Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 10 (October 30)

Greetings!

We had a good class today.  We've developed a good sense of camaraderie and collaboration in this class.  

I had the students do a Quick Write today from the College Application Essay Prompts.  Our prompt today was #40 -- If you were a door to door salesperson, what would you be able to sell?  Again, the goal of the college application prompts is to help students think creatively and reflectively. 

In lieu of Words of the Day, I took time to show them a video that was a spoken word presentation about words, conviction, and the tendency of today's society to end declarative sentences with that little lift of the voice that makes it a questions.  Though it had a humorous bent, it encouraged people to speak boldly about their convictions.  Following that one, we watched one in honor of Reformation Day.

I handed back the rough drafts of their Examples/Illustrations Essays.  As they make the revisions and edits, they have two other activities to accompany this.  I gave them two handouts for this:  a list of common mistakes and an essay rubric.  Both are for self-evaluation.  On the list of common mistakes, they need to highlight or mark in some way the mistakes that were in their own papers.  Using the rubric, I want them to evaluate their own final drafts of their essays.

We spent the bulk of the class time going over the list of common mistakes as I explained many of the Grammar rules related to this list.

During the final minutes of class, I passed out their new books, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  A couple of students mentioned that they have a version of this at home.  This book is a Dover Thrift book; I like to have all of us have the same book so that I can refer to a page number, and we can all head to the same place in the book.  Along with the books, they were given a Study Guide, Vocabulary list, and some introductory information.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Final Draft of Examples/Illustration Essay

-- Highlight or mark items on the list of common mistakes

-- Complete the self-evaluation using the rubric

-- Complete the Parallel Structure Worksheet (using the handout for reference) -- This is for EXTRA CREDIT

-- Read Stave One of ACC.

-- Answer 3 Study Guide questions and find the definitions for 4 Vocabulary words.

This week's links:

Class Notes

Taylor Mali -- Conviction

Reformation Polka

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Note -- Week 9 (October 23)

Greetings!

My apologies for the lateness of the week's e-mail; it's been a busy week at the Prichard house.  You never know when it's going to be this nice again for yard work.

This past week's class was a beautiful day and a wonderful class.  We began our class with a Quick Write from the list of college application prompts:  Describe a day without any technology.  Some students found this easy to imagine, and some couldn't.  At our house, we take occasional media fasts; we find that our intention spans and thinking abilities are affected by too much computer, smart phones, TV, etc.

Our Words of the Day, from the book of foreign words and phrases, were:

Victor ludorum -- fr. Latin, victor ludorum, the victor of the games -- achievement awards for sports or academics

Vigilante -- fr. Latin vigilans, watchful; fr. Spanish vigilante, watchman  -- someone who takes the law into his or her hands

Villa -- fr. Latin villa, country house  -- a country estate; a pretentious residence

Vinaigrette -- fr. French vinaigre, aromatic vinegar -- a sauce made with herbs, spices, and an aromatic vinegar

They handed in their rough drafts of the Examples/Illustrations Essays along with their Pre-Writes.  I've already started reading them and am enjoying their writing and topics.  I will hand them back next week.

Before class started, I could hear many of the students quizzing one another as they were waiting to come into the room because this week they had their final exam for the book, Animal Farm.  I had them begin the test working alone, and them divided them into groups to discuss them before correcting them in class.  As we finished up the book with this test, we had one more chance to discuss some of the dynamics of the characters and the plot.

Next week, I will bring their next book, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  As an extra credit activity, I told them they would get extra points for bringing in some information  (at least 1 paragraph) about Charles Dickens.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- No reading

-- There Is/Are Worksheet

This week's Class Notes post

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 8 (October 16)

Greetings!

Another beautiful fall day and another great class!

Our Quick Write today was a prompt taken from a list of college application prompts.  Some of our Quick Writes at the beginning of class are light-hearted nonsense, but some of it has a purpose.  I talked for a while about the importance of the essay in the college application.  One of the key aspects of these essays is that they are intended for the student to show some his/her personality and character.  Admissions counselors are looking for those characteristics that cause the student to stand out.  Today’s prompt was about family traditions and family uniqueness.

Our Words of the Day, taken from my book of foreign words and phrases, were:

Thesaurus – fr. Latin < Greek thesaurus, treasure – a dictionary of synonyms

Thesis – fr. Greek, thesis, to set down – a proposition set down to prove

Thespian – fr, Greek, Thespis, the first Greek actor -- actor

Thug – fr. Hindi, thag, rogue or thief – a gangster, hoodlum, or ruffian

I handed back some Grammar worksheets that weren't very successful. For the most part, the scores on these worksheets were not very good.  From a teacher’s perspective, that tells me that we need more instruction in those areas.  We’ll be spending more time working with the parts of speech this semester.

We've finished the reading of Animal Farm, and did some more group work this week.  Students were assigned to select one character and write out 10 details about this character.  I had them gather according the characters they had chosen; they then presented their lists.

We will have a Final Exam during next week’s class for Animal Farm.  I will send out a review e-mail later in the week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Write the Rough Draft of the Examples/Illustrations Essay

-- Bring the Pre-Write to hand in with the Rough Draft

-- Finish the Vocabulary Worksheet for Animal Farm

This week’s blogs:

Class Notes

Examples/Illustration Essay

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 7 (October 9)

Greetings!

We had another wonderful class this week.  This is a bright group of students, and I enjoy my Thursday class times with them.

We began with our usual Quick Write.  This week our topic was Benjamin Banneker, a scientist, mathematician, astronomer surveyor, and writer who died on this date in 1797.  Though called the "first black man of science," he only went to school as a child.  Most of his knowledge and skills were self-taught.  I gave the students 2 options for the Quick Write:  1) Write about something you taught yourself; 2) If you could invent something, what would it be. 

Our Words of the Day came again from my book of foreign words and phrases.  I asked a student to choose a letter, and she chose "L," so all of our words began with the letter "L."

Lagoon -- fr. Italian; fr. Latin lacus; basin, pool -- a shallow pond-like body of water

Lariat -- fr. Spanish, la reata, rope -- a long-noosed rope for catching and tethering livestock

Lasagne -- fr. Italian lasania, cooking pot; fr. Latin lasanus, chamber pot (a pot with a stand) -- a baked dish consisting of layers of pasta, meat, cheese, and sauce.

The students handed in their final drafts of their Personal Essays.  A couple of students had problems with computers and/or printers.  Those essays can be e-mailed to me.  Also, if a student forgot the rough draft to hand in with the final draft, that can be scanned in and sent to me.  I handed out to them the instructions for the next round of essays.  This essay is an Examples/Illustration Essay.  I spent some time explaining the two styles of essays and giving examples of types of topics that would work.  (The description for this is attached.)  The first two essays for Writing 1 were written with a 2-step process:  rough draft then final draft.  For the rest of our essays, we will be following a 3-step procedure:  pre-writing, then rough draft, then final draft.  They are to do the pre-writing (brainstorming, mind mapping, outlining, researching, and thesis developing) for next week.  I will check to see that these are done, but they will be handed in with the rough drafts in 2 weeks.

After correcting their worksheets dealing with linking and helping verbs, I felt that we needed to go over this Grammar topic a little more.  Using a chart and a handout, we discussed a little more thoroughly the difference between helping and linking verbs.  We came up with some examples and looked at ways to tell whether a noun is a linking verb or an action verb.  I showed them a cheesy video of the "Verb Rap."

A large portion of our time together today was taking the Quiz for Animal Farm.  I divided the class into groups of 3 students to do this as a collaborative process.  I like to take as much advantage of the classroom setting for group learning as possible.  I listened in as they processed the quiz questions and appreciated their hard work and thoughtful comments.  We have finished the book and will discuss it as a whole next week.  Also for next week, the students are to pick one of the characters and write down 10 details about this character.  If they have blank spaces on the vocabulary worksheet, they should get them filled in.  That will be due in 2 weeks.  As a "treat" following the quiz, we watch a video that was made as a high school project.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Pick 1 character from Animal Farm and write down 10 details

-- Examples/Illustrations Essay Pre-Write

This week's links:

Class Notes

Examples/Illustrations Essay

Animal Farm Propaganda video

Verb Rap

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Examples/Illustrations Essay

Example/Illustration Essay

Definition

In an Example or Illustration Essay, the writer uses examples or illustrations to develop a general idea or prove a general statement.  While the general idea may be abstract, intangible, or theoretical, the examples and illustrations should be specific and concrete.  To clarify, an illustration is an extended, developed example.

            Examples help readers understand and see more clearly abstract ideas or unfamiliar situations.  Illustrations paint an even more detailed picture.  Examples are also more memorable.

Organization of an Example/Illustration Essay

Example/ Illustration Essays begin with the general or abstract idea, which is then explained and supported using individual examples.  The writer may also write an extended illustration with details.  Each paragraph should be a specific example or illustration that explains, describes, or clarifies your main idea.  You may choose to use several short examples or one long illustration.  (Note:  Parables are illustrations of spiritual principles.)

Thesis Statements

The thesis statement is the general statement that the examples or illustration are intended to support or illustrate.  For example, the thesis “My father is a generous man” would lead the writer to give specific details about specific instances of generosity.

Tips on Writing

– Decide on the general statement or idea you would like to support or illustrate; formulate a tentative thesis or main idea statement.

– Decide whether you will use several short examples or one (or more) longer illustrations.

– If using several examples, determine which order will be most effective (chronological or by importance).  Making a list helps.

– If using one or more longer illustrations, give as much detail as possible.

– Avoid giving disconnected examples that do not tie directly into your thesis.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write is due October 16; Rough Draft due October 23; Final Draft due October 30

– Essay length:  400 - 700 words (1 – 2 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 6 (Oct. 2)

Greetings!

We had a good class yesterday.  The class has a good rapport with one another and participates well in class discussions.  

Our Quick Write was more fun than profound.  We played a variation of a game called Man Bites Dog.  I passed out cards with words that the students were to use to create headlines.  Then, they were to write a short news story to go with the headline.  We had some pretty creative stories to go with our headlines.

We took longer to write our Quick Writes, so I didn't have any Words of the Day today.

I handed back the rough drafts of their Personal Essays this week.  Already I can see improvement in their writing abilities.  We took what was left of the class time to go over a list of common mistakes found in their papers.  Below is a partial list:

-- Contractions (not allowed in essays)

-- Commas with compound sentences

-- Using the word "things"

-- Writing "there is/are" structured sentences

-- Complex sentences with subordinating conjunctions

I handed back the rough drafts of their Personal Essays.  As they edit and revise their essays for the Final Drafts, I asked them to list the First 5 and Last 5 corrections from their papers.  They should tell why they made the corrections; in other words, what's the grammar rule behind the needed change.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Prepare the Final Draft of the Personal Essays

-- First 5 and Last 5 Mistakes list

-- Read Chapters 9 & 10

-- Answer 2 Study Guide lessons and 3 Vocabulary Words

This week's blog:

Class Notes

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm and dry!

Mrs. Prichard