Writing 1 -- Grades are Coming!

Dear CHAT Writing 1 Students & Parents,

I've just finished calculating the grades for the Spring semester, and you will be finding them in your inbox by the end of the week.  As tutors, these are suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

For those who are new to my classes, let me share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschooled, I didn't give my children grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective.  I taught my own children for mastery.  We didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready no matter how long that took.  In a class setting, knowing where each student is with regards to his/her understanding of a topic is not possible, so any grade given is not a complete representation of what the student learned or accomplished this year.

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as a person or as an academic learner.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reflection and reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

For this class, I gave points for attendance, participation, short assignments, literature assignments, grammar exercises, and longer essays. (I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best.)  For these essay assignments, the final drafts were graded using a rubric that divided the papers into the following categories:  focus, content, organization, and mechanics.  The grades will be divided into the following categories:  Assignments (Quick Writes and in class activities), Literature, and Writing.  A student may have been strong in one area and not in another, and this will be reflected in these categories.  The categories are not evenly weighted; in other words, 100% in Assignments, which were almost all Quick Writes, does not have the same value as 100% in Grammar, which included lots of worksheets and new material to learn.

Each student (and parents) will receive an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester.  I’ve seen each student improve with each paper.  Good Work!

Blessings,

Tammy Prichard

Links:
Writing 1 -- Grades are coming!
Grades, Percentages, and Scores Clarification

Grades, Percentages, and Scores Clarification

Greetings!

In addition to my earlier comments about grades in general, I want to clarify how I have scored and graded my students this semester.  Firstly, I've divided the work done in the class into categories:  Assignments, Writing, Grammar, and Literature.  Each category is somewhat self-explanatory, except for perhaps the "Assignments" section.  This is where I put our Quick Writes, vocabulary work, and any other class participation scores.

For the past two years I've been using My GradeBook, an online grade book.  With this program, I can assign a category to each assignment, for example, Writing, Literature, Grammar, Assignments (in-class work.)  My GradeBook figures percentages for total scores and for scores within each of these categories. 

However, the four categories used for Writing 1 did not have the same number of assignments, so a straight averaging of the scores does not give an accurate total percentage/grade.  For example, the Assignments category had 16 scores, and 15 of them were small, 5-point Quick Writes.  Writing section had fewer assignments, but the scores were higher per assignment.

Though the categories are not exactly even, I feel that dividing the scores like this is helpful because it helps parent, students, and teacher have a better picture of the work done in the semester.  For example, if a student scores 100% on this Assignments section, I know that he showed up and participated well in class.  A low score in the Literature section is most likely a sign of a significant number of missing assignments.  Likewise, a low score in grammar could be because assignments were not handed in, or it could be a lack of knowledge in this area. As it is with all homework assignments for any subject area, the scores reflect a mix of quantity and quality. 

When you get the grades, you should see a small table like this:

Assignments		Grammar		Literature		Writing		Combined
Grade	%	Grade	%	Grade	%	Grade	%	Grade	%

I hope I haven't further confused the grading for this class.  Working with students to help them develop into first-rate thinkers and writers is my  primary goal.  Points, scores, percentages, and grades are only small parts in the learning process.

Blessings to all of you,
Tammy Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 15 (May 10)

Greetings!

Well, we've made it through another great year at CHAT.   I know that these great students learned a lot -- just compare their first essays with their final ones!

Even though I had a full day planned for the class, we didn't skip the Quick Write.  Students had two options:  they could write an end of the year thank you letter to their parents or they could brainstorm and list as much as they could remember about what they learned this year.  As we went around the room, they commented on both academic topics and every day life learning.  

We didn't do any Words of the Day this week.  I wanted to make sure we had time for the rest of our activities.

I handed back all the homework that I had graded, and students handed in their Reflection Papers along with any other homework that they had for me.  Today was the last day to hand in homework.  My hope is to get everything graded and have the grades sent out by the beginning of next week.

Now for the fun stuff ...

We finished our Poetry Jam.  Team 4 (Ellie P, Samantha, Jacob, and Emma) and Team 5 (Joshua, Stevan (pinch-hitting for Ellie T), Aidan, and Joseph recited against each other, while the other 3 teams judged.  We had a great collection of poems, some memorized and some originals.  As far as I'm concerned everyone who participated was a winner!  We also heard poetry presentations from our "MVPs," the top scorers from each team.  We finished our poetry with the 5 teams doing a class reading of Dr. Seuss's "Oh the Places You will Go" with a rap background.

Remaining in our teams, the class then played a Jeopardy game with questions related to the grammar, writing, and literature that we've covered this year.  

Today was a bitter sweet day.  After eight great years at CHAT, I will miss engaging with young student writers.  I'm pretty proud of these kids.  They've written well, engaged well in class discussions, worked hard on homework, and been generally great all-around kids.  We had a marvelous year reading and writing!  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

This week's links:

Class Notes 

Jeopardy Final Exam

Have a great summer!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 10)

Greetings!

It's Spring, and before we know it Summer will be here, too.  While you may still have more school to do at home, I can tell that students are ready for a change and for the end of CHAT classes. We've had a great year and they've worked hard!

For our Quick Write today, I used the following prompts.  Students could write about one or more, and they always have the option to write about something else that is one their minds.  I know of at least one student who combined the prompts.  

#1 -- Describe your worst day ever.

#2 -- Describe your best day ever.

#3 -- "I couldn't believe my eyes . . . "

Our Words of the Day were all words of Latin roots:

incognito -- fr. Latin, in, "not" and cogito, "to know" -- when the true identity of a person is not known or is hidden

muscle -- fr. Latin mus, "mouse" -- Ancient Romans thought that the movement of muscles were somewhat mouse-like.

companion -- fr. Latin com, "with" and panis, "bread" -- The Old French version of this word meant someone with whom you would break bread.

Following our beginning of class activities, I checked in with their final essay assignment, which was the Essay Re-Write.  Some students had asked if they could really alter the essay, and I'll never say "no" to doing more writing.  I also mentioned that next week, May 10, will be their last chance to hand in any homework.  

Their very last assignment for the class is to write a Reflection Paper.  This doesn't need to be long, or perfectly written, but I want them to take some time and think about what and how they have learned this year.  (I wrote a blog post a few years ago, "The Value of Reflection Papers" that might be helpful to read.)  For these papers, students should include the following

Paragraph #1 -- Answer the question, "What have you learned this year?"  (They can do this with a mix of sentences and lists.)

Paragraph #2 -- Answer the question, "What have you learned about yourself as a student/writer this year?"

Paragraph #3 -- Answer the question, "What did you like or not like in the class?  What worked well for you and what didn't?"

Extra Credit -- Draw a picture of anything that will remind me of the class or of you!

We closed out the Grammar section with a "Final Exam."  We've done a lot of talking about sentence construction this semester, so most of the test was to see if they can build their own sentences from scratch.  If you were absent from class, I'm attaching the exam, and it can be done and brought to class. 

And then -- the Poetry Jam!  I look forward to this all year long.  Some students love poetry, some tolerate it, and a few really don't like it; I've found that even those who don't like poetry are great sports.  If you haven't heard about the logistics of the "jam," the students present their poems as teams with the other teams scoring them using a rubric.  I plug those  numbers into my spread sheet and average the scores. (The scores listed below are averaged from the scores of the judging teams and for the number of players in each team.)  Next week, the top two teams will compete, and I have something for the top scoring students, too.

The scores for the Poetry Jam were pretty close.  Teams 4 and 5 should come prepared for Round 2 of the Poetry Jam.

Team 1 -- 8.05

Team 2 -- 7.525

Team 3 -- 8.375

Team 4 -- 8.58

Our top scoring students were Corrie, Selah, Stevan, Joseph, Jacob, and Emma.  They should come prepared to recite something that I will give them.

Next Week:

Poetry Jam, Round 2

Final Exam (a.k.a. a Jeopardy game)

Reflection Papers

Note:  All homework should be handed in by May 10.

Links for This Week

Class Notes

The Value of Reflection Papers 

Final Grammar Exam

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Final Grammar Exam

Final Grammar Exam

1. Write a N-LV-N sentence.
2. Write a N-LV-Adj sentence.
3. Write a sentence with 3 prepositional phrases
4. Write a compound sentence.  Label the subjects and the verbs.  Circle the coordinating conjunction.
5. Write a complex sentence.  Label the subjects and verbs in the independent and dependent clauses. Circle the subordinating conjunction.
6. Write a sentence with exactly 5 errors.
7. Correct #6.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 26)

Greetings!

We might be winding down the semester, but we're still going strong and covered a lot of information today.

Our Quick Write prompt today was inspired by the fact that today was National Poem in your Pocket Day. I heard a few groans and grumblings, but they were good sports and wrote a bit of poetry.  I wrote a short diamante, which is a 7-line shape poem.  You can see some examples on this poetry site.  I look forward to reading their poems.

Our Words of the Day were connected to writing.  The following words of Greek origin are considered modes of persuasion and are also referred to as the three artistic proofs. (More explanations of these terms at this site.)

Ethos -- Greek, "nature, disposition" -- In terms of writing and logic, ethos refers to the credibility and authority of the person with the message, in other words, the ethical nature of a person. a person can express his ethos by choosing language and topics appropriate to the audience.  

Pathos -- Greek, "suffering, grief" -- In terms of writing and logic, pathos refers to an emotional appeal.  This can be done by using meaningful language emotional tone, and emotion-evolving examples.

Logos -- Greek, "word, reason" -- In terms of writing and logic, logos refers to an appeal to logic and reason.  This can be done by including facts, statistics, analogies, and citations by authorities and experts.

I did a quick check in about homework and encouraged students to check My GradeBook if they have questions about missing homework.  Here's a link for instructions for accessing the site.

Our final essay for the year is an Essay Re-Write.  This is a chance for students to rework one of their earlier essays.  I suggested to them that they choose an essay they 1) got a low grade on; 2) felt they could do better on or wanted to improve; or 3) that they enjoyed writing and want to add more.  As they are rewriting, they should look at their essays from a sentence and word choice level but also from a content consideration.  The Essay Re-Write is due next week, and students also need to hand in the original final draft of the essay they are rewriting.

For the Grammar part of our class, we had a quick quiz to check for understanding of simple, compound, and complex sentences.  We went through each sentence to identify the subjects, verbs, conjunctions, prepositional phrases, etc.  Using these sentences, I felt that some of the aspects of sentence construction and patterns were beginning to really click for most of the students.

For our Poetry discussion at the end of the class, we discussed two of the poems that were assigned for this week.  We read aloud "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron and "To My Dear Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet.  We talked about how the first poem, while it mentions the beauty in looks and character of someone, it was not necessarily a love poem.  In fact, one student mentioned that it could even be written about a favorite dog.  On the other hand, the Bradstreet poem is one of the sweetest poems written by a wife to her husband.

We start our Poetry Jam next week, so students should bring 2 poems that they are ready to recite in class.  A reminder:  students will get extra points for original poems and for poems that are memorized.  Next week we will divide into teams, and I will explain the  scoring.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Prepare 2 poems for the poetry jam

-- Essay Re-Write

-- Any old homework that is not overdue

Links for this week:

Class Notes 

National Poem in Your Pocket

Diamante Poetry

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

My GradeBook Directions

Sentences Quiz

Have a great weekend.  

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 19)

Greetings!

Who thought we would have a blizzard in April?  The weather man says we should have bona fide spring weather this weekend.

We began the day with the Weekly Announcement from the CHAT directors.  They've felt that as the student body has grown, it was important to share updates, etc. with the students via notes to be read before the classes.  I understand that the notes are also sent to parents.  The notes today covered the new tardy policy and policies about being outside when the weather finally gets nice) and dress code.

I offered 2 prompts for our Quick Write.  Firstly, today is the anniversary of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, the battle of Lexington and Concord, which was known for its "shot heard round the world."  For this prompt, students could write about what makes the United States special and unique. The second prompt was inspired by Barbara Bush who died on Tuesday, April 17.  I asked the students to write about a special older "grandma" type of woman in their lives.  I heard good thoughts from the students about each prompt.

Our Words of the Day:

chagrin -- French, chagrin, "rough skin" -- the feeling of distress from being humiliated or embarrassed

chaise -- French, chaise, "chair" -- a small horse-drawn carriage for one or two people

chalet -- Old French, chasel, "farmstead" -- a wooden house or cottage with overhanging eaves, often found in Switzerland

chamois -- French, the chamois antelope -- a pliable leather-like cloth

Following our beginning of class activities, we discussed the Rough Drafts of the News Stories.  The class did a great job on these.  Some of them were quite creative and humorous.  Students help develop the list of topics for us to discuss.  I asked them to look over their essays and find something from the corrections and my notes in the margins.  From the list that the students wrote, we discussed common errors found in the essays.  For next week, the Final Drafts are due. 

For our Poetry discussion, I divided the class into small groups and selected four of the poems for them to discuss as a group.  In their groups, they were to identify the story of/behind the poem, the message/meaning of the poem, the mood of the poem, and the uniqueness of the poem.  I heard thoughtful and lively discussions.  

Assignments for Next Week

-- Finish the Final Draft of the News Story

-- Read the following poems:  "Death be not Proud" (Donne, p. 2), "On His Blindness" (Milton), "To My Dear and Loving Husband" (Bradstreet, 6), "She Walks in Beauty" (Byron, 16)

-- For 2 poems, write about the story, message, mood, and uniqueness.

-- No grammar

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Have a great weekend.  the weather should be pretty nice!  

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 12)

Greetings!

We had a very good day in class.  I started the class time with a "public service announcement" about getting to class in time. For the most part, this has been a very punctual class, especially since then know that they will lose the Quick Write points if they are not in class on time.  However, in a conversation with the directors of CHAT, I heard that a number of other tutors have been having difficulties with high school and middle school students coming in up to 10 minutes late.  My appeal to this group of great students was to remind them how important it is to be on time and to encourage them to continue to be good role models.

We had three options for the Quick Write today.  Wednesday was National Siblings Day, so they could write about their siblings.  Another prompt was to write about what makes them or their families unique.  (A recent article that I read about appreciating diversity stated that understanding and enjoying your own personal uniqueness is a good step towards doing the same for others.)  And finally, students could try to write from an opposite perspective regarding something that they value or believe.  For example, if I were to be very "pro" some new legislation, I would try to write as if I were very "con."  The students did some great thinking and writing!

Our Words of the Day were "E" words:

El Dorado -- fr. Spanish, "the gilded place" -- a mythical city that is made of gold

ellipses -- fr. Greek elliepsis, "to leave out" -- the omission of words in a quote signified by three periods or asterisks with spaces in between

El Nino -- fr. Spanish, literally "the Christ child" -- a warm ocean current that develops in late December that can cause catastrophic weather conditions

Elysium -- fr.Greek, elysion, "plains"   -- the place for the blessed when they are dead; a state or condition of contentment

The rough drafts of the News Story was due this week.  As students were handing them in, we talked about how this assignment was different.  Many of the students enjoyed the opportunity to be creative in their writing.  Because I've heard of their topics, I'm excited to read these stories, including those that are "top secret."  I will return the rough drafts next week, and the final drafts are due April 26.  This is their last original essay.  The final writing assignment is a rewrite of an earlier essay.

For the literature discussion, I divided the class into 4 groups and had them illustrate 4 of our poems:  Langston Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," William Carlos Williams's "the Red Wheel Barrow" and Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening" and "Fire and Ice."  They had two directives:  they had to try to include the meaning of the poem and everyone had to have a hand in the drawing.  They were incredibly focused and animated as they drew.  When they were done, each group got up to read the poem and to talk about their illustration.

Because we took more time on the literature, we didn't have a grammar discussion this week.  The assigned worksheets about compound sentences have good explanations and directions, so they should be OK.  If a student has trouble, please contact me.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read poetry by William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Browning, Gerard Manly Hopkins, and Emily Bronte

-- Two Grammar Worksheets

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Illustrated Poems

Week 9 Compound Sentences

Week 10 Compound Sentences

Writing 1's Illustrated Poems

Langston Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheel Barrow"

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice"

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 10 (April 5)

Greetings!

It might not feel like it as you look at the weather forecast for this weekend, but it is spring, and we are beginning the homestretch for the semester.  We are two-thirds of the way through!

For the Quick Write, I gave the students these options as prompts:  National Burrito Day, National Deep Dish Pizza Day, or Prompt #14 from Toastmasters -- What is the difference between existing and living.  We had some great comments for all three prompts, and at the end of our discussion, I asked students to list three things in their lives that make life worth living.  I'm looking forward to reading what they wrote.

Last week we had "Z" words, and this week our Words of the Day were "H" words.  

hippodrome -- fr. Greek hippo, "horse" -- an oval shaped race course for horse or chariot races

hollandaise -- fr. French sauce hollandaise, "Dutch sauce" -- a rich sauce made of butter, egg yolks, lemon juice, and sometimes herbs or spices

hombre -- fr. Spanish hombre, "man"; from Latin hominem, "man" -- a casual term for man or guy

hoi polloi -- fr. Greek, hoi polloi, "the many" -- the common man

I handed back homework, and we had a brief discussion about the e-mails that I sent out this week.  If students have any homework that has been graded but they see that it is not on the online grade book, they should hand it in again.  I had a student in Writing 2 who had done two assignments on one piece of paper, but I hadn't seen the second assignment on the back.  If a student is ever absent, all of the homework can be found in these places: attachments in the weekly class notes, copies on the class blog, and with a link to the document on Google drive.  

We had a brief discussion about the next writing assignment:  a News Story.  I reiterated that these can be actual or imaginary events; they can be current or historical events; they can be prominent or every day events.  Unlike an essay, they don't necessarily have the same kind of introduction, conclusion, or organizational structures.  Students should feel free to read a couple of newspaper stories for examples.  The rough draft is due next week.

We have reached the end of our O. Henry short stories unit, and the majority of the students have said that our last story, Tthe Ransom of Red Chief" was their favorite.  Ebeneezer Dorsett's son is the kind of kid you can hardly fathom even exists, and the two criminals are a bit bumbling.  As with all of the stories we've read, the end is quirky.  The class did a great job in our discussions.

I've given them the next book, which is our poetry for the year.  Below is the list of poets from the book that they should read for next week.  They should read all of the poems by each author.  There will be a quiz next week, so read them all!

For the grammar section of our class, we went over a worksheet from the previous class time that a number of students seemed to have a hard time with.  We went sentence by sentence, isolating the prepositional phrases and identifying them as adverb phrases or adjective phrases.  When sentences get more complicated, one of the first strategies for figuring out all of the various elements is to eliminate the prepositional phrases.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read the poetry of the following authors:  Hughes (p. 51), William (p. 48), Frost (p. 44)

-- No Poetry Analysis Worksheets

-- News Story Rough Draft

-- No Grammar Worksheets

Links for this week

Class Notes

News Story handout

Spring Technology Reminder

Have a great weekend!  Build one last snowman!!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 22)

Greetings!

We had a full class and great discussions yesterday.  They've worked hard this semester, and their spring break is well-deserved!

For our Quick Write today, they could choose from three options:

1.  The first day of spring was this week and next week is Spring Break.  Any plans?

2.  Yesterday was National Common Courtesy Day.  What can they do to increase the levels of politeness and respect in the world around them.

3.  Yesterday was National French Bread Day.  What would they do with a good loaf of French bread?

We had some great comments about lack of respect that we see in the world today.  And while the students might not say anything to you, they realized that parents who are intentional and diligent in training towards respect, courtesy, and honor should be thanked because these characteristics are really needed.

Our Words of the Day came from the last page of my book of foreign words and phrases:

zollverein -- German, Zoll, "toll or customs" and verein, "union" -- a tariff applied to a trade agreement

zaftig -- German, zaft, "juice" to Yiddish, zaftik, "plump" -- a pleasantly rounded woman

zither -- Greek cithara -- a stringed instrument having 30 - 40 strings over a shallow horizontal soundboard and played with pick and fingers

zombie -- West African, zumbi -- the undead; a person who appears lifeless

As I promised last week, we had a Quiz today with questions about their assigned short stories for today, "The Pimienta Pancakes" and "Retrieved Reformation."  If they had read their stories, the questions were pretty easy.  On the other hand, if they had not done the reading, they would not have been able to answer them.  I don't do quizzes like this very often -- just often enough to keep them on their toes.  When we finished the quiz, we discussed the stories.  With each new O. Henry story, students are learning to be on the lookout for something quirky.  Our final story is "The Ransom of Red Chief."  Some students already know this story, and if they have seen Disney's No Deposit, No Return with Don Knotts they will have an idea of the plot.  

The literary analysis essays have been handed in, and we're onto our last "from scratch" essay of the year -- a News Story.  We talked at length how these are arranged a little differently than an essay.  In essays, the introduction gives clear direction with thesis statement, a "road map," and a hook.  The conclusion wraps of the essay with a reiterated thesis statement, a summary, and some parting thoughts.  A news story, on the other hand, starts with the primary, most important major details and then fills in other details throughout the article.  The conclusion might sum up the details and give final thoughts, but does not have the same importance as it does in an essay.  This is in part because journalists know that they have to get the most important information in at the beginning because they don't know if their readers will read through to the end of an article.  We also discussed some topic ideas.  They can choose a "not real" event to write about.  Students often enjoy this assignment because it allows them the opportunity to be a little creative.

For our Grammar work, we did some more work with compound sentences and coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS).  We worked on them in class so that they could ask questions.  We've gone over this material, but it takes a while for it to fully stick in our heads so that it makes a difference in our writing.

Assignments for April 5

-- News Story Pre-Write

-- Read "The Ransom of Red Chief"

-- Write 3 Discussion Questions for the story

-- 2 Grammar Worksheets

   -- FANBOYS

  -- Compound Sentences Exercises

Links for This Week

Class Notes

News Story

The Ransom of Red Chief (1998 version)

The Ransom of Red Chief (high school play)

The Ransom of Red Chief (audiobook)

FANBOYS Worksheet

Compound Sentences Exercises

Have a WONDERFUL Spring 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 April 5; Rough Draft due April 12;  Final Draft due April 26

– 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 8 (March 15)

Greetings!

We had another good class.  This is such a friendly group of students, and they interact well with each other and with our discussion topics.

I gave the students four ideas for Quick Writes.  Firstly, it was the Ides of March (3/15), which is the date that the Roman Senators killed Julius Caesar, so they could write about something political.  Wednesday was Pi Day (3/14), so they could write about something mathematical.  I also gave them a prompt from one of my creative writing books:  "Eva looked at the egg in her hand.  There was nothing left for her to do but contact the FBI."  And finally, if nothing inspired them with these prompts, they could draw a picture of a flower yawning.  I had quite a variety of creative responses!

Our Words of the Day came from one of our short stories by O. Henry.  Instead of looking the words up, we looked at the context of the words to determine the definitions.

decorum -- referring to behavior that is in good taste and appropriate

matrimonial -- related to marriage or married people

poultice -- a soft packet of herbs, etc. applied to the body to relieve inflammation

I handed back the Rough Drafts of their literary analysis of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  I've told them that this is probably the most challenging writing assignment of the year, and they have done a wonderful job.  As I do when I hand back rough drafts, we went over common errors that I found in their papers.  We talked about commas, compound sentences, and contractions.  We also went over how to incorporate quoted material into an essay and whether a paraphrase should be used instead of a direct quote.

The next item on our agenda was to discuss our Short Stories.  (I hope the students are enjoying the O. Henry stories as much as I am!)  This week, we discussed "Makes the Whole World Kin" that is a quirky story about a burglar and rheumatism. O. Henry writes stories with quirky endings, and this one is a favorite of mine.  This class has done a great job keeping up with the reading assignments, but I did warn them that next week they could have a pop quiz.  Just sayin' . . .

For the grammar section, our lesson today was identifying prepositional phrases and then determining if they are adjective phrases or adverbial phrases.  They have one worksheet to  do.

A note about absences and homework:  When students are absent due to an illness, travel, or some other activity, it is up to them to find out what they are missing.  All missing worksheets can be found in at least one of the following places:  attached to the class notes, a shared Google document (f it's a pdf), or as a blog post (if it's a Word doc).  The content of the class and homework assignments can be found in the class notes e-mail, the related blog post, and the syllabus.  They can always check with me if something is unclear, but they should also check these other resources.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Retrieved Reformation (p. 49); The Pimenta Pancakes (p. 29) 

-- Complete one worksheet (front and back)

-- Finish Final Drafts

-- 1 Grammar worksheet

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Classifying Prepositions

Short Story Worksheet

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard