Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 29)

Greetings!

We had great discussions this week about our Writing, Literature, and Grammar.

The prompt we started with for the Quick Write was "Clothes make the man."  According to the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the phrase was found recorded in the early 15th century, but it comes from an earlier saying in classical Greek, "the man is his clothing."  In essence, clothing can both reveal and determine status.  I asked the students to write about one particular piece of clothing -- their shoes.

For the Words of the Day, I chose words from the book A Word A Day by Anu Garg.  (I may also continue to use SAT words, but they seemed a bit common place and not as fun.) Our words this week were collective nouns used for groups of animals.  Did you know that a group of ducks swimming together is a "paddling," while a group of ducks flying is called a "team?"

sounder -- a group of wild boars

nide -- a nest or group of pheasants

skein -- a flock of geese, ducks or other similar birds in flight; a ball of yarn

skulk -- a pack of foxes

bevy -- a group of birds or animals; a group or collection of any kind; an abbreviation for a beverage (used in the UK)

We had a quick check in with our current writing assignment.  The Pre-Writes for the Narrative Essay was to be done today.  (While it was due this week, they don't need to hand it in until next week when they hand in their rough drafts.)  We talked especially about how to write about a personal experience in an essay, which means it must have a thesis statement, and introduction, and a conclusion.  I call it a "story with a purpose."  

We then dove into our reading selection, The Strange Adventure of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  This is not a very long book, and I chose it in part because it will be our source for our next round of essays.  Writing about literature is an important skill, so this is our opportunity to read carefully, take notes, and then write an essay either about a character or a theme.  Included with the handouts last week were two sheets for them to take notes and keep track of information about one of the themes in the book and one of the characters.  Additionally, they have a vocabulary worksheet for the book.  They are to choose 25 words from anywhere in the book.

And finally, we closed out the class with a Grammar discussion.  Phrases and clauses are the focuses for this semester, and we started with Prepositional phrases.  Prepositional phrases are used either as adjective phrases describing nouns or as adverb phrases describing verbs. I've attached two links at the bottom to instructional videos about Prepositional phrases from EDpuzzle.

One final note:  Last week I did not attach all of the introductory handouts.  I will be sending another e-mail out with all of those attached.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 3 & 4 of Jekyll/Hyde.

-- Review Study Guide questions for class discussion

-- Narrative Rough Draft

-- Grammar Worksheets:  6.1, 6.2, 6.3 (but not Exercise B)

Links for This Week:

Blog Posts:

-- Class Notes

-- The Prepositional Phrase and Objects

-- Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives and Adverbs

From EDpuzzle:

Objects of Prepositions

The Prepositional Phrase

Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives

Prepositional Phrases as Adverbs

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Prepositional Phrases and Objects

Objects of Prepositions

Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives and Adverbs

Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives

Prepositional Phrases as Adverbs

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 21)

Greetings!

It's great to be back at CHAT again.  Students were lively and alert, and I have good material planned for this semester that I'm excited to teach.

We began the day, as usual, with a Quick Write.  In Bulgaria, January 20 is "Babin Den," which is "Grandmother's Day."  Tradition says that when the grandmothers hold their newborn grandchildren, they pass on their wisdom.  I asked the students to write about their own grandmothers.

Our Words of the Day this semester will taken from a selection of SAT Word flashcards.  I let students pick four words from the deck.  (We won't have a test on the words this semester, but I still like to help students expand their vocabularies.)  Our words this week were:

congregate:  v. to gather together; to assemble

construct:  n. something built; an complex idea taken from simpler ideas

bolster:  v. to aid, support, uphold

concise:  adj.  brief yet comprehensive

The next item on my agenda for class was "New Stuff."  I handed out the Syllabus for the semester and gave a concise overview of our Writing, Grammar, and Literature units.  I'm trying something new this semester.  I gave each student an Individual Assignment Log.  This chart has the assignments for the semester and places to either check off or put in scores for assignments.  I feel this will be helpful for students who like to know ahead of time what assignments are coming up and who like to check items off a list.  If this is not a helpful tool, students don't need to do it.

We begin the semester reading The Strange Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  This book by Robert Louis Stevenson is a classic tale that unpacks the ideas of good vs. evil, among other themes.  I gave the students some background information and a study guide.

One of our writing assignments later in the term will be either a Character or a Theme essay.  They have worksheets to help with this; we'll discuss those at greater lengths next week.

The first writing assignment for this term is a Narrative Essay.   We talked at length how this essay is to have a thesis statement (a single sentence that combines the topic and an opinion).  While the students are to re-tell an event, it is to be with a purpose, i.e. thesis.

Last semester, we focused on the 8 parts of speech for our Grammar.  This semester, we will focus on phrases and clauses.  Careful writers use these groups of words to liven and "bedazzle" the sentences and paragraphs of our essays.  We started this week with 2 worksheets on Misplaced Modifiers and Dangling Modifiers.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Ch. 1 & 2 of Jekyll/Hyde

-- Answer 2 Study Guide questions for each chapter

-- Narrative Essay Pre-Write

-- 1 Grammar Worksheets

     -- 5.4 (# 1 - 15)

     -- 5.5 (# 1 - 15)

Links for This Week

Spring Syllabus

Intro to Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde

Study Guide for Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde

Character Worksheet

Themes Worksheet

Vocabulary Worksheet

Major Themes for Jekyll/Hyde

Narrative Essay

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Narrative Essay

Narrative Essay

Definition

In a personal narrative, you re-create an incident that happened to you over a short period of time.  This incident could be an emotional experience, a silly or serious event, or a frightening encounter.  Narrative writing requires students to think clearly about the details of an event as if it was a plot.  A narrative:

· Presents a story with a distinct plot.  The plot includes an internal or external conflict.  It has a beginning, middle, and an end.

· Has a setting of some sort

· Presented in a specific point of view, usually spoken in the voice of a narrator or character

           

Thesis Development

            As you present your narrative from a certain point of view, you must consider the significance of the event.  Was there a lesson to learn?  Did it change someone’s history?  Does it reveal something insightful about a person, place or circumstance?  These are the variables that will help you form a thesis.

Organization

            Narratives are generally told in chronological order; in other words, you explain the events considering the timeline in which they happened.  

Optional Narrative prompts:

· Write about a time when you faced a challenge and what the outcome was.  Be sure to narrate the series of events and include specific details.

· Write a story about when you taught someone something.  It can be anything that you know better than someone else.

· Think about an event in your life that taught you an important lesson. Write a narrative in which you tell what happened and how you learned a lesson.

· Write a narrative about a person or character who overcomes a difficult situation.  The character must be a person from history or from literature, movies or television.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due January 28; Rough Draft due February 4; Final Draft due February 18

– 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, below your name and date

Major Themes in Jekyll/ Hyde

Good vs. evil

Good vs. evil is basically the novel’s biggest theme. More specifically, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is easily viewed as an allegory about the good and evil that exist in all men, and about our struggle with these two sides of the human personality. In this book, then, the battle between good and evil rages within the individual.

Repression

Repression is indisputably a cause of the troubles in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The repression here is that of Victorian England.  Everything is sober and dignified, and you’re really not supposed to be happy. (That would somehow take away from your focus on morality).

Friendship

Friendship in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde serves to drive the plot forward. Aside from basic curiosity, Mr. Utterson is compelled to uncover the mystery of the evil man because of his friendship with Dr. Jekyll. In this sense, friendship acts as both a motivator and an enabler. differences of opinion.

Appearances

Appearances figure in the novel both figuratively and literally. Dr. Jekyll definitely wants to keep up a façade of respectability, even though he has a lot of unsavory tendencies. In a literal sense, the appearances of buildings in the novel reflect the characters of the inhabitants.

Science

In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Science becomes a cover and justification for supernatural activities. Dr. Jekyll ostensibly derives his potion in some sort of scientific manner, as opposed to finding a magical amulet or something that releases evil as you might find in other stories.

Curiosity

In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Curiosity drives the characters to seek knowledge. This curiosity is either suppressed or fulfilled in each character. Curiosity lacks any negative connotations; instead, characters who do not actively seek to unravel the Jekyll and Hyde mystery may be viewed as passive or weak.

Secrecy and Deception

In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the plot is frequently driven forward by Secrecy and Deception; Mr. Utterson doesn’t know the relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and he wants to find out. Also, by omitting the scenes of Mr. Hyde’s supposedly crazy debauchery, Stevenson allows our imaginations to run to wild and eerie places.

Violence

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde details two crimes of Violence against innocent and helpless citizens: first, a little girl, and second, an elderly man. The violence in the novel centers on Mr. Hyde, and raises the question of whether or not violence is an inherent part of man’s nature.

Religion

God and Satan figure prominently in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as many general references to religion and works of charity. As part of their intellectual lives, the men in the novel discuss various religious works. One sign of Mr. Hyde’s wickedness, for example, is his defacing Dr. Jekyll’s favorite religious work.

Women & Femininity

Most female characters in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are passive and weak. The first female we see is a young girl mowed over by Mr. Hyde. Although she is "not much the worse, more frightened," she still kicks up an incredible fuss and a large group of people come to her aid.  The next woman we see is the maid who witnessed the Carew murder. After watching Mr. Hyde beat the man to death, she faints, waking up long after the murderer is gone. She is a passive spectator.

Vocabulary Worksheet for Jekyll/ Hyde

Vocabulary Worksheet

INSTRUCTIONS:  For this book, the students will compile their own vocabulary lists.  As you read each chapter, make a list of the unfamiliar or interesting words.  Fill in the table below with your words. 

	Page	Word	Root	Definition

Themes Worksheet for Jekyll/Hyde

Themes Worksheet

Theme:  ___________________

In the boxes below, fill comments, direct quotes, and descriptions that apply to the theme that you’ve chosen. In the first column, write thoughts related to Stevenson’s perspective. In the center column, put the page references that apply to your comments.  In the right column, reflect on the theme and give your personal perspective.

Stevenson’s perspective	Supporting passages	Your opinion