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