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

Greetings!

We covered a lot of ground today in class, and I appreciated the class's involvement.

For the Quick Write, I asked the students to convince me of something.  They could try to convince me to eat a certain food, read a book, listen to some music, take part in some activity, etc.  For this, they should consider the audience, give specific reasons, and think about what would be appealing.  I look forward to reading their persuasive Quick Writes.

Our Words of the Day (aka Latin Roots of the Day):

magnus -- Latin, great/large -- magnum, magnanimity, magnanimous, magnitude, magnet, magnificent. magnify, electromagnetic, manganese

male -- bad/evil -- malnourished, Maleficent, malefactor, malice, malicious, dismal, malady, malignant

manus -- Latin, hand -- manuscript, manual, manufacture, manage, manacle, maintain, emancipate, manifest

migr -- Latin, wander -- migraine, migration, migrate, immigrate, migratory, transmigration

I handed back their homework, which included the Final Drafts of the Jekyll/Hyde papers.  They worked hard on these.  Their next writing assignment is a News Story, and the rough draft for that is due the week after our break.  If students have any missing work, this upcoming break might be a good time to get caught up.

We started discussing our O. Henry short stories.  After some initial comments, I divided the students into small groups to discuss each story and to come up with what they thought was the "quirky" element of the story.  Following their discussions, they wrote their comments on the white board.  Many times students have great thoughts that they don't necessarily want to talk about with the whole class, but a small group is just the right size.

We still have one story left to read, but I handed out the next book, a selection of short poems, so that they have it when we are ready.

We reviewed our comma rules during the Grammar portion and made a list as a class:

• FANBOYS and compound sentences
• Complex sentences
• Direct addresses
• Lists (Oxford commas)
• Dates
• Addresses
• Appositives & Interrupters
• Introductory elements

For their homework, they are to write 2 sentences for each rule, appropriately inserting the correct commas.

Assignments for April 13:

-- Read "The Ransom of Red Chief"

-- Fill out one worksheet (front and back)

-- Comma review -- Write 2 example sentences for each bullet point.

-- News Story Rough Draft

-- News article with biased sections highlighted.

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Have a great break!

Mrs. Prichard

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 30; Rough Draft due April 13;  Final Draft due April 27

– 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

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 23)

Greetings!

We had a good day in class.  I began the class by asking the students why doing Quick Writes are a good idea and why they might be helpful.  Their responses showed me what thoughtful students they are; I had a comment about how as a teacher I want them to learn to think and another comment about how important it is to get our thoughts on paper.  We talked about the fact that writing often stirs up thoughts that we didn't know we had.

Students had three options for the Quick Write:  1) March 22 was National Goof Off Day; 2) March 23 was National Chip and Dip Day; or 3) National Puppy Day.  Students could take any of the days and write about it from an direction.

Words of the Day:

Lingua -- Latin, tongue, language -- lingo, language, bilingual, linguine, poly-lingual, sublingual

Luc/lux -- Latin, light, bright -- lucid,, elucidate, translucent, Lucifer

Lumen -- Latin, light, shine -- illuminate, lumen, Illuminati, lumanaire, luminous, luminary

Students handed in their final drafts of their most recent essays, the Themes/Character essay.  We are now on to our next writing assignment, which is a News Story.  We discussed how a news story is different from an essay.  News stories are generally a report of facts while essays are thesis-driven papers that take a stand on a topic and support it with details.  We also covered how reporters can be biased and that not all news is accurate.  One of their homework assignments is to bring in a news article with biased/opinionated words circled or highlighted.

In our reading of O. Henry's short stories, we read one of my favorites for this week -- "Makes the Whole World Kin,"  In this story, a  burglar breaks into a house, discovers that he has the same ailment as the homeowner, discusses remedies, and finally takes the guy out for a drink.  We read aloud the first portion, enjoying the language.  O. Henry's plots, characters, and word choices are wonderfully imaginative and peculiar. 

We were Grammar-focused for the last part of the class.  Following commas, we are working with other punctuation bits:  periods with abbreviations, semicolons, colons, and italics.  Students usually have some knowledge about these, so this is mostly review.  Our review was brief, so I've included some links to websites below that might be helpful.

Assignments for Next Week:

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

-- No Short Story Worksheets

-- News Story Pre-Write

-- Bring a News Article with biases/opinions circled or highlighted

-- Grammar Worksheets:  13-1, 13-7, 14-1

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Worksheet 13-2  End Marks Abbrev

Worksheet 13-7  Colon Semicolon

Worksheet 14-1  Italics

Periods in Abbreviations Rules

When to Italicize

Using Italics

The Colon

The Semicolon

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

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

Greetings!

Just a quick note this week.

Students could choose one of three options for the Quick Write:  1)  March 17 is St. Patrick Day, and students could write about their family heritage; 2)  March 15 was the Ides of March, and students could write about appropriate ways to oppose the government; 3) students could write about their favorite breakfasts.

Words of the Day:

ign -- Latin, "fire/burn" -- ignite, ignition, igneous

inter -- Latin, "between/among" -- interact, interject, interjection, intercool, intermediary, intercollegiate, intermission, intersection

ject/jug -- Latin, "cast/throw" -- interject, interjection, deject, subject, reject, object, project, projectile, trajectory, eject, 

junct -- Latin, "join/unite" -- junction, conjunction, adjunct, join, injunction, subjunctive

Rough Draft discussion:

Students did a great job with these essays.  I know that they were hard to write.  We went over some common mistakes that I encountered while going over the rough drafts.

Short Story discussion:

I divided the class into small groups to discuss the two assigned short stories.  As I listened, they had some good insights.  As we read the O. Henry stories, I want students to pay special attention to how  he describes, with few brush strokes, his characters.  We also talked about the quirkiness/oddness in the plots, which is a characteristic that I love about O. Henry's stories.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read 'Makes the Whole World Kin," and "The Furnished Room"

-- Fill out two short story worksheets

-- Final Drafts of Jekyll/Hyde essays

Links for this week

Class Notes

Character/Short Story

Theme/Setting

Have a good week!

Mrs. Prichard

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

Greetings!

We had a good day in class this week.  Even thought it was cold out, the sun was shining, and I think we're all feeling that Spring is right around the corner.  (Which reminds me, Daylight Savings Time is this weekend.  Remember to "spring forward.")

Students had two options for the Quick Write this week.  Firstly, March 7, 1876 was the day that Alexander Graham Bell received his patent for the the telephone, and I asked students to list methods/ways that we communicate.  Secondly, yesterday, March 9, is National Barbie day to commemorate the day in 1959 that this doll was introduced at a toy fair in New York.  Students could write about their experiences or opinions of this toy.

We composed a wonderful list of ways that we communicate that include both types and methods.  (See the attached picture) 

Our Words of the Day:

grav -- Latin, "heavy/serious" -- grave, gravity, gravitate, gravitational, grief, aggravate, aggrieve

grad/gress - Latin, "walk/step" -- grade, gradual, graduation, degree, degrade, progress, congress, regress, centigrade

gel -- Latin, "freeze/ice cold" -- congeal, gelatin, gelato, gelee, jelly, Jell-O

greg -- Latin, "flock/herd" -- congregation, congregate, gregarious, aggregate, segregate, desegregate

Usually, right after these beginning of class activities, we do a quick check in with homework.  I don't penalize for late work, but it's always much better to get work in on time because getting behind can be very frustrating for the student.  Additionally, if a student knows that he/she will be gone, it helps to know that in advance so that I can get homework out in advance of the absence.

We are starting a new book, a collection of short stories by O. Henry.  He is one of my favorite short story authors; his word choice is often quirky, and his plots often have unusual twists.  (see the link below)  We began by reading the beginning of "The Gift of the Magi."  Two stories are assigned for next week, along with two worksheets. (Note:  If you check the syllabus, we are a week behind with the short stories.  I decided last week to NOT assign these stories because students were still focused on the Jekyll/Hyde book with their essays.)

During our Grammar section of the class, we continued with commas but added some end punctuation for variety.  The two worksheets for this week included practice punctuating dates and addresses.  We also did come practice as a group with compound and complex sentences.  I'm seeing from the worksheets that have been assigned that we are not all completely confident in with those.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read "Gift of the Magi" (p. 10) and "After Twenty Year" (p. 21)

-- Fill out both sides of the 2 short story worksheets.

-- Two Grammar worksheets:

     13. 1 -- End Marks

     13.6 -- Dates & Addresses

Links for this week

Class Notes

Background for O. Henry

Links for Gift of the Magi and After Twenty Years

Worksheet 13.6

Worksheet 13.1

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Links for Gift of the Magi and After Twenty Years

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

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 March 2; Rough Draft due March 9;  Final Draft due March 23.

– 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

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 March 2; Rough Draft due March 9; Final Draft due March 23.

– 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 6 (March 2)

Greetings!

Just the highlights this week:

Quick Write:

March 2 was National Banana Creme Pie Day and National Read Across America Day AND March 1 was National Peanut Butter Day.  Write about your favorite pie, a book that would "do good," or your favorite sandwich.

Words of the Day

fin -- Latin, "end, complete" -- finish, final, define, definite, definitions, finite, infinite finesse

flu/fluct/flux -- Latin, "flow, wave" -- influx, influence, fluctuate, influential, influenza, flush, fluent

fort -- Latin, "strong" -- fort, fortitude, effort, forte, fortress

fug/fugit -- Latin, "flee, fly" -- centrifuge, fugitive, refuge, refugee, fugal, fugue

Homework was handed back and discussed.  Every 3 - 4 weeks I am handing out missing homework lists.  If students have any questions, they can contact me.

Our next essay is a literary analysis about a theme or a character; the rough draft is due next week.

We've finished Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and students have their next book, which is a collection of short stories by O. Henry.  Even though I have stories for them to read listed on the syllabus, I think it would be wiser to stay concentrated on the Jekyll/Hyde for another week as they write their essays.  We'll pick up this book next week.

Commas again!  We continue to review what we've learned and then add new comma rules.  This week we discussed commas with compound sentences, complex sentences, and interrupters.

Assignments for Next Week

-- No short stories

-- Theme/Character rough draft

-- Comma worksheets:  13.4 and 13.5

-- Finish Vocabulary worksheet for Jekyll/Hyde

-- Finish Character and Theme worksheets for Jekyll/Hyde

Links for this week:

Class Notes

News Alert Quick Writes

Literary Love Letters Quick Writes

Worksheet 13.4-- Compound & Interrupters

Worksheet 13.5 -- Interrupters & Phrases

Have a blessed week!

Mrs. Prichard