Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 10 (March 27)

Greetings!

We had a good, productive week after our “Spring Break.”  The Quick Write this week was “What did you NOT do during Spring Break?”  Some students wrote their quick writes in double negatives.  For example, “I didn’t not watch a movie.” 

Our Words of the Day were all “Janus words.”  Named after the Roman god who had two faces, these are words that have meanings that are almost opposites.  Below is the list of words that we looked at:

–   To weather can mean "to endure" or "to erode."

–   Sanction can mean "to allow" or "to prohibit."

–   Fix can mean "a solution" (as in "find a quick fix") or "a problem" ("left us in a fix").

–   Clip can mean "to separate" (as in "clip the coupon from the paper") or "to join" (as in "clip the answer sheets together").

–   Left as a verb in the past tense means "to have gone"; as an adjective, it means "remaining."

–   Wear can mean "to last under use" or "to erode under use."

–   Buckle can mean "to fasten" or "to bend and then break."

–   The verb bolt can mean "to secure, lock" or "to start suddenly and run away."

–   Fast can mean "moving quickly" (as in "running fast") or "not moving" (as in "stuck fast").

We discussed our next essay, which is a News Story.  Since the pre-write was due today, they have chosen their topics and have begun some preliminary research.  We discussed the parameters of this essay:  it needs to be a factual event; any interviews must be real; it can be formatted as a newspaper article; it can have a clear thesis or one that is implied.  The rough draft for this paper can be handwritten, but the final draft needs to be typed.

Continuing with our Short Stories, we read our final O. Henry short story, “Ransom of Red Chief.”  This is a classic which is often included in children’s anthologies and has been made into numerous films.  We also learned a new word today:  philoprogenitiveness.   Our next literature unit will include poetry, and the students were given their new books this week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read the poems by the following poets:  Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost

-- No poetry worksheets or discussion questions

-- Rough Draft of News Story

-- There is/are Practice worksheet

This week's blog:

Class Notes

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

News Story

News Story

Definition

            In a News Story, you learn as much as you can about a subject and present your findings in a way that makes sense and holds your reader attention.  Your story can be a report of an event, an interview, or a compiled report on an issue.

Gathering Information

You can consult a variety of sources about a timely, interesting topic.  Your sources may include books, articles, internet sources, interviews, etc.  Your goal is to bring together this information into a unified report that informs and/or entertains your readers.

Two steps:

• Collecting – Consult a number of sources, taking careful notes about your subject.  Be careful to be accurate with facts, figures, and quotations.
• Assessing – Come to some conclusion about the significance of the information you collected.  Let that conclusions be the thesis of your paper.  Then plan your report, selecting and arranging the facts to support this focus. 

Thesis Development

            Your thesis will be the ideas you’ve formed after collecting material.  The thesis may be about the value of the subject, the impact it has on society, the causes and effects related to it, the significance to others, etc. 

Organization

            A News Story can be organized in a number of ways.  If it is of an event, a chronological format can be used.  If this plan is used, the writer should continue to draw the reader’s attention not only to the progression of events, but also to the manner in which they support the thesis.  Sometimes a News Story is about various people, and separate paragraphs can be devoted to each person.  If an issue is discussed, the writer will need to break it into its primary components.   

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due March 27; Rough Draft due April 3;  Final Draft due April 24

– 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

"The Ransom of Red Chief"

This story has been a favorite of the Prichard household for a long time.  We have read it aloud multiple times!

Below are some links to some productions/presentations of this story:



A short video (about 1/2 hour long)

A longer full-length movie

A radio theater presentation

A high school play

A High school English project

A video clip from the Disney movie, No Deposit No Return, an adaptation of the story.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 13)

Writing 1 Class Notes – Week 9 (March 13)

Greetings!  

We're starting to feel a little Spring in the air.    Days are getting longer, AND our Spring Break is here.  

Our Quick Write this week was about communication.  On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone to his assistant, Watson.  The students wrote about their favorite mode of communication and then we listed as many types of communication that we could think of:  smoke signals, Morse code, carrier pigeons, Pony Express, etc.  

The Words of the Day were:

pathetique -- Italian; a musical term that means with feeling; moving

che sera sera -- Italian; "Whatever will be, will be."  

Jai alai -- Basque; a game similar to handball but using a wicker basket to catch and throw the ball

Nihil ad Rem -- Latin; "nothing to the point/matter;" inconsequential, irrelevant

zabaglione -- Italian; a whipped custard made with egg yolks, sugar and Marsala

The final drafts of their Character or Theme Analysis Essays were handed in this week.  They worked hard on their rough drafts, and I look forward to reading these essays.  Our next writing assignment is a News Story.  For this essay, they can write it as a newspaper article which doesn't always have a thesis statement.  Or, they can write it more like a longer magazine article which might have a thesis.  We talked briefly about how a reporter of the news might have a bias towards a topic but would appear to write from a non-biased perspective.  For this assignment they must do a little research to find news-worthy material.

Three questions came up as we discussed this assignment:  1) Can it be fictional?  No, it must be a real event, person, place, etc.; 2) Can it be something from the past?  Yes; 3) Can it be about something from a personal family experience?  Yes, if it is factual and it has something in it that required a little research

Our Short Stories took a back seat due to other discussions.  For the next time that we are together, they have only one story, but it is the longest one in the book:  "The Ransom of Red Chief."  This has been a Prichard family favorite, so I hope they enjoy it as much as we have.  They are to fill out both sides of both of the worksheets for this one story.

I handed out slips of paper to some of the students with missing assignments.  I usually do this near the end of the term, but I thought that with the extra week between classes, this would be a better time.  Sometimes, an assignment has been handed in and graded, but in my enthusiasm to continue reading and grading, the score doesn’t get put in my grade book.  If a student has completed, graded an assignment that I listed as “missing,” he/she can either send me an e-mail telling me of the score, or bring it to the next class.

Unfortunately, I've found that I made a mistake with a couple of the assignments.  Since I had entered in my grade book scores for a couple of literature assignments, I was temporarily mistaken that these were assigned exercises.  Au contraire!  Some students either did these for extra credit or simply forgot that they didn't need to write out answers to study guide questions.

Therefore, the following two assignments DO NOT NEED TO BE DONE unless you would like the extra credit:

Chapters 7 & 8 Questions	Feb 13		Extra Credit
Chapter 9 & 10 Questions	Feb 20		Extra Credi

If students have any questions about their assignments, they should e-mail me, especially if they missed a class and an assignment needs clarification. If any worksheets or handouts are needed, be sure to let me know.  (I've had more students gone, sick, or injured this semester than any other that I've taught.)  Missing classes and turning in work at different times has added a little to the confusion about homework.

Assignments for March 27 (No classes next week)

-- Read "The Ransom of Red Chief"

-- Fill out both sides of both worksheets for the story

-- News Story Pre-write (Outlining & research)

This Week’s Links:

Class Notes

Videos

Enjoy your break!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 6)

Greetings!

Our class was productive yesterday.  After opening in prayer, I took a moment to remind the students about the importance of refraining from extraneous talking.  This is a key to good classroom dynamics.  Parents, please check in with your students; a reminder from you will be helpful.

Our Quick Write for today was fairly light-hearted -- "What would happen if you were invisible?" The consensus for both Writing 1 and Writing 2 is that  this could be fun, mischievous, and even temporarily advantageous, but it might not be that great if it were permanent.

The Words of the Day:

chamois -- (French "sha-mwah") -- an agile, goat-like antelope; a soft leather cloth
charade -- (French; chatter, riddle) -- an intentional pretense or deception; a game where you act out a word or phrase

chapeau -- (French, fr. Latin; capella; hat, hood) -- a hat

chandelier -- (French; fr. chandler -- a candle-seller) -- a branched , light fixture

The students were assigned to bring to class 2 discussion questions for each of the two O. Henry stories which they were to read this week.  I divided the class into groups of 3 to discuss the stories using their questions.  Small group discussions give students more opportunities for focused interactions and more opportunities to share ideas than is always a possibility in large group discussions.  The first story, "Makes the Whole World Kin," was generally liked by the students because a thief and his intended victim become friends.  The second story, The Furnished Room," is a sad one wherein a young woman and a young man die in the same room.  The students had great insights for both stories.

Our last portion on the class was spent in discussing the rough drafts of the Literature Essays that I handed back to the class.  As I point out common writing errors, this is an opportunity to talk about grammar in the context of their own writing.  Three highlights from this discussion:  1) No using the word "things;" 2) No contractions; and 3) No "there is/are/was/were/will be/etc." sentences.  If students have any questions about the comments I made on their rough drafts, they should feel free to send me an e-mail.

Assignments for Next Week:

--  Final Draft of Character or Theme Essay

-- No "5 Corrections" explanation for this essay

-- Read "Retrieved Reformation" (p. 49); "The Pimienta Pancake" (p. 29)

-- Write 2 discussion for each story.  (No vocabulary words this week.)


This week's blogs

Class Notes

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 7 (February 27)

Greetings!

From the comments coming from students, they are able to make the most of this cold weather by snowboarding, skiing, etc.  I keep reminding them to be safe out on the slopes.

Our Quick Write this week was "Follow Shakespeare's Example."  I read a quote the other day that whenever Shakespeare couldn't find the right word, he would make one up.  I wanted the students to either make up new words that they thought should be a part of our vocabulary OR share their favorite word.  Taking comments from the class, they had a lot of words to share.  

Our Words of the Day were:

rinforzando -- Italian -- a sudden crescendo or increase in volume

balalaika -- Russian -- a three-stringed, triangular shaped instrument similar to a guitar

chapati -- Hindhi -- a round, flatbread

laus Deo -- Latin -- praise be to God

We've started our new book of short stories by O. Henry.  The first one is a very well-known Christmas story, "The Gift of the Magi" in which a couple is willing to sacrifice their most treasured possessions in order to buy gifts.  The second story, "After Twenty Years," is an intriguing story about two boyhood friends who run into each other twenty years after their teenage years.

For next week, we will read two more stories,  Instead of filling out the charts that we've used for the past two weeks, I would like the students to come to class with 2 discussion/ critical thinking questions for each story.  As we discussed in class, these should be questions that do not require simple, one-word answers.  These are questions that could have multiple answers; they usually ask "how" or "why" as opposed to "what" or "when" or "who."

For the remainder of the class, the students worked in groups to edit some sample sentences.  One of the hardest activities for young writers to do is to edit their own works.  Any easy way to orient their thinking towards re-writing and revising is by working through someone else's sentences.

I have their Character/Theme Rough Drafts and will hand them back next week.  No writing assignments for the week.

One note about classtime:

I used a seating chart again this week, and I'll probably do it for the rest of the year.  While this is a great class that interacts well in the discussions and in small groups, at times they get too talkative between themselves and it's distracting for the rest of the class.  Please keep that in mind when you come to class.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read "Makes the Whole World Kin" (p. 85); "The Furnished Room" (p. 23)

-- Find 4 vocabulary words for each story

-- Write 2 Discussion Questions for each story

-- no grammar or other writing

This week's blog & links:

Class Notes

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard