Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 5 (September 22)

Greetings!

Another great day in class!  

In recognition that Thursday is the autumnal equinox (the first day of fall when we have as many hours of daylight as we do night), I asked student to write in their Quick Writes about what they like about fall.  In addition to the changing leaves and "sweater weather," yummy foods like pumpkin and apple cider were mentioned.  Of course, some weren't so happy about the coming cold winter season.

Our Words of the Day were compound nouns that students had to figure out.  Maybe you can figure out what word you would put on the line that make three compound nouns with the other halves of the words:

__________ hunter, line, quarters (ans. head)

__________ board, note, ring (ans. key)

__________ line, pass, product (ans. by)

bank, cook, text __________ (ans. book)

bull's, evil, private __________ (ans. eye)

curtain, lightning, ram __________ (ans. rod)

I handed back the graded Final Drafts of the Descriptive Essays along with quizzes and other homework.  I enjoyed this set of essays and look forward to a full year of work from them.  They handed in the rough drafts of their Personal Essays, which I will hand back next week.

We took more time with our literature selection.  Dividing the class into small groups, I asked them to discuss one of the study questions for Animal Farm from this week's list.  Following their  small group discussions, each group shared with the class the key points for their questions.

Today began the Parts of Speech presentations. I was first on the list for  a presentation on Conjunctions,  but we had two hiccups.  First, we had to be sensitive noise-wise to the group on the other side of our movable wall.  Secondly, we took a lot of time with our small group discussions.  I briefly covered Coordinating, Subordinating and Correlating Conjunctions.  Below are some links for videos that have good explanations.

Our schedule for the upcoming Parts of Speech Presentations:

9/29 -- Nouns:  Bryce, Corrine, Emily , Isabella

10/6 -- Pronouns:  Linnea, Jade, Christanna

10/13 -- Adjectives:  Dillon, David, Sofia, Zoev

10/27 -- Adverbs:  Timothy, Daniel, Kevin

11/3 -- Verbs:  Kayla, Audrey, Caitlyn, Macy

11/0 -- Prepositions:  Cally, Hayley, Julia

11/17 -- Interjections:  Gabriel, Benjamin, Yoshi, Sam

(Note:  I think a couple of students may have changed groups.)

Finally, a couple students mentioned that they had not been able to log on to My GradeBook, so here are the code and instructions:

Go to My GradeBook

Initial log in: Classword: N9Z92312J

Initial password:  student's first name and last initial

After you have logged in the first time, you can change the log in information.

Assignments for This Week:

-- Read Animal Farm:  Chapters 7 - 8

-- Answer 3 Study Guide questions

-- Fill in 3 Vocabulary words

-- Finish the Conjunctions Worksheet

-- Work on Presentations

-- PARTS OF SPEECH PRE-TEST

Links for This week:

Class Notes

Conjunctions Practice

Conjunction Games for Kids

Conjunctions Slides & Games

School House Rock: Conjunctions

Have a great weekend!

Blessings, 

Mrs. Prichard

Conjunctions Practice

Coordinating Conjunction

In each of the following sentences, circle the coordinating conjunction.

1.      The litter of puppies was calm yet noisy when I peered into the crate.

2.      You or I should make sure the smoke alarm batteries are changed.

3.      We took the local roads to the city for we knew the expressway would have traffic.

4.      The dancer moved with great fluidity yet without passion.

5.      Ken and Rona arrived early so they could get good seats for the symphony.

6.      Rhonda wanted to go back to finish her degree in nursing, so she freed up three evenings a week for her classes.

7.      Last week's weather was rainy, but the forecast is calling for sunny skies this week.

8.      He shivered, for the pool water was cold.

9.      For lunch you need a sandwich or salad, not just junk food.

10.  The hikers were tired but eager to move on.

Correlative Conjunctions

Insert acceptable correlative conjunctions into the following sentences.

11.  She has _____ six _____ seven years of service with us.

12.  _____ Stanley _____ Josh play drums.

13.  _____ you decide on the red _____ choose the blue makes no difference to me.

14.  Caroline_____ forgot where Matt lives,_____ lost his cell phone number.

15.  _____ Holly will have to try harder _____ she will have to move down to a different level.

16.  This lemon chiffon pie is _____ creamy_____ low-calorie.

17.  _____ you call the hall to make the arrangements _____ you risk losing your $100 deposit.

18.  It is unclear _____ the cable bill will come on time _____ I will have to go to the office to pay it.

19.  The fee includes _____ drinks _____ gratuity at this establishment.

20.  At the birthday party, Kim served _____barbecued ribs _____ steak.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Create a new sentence by making one sentence an independent clause and the other one a dependent clause.  Use a subordinating conjunction at the beginning of the depended clause.

21.  Soccer is becoming popular. Baseball is all the rage.

22.  The sailboat was stranded. There was not enough wind.

23.  Louise will sleep soundly. Her alarm clock has gone off.

24.  The horse won't get out of its stall. You lock the door.

25.  Dr. Kroger has high expectations of his students. They work hard.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (September 15)

Greetings!

We had another productive class yesterday.  One of my favorite  aspects of teaching writing is getting to know students through discussions and their writing.  This week I learned from many about their favorite books.  For the Quick Write, I brought up two dates:  1890, which is the birth date of one of my favorite authors, Agatha Christie; and 1984, which is the birth  date of Prince Harry of Wales.  I asked students to write about either a mystery, a favorite book, or the concept of being part of a royal family.  For an extra credit assignment, I asked the students to bring in the name of their favorite book and an explanation for why I should read it.

We took our Words of the Day from my book of foreign words and phrases:

Enigma -- fr. Greek ainigma, fable -- a puzzle or mystery

Relievo -- fr. Latin relevare, to raise -- a painting or sculpture that is raised, giving the appearance of a third dimension

Tokamak -- fr. Russian -- a device that uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus, which we discovered is a donut shape.

We took some time to clarify some of the Homework that needed to be handed in.  None of the students had handed in their Class Policies.  Those who had them handed them in.  those who didn't can bring them next week.  I had also forgotten to tell them that I would like them to hand in rough drafts with final drafts.  Again, if students had them, they could hand them in.  If they don't, I will still be able to grade their Final Drafts; I'll make sure that they are reminded for the next round of essays.

On the same day that students hand in one rough draft, we start with the next round of essays.  Our next writing project is a Personal History Essay.  We  took time to talk about how this not just retelling a personal event, but it's a "story with a purpose."  This purpose could be a lesson or moral; in other words, in the essay the student should tell why this event was important.  (Note:  I suggest a length for the essay, but if that can be a flexible number.  If a student is having difficulties with this number, feel free to contact me.)

Their essays should be thesis-driven, and I game them the equation that I use to explain the thesis statement:

                   Topic/ Subject

                +  Opinion/ Stand

               THESIS STATEMENT

We've read 4 chapters of Animal Farm, and the students have done a good job answering questions for the study guide questions and the Take Home Quiz. For her Senior Project at her high school, she adapted Animal Farm into a radio play and recorded sections of it using student performers.  We listened to Old Major's speech and a rousing rendition of "Beasts of England."  George Orwell wrote that the song sounded like a cross between "Clementine" and La Cucaracha."  To get a feeling for how that might sound, I had half of the class humming one song while the other half hummed the second song.  

We took more time at the end of class to work in groups for our Parts of Speech projects and presentations.  I heard some great, creative ideas and am really looking forward to hearing from our resident experts on their various assigned parts.  I will start next week with a presentation on Conjunctions.  Next week we will have a Pre-Test about the 8 parts of speech.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Ch. 5 & 6

-- 2 Study Guide Questions

-- 2 Vocabulary Words

-- Rough Draft of Personal Essay

-- Parts of Speech Presentation

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Personal History Essay

Animal Farm Radio Play -- Old Major

1954 Animal Farm Video

Have a beautiful weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Animal Farm -- 1954 Video

Animal Farm is a 1955 British animated film by Halas and Batchelor, based on the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. It was the first British animated feature to be released. The C.I.A. paid for the filming, part of the U.S. cultural offensive during the Cold War, and influenced how Orwell's ideas were to be presented. 

The "financial backers" impacted on the development of the film - the altered ending, and that the message should be that, "Stalin's regime is not only as bad as Jones's, but worse and more cynical", and Napoleon "not only as bad as JONES but vastly worse ". And the "investors" were greatly concerned that Snowball (the Trotsky figure) was presented too sympathetically in early script treatments and that Batchelor's script implied Snowball was "intelligent, dynamic, courageous". This implication could not be permitted. A memo declared that Snowball must be presented as a "fanatic intellectual whose plans if carried through would have led to disaster no less complete than under Napoleon." de Rochemont accepted this suggestion.

In Orwell's original book, the animals simply look on in dismay as they come to realise that the pigs have become nothing better than the human masters of old.

In a stark departure from Orwell's book, the film ends immediately after this iconic image with the animals revolting against the pigs.

Personal History Essay

Definition

            In a Personal Essay, the writer tells a story about a series of events.  The writer needs to explain the event(s) clearly enough for the reader to follow what happened and when it happened.  The writer also has to tell the story dramatically enough to keep the reader’s attention and interest.  Your goal should be to develop an essay that informs and/or entertains, and that impels readers to think about their own lives.

           

Organization of a Personal Essay

Just about anything in your life that interests you, amuses you, angers you, or makes you think is a possible subject for a personal essay.  Dig as deep into your experience as you can.  As you think about a topic, event, person, or place of significance, look for an emerging focus, main idea, or viewpoint.

            A personal essay is a blend of narrative (sharing some aspect of your life) and analysis (commenting upon this time).

Thesis Statements

            The thesis statement of your essay presents the subject of the narration and its significance.  Your essay should reveal your attitude or opinion about the event.  Your essay can also tell a message or lesson related to the event.

Some Helpful Tips on Writing

– Decide on the story you want to tell, and think about what the story means to you.

– What attitude would you like the reader to learn by reading your story?  What feeling or attitude would you like the reader to have about the story you are telling?

– Outline what happened first, second, third, and so on.  Don’t forget important, specific details.  Divide the action into major blocks.  Determine the logical breaks.

– Focus on the people involved in your narrative, and try to describe them accurately.

– Include the feelings you experienced at different times in you story.

– Avoid stringing together a series of events without dramatizing any of them or showing their significance.

– Avoid a list.  Make sure the events are logically connected with appropriate transitions to help the reader follow the sequence of events.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Rough Draft due September 22; Final Draft due October 6.

– Essay length:  at least 300 words (about 1 page)

– 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 3 (September 8)

Greetings!

I love how the students come in first thing in the morning ready for class.  They are a bright and attentive group!

Students were given two options for the Quick Write.  Thursday was the 50th anniversary of the pilot episode of Star Trek, and they could write something about the show or about "space" shows.  Alternately, they could continue the food theme from previous weeks and write about their favorite or least favorite foods.  As I expected, a number of students hated foods that others loved.  Isn't this diverse world amazing!

I titled our Words of the Day "The Weather Channel" because we talked about the metaphorical use of weather-related words to describe situations:

to steal someone's thunder -- to take credit for something someone else was going to say or actually did.

greased lightning -- refers to doing something incredibly fast

sunny-side up -- a fried egg that is not turned or doesn't have the yolk broken

a flood of applicants -- a very large number of people applying for a position.

Note:  Many of these metaphorical expressions have become part of our daily language, and we forget that they are figures of speech rather than literally true.  These bits and pieces, we call them idioms, are what makes our language hard for English language learners. 

Our next item on the agenda for the day was to discuss the Rough Drafts.  My practice is to go over the most common grammatical or mechanical errors when I hand back these papers.  In fact, I feel this is a far more effective way to teach grammar because it is in the context of a student's actual use of the knowledge. Since this is the first essay of the year, I also walked students through the symbols that I use.  For these papers, some of the most common errors were:

-- Compound sentences & commas  (to discuss this, we usually need to spend a lot of time on basic sentence construction)

-- Contractions

-- Paragraph construction

I believe there is some confusion about the Homework related to these essays.  Students write their rough drafts and hand them in on the due dates.  Then, I take them home and go over them, marking errors and making comments.  I bring them in the following week, and the students are to take the essays and make corrections.  The result, the Final Draft, is then brought to class, and that version of the essay is the one that I evaluate for a score that reflects their work.

We took the remainder of the class to gather in the groups for the Parts of Speech unit.  I was so pleased to hear the productive conversations as they brainstormed and planned.  

I adjusted the syllabus to reflect an extra week for planning and the fact that I will lead the presentations with a lesson on Conjunctions.  This adjusted syllabus is attached and on the blog.

Two common questions were asked while they were planning:  

How long did the presentations have to be?   The lesson/teaching/presentation will probably take 10 minutes, give or take.  The activity could also take about 10 minutes.  I'm budgeting 30 minutes of class time for these.

Do we have to write our own homework?  In the past, some students have put together their own worksheets, some have copied pages from a workbook, and some have found worksheets on line.  They must have an answer key, and the students will be the ones correcting the worksheets.  (This helps them to learn their own topic even better.)  We have 25 students in Writing 1; they should make 26 copies so that I can have one, too.

We did not take time to go over our Animal Farm reading assignment next week.  Hopefully, we can focus on that next week.  To clarify, students should write out their answers to the study guide questions to hand in.  The vocabulary words are added to the worksheet and handed in when we're done reading the book.   This week students have a Take Home Quiz instead of study guide questions.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 3 & 4 of Animal Farm

-- Take Home Quiz

-- 3 Vocabulary Words

-- Final Draft of Descriptive Essay

-- Work on Parts of Speech Presentation

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Revised Grammar Plan

Adjectives Video from Writing 2

Grammarly's Top 10 Mistakes

Enjoy the weather!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Revised Grammar Plan

Week/Date	Grammar
Week 1 (8/25)
Week 2 (9/1)	Intro to Parts of Speech, part 1
Week 3 (9/8)	Intro to Parts of Speech, part 2
Week 4 (9/15)	Intro to Parts of Speech, part 3 Parts of Speech Pre-Test
Week 5 (9/22)	Conjunctions Presentation
Week 6 (9/29)	Nouns Presentation
Week 7 (10/6)	Pronouns Presentation
Week 8 (10/13)	Adjectives Presentation
Week 9 (10/27)	Adverbs Presentation
Week 10 (11/3)	Verbs Presentation
Week 11 (11/10)	Prepositions Presentation
Week 12 (11/17)	Interjections Presentation
Week 13 (12/1)	Review Parts of Speech Post Test
Week 14 (12/8)	Word of the Day Test
Week 15 (12/15)

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (September 1)

Greetings!

We are off to a good start here in Writing 1.  One aspect I noticed last week is that it is hard to enter into class discussions when you don't know your classmates very well, so we did the Quick Write this week in a collaborative manner.  After putting the students into small groups, I asked them to make lists about their favorite parts of the State Fair or about their favorite "fair food."  They were then to share their lists with one another; when we came together as a whole class, they were to share what someone in their group had said.  They did really well with this activity.

Our Words of the Day:

fils -- (fr. French -- son);  sometimes used after a name with a meaning of Jr.

kop -- (fr. Afrikaans -- head); a prominent isolated hill or plateau in southern Africa  

shako -- (fr. Hungarian csakos - peaked); a military cap in the form of a cylinder or cone, with a visor and a plume or pompon

Following our beginning activities, we discussed the Essay assignment.  I handed out the rubric that I use to evaluate their final drafts.  Rough drafts can be really polished or really rough, and all students get the same score for their assignments.  The final drafts are the papers that I evaluate for quality.   Students handed in the rough drafts of their Description Essays, which I will correct and hand back next week.  We discussed ways that homework can be handed in:  1) put in the homework bin during class time when it's due; 2) emailed as an attachment; 3) shared as a Google doc; 4) brought to class the week after it's due.

Students were also given handouts about Drafting the Essay and PreWriting Strategies.

During the Grammar section of class this week, I introduced the Parts of Speech unit.  Every word in our language falls into one of the categories of words -- one of the 8 parts of speech:  interjections, verbs, adjectives, nouns, conjunctions, adverbs, pronouns, and prepositions.  For this unit, students will work in small groups to teach themselves about their chosen part of speech.  Then, each group will be the teachers of that part of speech.  They will explain that category of words, do an activity, and give homework to the class.  I have them a handout with an overview, an explanation of the unit, and a planning sheet.  We will do some review the next two weeks.

Here are the group assignments:

Interjections:  Gabriel, Benjamin, Yoshi, Sam

Verbs:  Kayla, Audrey, Caitlyn, Macy

Adjectives:  Dillon, David, Sofia, Zoe

Nouns:  Bryce, Corrine, Emily , Isabella

Conjunctions:  Mrs. Prichard

Adverbs:  Timothy, Daniel

Prepositions:  Cally, Hayley, Julia

Pronouns:  Linnea, Jade, Christanna

At the end of class, we briefly talked about their short writing assignment about the qualities of a good leader.  They had a great list:  confident, honest, integral, the ability to respectfully disagree, accountable, smart, patient, nice/kind, and enthusiastic.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 1 & 2

-- Answer 3 Study Guide questions

-- Find and define 3 Vocabulary Words

-- Begin research for your part of speech

-- Extra Credit:  Bring a pun about food to class

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Animal Farm Audio Version

Essay Rubric

Drafting the Essay

PreWriting Strategies

Parts of Speech Project Planning Worksheet

Parts of Speech Review Packet

Parts of Speech Unit

Enjoy this beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Essay Rubric for Writing 1

Criterion	Beginning (0 – 2)	Developing (3 – 5)	Competent (6 – 8)	Advanced (9 – 10)
Focus:  Thesis, Intro, Conclusion	Specific topic is unclear and no statement of an opinion or a stand. No introduction. No conclusion.	Thesis statement expresses the topic but not an opinion or a stand. Weak introduction that states the topic but is missing a clear thesis. The focus of the paper is unclear. Conclusion does not fully summarize the main points nor restates the thesis statement.	Thesis statement includes the topic and expresses a stand or opinion. Introduction states topic and thesis and gives direction to the paper. Conclusion reiterates main points and restates the thesis statement.	Clearly-stated, thoughtful & compelling thesis statement. Strong introduction with a thesis statement that grabs attention and directs the course of the essay. Strong conclusion that summarizes the main points and restates the thesis statement.  Satisfactorily wraps up the essay.
Content	No major points to support the thesis are included.  Few details have been used. Ideas are disconnected.	Some of the major points are covered. Some specific details are included. Lacks sufficient material to fully support thesis.	All major points are covered. Appropriate details are included with each point.	All major points are thoroughly and insightfully discussed. All points are fully supported with strong details.
Organization	Ideas are arranged randomly.  There may be no division of paragraphs.	Like ideas are grouped together, and paragraphs are present, but ideas within may not be organized logically.  Transitions may be lacking.	An apparent progression of ideas that allows the reader to move through the text without confusion. Sentences with paragraphs are organized and flow smoothly	Expresses a clear, logical sequence of ideas within paragraphs and throughout the paper. Sentences within paragraphs flow smoothly with good use of transitions.
Mechanics	Frequent errors, seriously impairs flow & meaning of paper	Errors noticeable, and occasionally detract from flow or meaning of paper	Some errors, which are minor in nature and don’t detract from overall meaning of paper	Essentially faultless; errors may result from risk-taking and do not detract from meaning of paper.

Total Score – 40 possible points