Links to Videos for Week 6

Greetings Class!

Below are some helpful links for our new book of short stories by O. Henry.  The website with information is from Wikipedia.  (Information about O. Henry)

The links below are videos from Youtube.  Some are recordings are readings of the stories.  A couple of them are dramatizations of the stories.

After Twenty Years
Librivox Recording
Legos & the Story
Dramatization by High School Class


The Gift of the Magi
Librivox Recording
Video
Video with story text

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 6 (February 20)

Greetings!

We had shortened classes at CHAT this week due to the impending blizzard.  Since I had to travel south into the "blizzard zone" after classes, I was glad to get an early start for my ride home.  Even with the shortened class, we were able to accomplish quite a a bit.  These are hard-working, conscientious students.

For our Quick Write, I asked for a favorite activity, favorite type of book, and a favorite food.  So, today we wrote about playing basketball, pizza, and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.  They could either write a story or a comparison/contrast quick write.

Our Words of the Day were

factoid -- fr. Latin, factum (deed or detail) -- an unsubstantiated detail; something presented as a fact but without support

fatuous -- fr. Latin, fatuus (foolish, insipid) -- adj. meaning foolish, silly, or stupid (We also discovered that the word "infatuated" comes from the same Latin root.)

fungible -- fr. Latin functio (performance, function) -- adj. meaning exchangeable or replaceable (multi functional)

I handed back the  final copies of their Narrative Essays. They all did a wonderful job.  We discussed the scores and the rubric.  I had asked the students to "grade" their own essays.  Most of the students felt that having this rubric was helpful.  These rubrics can be tools for them to use as they write their next essays.

The students are now working on Character or Theme Essays.  The Pre-writes were due this week, and rough drafts are due next week.  As I mentioned in class, if pre-writes are handwritten, they can be kept to be used to write the rough drafts and handed in next week with the rough draft.  These essays can be a bit more challenging, but I have great faith in these kids!

We've finished the Jekyll & Hyde book.  (If you haven't read the book, I'm afraid this may spoil the ending.)  Some students suspected that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person; others didn't find out until the end.  We discussed the ideas of good and evil.  In a Christian classroom, we can discuss this idea in the context of grace and forgiveness.

I handed out our next book:  The Gift of the Magi and Other Short Stories by O. Henry.  According to Wikipedia, O. Henry's "short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and clever twist endings." I find his stories delightful, and I hope my students do, too.

The students were given Short Story charts.  One worksheet is about Characters on one side and Story elements on the other.  The other worksheet is about Themes on one side and Setting on the other.  For this next week they are to fill out one worksheet for one story, and the other for the second story. 

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read the following short stories:
     -- "The Gift of the Magi" (p. 1); "After Twenty Years" (p. 21)

     -- Fill out 2 short story charts,

-- Write Rough Draft of Character or Theme Essay

-- No Grammar Worksheets this week

This week's blogs

Class Notes

Links to Videos for the short stories

Have a great weekend.  Stay safe and warm!

Mrs. Prichard

Week 5 Grammar Exercises

Class,
If you want some more practice with the pronouns "who" and "whom," here are some online games that might be helpful:

Word Choice — Exercise 6: Who and Whom
Word Choice — Exercise 7: Who and Whom
Word Choice — Exercise 8: Whoever and Whomever

Theme Essay

Theme Essay

Definition

The theme is the major idea the author is trying to “get across.”  The themes of a literary work are the underlying key ideas or the generalizations it communicates about life. At times, the author’s theme may not agree with your own beliefs, but even then, if it is skillfully written, the work will still have a theme that illuminates some aspects of true human experience.  A Theme Essay explores these ideas and helps the reader gain a greater understanding of the book as a whole.   

Remember that there may be various themes in any one piece of literature.  The following are ways by which a theme may be revealed:  direct statements of the author, direct statements by the characters, dramatic statements by characters, imagery, characters representing ideas, and the entire work representing ideas.

The body of the essay will center on your objective, which is (1) to define the idea, and (2) show its importance in the work.” 

Questions for Theme Analysis

–  What important idea or theme does this literary work convey? Think about the topics of some of your journal entries. What questions do the journal prompts raise about human nature?

–  What do characters do that helps illustrate this idea?

–  What do characters say that helps to illustrate this idea?

–  What events take place in the work that help to illustrate this idea?

–  Are there any recurrent images or clusters of images? Do these images support the idea or theme that you find in the work?

–  What does the narrator say that helps to illustrate this idea?

Writing your Essay

            First, pick one theme to write your analysis.  Next, you need to form your thesis statement. After deciding on a thesis, you need to form a rough outline using the provided example. You will need to provide a number of examples from the book to illustrate the theme, which will be the components of your three body paragraphs. You will need three quotes per body paragraph, so nine quotes all together. Don’t rely on the quotes to explain themselves. You need to lead into the quote, and also comment on the quote after you quote it. You need to effectively show how the quote helps to prove your point.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due 2/20; Rough Draft due 2/27;  Final Draft due 3/13.

– Essay length:  600 – 800 words (between 3 and 5 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

Character Essay

Character Essay

Definition

            The purpose of a character analysis is to provide information and understanding about a character from a piece of literatures.  Writers use supporting details from the book to back up their opinions and evaluations about the character.        

Thesis Development

            Your thesis should state a stand or opinion about the character you have chosen.  Your thesis can be concerned with the character’s weaknesses or strengths, primary motivations, inner qualities, interactions with others,

Organization

            Your essay should follow the standard structure with an introduction, body, and conclusion.  In the body, the paragraphs should cover the points that you will use to support your thesis.

Tips on Prewriting

·         Survey all the details you have collected and group them in clusters that reveal some similar qualities.

·         In a single sentence, sum up what the character is like.  This summary can be the thesis or controlling idea for your entire essay.

·         Select the details that help support, explain, and illustrate your thesis.

·         Pull from your chart with material you’ve collected.  Use effective quotes and examples.

·         Plan your introduction and conclusion.

Tips on Writing the Introduction

·         The opening paragraph of your essay should introduce who this character is, briefly explaining what his/her role is in the story and why you have chosen to analyze this personality. 

·         Define your character in terms of whether he is the protagonist (hero), antagonist (villain),  supporting player or a catalyst.  A catalyst character often does not participate directly in any of the action, but instead fulfills the role of inspiring the lead character.

·         Possible information to include in your introduction:

–   Make some general comments about the subject matter of the thesis.  Give background information.

–   Mention personal experiences and attitudes you and your readers might share about the character.  Do you think other people have the same opinion about this person.

–   Include thoughts about the author.  Does his life give any clues to this character?

–   Write a few general sentences about the story.

Using Quotations

·         This type of paper requires that you use quotations from the story to support your points.  Be sure that you quote accurately and that your reason for quoting is clear.  Be careful not to use long quotes for your essay will merely repeat the words of the story.

  

Writing the Conclusion

·         The final paragraph should not introduce a new idea because it cannot be developed.  The conclusion should smoothly bring the reader back to the thesis of the essay.  It is the final comment you make and is your last chance to drive home your main idea

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due Week 6 (2/20);  Rough Draft due Week 7 (3/6); Final Draft due Week 9 (3/20).

– Essay length:  600 – 900 words (between 3 and 5 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 5 (February 13)

Greetings!

We had another full class time this week. I'm always amazed at how quickly our time goes.  Our Quick Write titled "Reel Time."  This past week, Shirley Temple died, and I was remembering how our family enjoyed her movies.  I had the class write about either the first movies they remembered watching OR a movie watched over and over again.  Many of them have the same memories of the same movies

Below are our Words of the Day:

acumen -- (from Latin, acuere to sharpen) noun; shrewd, sharp perception 

avoirdupois -- (French)  referring to a system of weights in which 16 ounces is a pound

vol au vent -- (French) a very light puff pastry filled with meats and a sauce

farrago -- (from Latin; meaning a mixed fodder) a confused mixture, jumble, hodgepodge

We are nearing the end of our book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and we discussed it for quite a while, especially since their next writing assignment is a "writing about literature" paper.  They are to choose to write about either a character or a theme.  They have charts that I handed out at the beginning of the book that they can use for the pre-writes.  For these papers, they are to think carefully about a thesis and to find specific examples from the text to support this thesis.  One student asked about writing two essays.  Any student who likes can write ONE extra credit essay this term.  

We are continuing with pronouns during our Grammar discussions.  This week we looked at when they should use "who" and "whom."  I've attached the worksheets with this e-mail, and they are also on Dropbox.  Need more practice?  Follow this link to another blog post with some links to an online grammar site.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read the final Chapter of Jekyll/Hyde

-- Fill out the chart for the theme or character that will serve as a Pre-Write for the next paper

-- Grammar worksheets -- more work with pronouns

This Week's Blogs:

Class Notes

Resources for the Book

Themes Worksheet

Character Worksheet
Week 5 Grammar Practice

Have a great weekend.  Make the most of the winter!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 6)

Greetings!

We had a great day in class this week.  After a week of snow and another of sub-zero temperatures, it was nice to have a run-of-the-mill cold winter day. 

This year is the 10th anniversary of Facebook.  Thinking of how pervasive computer technology is in today's culture, I asked the students to write as their Quick Writes:  "Imagine a day without computer technology."  For some students, this would be a difficult challenge, while for others, they wouldn't know much of a difference.  I mentioned to them that our family occaisionally takes media & technology fasts.  It's good to clear our heads from so many distractions.

Our Words of the Day were:

suave -- French; pleasant, sweet, sophisticated

subito -- Italian/Latin; suddenly. abruptly

subpoena -- Latin; literally, under penalty; a legal document requiring that a person appear in court

sub judice -- Latin; literally, under a judge; this phrase means that a case is before the court and currently under consideration

I handed back the rough drafts for the Narrative Essays.  Generally, as I read through the rough drafts, I keep track of common mistakes and error.  These become our Grammar lessons for the day.  The most common errors that need attention as they revise and edit their papers are problems related to contractions, compound sentences,  and "there are" sentences.  I gave the students half-sheets for taking notes.  When they hand in their final drafts, I would also like them to list the first five corrections and the last five corrections in their papers.

Since we took so much time to talk about the papers and grammar, we didn't take time for discussion about our book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  We'll discuss the book at length next week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 6 & 7 of Jekyll/Hyde (no discussion questions)

-- Finish Final Draft of Narrative Essay

-- Include a list of first five and last five corrections on your essay.

This week's blog

Class Notes

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Prichard