We had a full day in class and covered a lot of information. Students stayed engaged and did a great job. At the beginning of class, we took care of "housekeeping" items. For those students who eat in the cafe area or buy their lunch there, I reminded them to clean up after themselves and to return their trays. And, we had a discussion about phones in the classroom. I have had no problems with any of the students, but other classes and tutors have had some distracted behavior due to phones. This is a most commendable class, and they always ask permission to take pictures of notes on the board or to do research. Bravo!
I gave two options for the Quick Write. The first was in recognition of "World Gratitude Day" that started on Sept. 21, 1965 in Hawaii. Students could write about something for which they were grateful. The other option came as a result of a student's searching for other notable event during September of 1965. She came up with the first notable printed use of the word "hippie," which occurred in the San Francisco Examiner on Sept. 5, 1965. Students were somewhat aware of what hippies, and more currently hipsters, are, but most chose to write about gratitude.
The Words of the Day:
status quo -- Latin "the state in which" -- refers to the existing state of affairs or condition
joie de vivre -- French "joy of life" -- an exuberant joyfulness in living
carte blanche -- French "blank check" -- complete freedom to act as one wishes, unrestrained power
caveat emptor -- Latin "Let the buyer beware" -- refers to the buyer's responsibility to check the quality of the goods before purchasing
I handed back the Final Drafts of the Descriptive Essays. The students did a great job on their first essays of the year. For this round of essays I evaluated them using a rubric that considers the elements of an essay: Focus (Introduction, conclusion, and thesis), content, organization, and mechanics. Because I didn't specify the need for an introduction or conclusion in this essay, I didn't include that category on the evaluation. When I handed back the rough drafts, I asked the students to start a page in their notebooks titled "Watch out for . . . " where they could keep track of their common writing errors. Today, I directed them to start a page "What I did well . . . " where they could keep track of the elements of writing that they felt they had done well. Their list could include my comments of their own observations. Students are more likely to grow and improve as writers when they deliberately think about their own abilities.
Rough Drafts of the Personal History Essays were handed in today. (Note: A couple students mentioned forgetting the essay at home or having printer problems. They can e-mail them to me whenever that happens.)
I handed back the Parts of Speech Pre-Test; projecting the test on the white board, I went over each section. A number of students made some of the same mistakes, so this whole class activity was helpful. As students give their presentations, they will have further practice identifying the parts of speech in sentences. Speaking of presentations, students took 10 minutes to meet in their groups for finalize their plans. When we came back together as a class, I showed them two videos that previous classes had done. Next week, we will hear from the Conjunctions group and the Pronouns group.
Finally, before dismissing the class, we discussed two questions pertaining to Animal Farm: 1) Why did Molly leave the farm? and 2) What's up with the pigs trading with the humans.
Assignments for Next Week
-- Read Chapters 7 & 8
-- 3 Reader Responses
-- Note: Previously, students had to do 2 study guide questions and could do one ala carte response. Going forward, students may do up to 2 ala carte responses; they don't have to, but they may if they want.
-- 3 Vocabulary words
-- Preparations for their Parts of Speech Presentaions
-- Next Week: Conjunctions and Pronouns Presenations
Links for This Week:
Class Notes
Have a blessed weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
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