Our Quick Write for today was this prompt: If you could learn anything from anyone, what would it be and from whom would it be? The purpose of this prompt was to cause students to look inward, forward, and outward. In life, it helps when we can identify what we want to learn for the sake of our futures; then we need to engage in the world around us to find mentors and teachers. They shared both practical ideas and more abstract, personal growth ideas. After they wrote what they would like to learn, I then asked them to write about what skills or qualities they had to teach the world.
We didn't do any Words of the Day from our book, Animal Farm.
This week the class handed in their final drafts of their Personal Essays, along with their rough drafts, so it was time to assign another essay. This time, they are to write a Biographical Essay. We took a bit of time to talk about the difference between a report and a thesis-driven essay. In a report, a student would give details and information, but in a thesis-driven essay, a student needs to take a stand or form an opinion and then chose details to support that opinion. As I explained, it might help to think about what parts of a person's background were especially formative or what kind of impact that person has had on the world.
During our discussion of the essay, I also explained the new stage of the writing process that we will be using for this and the rest of our essays. In addition to a rough draft and final draft, students are to do a Pre-Write for their essays. This can look like a mind map or an outline, and the goal of a pre-write is to facilitate brainstorming and organizing. (Here is a link with a picture of a mind map.) This will give them an extra week to plan, research, and organize their essays. (In fact, for this essay, they have the extra week of fall break.)
Next week (10/10) we will have a Grammar presentation about Adjectives from Maggie and about Nouns from Stephan. Below is the list of the remaining students and their dates for presenting:
Adjectives -- Maggie (10/10)
Nouns -- Stephan (10/10)
Conjunctions -- Brooke S. (10/24)
Adverbs -- Brad (10/31)
Pronouns -- Raya (11/7)
Prepositions -- Brooke M. (11/14)
Finally, for the Literature Discussion, we discussed the final two chapters of the book. We talked about whether the animal's revolution was successful or not. We also talked about some of the interactions between the characters. We have now finished Animal Farm, and for next week students are to complete the final exam. In addition to that, they are to prepare for a discussion about the characters in the book. To do this, they are to choose one character and list 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses of this character. Then, they are to write a sentence that gives a full understanding of the character.
A note about My GradeBook: I worked with a couple of students and discovered that they were putting the class code where the password should go. If you are having difficulties, remember that the temporary user name (until you change the primary log in) is the class code, and your student's first name and last initial (unless I've had to change it for you) is the password.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Take Final Exam for Animal Farm
-- Prepare Character Sketch (choose a character and list 3 strengths/3 weaknesses; write a sentence that encompasses that character's qualities)
-- Prepare for Parts of Speech presentations
-- Pre-Write for Biographical Essay
Links for This Week
Class Notes
Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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