Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 15 (May 5)

 Greetings!

We had a marvelous final day of Writing 1 at CHAT for the 2021-22 school year.  Every year when we get to this last week, I have a plethora of mixed perceptions and feelings.  We cover so much over the course of the year, that our heads are full; but the weeks go by so quickly that it seems hard to think that we're at the end.  For me this year, it's so much more bittersweet since it's my last CHAT class ever.  I'm grateful to have had this awesome class who made this such an awesome year!

We, as always, started with a Quick Write. I use a lot of story generator websites for my creative writing classes, so we used one this week.  The students had options of a first line, a random plot situation, characters, situations, and themes.  They could put them together any way they wanted to come up with a short story.  For our Words of the Day, we did not have phobiaphobia, but we were bumfuzzled about the biblioklept who disrupted our calm, halcyon vibe.  

Before Round 2 of the Poetry Jam, we had a short, "parts of speech" oriented game.  Our family calls the game "Bowls," but others know it as "Fishbowl."  (Here's a link to a description.)  Students wrote nouns and verbs on small slips of paper, and then they took turns as teams with trying to make their team say the words.  Round 1 was link Catch Phrase; Round 2 was Charades; and Round 3 students could only give a one-word clue.  Needless to say, lots of laughter ensued.

Our guest judge, Levi Martens, came in for Round 2 of the Poetry Jam.  I must admit that this is one of my favorite parts of the whole year.  Some students love poetry, some tolerate, and some can't stand it.  That said, everyone is a great sport about standing up and reading/reciting a piece of poetry for their class mates.  And some even confess to liking it just a little bit more.  We had our individual finalists perform first, and then all of the teams recited again.  We had a number or original poems and memorized poems.

And the winners were . . . 

Team Scores	Round 2
1st Place	Turtles 17.83
2nd Place	Fast/Furious 17.53
3rd Place	Marmalade 14.5
4th Place	Purple Cow 14.5
Individual Scores	Round 2
1st Place	Noah
2nd Place	Ike
3rd Place	Katelyn
4th Place	Megan

Now, for the nuts and bolts for finishing up the class.  Students can hand in any homework until Saturday morning midnight.  (8:00 am, to be exact.)  All of the remaining homework for the class can be handed in (and returned) via Google Classroom.  In the busyness and fun of our class yesterday, I forgot to hand back some homework.  Most of it included minor worksheets and Quick Writes, and those scores have been entered on Google Classroom.  I will be sending out grades sometime next week.  If for some reason that won't work, please contact me.  Look for 2 emails from me:  one the explains how I grade and then the grades themselves.  

This has been a great year with these students.  They're bright and engaging, and they've worked hard this year. I will miss working with them next year but have complete confidence that Mrs. Gonsalves will be the perfect fit for Writing 2!

Blessings!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 14 (April 29)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day in class.  We started the class period with a Quick Write, and today's prompt was connected with the fact that it is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.  I gave the students a sheet of paper with an extra large pocket outline. They were to write a poem within the lines of that pocket.  They could write originals or copy one from our poetry book.  (Note:  We also watched one of my favorite spoken word artists, Harry Baker, for some inspiration.)

This week was our penultimate class for the year -- the one before the last one!  We had fun during class, which can be a very good thing, especially since, according to research, "humor activates the brain's dopamine reward system, stimulating goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory, which means that humor can improve retention in students of all ages.? (Edutopia, 2015)

The Essay Re-Write was due this week, and their final writing assignment, a Reflection Paper, is due next week.   For this paper, they are to write about what they learned this year, what they learned about themselves this year, and what did and didn't work well this year.  At the bottom of this email is a link to an article about the value of reflection as a part of learning.

Last week, students took home, completed, and then corrected their Spring Grammar Review.  This week, they have the Sentence Patterns Final Test to take home, complete, and then correct.  They should use different colored pens/pencils for correcting their work and be sure to make their marks clearly.  I will figure the final scores for their tests.  The test and the answer key are posted on Google Classroom.  If for some reason they are not able to access Google Classroom, they should still take the test and bring it to class.  I will then correct it.

And, finally, it was time in class for the Poetry Jam, 2022!  The class was divided into 4 teams and took turns coming up to the front to recite their chosen poems.  We had Levi Martens as a visiting judge.  I loved listening to all of their poems (and heard a number of my favorites.) 

As I said in an email on Thursday, we two 2-way ties, so it makes sense for all of the teams to recite!  Therefore, for the Final Round of Poetry Jam 2021, EVERYONE  should each bring another poem to recite.  The individual finalists (Katelyn S, Noah B, Ike J, and Megan B) will present separately, and their scores will be added to the team scores   We'll finish our year with a "Party," and I'll set up a table in the hallway with some snacks.  (Students can bring some if they'd like.)

Next week is the final week, and I've told students that I will accept homework until Saturday, May 7 at 7:00 AM.  My experience is that once the CHAT classes are done, students really lose momentum for completing late homework.  My plan is to get final grades out within the week.  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Any old homework

-- Essay Re-Write

-- Sentence Patterns Final Test

-- The Reflection Paper

-- Bring a poem -- EVERYONE!

Links for this Week:

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 14 (April 29)

The Value of Reflection Papers

Harry Baker:  99 Problems but Maths Ain't One & Dinosaur Love

See you next week!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 21)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day in class.  We started the class period with a Quick Write, and here are the prompts:

• Today, April 21, is National Kindergarten Day.  What is something that you remember from your kindergarten days, when you were about 5 years old?  Can you remember toys you played with or activities you liked to do?  
• Today, April 21, is World Creativity and Innovation Day.  How do you like to express your creativity?  In what ways do you like to think outside the box?
• Saturday, April 23, is World Book Day.  What books would you recommend that others read?  Write convincing comments.
• Saturday, April 23, is also National Shakespeare Day and National Talk Like Shakespeare Day.  Write anything but put it in language that soundeth liketh the Bard of Avon hath verily penned it.

The Final Drafts of the News Stories were due today, and I introduced the next writing assignment, which is an Essay Re-Write.  For this essay, students can choose any essay they have written this year for Writing 1, or they can choose an essay that they've written for another class.  They should take a one of their final drafts and look for ways to improve it.  I often suggest that students choose the essay that they got the worst grade on or that they want to spend some more time on. This writing assignment is due next week, and students should hand in the original along with the re-write.  (Note:  This isn't our regular pre-write to rough draft to final draft process.)

For our Literature portion of the class, we spend some of our time talking about one of my favorite poems by William Carlos Williams, "A Red Wheelbarrow."  After our discussion, I explained our Poetry Jam, which we will have for the next 2 weeks.  The class has been divided into teams, and those teams will compete in a group by reciting poetry.  (It looks like we might have some guest "judges" for the day.)  Each student should bring in 2 poems next week for the first round of the Poetry Jam.  

Here are the teams, I think.  (I forgot to take a picture of the board, so these teams might not be correct)

Team 1: "The Purple Cows" -- Megan B, Sarah H, Jaedyn M, Charissa Q, Peytan K, Evan M

Team 2:  "Marmalade" -- Noah B, Phoebe H, Ava N, Liam S, Elian W, Landon M

Team 3:  "Not Fast, Not Furious" -- Johnny D, Ike J, Joren O, Katelyn S, Lauren M, Will W, Grace R

Team 4:  "Turtle" -- Molly H, Chase M, Carmella P, James V, Estelle K, Rhyann R

Finally, to conclude our Grammar for the year, I have a Final Sentence Patterns Test that they will take next week.  For this week, they have a review sheet that they should complete and then correct. (The Key is on the Google Classroom assignment.)  Correcting their own work will further help them review and will be much more beneficial than waiting a week to see if they got the answers right.  

We have a couple fun weeks planned to finish out our year, so let's make sure you get caught up on any late work.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Bring 2 poems for your contribution to the Poetry Jam (Here is the scoring information)

-- Complete the Essay Re-Write

-- Complete the Sentence Patterns Review sheet and correct it. (Bring the corrected version to class)

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 21)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 6)

 Greetings!

This week we had our penultimate class for the year -- the one before the last one!  We had fun during class, which can be a very good thing, especially since, according to research, "humor activates the brain's dopamine reward system, stimulating goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory, which means that humor can improve retention in students of all ages.? (Edutopia, 2015)

For our Quick Write, I gave the students the following options:

-- Write about Star Wars (May the 4th is National Star Wars Day)

-- Write some fanfiction about another movie, book, or TV series

-- Write about anything else that's on your mind.

For our Words of the Day, we had the following words brought in my the students:

automatonophobia -- fear of human-like figures

deipnophobia -- the fear of dinner conversations

allodoxaphobia -- the fear of others' opinions

pogonotrophy -- the act of cultivating and growing a beard

The Essay Re-Write was due this week, and their final writing assignment, a Reflection Paper.  For this paper, they are to write about what they learned this year, what they learned about themselves this year, and what did and didn't work well this year.  At the bottom of this email is a link to an article about the value of reflection as a part of learning.

Last week, students took home, completed, and then corrected their Spring Grammar Review.  This week, they have the final test to take home, complete, and then correct.  They should different colored pens/pencils for correcting their work and be sure to make their marks clearly.  I will figure the final scores for their tests.  The test and the answer key are posted on Google Classroom.  If for some reason they are not able to access Google Classroom, they should still take the test and bring it to class.  I will then correct it.

And, finally, it was time in class for the Poetry Jam, 2021!  The class was divided into 5 teams and took turns coming up to the front to recite their chosen poems.  The teams took turns "judging" the recitations of their classmates.

I loved listening to all of their poems (and heard a number of my favorites.)  I recorded the Poetry Jam and have posted the video on Google Classroom.  All of the judges' scores have been tallied, and here is the list, in no particular order, of the top 3 teams and top 3 individuals who will complete in the finals next week:

• Teams
• Team 1 (Grace, Matt, Julia)
• Team 2 (Kaylynn, Halle, Annalise)
• Team 3 (Anthony, Nina, Danica)
• Individuals
• Grace
• Annalise
• Nina

For the Final Round of Poetry Jam 2021, the team members should each bring 1 poem.  The individuals should also bring 1 poem.  I will also have a poem that we will do as a whole class.  We'll finish our year with a "Party," and I'll set up a table in the hallway with some snacks.  (Students can bring some if they'd like.)

I hope to finish getting all of the scores for current and late homework in my the end of the weekend.  As I've told the students, all work should be in by 11:59 PM on May 15.  I will send an email for you to double check your scores on Track My Grades.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Any old homework

-- Spring Grammar Test

-- The Reflection Paper

-- Bring a poem if you are a finalist

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

The Value of Reflection Papers

Poetry Jam 2021 Video

See you next week!

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 29)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day in class.  We started the class period with a Quick Write, and today's prompt was connected with the fact that it is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.  I gave the students a sheet of paper with an extra large pocket outline. They were to write a poem within the lines of that pocket.  They could write originals or copy one from our poetry book.  

Here are our unusual Words of the Day:

Hexadosioihexekontahexaphobie -- the fear of the number 666

ructation -- the act of belching

metanoia --  a tranformative change of heart; a conversion

The Final Drafts of the News Stories were due today, and I introduced the next writing assignment, which is an Essay Re-Write.  For this essay, students can choose any essay they have written this year for Writing 1, or they can choose an essay that they've written for another class.  They should take a one of their final drafts and look for ways to improve it.  I often suggest that students choose the essay that they got the worst grade on or that they want to spend some more time on. Another option can be to trade essays with a friend and re-write the friend's essay.  This writing assignment is due next week, and students should hand in the original along with the re-write.  (Note:  This isn't our regular pre-write to rough draft to final draft process.)

For our Literature portion of the class, we spend most of our time talking about one of my favorite poems by William Carlos Williams, "A Red Wheelbarrow."  After our discussion, I explained our Poetry Jam, which we will have for the next 2 weeks.  The class has been divided into teams, and those teams will compete in a group by reciting poetry.  (It looks like we might have some guest "judges" for the day.)  Each student should bring in 2 poems next week for the first round of the Poetry Jam.  

Here are the teams, I think.  (I forgot to take a picture of the board, so these teams might not be correct)

Team 1:  Grace, Matt, Julia, Lilia

Team 2:  Kaylynn, Halle, Annelise, Kelin

Team 3:  Danica, Nina, Anthony

Team 4:  Tate, Eden, Rachel T

Team 5:  Rachel C, Elijah, Cyprian

Finally, to conclude our Grammar for the year, I have a Final Sentence Patterns Test that they will take next week.  For this week, they have a review sheet that they should complete and then correct.  Correcting their own work will further help them review and will be much more beneficial than waiting a week to see if they got the answers right.  

We have a couple fun weeks planned to finish out our year, so let's make sure you get caught up on any late work.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Bring 2 poems for your contribution to the Poetry Jam (Here is the scoring information)

-- Complete the Essay Re-Write

-- Complete the Sentence Patterns Review sheet and correct it. (Bring the corrected version to class)

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Poetry Jam Rubric

Poetry Jam Rubric

	1	2	3
Level of Difficulty	Simple, Easy, Short	Somewhat challenging	Extremely challenging
Memorization	Not at all	Kind of	Absolutely
Physical Presence	No eye contact; stiff & uncomfortable	Comfortable & confident	Authoritative, compelling
Dramatic Voice & Articulation	Inaudible, distracted, over-emoting	Clear, adequate; not overly stylistic	Mastery of rhythm, skillful, reflects meaning

Original poetry = 1 extra point

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 4)

Greetings!

Just brief notes about today.  I'll give a fuller summary of the year next week.

This week's Quick Write options:

National Day of Prayer -- write about what you feel is the most pressing prayer need for our country.

Cinco de Mayo -- The 5th of May, -- write about what you know of Hispanic culture or your favorite Mexican food.

Star Wars Day -- "May the forth be with you."  See this article for how this became Star Wars day.

Words of the Day:

trans -- Latin, across -- trans-Atlantic, transportation, transport, transition, trans-continental

tempo -- Latin, time -- tempo, temporarily, temporal, contemporary

ultra -- Latin, beyond -- ultrasound, ultrasonic, ultraviolet

In with the Homework that I handed back were two handouts from My GradeBook:  missing reports, and current grade reports.  Since next week is our last week, I'd like students to be able to get any missing homework in.  If a student is missing any worksheets, he/she can find missing worksheets on Google Drive

Grammar Worksheets

Literature Worksheets

Writing Handouts

Students have finished the Mastering the Comma Review, and are to take the Spring Grammar Test about commas at home this week.

After handing in their homework for this week, we settled into our Poetry Jam. When one team recited, the other teams judged.  I didn't have time to enter all of the scores before the left for the day, so here are the results:

First	Team 2	8.4357
Second	Team 3	7.825
Third	Team 1	7.6
Fourth	Team 5	7.2
Fifth	Team 4	7.1

Next week Team 2 and Team 3 will participate in the Poetry Jam Play-offs.

Next week we will also have a final exam in the form of a Jeopardy game.  Students can bring snacks to share.

Assignments for Next Week 

-- Spring Grammar Test

-- Teams 2 & 3 need to bring a poem to recite

-- Any old homework!!

Links for This Week:

Class Notes

Spring Grammar Test

Grammar Worksheets

Literature Worksheets

Writing Handouts

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

Poetry Jam Rubric

Poetry Jam Rubric

	1	2	3
Level of Difficulty	Simple, Easy, Short	Somewhat challenging	Extremely challenging
Memorization	Not at all	Kind of	Absolutely
Physical Presence	No eye contact; stiff & uncomfortable	Comfortable & confident	Authoritative, compelling
Dramatic Voice & Articulation	Inaudible, distracted, over-emoting	Clear, adequate; not overly stylistic	Mastery of rhythm, skillful, reflects meaning

Original poetry = 1 extra point

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 14 (April 30)

Greetings!

We had a very full hour and a half for this, our penultimate class period.  April 30 is National Poem in Your Pocket day, so I gave them a sheet with a pocket shape for them to write their own original poetry on.  (Some students used these poems for our Poetry Jam, later in class.)

Following our Quick Write, the students took their Grammar Final.  Similar to the Mastering the Comma Review that they handed in last week, this was a "commas only" test.  They worked diligently to finish these.  I've graded most of them, and they all did well.  Hopefully, they can confidently consider themselves "Masters of the Comma."

The remainder of the class time was spent on our Poetry Jam.  A cross between a Poetry Slam,for which students write their own original poems, and Poetry Out Loud, for which the choose for a selected list of poems.  Both of these events are competitive poetry presentations.  The students were divided into teams; each student gave an individual presentation.  The other teams then scored the "players" using a rubric that divided the presentation into the following areas: level of difficulty, memorization, physical presence, and dramatic voice and articulation.  Players received an extra 2 points if the poem was an original.  

After we worked out the kinks of the scoring method -- adding & averaging then adding and averaging again -- we had a good solid round of presentations.  We had a mix of serious, light-hearted, and original poetry.  Even those who dislike poetry were good sports and gave good readings.  We have two teams who will participate in the "Play Offs" at the beginning of class this week.  For this round, I will provide the poetry.

This Thursday is our final week of classes for the CHAT school year.  I have 3 items on the agenda for this week:  a short reflection paper as the Quick Write, the Poetry "Play Offs," and a final exam for the students.  This exam looks a lot like a bingo game, complete with prizes.  Students may bring refreshments to share.

Assignments for our last week:

-- Bring in any missing homework

-- For those in presenting poetry, warm up your presenting voice.

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Value of Reflection Papers

National Poetry Month

Poetry Slams

Poetry Out Loud

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 23)

Greetings!

We're nearing the end of our classes here at CHAT, and I can sense a change is the atmosphere.  While the students are doing their best to stay engaged, you can tell that the end of the school year is just around the corner.

This week on April 23 was the 10th anniversary of Youtube.  For the Quick Write, I asked the students to write something about Youtube, which could include opinions about videos or their favorite  videos

Our Latin Roots of the Day:

navis -- L. ship -- English derivatives:  navy, nautical, navigate, circumnavigate, navigable, nave

nihil -- L. nothing -- English derivatives:  nihilism, nihilist, annihilate, annihilation, nil

nocto -- L. night -- English derivatives:  nocturnal, nocturne

nova -- L. new -- English derivatives: innovation, novice, novel, renovate, supernova, novelty

Students handed in the Final Drafts of their News Stories, and in return were given their final writing assignment:  an Essay Re-Write. For these essays, they are to select one of the essays to edit and revise.  This can be what they would consider a "worst essay" or an essay they would like to spend more time on.  They should consider the previously written final draft as the rough draft for their Re-Write.

Next week is a big week for our class.  For me, it's better to have the important, end of the year assignments due the week before the final week.  During the final week, we celebrate the end of the year with some poetry presentations and treats.

To finish out our Grammar unit of commas, we will have a test next week.  Similar to the Comma Review of last week, the test will be 37 sentences that require commas.  In class, we discussed how to study for this test.  They can go over past worksheets and assignments, check out previous e-mails, and read through blog posts from this semester.  To help, I'm sending the answer key for last week's "Mastering the Comma" assignment.

As we reviewed some comma rules, we found ourselves discussing at length compound and complex sentences.  We had some real teamwork going on as the students worked hard to fully understand.

Note:  If you will NOT be in class next week, let me know and I will send you the grammar test to take at home under the watchful eye of a parent.

Finally, the Poetry.  Next week we will start our "Poetry Jam."  The class will be divided into teams and as individual players will each present a poem for their teams.  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Essay Re-Write

-- Study for the Spring Grammar test

-- Prepare at least 1 poem for the Poetry Jam

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Grammar Equations

Essay Re-Write

Comma Usage Handout (from Week 1)

Purdue OWL:  Conquering the Comma

The Comma Song video

How to Use Commas Correctly video

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- OUR FINAL WEEK! (May 8)

Greetings!

On this last week, we eschewed our customary Quick Writes and Words of the Day.  Instead, we spent our last class was having some great literary fun and eating cookies and brownies.  Last week we began with our Poetry Jam, and we finished it this week.  We only got half-way through the first round during our previous week.  This week we finished our "Poetry Play-offs."  

I was really pleased with the involvement of the students.  They were great sports to not only recite so many pieces of poetry but to carefully score the presentations of their classmates.  

To conclude the class, 2 members from each team participated in a "rap" version of "Oh, the Places You Go."  I've posted some pictures from this class on the blog site.

Some students handed in some late homework, which I will finish grading.  The grades for this class will be ready to go out in a few days.  My "suggested grades," along with my thoughts on grades, will be out soon, too.

I've had a great year with these students.  They've been wonderfully engaged in our discussions and have worked hard on their essays.  They have grown as writers and thinkers.  I hope to see many of my Writing 1 students next year in Writing 2.

This week's Class Notes link.

Have a great summer!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 24)

Greetings!

We had a great class yesterday.  Beginning our class with a Quick Write, we celebrated William Shakespeare's birthday (a day late) with our own stories about "star crossed overs."  I asked them to be creative about pairing 2 unlikely candidates.  If this particular Quick Write didn't inspire, the students were also given the choice of writing about Batman (75th anniversary) or Earth Day (40th anniversary).

Our Words of the Day came from a book of common sayings and their origins.  The phrases we looked at this week were:

"Great Scott!" -- an exclamation taken from Winfield Scott, a general of the Mexican War and an arrogant, pompous presidential candidate opposing Franklin Pierce.

"Hat in the ring" -- a phrase that means to join a political race, taken from Ringstrasse, a city center in Vienna that was a gathering place for those politically involved in the city.  Gentlemen would be visible because of their hats.

"Hobnob" -- to socially mix with those of a higher class taken from the old English word that means "to give and receive."  People would gather at pubs and offer toasts to one another.

"Kit and Caboodle" -- the whole collection of things, taken from a set of tools/objects (kit) and personal items (fr. Dutch boodle)

Students handed in their News Story Final Drafts today, along with their self-evaluations.  I had asked the students to use the same rubric that I use to grade/score the papers.  Our next essay is a Re-Write of one of the essays that they've written for this class this year.  They might want to choose a paper that they feel needs improving or a favorite essay that they would like to work more on.

We had a a good amount of time to talk through some of our Poetry selections.  We read selections from William Shakespeare, John Donne, and John Milton.  These early British poets are not always the easiest to understand.  I appreciate that the students applied themselves to our discussion.

We're winding down our semester of classes, and part of our next two classes will be our "Poetry Jam."  Combining the ideas of a poetry slam (a competition featuring original poems) and Poetry Out Loud (a competition featuring pre-selected poems) students will read or recite poems for the class. James Stephenson set up a bracket for us to use.  I've divided the students into teams (please remember your number!).  They are to bring 1 - 2 poems next week.  We will take time for some team collaboration before starting.

We ran out of time to discuss the Reflection Paper that I would like them to write.  Next week, as the class's Quick Write, I will be asking them to take a longer time to write about what they've learned about writing and about themselves as writers this year.  I would like each student to take some time before class time to brainstorm their ideas about this topic.  If they would like, they can write some notes or compose a kind of pre-write that they can use to answer this.  I'm attaching a link to a scholarly article about the value of reflection as part of the learning process.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Essay Re-write

-- Select 1 - 2 poems

-- Reflection paper brainstorming

This week's links:

Class Notes

Improving Learning through Reflection

Poetry Out Loud

Poetry Slams

Have a beautiful weekend!

Mrs. Prichard