Thoughts on Grading

Dear Writing 1 Class,

I've just finished calculating the grades for this first semester.  As tutors, these are suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

 

Before I send them, let me share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschooled, I didn't give my children grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective.  I taught my own children for mastery.  We didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready no matter how long that took. 

 

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as a person or as an academic learner.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

 

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

 

For this class, I gave points for attendance, participation, short assignments and longer papers.  I also offered a few extra credit opportunities.  I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best.

 

Each student (and parents) will get an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester. 

 

Blessings,

Tammy Prichard

 

PS.  I will be gone to England and without internet options from December 28 to January 9.  Feel free to contact me after that date if you have any questions about the scores.

Writing 1 Spring Semester Initial Syllabus

Writing 1 Syllabus

Semester 2

Tammy Prichard (tamprichard@gmail.com)

Resources:

·         A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court  (Mark Twain)  Dover Publications

·         Great Short Poems (Philip Smith, ed.)  Dover Publications

Objectives:

Literature

            As we read Mark Twain’s classic, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (ACY), we will specifically study the character development, themes, and humorous language of the book.  Not only is this book an entertaining story, it is well-crafted and artful.

Writing

            The students will write 4 papers for this class.  Since Mark Twain was a reporter, it seems fitting to do some journalistic writing.  The first assignment will require some research, while the second one will utilize some persuasion techniques.  The third papers will be an analytical response to our literature.  All of these papers will follow the 3-step process (pre-writing to rough draft to final copy).  The final paper will be a re-write of any of the papers that they’ve written this year.  “There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.” (Louis D. Brandeis)

Grammar

            We will continue to study grammar, paying special attention to building strong, clear, accurate sentences.  Again, the open spaces on the syllabus leave room to work on weak areas.

Initial Draft – Subject to change

Week	Literature	Writing	Grammar
1	Introduction to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (ACY)		Sentence construction review
2	ACY:  Intro; Ch. 1 – 4	News Story Pre-Write	Correcting weak sentences
3	ACY:  Ch. 5 – 9	News Story Rough Draft
4	ACY:  Ch. 10 – 14		Review common errors in rough drafts
5	ACY:  Ch. 15 – 19	News Story Final Copy
6	ACY:  Ch. 20 – 24	Editorial Pre-Write
7	ACY:  Ch. 25 – 29	Editorial Rough Draft
8	ACY:  Ch. 30 – 34		Review common errors in rough drafts
9	ACY:  Ch. 35 – 38; Final PS	Editorial Final Copy
10	ACY:  Presentations	Theme & Character Pre-Write
11	ACY:  Baseball	Theme & Character Rough Draft
12	American Poetry		Review common errors in rough drafts
13	American Poetry	Theme & Character Final Copy
14	American Poetry & Poetry Presentations	Re-Write #1
15	Poetry Presentations & Final Exam	Re-Write #2

Word Search for A Christmas Carol

Here is an original word search to use in conjunction with the reading or studying of Charles Dickens' classic story, "A Christmas Carol."

The word list is from vocabulary generated in the first and second section of the story.

J X P X M G K Y Z B P X V L U R Y D V K
L B Z F K I D H U F J E C U S V C A B X
Z M Q I G J H Y F H J D O L O S S O D U
J D X D T B O G D B E T N I N H W O S D
C U Q Z B M L Y F W A C G N C Y S N W B
O Q S B I M P R O P R I E T Y B X E H U
R B C N F I Z L O E R T A I J D Q C Q Y
D M O L E S L V D L D S L M N H T C T L
B U X M V A O E K X W U W A D K I A Y S
S R B L H N N L G N N A T T P N E R E S
D F S N S T P A I A Q C C I I R K T J X
S Z U D I H R F T T T S U O T E V O C C
D H O A N R L I R Z A E H N A L Q G F L
A F L C E O C J F N C R E S O L U T E Q
T S U T L P V E T L L O Y X S X X M Y Q
I H M B P I U Q P S E L F O K Y Y D I H
V B E X E C U T O R A P T U R E H P O C
R H R H R A W T Z V A M D Q S A F E A W
R W T U C N C B O S E I A K H L R L J R
Q Q U V G T R U Y N L O P U A S R E H Y

Word List:
CAUSTIC
CONGEAL
COVETOUS
CREDENTIALS
ENTREATY
EXECUTOR
GARRET
IMPLORE
IMPROPRIETY
INTIMATION
LEGATEE
LUNATIC
MISANTHROPIC
MULTITUDE
OMINOUS
RAPTURE
REPLENISH
RESOLUTE
SOLITARY
TREMULOUS
TRIFLE
UNHALLOWED

Writing 1 Class Notes -- December 6

Greetings!

We are in Week 14 of our Fall term!  Next week will be our last week of classes before Christmas break.  The students have worked hard this fall.

I used a Story Starter book for the Quick Write.  With his eyes closed, a student randomly chose pages that read:  "I've never seen this before," said the kangaroo as he/she turned on the flashlight.  As always, the students were creative; we even had a poem.

For our Vocabulary Practice we did a rhyming exercise.  Often at our dinner table we will take turns rhyming our sentences.  We did the same in class today.  Again, the students were creative in constructing rhyming sentences with "-en" and "-end" words.

I gave the students a quiz for A Christmas Carol.  It was labeled "Final Exam," but it was really was a simple multiple choice exercise that I had the students do together. I'm not a big fan of multiple choice tests because they test a students surface knowledge of a topic and not the depth to which they understand the material.  However,surface knowledge is a part of knowing a topic.  In addition to the quiz, I gave the students a vocabulary Word Search to do next week for Extra Credit.

I handed back the rough drafts of their Biography Essays.  The students chose a rich variety of topics:  e.g. Elvis, Herman Cain, Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan.  We discussed common mistakes found in their essays.  Commas continue to be challenging.  Another problem was with pronoun, verb, and noun agreement.  The final copies are due next week.

Assignments for Next week:
-- Read Stave Five of A Christmas Carol
-- Write 3 "Final Exam" questions for us to use in class
-- Write Final Copy of Biography Essay.
-- Extra Credit:  Word Search for vocabulary words (which can be found on Dropbox)

Next week we'll have a "final" for A Christmas Carol and play some word/writing/literature -related games.  Students can bring treats if they want.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- November 29

Greetings!

A quick recap of this week's class:
Our Quick Write required them to write about Thanksgiving from the perspective of an inanimate object.  We had a story about a shredded napkin and a turkey gone to heaven. 

I used our Vocabulary Building time to review words from our book, A Christmas Carol.  I made a matching exercise using the words and 3 synonyms for each.  I allowed them to work together.  I enjoyed listening to their diligent conversations about the meanings of the words.

The students handed in their rough drafts for their Biographical Essays.  They had few questions which leads me to think that they're growing in their understanding of developing thesis statements and organizing content.  I look forward to reading them this week.  We did discuss some grammar topics, especially my personal pet peeve regarding sentences using "there is/are/was/were" etc. 

We are at Stave Three in our Dickens book.  This section features the Spirit of Christmas Present.  We found some of our vocabulary words from our earlier exercise which helped us have fuller understandings of the words when found in context.  We read portions aloud and discussed Dickens's use of contrasts and use of time to teach his lessons.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Stave Four of A Christmas Carol.
-- Answer 7 of the study questions for this stave
-- Define and find roots for half of the vocabulary words.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard