because their rough drafts were so good!  As a reminder, they should hand in their rough drafts with my marks/corrections when they hand in the final drafts.  The final drafts should be handed in to the Google Classroom assignment. 

When we finish one paper, we start another.  For the next round of essays,  students can choose to write an Examples Essay or an Analogy Essay.  For both of these types of essays, the students should be thinking explaining one thing with one or more other things.  Students have the next two weeks to do their brainstorming and research.  The pre-writes and rough drafts should be handed in on March 3.

Our discussion about our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps included some creative brainstorming.  Using a game called Storymaster, which had cards with random characters and situations, the students were to create an ending for our spy novel.  I love it when a book elicits creative thinking from readers.  We will finish the book by next week.

At the end of class, I talked through our Grammar worksheet, practicing identifying and classifying prepositional phrases.  Prepositional phrases function either as adjective phrases or adverb phrases, and it can be tricky to tell what kind of phrase it is.

Next week my son Ryan Prichard will be subbing for me.  I will Zoom in for part of the class and he will take charge of the rest.  

Assignments for March 4

-- Examples/Analogy  Pre-Write

-- Examples/Analogy Rough Draft
-- Read Ch. 9 & 10 of The 39 Steps
-- Week 6 – 3 Study Guide Questions 
-- Classifying Prep Phrases

-- Prepositional Phrases -- Adj or Adv

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 5 (February 10)

About Examples/Analogy Essays

Have a good weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 20)

 Greetings!

We started today with a Quick Write using prompt options that they had written:

1. What are some of your pet peeves?
2. What do you do that annoys others, either accidentally or intentionally?
3. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?
4. What is the best/worst part of your hous?
5. Whatever????

Our Words of the Day were brought to use by Liam and Grace:  

bork:  obstruct (someone, especially a candidate for public office) by systematically defaming or vilifying them.  (taken from the nomination experience of Robert Bork)

sesquipedalian:  fr. Latin sesquipedalis, a foot and a half --  characterized by long words or long-windedness

The usual Agenda for the class time is to do these beginning of class activities and then most of the time we cover these topics in this order:  Writing assignments/instruction, Literature discussion, and Grammar instruction/work.  

For our Writing discussion, I checked in with them about the progress of their Narrative Essays.  The Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts are due next week.  Students were reminded that a Narrative Essay is kind of like a "story with a purpose."  

The class has read the first 2 chapters of our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps.  We talked about some points in chapters 1 and 2.  Then I divided the class into 4 groups, and they played the game "Enter the Mystery Mansion."  Students were given cards with pictures, and as a group, they were to compose a mystery and/or spy story.  When they were done, they retold their stories for the Zoom portion of the class.  They were quite creative!

The last part of class was for Grammar instruction.  Today, I did a short lesson on simple and compound subjects and predicates.  Students got their worksheets at the end of class.  Remember, they should be corrected before they are turned in!

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Homework for Next Week:

Narrative Essay Pre-Write

Narrative Essay Rough Draft

Read Ch. 3 & 4 of The 39 Steps

Quiz:  Ch. 1 – 4 (Google Classroom)

Ch. 3 & 4 Study Guide Questions (Extra Credit)

Subject/Verb Agreement

Sentences: Finding the Complete Subjects and Complete Predicate

Links for this Week

Class Notes

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on YouTube

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on Librivox

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 11)

 Greetings!

We had an fun class today -- we covered a lot of material .  We started with our Quick Write.  As I told them last week, the plan was to write letters of encouragement and gratitude.  to someone.  They wrote their letters, put them in sealed envelopes, and handed them in.  If need be, they can bring the addresses next week if they forgot to bring them today.  I will mail them.

Our Words of the Day came from the class contributions:

thalassophile -- fr. Greek, thalasa, "sea" -- a lover of the sea

geminate --  fr. Latin, geminatus, "twinned, divided, equal" -- duplicated, found in pairs; something arranged in pairs

susurrate -- fr. Latin, susurare, "to hum, murmur, mumble" -- to make a whispering or humming sound

costermonger -- fr. French, costard, a large variety of apple; Old English mangare, "merchant, broker" -- a vendor of vegetables

I handed back the rough drafts of the Narrative Essays.  These were very enjoyable essays to read.  Many students wrote more than they usually did, and they told interesting stories in the contexts of their essays.  As per my practice, I go over common mistakes and use these for grammar instruction.  The most common errors I found in their write had to do with punctuating dialogue, paragraph formation, comma splice sentences, and compound sentences with commas.  Students are to revise their rough drafts into final drafts for next week.  In addition to their final drafts, they must fill out a form titled, "First Five Mistakes" on a Google Classroom assignment.

We had a short discussion about Richard Hannay and The Thirty-Nine Steps.  We talked about how Hannay was so quick to share his story with those he met, even though dangerous spies were on his trail.  We discussed employing a "willing suspension of disbelief."  In other words, some parts seem unbelievable, and they will remain just that -- unbelievable.  We accept it and go on.  In the chapters that they will read for next week, the spy aspect of the story will evolve, so that by the end, there is a solution to the whole mysterious situation.  For next week, they will read Chapters 7 & 8 and take a quiz.  If they want, they can do the study guide questions for extra credit.

Our Grammar instruction centered on prepositional phrases.  These phrases function as either adjectives or adverbs.  It is important to identify them in sentences so that they can be eliminated as other sentence parts (e.g. subject, direct object, etc.)  Students have 2 sides of one worksheet to do for next week.

A note on homework:  last week with 46 rough drafts from Writing 1 and Writing 2, I only corrected student papers.  The other grammar and literature homework will be graded and entered into Track My Grades this week. Again, if you are not able to get into Track My Grades, let me know.  We discovered today that I had the wrong email entered for one student, and I was able to correct it.

Assignments for next week

• Narrative Essay Final Draft

• First Five Mistakes (GC)

• Read Ch. 7 & 8 of The 39 Steps

• Quiz:  Ch. 5 – 8 (GC)

• Ch. 7 & 8 Study Guide Questions (Extra Credit)

• Grammar – Wk4:  Prepositional Phrase Practice

• Grammar -- Wk4: Prepositional Phrases as Adj/Adv

• Remember to bring your address for your envelope.

Links for This Week

Class Notes

The Thirty-Nine Steps (Librivox)

The Thirty-Nine Steps (YouTube)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 28)

 Greetings!

We started today with a Quick Write using prompt options that they had written:

1. Does water have flavor?
2. Do you have any family traditions or quirky things that only your family does?
3. What is your favorite room in your house?

Our Word of the Day was brought to us by Nina:

geloscopy -- fr. Greek gelos, "laughter" and scopein, "to examine" -- fortune telling by examining laughter.

[Note:  I reminded the students that they can bring 1 word each week for extra credit as long as they have the etymology and definition.]

The usual Agenda for the class time is to do these beginning of class activities and then most of the time we cover these topics in this order:  Writing assignments/instruction, Literature discussion, and Grammar instruction/work.  My plan is to give the last 10 - 15 minutes of every class to working on Grammar assignments so that if students have questions, they can ask them right in class. 

For our Writing discussion, I checked in with them about the progress of their Narrative Essays.  The Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts are due next week.  Students were reminded that a Narrative Essay is kind of like a "story with a purpose."  

The class has read the first 2 chapters of our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps.  I divided the class into 3 groups to discuss the overall plot development so far, points of confusion, and top traits or our main character, Richard Hannay.  As a class we agreed that some points were confusing simply because we skimmed rather than read carefully some sections.  Another challenge in reading this book is  that students are unfamiliar with the historical places and names, with some of the expressions, and with some of the vocabulary.  For example, Richard Hannay mentions the "veld" quite often.   Knowing the definition of the word would make a world of difference in their understanding of the book.  So here's some advice -- look up words that you don't know!

The last part of class was for Grammar instruction.  Today, I did a short lesson on simple and compound subjects and predicates.  Then the students had time to work on the worksheets and ask questions.  Some of them got a lot of work done during that time.

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Homework for Next Week:

Narrative Essay Rough Draft & Pre-Write
Read Ch. 3 & 4 of The 39 Steps
Quiz:  Ch. 1 – 4 (Google Classroom)

Ch. 3 & 4 Study Guide Questions (Extra Credit)

Simple Sentences (Compound Subjects)

Simple Sentences (Compound Predicates)

Sentences: Finding the Complete Subjects and Complete Predicate

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Track My Grades

Spring Writing 1 Syllabus

Spring Writing 1 Assignments Checklist

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on YouTube

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on Librivox

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 21)

 Greetings!

It was good to be back in the classroom and to see everyone's faces (at least I'm sure there were faces behind the masks.)

For our Quick Write today, I asked the students to write something that connected with their Pre-Reading assignment for The 39 Steps.  I had think about what they would do if they were on the run -- either from some bad guys or some good guys (which meant they might be a bad guy.)  They were to think of possible options for hiding and staying safe.  This is a very creative bunch!  I heard some of their ideas and look forward to reading what they wrote.

For our Words of the Day, I had for them some words for those small "thingamajigs" or "whatchamacallits."  

meme -- fr. Greek mimeme; to imitate -- a digital image combined with text to express a cultural comment.
pintle -- the pin or bolt that is used in hinge.
ferrule -- the metal cap on the end of an umbrella
aglet -- the cover of the end of a shoe lace

For the rest of the semester, students can bring in interesting words for our weekly Words of the Day part of our discussion.  Here's how it will go:  Students can bring in 1 word a week written on a note card, Post-it note, or small piece of paper; we'll put them in the Homework Bin and randomly pull a few out.  For these words, they also need to include the etymology and a definition.  Students will get extra credit for bringing a word in, whether or not we use it that day.

Before we dug into our new topics for the semester, I quickly reviewed some of the basics, including Google Classroom and Track My Grades.  As last semester, all assignments will be posted in Google Classroom.  With the exception of our essays and a few online quizzes, students can hand in their homework when they come to class.  However, last semester some students preferred to do them on Google Classroom.  Either way will work, but students MUST remember to only hand in their homework in one place -- EITHER during class OR via Google Classroom.  Not both.  Note:  For those who have been trying to get onto Google Classroom, the site had been down for a couple days.  It's up and running and at its regular speed. 

Last semester I used a set of grade sheets that I built out of Google Sheets, but it didn't quite do everything I wanted it to do, so this semester I'm using Trackmygrades.com.  You should have received an invitation (and I will send another following this email).  To log in, you will need your chatclasses.com email and the 4-digit password that they have assigned you.  The best way to differentiate Google Classroom and Track My Grades is this:  Google Classroom will give you the specifics of an assignment and will tell you if you are missing any work; Track My Grades will tell you the scores for the work that has been handed in.  

The first topic we covered was our first Writing assignment -- a Narrative Essay.  I like to call a Narrative Essay a "story with a purpose."  In this type of essay, students re-tell a series of events, but they are not simply telling a story.  They must have a reason for telling these events to their readers.  This reason could include a turning point in life, a traumatic experience that change a life, an achievement that made a significant difference, etc.  The Pre-Write and Rough Draft are due February 4.

Next on the agenda was our first book for the semester.  For years I've been teaching The Strange Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and this year I wanted a change.  Instead, we will be reading another British classic that was written in 1915 -- The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.  This is one of the first espionage, man-on-the-run types of books.  I've taught this book to British Literature classes, and I think we'll all enjoy this book.

Last semester in the Grammar portion of the class we covered the Parts of Speech, and the students did amazing presentations.  This semester, we will build on that knowledge and review sentence patterns.  Many times when students are writing, they have comma splice sentences, run-on sentences, and sentence fragments.  It's important to be firmly grounded in the elements of a sentence so that you have the vocabulary and knowledge to fix sentences that aren't quite working.

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

Narrative Essay Pre-Write

Intro to The 39 Steps Quiz (GC)
Read Ch. 1 & 2 of The 39 Steps
Week 2 – 3 Study Guide Questions
Grammar – Wk1:  What is a Sentence? 

Grammar – Wk1:  Sentence Patterns N-V

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Assignments Checklist

Writing 1 Spring Syllabus

Spring Writing 1 Students Google Drive folder

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 21)

Narrative Essay

Definition

In a personal narrative, you re-create an incident that happened to you over a short period of time.  This incident could be an emotional experience, a silly or serious event, or a frightening encounter.  Narrative writing requires students to think clearly about the details of an event as if it was a plot.  A narrative:

·  Presents a story with a distinct plot.  The plot includes an internal or external conflict.  It has a beginning, middle, and an end.

·  Has a setting of some sort

·  Presented in a specific point of view, usually spoken in the voice of a narrator or character

           

Thesis Development

            As you present your narrative from a certain point of view, you must consider the significance of the event.  Was there a lesson to learn?  Did it change someone’s history?  Does it reveal something insightful about a person, place or circumstance?  These are the variables that will help you form a thesis.

Organization

            Narratives are generally told in chronological order; in other words, you explain the events considering the timeline in which they happened.      

Optional Narrative prompts:

·  Write about a time when you faced a challenge and what the outcome was.  Be sure to narrate the series of events and include specific details.

·  Write a story about when you taught someone something.  It can be anything that you know better than someone else.

·  Think about an event in your life that taught you an important lesson. Write a narrative in which you tell what happened and how you learned a lesson.

·  Write a narrative about a person or character who overcomes a difficult situation.  The character must be a person from history or from literature, movies or television.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due January 23; Rough Draft due January 30; Final Draft due February 13

– 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, below your name and date

Narrative Essay

Definition

In a personal narrative, you re-create an incident that happened to you over a short period of time.  This incident could be an emotional experience, a silly or serious event, or a frightening encounter.  Narrative writing requires students to think clearly about the details of an event as if it was a plot.  A narrative:

· Presents a story with a distinct plot.  The plot includes an internal or external conflict.  It has a beginning, middle, and an end.

· Has a setting of some sort

· Presented in a specific point of view, usually spoken in the voice of a narrator or character

           

Thesis Development

            As you present your narrative from a certain point of view, you must consider the significance of the event.  Was there a lesson to learn?  Did it change someone’s history?  Does it reveal something insightful about a person, place or circumstance?  These are the variables that will help you form a thesis.

Organization

            Narratives are generally told in chronological order; in other words, you explain the events considering the timeline in which they happened.  

Optional Narrative prompts:

· Write about a time when you faced a challenge and what the outcome was.  Be sure to narrate the series of events and include specific details.

· Write a story about when you taught someone something.  It can be anything that you know better than someone else.

· Think about an event in your life that taught you an important lesson. Write a narrative in which you tell what happened and how you learned a lesson.

· Write a narrative about a person or character who overcomes a difficult situation.  The character must be a person from history or from literature, movies or television.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due January 25; Rough Draft due February 1; Final Draft due February 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, below your name and date