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