Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 29)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day in class.  We started the class period with a Quick Write, and today's prompt was connected with the fact that it is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.  I gave the students a sheet of paper with an extra large pocket outline. They were to write a poem within the lines of that pocket.  They could write originals or copy one from our poetry book.  

Here are our unusual Words of the Day:

Hexadosioihexekontahexaphobie -- the fear of the number 666

ructation -- the act of belching

metanoia --  a tranformative change of heart; a conversion

The Final Drafts of the News Stories were due today, and I introduced the next writing assignment, which is an Essay Re-Write.  For this essay, students can choose any essay they have written this year for Writing 1, or they can choose an essay that they've written for another class.  They should take a one of their final drafts and look for ways to improve it.  I often suggest that students choose the essay that they got the worst grade on or that they want to spend some more time on. Another option can be to trade essays with a friend and re-write the friend's essay.  This writing assignment is due next week, and students should hand in the original along with the re-write.  (Note:  This isn't our regular pre-write to rough draft to final draft process.)

For our Literature portion of the class, we spend most of our time talking about one of my favorite poems by William Carlos Williams, "A Red Wheelbarrow."  After our discussion, I explained our Poetry Jam, which we will have for the next 2 weeks.  The class has been divided into teams, and those teams will compete in a group by reciting poetry.  (It looks like we might have some guest "judges" for the day.)  Each student should bring in 2 poems next week for the first round of the Poetry Jam.  

Here are the teams, I think.  (I forgot to take a picture of the board, so these teams might not be correct)

Team 1:  Grace, Matt, Julia, Lilia

Team 2:  Kaylynn, Halle, Annelise, Kelin

Team 3:  Danica, Nina, Anthony

Team 4:  Tate, Eden, Rachel T

Team 5:  Rachel C, Elijah, Cyprian

Finally, to conclude our Grammar for the year, I have a Final Sentence Patterns Test that they will take next week.  For this week, they have a review sheet that they should complete and then correct.  Correcting their own work will further help them review and will be much more beneficial than waiting a week to see if they got the answers right.  

We have a couple fun weeks planned to finish out our year, so let's make sure you get caught up on any late work.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Bring 2 poems for your contribution to the Poetry Jam (Here is the scoring information)

-- Complete the Essay Re-Write

-- Complete the Sentence Patterns Review sheet and correct it. (Bring the corrected version to class)

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 22)

 Just a brief note this week.

As always, we had a good class today.  In addition to our Quick Writes and Words of the Day, we had a discussion about common errors & corrections for the rough drafts of the News Story.  Then, we broke into small groups to discuss the assigned poems.  Finally, for our grammar section I taught the students how to use the semicolon using Reese's peanut butter cups as an object lesson.

A gentle reminder:  Masks are still required at CHAT (including in the classroom) unless a student's parents have contacted Mrs. Nelson or Mrs. Johnson.  I often ask students to temporarily pull down their masks when I am having a hard time hearing their comments, but otherwise, the masks should be on.  

Assignments for Next Week:

• Poetry:  Whitman (p. 25), Dickenson (p. 27), Burgess (p. 39), Frost (p. 44), Sandburg (p. 46), Williams (p. 48), Hughes (p. 53)

Note: All of the poems are in the book and can also be found on this Google Classroom post: Week 13 Poetry

• 2 Poetry Responses

• News Story Final Draft

• Grammar – Wk12:  Writing Compound Sentences

• Grammar – Wk12:  Simple or Compound Sentences

Be blessed this weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 15)

 Greetings!

We had a lovely class this week.  One aspect that I especially enjoy with this Writing 1 class is that they all get along well and participate in a harmonious way.  We have good, productive conversations.

For our Quick Writes, here were their options:

1). If your life had a theme song, what song would it be and why? 2) If your life was a movie, what would the title be and what genre would it be?  Why? 3) Skittles of M & Ms?  Why? and 4) If you could design a “National Day” what would it be and why?

We had some unusual Words of the Day:

leal -- fr. Scottish "loyalty" -- loyal, raithful, honest true

redhibition -- fr. Latin, rehibitio, "a taking back" -- to return a faulty or damaged product

We had a very short quiz after our Words of the Day.  I asked the students to memorize the state of being words:  am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been.  I had them list the words, and they did a great job.

They have handed in the rough drafts of their News Stories.  I'm looking forward to reading them; a number of students said that that they had added more creative and imaginative elements to their writing.  I asked them today to think about how they've improved as writers.  They shared some insightful comments.

We are now reading poetry for our Literature portion of the class. Some students like poetry, but many aren't that crazy about it.  Today, we watched a couple of videos of poetry recitations.  (See links at the bottom.)  The class has their new poetry books, and they should read the poems of the poets listed below.  For their homework, they need to respond to 2 poems, and the have 5 options:  

1.  Fill out a Poetry Worksheet for one or both

2.  Write a paragraph about the poem(s) that analyzes the poem; discuss what you think it means and why you like or don't like it.

3.  Instead of writing a paragraph, record a video commentary about the poem.  Youtube LiveStream or some other app on a device is OK as long as it can be seen by me.

4.  Do a piece of art that connects with the content and meaning of the poem.  

5.  Make a video of your recitation of the poem.

For our Grammar section of the class, we worked on 2 worksheets for the students to practice putting commas in compound sentences.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Poetry:  Wordsworth (p. 12); Keats (p. 17), Browning (p. 19); Carroll (p. 29); Hopkins (p. 31), Henley (p. 33)

• 2 Poetry Responses

• Grammar – Wk11:  Compound FANBOYS

• Grammar – Wk11:  Compound Sentences & Commas

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Taylor Mali "Speak with Authority"

Dead Poets Society "What will your verse be?"

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

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

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful week in class.  To begin, the students planned and executed a clever April Fools joke.  All except 3 students logged into the Zoom classroom.  As I was taking attendance and seeing so many students on Zoom instead of in class, I just thought that a lot of people were gone for a pre-Easter trip.  Then, just as I was ready to start the class, they all walked in saying "April Fools!"  I think this is best school-related April Fools days I've ever had!  

For our Quick Writes, we had 3 options:  1)  Write about a memorable joke or prank; 2) Write about your family's or church family's Easter traditions; 3) Ask Mrs. Prichard 3 questions.  Over the years, the students have enjoyed when this third option comes up; they ask thoughtful, curious, and often quirky questions.  

Our Words of the Day:

arctophile -- fr. Greek arktos "bear" and philo "love" -- someone how is a lover of teddy bears

burgeon -- fr. Latin burra "the wool/fluff that covers the buds of flowers before they bloom" -- to flourish; to grow or develop quickly

nudiustertian -- fr. Latin nudius tertius "today is the third day" -- of or relating to the day before yesterday

We had a brief check in on their News Stories; the rough drafts are due on April 15.  Some students have given this some thought, and others have waited until this next week to work on it.  I reminded them that they could do a news article on a current event, a past event, or even a fictional event.  They could also do a review of some kind.

We had a quiz about our short story "The Ransom of Red Chief" this week, and even though I mentioned last week that I might do this, some students were not prepared.  I expected that to happen.  When spring arrives and the end of the year is in sight, most students turn their thoughts to activities other than school.  (The 2020-21 school year has been exceptionally long, so I really don't blame them.)  This was a low stakes reminder for them to do their homework.  

We are finished with our Short Stories and are now onto Poetry.  I had brought the books last week and thought I had left them at CHAT; I was mistaken.  So, instead of having the books for this week, I have links for the poems they are to read.  These poems come from a book titled Great Short Poems, and they will be reading a chronological collection of poems, starting with contemporaries of Shakespeare and ending with early 20th century poets.  April is National Poetry Month, so I do my best to make the most of it!

Class -- please note this next information -- it was not discussed in class

After the students read all of the poems, they are to choose 2 poems to respond to.  They need to respond to 2 poems, and here are their options:

1.  Fill out a Poetry Worksheet for one or both

2.  Write a paragraph about the poem(s) that analyzes the poem; discuss what you think it means and why you like or don't like it.

3.  Instead of writing a paragraph, record a video commentary about the poem.  Youtube LiveStream or some other app on a device is OK as long as it can be seen by me.

4.  Do a piece of art that connects with the content and meaning of the poem.  

5.  Make a video of your recitation of the poem.

Finally, for our Grammar portion of the class, I gave some worksheets for continued practice in identifying sentence elements for the various sentence patterns that have been covered this semester.  

Assignments for Week 11 (April 15)

-- News Story Pre-Write

-- News Story Rough Draft

-- Answer the Question:  Why this Topic?

-- Read Week 11 Poetry (links below AND posted on Google Classrooom)

-- Poetry Response (2 Poems)

-- Complements Worksheet (John Updike)

-- Sentence Patterns (Mr. Jackson)

-- Sentence Patterns Practice (Four bakers)

Links for this Week:  

Class Notes

Poetry

Even Such is Time (Raleigh)

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day (Shakespeare)

Death Be Not Proud (Donne)

On the World (Quarles)

On His Blindness (Milton)

To My Dear and Loving Husband (Bradstreet)

Ode on Solitude (Pope)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature