Thursday, November 21, 2013

Bad Writing Samples

BAD WRITING SAMPLES

#1       The amount of grammer and usage error’s today is astounding. Not to mention spelling. If I was a teacher, I’d feel badly that less and less students seem to understand the basic principals of good writing. Neither the oldest high school students nor the youngest kindergartner know proper usage. A student often thinks they can depend on word processing programs to correct they’re errors. Know way!
            Watching TV all the time, its easy to see why their having trouble. TV interferes with them studying and it’s strong affect on children has alot to due with their grades. There’s other factors, too, including the indifference of parents like you and I. A Mom or Dad often doesn’t know grammer themselves. We should tell are children to study hard like we did at they’re age and to watch less TV then their classmates.

#2       The television can be helpful sometimes, especially when people watch the news, but of course we all know that you can’t get everyone to watch the news. Some people watch television to learn about things that go on in our world. And there’s people that watch it cause there’s nothing else to do. People that watch television because there’s nothing else to do are making television harmful because almost all of the shows have something wrong with them like the language, their actions, and some of the things that they show. And most of the kids that watch these shows want to be the same way. Like say that a teenager killed someone, the kids that watch it and think that’s cool and do the same thing when they get older.
            Some shows are learning experienses like a show on saving our economy, if you  watched this you could help save the economy. I think that there are too many people using television in the harmful way such as gaining weight from sitting in front of the television too much. There are also a log of people who stay away from television as often as they can and try to be more active, but still do watch the educational way of shows and that is the education way of doing it. There are also a lot of controversy going on about some of the things they on television. But it you think about it television is very helpful.



#3       As that there are alot of people (weather they are philosophers or not) there are many exceptions to moral rules or laws. One thing I find interesting about Immanuel Kant, are his strong feelings toward not lying at any time ever no matter what and not to deal with the consequences and the considerations of individual situations and circumstances and possible exceptions that need to be accounted for when making a decision of morality and ethics. Immanuel Kant felt strongly that lying was always wrong, he was against it. But whose to say? Wasn’t lying just Kants biggest how shall I say "pet-peeve"? "No lying ever, no exceptions" needs to be addressed more seriously in the future by later philosophers, if you ask me its worth a try. Immanuel Kant was probably one of the most supportive philosiphers of absolute rules in the ethical and moral decision-making systems of thought I have studied.

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

Greetings!

Today's class was good.  We covered a lot and had some thoughtful conversations about writing.

The Quick Write for the day came from a creative writing story starters book.  They were to incorporate the following sentence into a short story:  "How could you do this to me?" said the lion tamer as he/she tumbled over the waterfall.  They had some creative responses to this writing prompt.

The Words of the Day were from a dictionary since I'd forgotten my book on foreign phrases at home:
tachycardia --  excessive rapid heart beat
tableau -- a representation of a picture, statue, or scene by one or more persons suitably costumed 
tabloid -- a newspaper or magazine filled with sensational news
taciturn -- inclined to silence

As part of our vocabulary work, we made a scale from taciturn to loquacious, including other words that are synonyms for talking a lot.  Without telling them what either taciturn or loquacious mean, I asked them to locate themselves on the continuum between the two words.  It was humorous to watch the talkative ones put their marks near taciturn, and vice versa.

I collected from them their rough drafts of their History or Biography Essays and their A Christmas Carol Study Guide questions.  I will hand their rough drafts back to them at the next class.

We talked through the questions for Stave III from the Study Guide for our book, A Christmas Carol. This is the section about the Ghost of Christmas Present, and I read aloud to them some of the descriptions.  They had thoughtful and insightful responses to the questions. 

After those small groups, I rearranged the class into different groups to do some editing practice.  Giving them some Bad Writing Samples, they worked together to fix the mistakes.  We then put those corrections on the board.  They're becoming more careful writers with each exercise.

They probably don't need reminding, but we don't have class next week.  They can spend Thursday eating turkey and hanging out with the family, instead.

Assignments for Dec. 5
-- Edit Bad Writing Samples #2 & #3
-- Rewrite 2 paragraphs from the Grapes of Wrath excerpt, writing it in a different tone.

This week's blog posts:
Class Notes
Bad Writing Samples
A Christmas Carol Study Guide

Happy Thanksgiving!  Be blessed!
Mrs. Prichard

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 14)

Greetings,

We had a good class this week.  For our Quick Write, I had the students make up an adventure, in celebration of the birthday of Astrid Lindgren, the author of the Pippi Longstocking books.  We had real and imaginary persons in a number of adventures.

Our Words for the Day were taken from the vocabulary lists for A Christmas Carol:
jocund --fr. Latin jocundus, pleasant; cheerful, gay, merry
lustrous -- gleaming, radiant, shining
corroborate -- fr. Latin, corroborare, to strengthen; to make certain or confirm another's statement
reclamation -- the act of reclaiming
ubiquitous -- fr. Latin, ubique, everywhere; existing or being everywhere


This week we did an all-class writing exercise.  In writing, students are often not sure what details to include or in what order to write those details.  I had been doing some research about my family heritage and had some details about my great, great, great grandfather, Morten Olsen.  I filled the white board with those details and then set the students to the task of writing a paragraph or two about them.  When finished, we discussed what information they felt was essential and what they felt could be omitted.  I then divided the class into four small groups so that they could compare their paragraphs with one another.  I enjoyed listening to their conversations as they read aloud their writing.

I handed back their Final Drafts of their Examples/Illustration Essays.  We discussed the rubric for the essays.  Since we had talked about Introductions and Conclusions, I payed special attention to those.  We will focus on various points of the rubric with the papers so that they students can consider what aspects of their writing they want to improve.

They were to have worked on their pre-writes for their History or Biographical Essays.  The Rough Drafts are due next week.  One student reminded me about the option of doing both, one for extra credit.  If any students want to do this, I'll never say "no" to extra writing practice.  

We've not done justice to our book, A Christmas Carol.  Next week that will be the focus of our discussion.  They are to read Stave III for next week.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Stave III of A Christmas Carol. 
-- Answer 3 questions from the study guide for Stave III First Half.
-- Write the rough draft of either the History or Biography Essay
-- Extra Credit:  Re-write the paragraph about Morten Olsen, paying special attention to sentence constructions.  Make it an excellent paragraph.

This week's blogs
Class Notes

Have a great weekend.  It should be a tad warmer, before it turns cold again.
Mrs. Prichard

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 7)

Greetings!
We started class today with our usual Quick Write.  Since today is Billy Graham's 95th birthday, we wrote on the topic "Evangelism."  Many of the students were only vaguely aware of who this man is, but I have friends and family members who were saved through his ministry.  For those interested, here's the link to the program "The Cross," which his son, Franklin Graham calls his father's last message to America.
Our Words of the Day:
berserk -- Norwegian; literally an ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle; refers to something wild or violent
je ne sai quoi -- French; literally "I don't know that;"  refers to a an intangible quality that makes something distinctive
macro -- Greek; large & complex; pertaining to a very large scale
dumdum -- Hindi; a city in India; a hollow-nosed bullet that expands on impact
jodhpurs -- Hindi; riding breeches for equestrians
cheongsam -- Chinese; a long dress; a long traditional dress with a slit up the side and a high collar
We welcomed a new student, Jayden, to our class today.

They handed in their Final Drafts of their Examples/Illustration Essay.  Along withe the essays, they were to include their 5 reasons for corrections and the answers to the 2 questions below.  If these were not included today, they can be handed in next week.
1.  What topic are you making clear by giving examples?
2.  What specific examples are you giving to explain your topic?

We combined some Grammar discussion with the introduction of the next essay.  Before I explained the Biography or History Essays, we reviewed the 8 parts of speech and articles (a, an, and the).  Our grammar discussion began when a student asked why I had written "an historical."  For those interested, here's an excerpt from a website:
Except - The rules before "h" are a little tricky, but clear: if a word begins with an "h" sound and the first syllable is stressed (like "hotel"), then it never takes "an". If the first syllable is not stressed (like "historical") then it is possible to use "an". Some usage authorities would say you must use "an" in those cases, but Nohat is not one of those authorities. You find both "a" and "an" used before words like "historical".

They can choose to write either a Biography Essay or a History Essay.  We discussed how to develop a thesis for this kind of essay.  For next week, they are to do some pre-writing that can include any research, brainstorming, mind-mapping, charting, or outlining.  In other words, anything that will help them write their rough draft.
We had just enough time to introduce A Christmas Carol and to read aloud the first page.  I'm hoping they enjoy this book as much as I do.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Stave 2
-- Choose 3 questions from the Study Guide and write out the answers
-- Prewriting for the Biography or History Essay.
This week's blogs
Class Notes
History Essay
Biography Essay
Pre-Writing Excercises
Have a great weekend!

Pre-Writing Exercises




Getting Started
·        Think right:  believe in yourself and ability to learn; keep trying and learn from mistakes
·        Get organized
  Use a notebook:  keep track of handouts and assignments
  Take notes:  notes help you to retain important information and stay focused; write down whatever your teacher writes on the board and specific information about assignments.
  Schedule study time:  don’t leave assignments to the last minute; schedule regular time
  Use good resources:  teachers, books, on-line sources, classmates
           

First Steps to Writing
·        Understanding the assignment
  Make sure you are clear on requirements:
Due Date
Length
Format of paper
Topic restrictions
·        Narrowing the topic
  Find an area of the topic that you can write about
  Narrowing tree to divide a general topic or subject into more specific parts until you find a specific topic of interest
  Brainstorming by thinking of the aspects of the topic or of specific examples and writing down all the ideas that come to mind (can be done in a group)
·        Determining the writing context
  Purpose:  why are you writing, what your goals are, and what you hope to accomplish; what to include and what to leave out; most writing is to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.
  Audience:  tailor your statements to the person or group to whom you are speaking; keep in mind your audience’s interests, concerns, values, educational backgrounds, and attitudes.
  Tone:  the writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience; can range from serious, sarcastic, angry, humorous, condescending, insensitive, compassionate, etc.
·        Formulating a main idea:  think about the direction you might be heading in or what you might write about; stating a tentative main idea will help you generate ideas about your narrowed topic more effectively.


Generating Supporting Ideas
·        Brainstorming:  write down everything you think of regarding this topic; be aware of all the senses; can be done in phrases; can be done individually or in a group
·        Freewriting:  start writing sentences and paragraphs; write everything that comes to mind
·        Listing:  visualize and write what comes to mind;
·        Clustering/ Mind map:  cluster related ideas together; group or organize ideas
·        Dividing:  break the topic into its components; use journalistic questions (who, what, where, when, why how)



Organizing Ideas
·        State the main idea:  narrow your topic into a thesis statement; sometimes this will need to be revised as you gather materials
·        Map your topic:  Use the a table similar to the one below the develop your ideas

Supporting Ideas
Specific Details
Relation to Thesis




·        Outline:  use the formal outline structure to help organize topics of support and subtopics.  The outline below is an example of style.
I.  Introduction
            A.  Specifics
            B.  Specifics 
II.  Suppporting idea #1
            A.  Specifics
            B.  Specifics
                        1.  Details
                        2.  More details
III.  Supporting idea #2
            A.  Specifics
                        1.  Details
                        2.  More details
            B.  Specifics
IV.  Conclusion


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

Biography Essay



Definition
            A biographical essay demonstrates that you have a good knowledge of a person’s life and a good grasp of that person’s importance and contributions to our world.  A typical essay will consist of an outline of a person’s life, accomplishments and events in life, impact and influence on society and peers, and any background information.



Thesis Development
            The thesis for a biographical essay will be some statement about this person’s contributions.  Your thesis statement for this essay will assert your point of view, opinions, or evaluation of the value of this person’s life. 



Organization
            An obvious organizational plan for this kind of essay is chronological; you cover the main events of the subject’s life as they happened.  Another strategy focuses on a few important events, building up to the one you think is most important.  A third plan divides the person’s life into categories and discusses them one at a time.  In each strategy, you are supporting and explaining your thesis.



Some Helpful Tips on Writing
Support your thesis with examples and details.
Give sufficient background information.
Including more information than is necessary.  It is easy to focus on story-telling and not tie your writing into the thesis.



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



Saturday, November 2, 2013

A Christmas Carol Vocabulary List

A Christmas Carol Vocabulary

Choose 10 words from each Stave to define (and find any Latin or Greek roots, naturally!)

Stave 1
Stave 2
Stave 3
Stave 4
Stave 5
Unhallowed
Entreaty
Impropriety
Multitude
Executor
Trifle
Resolute
Tremulous
Legatee
Implore
Lunatic
Rapture
Garret
Covetous
Replenish
Credentials
Congeal
Misanthropic
Solitary
Intimation
Ominous
Caustic
Plaque
Reclamation
Expend
Tumult
Recumbent
Jocund
Transition
Capacious
Tunic
Instantaneous
Loath
Deftly
Brigands
Lustrous
Latent
Condescension
Corroborate
Pillaged
Conducive
Laden
Decanter
Aspiration
Consolation
Glee
Subsequently
Withered
Seething
Demurely
Prematurely
Goblets
Demeanor
Conspicuous
Shabby
Exulted
Grog
Compulsion
Swarthy
Ubiquitous
Blithe
Abyss
Intricate
Bilious
Ensued
Dismal
Repute
Flaunting
Beseech
Inexorable
Disgorge
Repent
Relents
Replete
Reek
Scanty
Faltered
Foreshadow
Repulse
Slipshod
Revered
Essence
Intercede
Dwindle
Beetling
Avarice
Tarry
Strive
Gruel
Recompense
Jiffy
Hearty
Peals
Portly
Feign
Sealing wax
Jovial
Pang
Waistcoat
Illustrious
Extravagance
Loitered
Sidled
Endeavor
Amends
Giddy
Poulterer
Array
Borough
Dispelled


A Christmas Carol Study Guide

A Christmas Carol Study Questions




Stave One Questions ~
1. What is the simile in the second paragraph?
2. Why does the narrator make such a point of Marley’s being dead?
3. Why doesn’t the weather affect Scrooge?
4. How is Scrooge’s nephew different from Scrooge?
5. What do the “portly gentlemen” who come in after Scrooge’s nephew leave want?
6. How does the knocker change?
7. Why does Scrooge like the darkness?
8. What has Marley’s ghost been doing since his death?
9. What is the warning that Marley gives Scrooge?
10. Why are the phantoms upset?

Stave Two Questions ~
1. What was the strangest thing about the way the spirit looked?
2. What is Scrooge’s initial attitude toward the spirit?
3. What is different about Scrooge when he says “Remember it? I could walk it with a blindfold?”
4. Who is Scrooge talking about when he says “Poor boy!”
5. What does it tell us about Scrooge when Dickens observes“a rapidity of transition very foreign to his usual character.”?
6. When Fan comes to pick Scrooge up, we learn a reason why Scrooge may have turned out the way he did. What is this reason?
7. What kind of people are the Fezziwigs?
8. Who is Belle and why was she important to Scrooge?
9. Why does Scrooge say “Remove me.”
10. How does Scrooge try to "extinguish the light"? Does he succeed? What is the light a symbol of?

Stave Three Questions
First Half ~
1. How is what Scrooge is thinking as he lies in bed waiting to see if the spirit appears different from the previous chapter?
2. What does the spirit look like?
3. What is this ghost’s personality like?
4. How has Scrooge’s attitude toward his being escorted by a ghost changed?
5. What is the point of the long description beginning “The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker …” and continuing on for several pages until, “But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their gayest faces.”
6. What are three significant things we learn about the Cratchit’s?
7. How is Scrooge affected by seeing the family?


Second Half ~
1.What does the Spirit mean when he says But they Know me. See!”
2. What is the point of going to the lighthouse? to the ship?
3. What is the great surprise to Scrooge in the next paragraph (96)?
4. What would Fred think would be a positive outcome of his Christmas invitation to Scrooge?  What happens to Scrooge’s mood as the party goes on? Why do you think this happens?
6. Describe the game called “Yes and No” Scrooge witnesses at his nephew’s Christmas party.
7. What does it mean to say the boy and the girl (Ignorance and Want) are “Man’s children”?

Stave Four Questions ~
1. What does the spirit of Christmas future look like?
2. What is this spirit’s personality like?
3. How does Scrooge feel about this spirit?
4. What is the point of the long discussion between Joe and Mrs. Dilber?
5. What are some of the words Dickens uses to create the mood of the paragraphs that follow?  What is this mood?
6. When Scrooge asks the phantom to let him "see some tenderness connected with a death,” What does the ghost show him?

7. What is the lesson Scrooge learns in this stave that he had not learned before? Why is this stave needed when Scrooge’s attitude had already changed so much.