Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 21)

 Greetings!

It was good to be back in the classroom and to see everyone's faces (at least I'm sure there were faces behind the masks.)

For our Quick Write today, I asked the students to write something that connected with their Pre-Reading assignment for The 39 Steps.  I had think about what they would do if they were on the run -- either from some bad guys or some good guys (which meant they might be a bad guy.)  They were to think of possible options for hiding and staying safe.  This is a very creative bunch!  I heard some of their ideas and look forward to reading what they wrote.

For our Words of the Day, I had for them some words for those small "thingamajigs" or "whatchamacallits."  

meme -- fr. Greek mimeme; to imitate -- a digital image combined with text to express a cultural comment.
pintle -- the pin or bolt that is used in hinge.
ferrule -- the metal cap on the end of an umbrella
aglet -- the cover of the end of a shoe lace

For the rest of the semester, students can bring in interesting words for our weekly Words of the Day part of our discussion.  Here's how it will go:  Students can bring in 1 word a week written on a note card, Post-it note, or small piece of paper; we'll put them in the Homework Bin and randomly pull a few out.  For these words, they also need to include the etymology and a definition.  Students will get extra credit for bringing a word in, whether or not we use it that day.

Before we dug into our new topics for the semester, I quickly reviewed some of the basics, including Google Classroom and Track My Grades.  As last semester, all assignments will be posted in Google Classroom.  With the exception of our essays and a few online quizzes, students can hand in their homework when they come to class.  However, last semester some students preferred to do them on Google Classroom.  Either way will work, but students MUST remember to only hand in their homework in one place -- EITHER during class OR via Google Classroom.  Not both.  Note:  For those who have been trying to get onto Google Classroom, the site had been down for a couple days.  It's up and running and at its regular speed. 

Last semester I used a set of grade sheets that I built out of Google Sheets, but it didn't quite do everything I wanted it to do, so this semester I'm using Trackmygrades.com.  You should have received an invitation (and I will send another following this email).  To log in, you will need your chatclasses.com email and the 4-digit password that they have assigned you.  The best way to differentiate Google Classroom and Track My Grades is this:  Google Classroom will give you the specifics of an assignment and will tell you if you are missing any work; Track My Grades will tell you the scores for the work that has been handed in.  

The first topic we covered was our first Writing assignment -- a Narrative Essay.  I like to call a Narrative Essay a "story with a purpose."  In this type of essay, students re-tell a series of events, but they are not simply telling a story.  They must have a reason for telling these events to their readers.  This reason could include a turning point in life, a traumatic experience that change a life, an achievement that made a significant difference, etc.  The Pre-Write and Rough Draft are due February 4.

Next on the agenda was our first book for the semester.  For years I've been teaching The Strange Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and this year I wanted a change.  Instead, we will be reading another British classic that was written in 1915 -- The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.  This is one of the first espionage, man-on-the-run types of books.  I've taught this book to British Literature classes, and I think we'll all enjoy this book.

Last semester in the Grammar portion of the class we covered the Parts of Speech, and the students did amazing presentations.  This semester, we will build on that knowledge and review sentence patterns.  Many times when students are writing, they have comma splice sentences, run-on sentences, and sentence fragments.  It's important to be firmly grounded in the elements of a sentence so that you have the vocabulary and knowledge to fix sentences that aren't quite working.

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

Narrative Essay Pre-Write

Intro to The 39 Steps Quiz (GC)
Read Ch. 1 & 2 of The 39 Steps
Week 2 – 3 Study Guide Questions
Grammar – Wk1:  What is a Sentence? 

Grammar – Wk1:  Sentence Patterns N-V

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Assignments Checklist

Writing 1 Spring Syllabus

Spring Writing 1 Students Google Drive folder

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 21)