Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 10)

Greetings!

We are officially over half way through the Spring semester.  I don't know about you, but once we hit daylight savings time and the days get longer, the days also seem to fly by more quickly!

For the Quick Write this week students had 3 options: 

• March 10 is National Pack a lunch Day. Write about your favorite lunches.
• Where is the one place you never want to go to again?
• List 20 of your favorite foods
• And, as always, the "Whatever" option

We had two Words of the Day

apathetic-- fr. Greek, a, "without" and pathos, emotion, feeling -- strabizo, "to squint" -- lack of interest, enthusiasm, concern 

floccinaucinihilipilification -- the action or habit of estimating something as worthless (the link for this 29 letter word is for the pronunciation)

I handed back the rough drafts of the Examples or Analogy Essays that the students had written.  As part of our writing/grammar instruction, I covered common errors in the papers.  For this round of essays, these were the topics: the word "things," comma placement, comma splice sentences, and page format.  The final drafts are due next week.  In addition to the final draft, students are to fill out a form for their first 5 and last 5 mistakes on their rough drafts.

We have read two more Short Stories:  "Makes the Whole World Kin" and "The Furnished Room."  The first story is about a burglar who makes an uncommon connection with the man he's robbing, and that is the one that we talked about.  O. Henry's stories are full of unexpected twists and endings.  We had an in-class quiz about the first story.  

For the Grammar portion of our class, we are continuing to review sentence patterns.  This week, we are "building" sentences that follow the N-V-N (S-V-DO) and N-V-N-N (S-V-IO-DO) patterns, so we discussed transitive verbs, direct objects, and indirect objects.  We had time in class to work on our worksheets.

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Examples/Analogy  Final Draft

• First Five/Last Five Mistakes

• Short Stories:  Read Retrieved Reformation & The Pimienta Pancake worksheets

• Grammar – Wk8:  Sentence Patterns N-V-N

• Grammar – Wk8: Sentence Patterns N-V-N-N

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 10)

Short Stories: Audio and Pdf versions of Retrieved Reformation & The Pimienta Pancakes

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Short Stories Worksheet – Write 3 Questions

Story Title:  _______________________________

Author:  ___________________________________

As you read, jot down 3 critical thinking/analytical discussion questions that come to mind.  These questions should be ones that require thinking “how” or “why” with regard to the story.  In other words, they should require more than one-word answers.  Write down your question as a complete sentence and then write some thoughts about the answer to the question. 

1.

2.

3.

Short Stories Worksheet (Discussion Questions)

Story Title:  _______________________________

Author:  ___________________________________

As you read, jot down 3 discussion questions that come to mind.

1.

2.

3.

Links for Gift of the Magi and After Twenty Years

Greetings Class!

Below are some helpful links for our new book of short stories by O. Henry.  The website with information is from Wikipedia.  (Information about O. Henry)

The links below are videos from Youtube.  Some are recordings are readings of the stories.  A couple of them are dramatizations of the stories.

After Twenty Years
Librivox Recording
Legos & the Story
Dramatization by High School Class


The Gift of the Magi
Librivox Recording
Video
Video with story text

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 17)

Greetings!

This week in class we started with a Quick Write that asked about family heritage since it was St. Patrick's Day.  While my kids are "mutts," a blend of 8 or 9 nationalities, we have incorporated some Scandinavian traditions into our family celebrations.  As I write this, I'm thinking that it would be fun to incorporate some those British, German, and Scotch-Irish elements into our family, too.

The Words of the Day were short words or words for very small items:

aglet -- fr. OF aiguillette, a small needle -- the plastic or metal end of a shoelace

chad -- origin unknown -- a small round or square bit of paper formed when a hole is punched

grommet -- fr, OF gromette, curb of a bridle -- a metal or plastic ring encasing and reinforcing a hole

vim -- fr. an Americanism; fr. Latin vis, energy, force -- a lively and enthusiastic spirit

mauw -- fr. German, maul, muzzle -- the mouth, throat, or gullet of an animal

I handed back the Rough Drafts of the Themes/Character Essays.  The class did a wonderful job with this assignment.  When I hand back rough drafts, I like to use that as an opportunity to go over common errors.  Students can learn points of grammar with worksheets, but it makes the most sense in the context of their own writing.  I had the students come up and list on the board errors that were on their own essays, and then I added a few others.  We also talked briefly about plagiarism, which is taking the data, information, or comments of another and writing them as if they are your own.  It's good to add insights from others, but it's important to give credit where credit is due.  (We will cover this more in Writing 2)

The class had read 2 O. Henry short stories for this week:  "Makes the Whole World Kin" and "The Furnished Room."  We read aloud portions of first one and discussed it.

For the past few weeks, during the Grammar portion of class we've been learning about various types of phrases.  Now, we're moving on to types of sentences and elements in a a sentence.

Assignments for this Week:

Read "Retrieved Reformation" and "Pimienta Pancakes"

Fill out one Short Story worksheet for each story (both sides)

Final Drafts of Themes/Character Essays

Grammar Worksheets -- 9.2 and 9.3

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Retrieved Reformation (audiobook)

Retrieved Reformation (Listen & Read)

Pimienta Pancakes (audiobook)

Direct and Indirect Objects video

Have a beautiful week!

Mrs. Prichard

Short Stories Worksheet (Ask 5 Questions)

Short Stories Worksheet

Story Title:  _______________________________

Author:  ___________________________________

As you read, jot down 5 questions that come to mind.

 1.

2.

  

3.

4.

5.

Background for O. Henry

O. Henry (William Sidney Porter) is one of my favorite American writers.  Utilizing his quick wit, dexterity with vocabulary and quirky sense of plot construction, O. Henry is a master of the short story.  Although he lived a less-than-exemplary life, his colorful experiences were the "stuff" from which he got material for his stories.

Below are some links with more information on him and on his writing.
O. Henry (Wikipedia)
Brainy Quotes from his writings
Themes, Styles, and Techniques of O. Henry
Austin, TX, O. Henry Museum

Links to Videos for Week 6

Greetings Class!

Below are some helpful links for our new book of short stories by O. Henry.  The website with information is from Wikipedia.  (Information about O. Henry)

The links below are videos from Youtube.  Some are recordings are readings of the stories.  A couple of them are dramatizations of the stories.

After Twenty Years
Librivox Recording
Legos & the Story
Dramatization by High School Class


The Gift of the Magi
Librivox Recording
Video
Video with story text

Characters: The Actors in a Story

CHARACTERS:  THE ACTORS IN A STORY

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Types of Characters	Examples from the Story
Round characters are complex and multidimensional, like real people.
Flat characters are one dimensional and superficial; they can be described in a single sentence.
Dynamic characters change in an important way because of the story’s action
Static characters do not change much or at all during a story.
Stock characters are predictable stereotypes of people.
Motivation of Round Characters	Examples from the Story
Motivation is the underlying force(s) that causes a character to act a certain way.

The Short Story

THE SHORT STORY

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Elements of a Short Story	Elements of This Story
Characters:  the people or animals who are in the story
Setting:  the time and place in which a story occurs
Plot:  the action and problems that occur in a story
Conflict:  struggle(s) the character faces
Theme:  the story’s statement about life of the human condition
Point of view:  the vantage point from which a story is told.

Analyzing Setting in a Story

ANALYZING SETTING IN A STORY

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Questions to Ask About Setting	Responses from the Story
1.  What is the setting?  Historical period?  Country or locale?  Season of the year?  Weather?  Time of day?  What are the sights?  Sounds?  Tastes?  Smells?  What other details establish a sense of place?
2. Are the characters in conflict with the setting?  What do the characters want?  Does the setting keep them from getting what they want?
3. What does the setting tell us about the characters?  What feelings or attitudes do the characters reveal toward the setting?  Fear?  Pleasure?  Challenge?  Dislike?  Respect?  Other feelings or attitudes?
4. How would you describe the atmosphere or mood created by the setting?  Is it gloomy?  Cheerful?  Mysterious?  Threatening?  Other descriptions?

Analyzing a Story's Theme

ANALYZING A STORY’S THEME

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Questions to Help Clarify Theme	Responses & Examples from the Story
1.  Does the title signify something about the story?  Does it point to truth the story reveals about life?
2. Does the main character change during the course of the story?  Does the main character realize something he or she did not know before?
3. Are any important statements about life or people made in the story, either by the narrator or characters in the story?
4. Is the theme ever directly stated?  If so, where is it stated?
5. In one sentence, state the story’s theme.  Do you agree with the theme?  Is the writer presenting a truth about life or forcing us to accept a false view?

Background Information about O. Henry

O. Henry (William Sidney Porter) is one of my favorite American writers.  Utilizing his quick wit, dexterity with vocabulary and quirky sense of plot construction, O. Henry is a master of the short story.  Although he lived a less-than-exemplary life, his colorful experiences were the "stuff" from which he got material for his stories.

Below are some links with more information on him and on his writing.
O. Henry (Wikipedia)
Brainy Quotes from his writings
Themes, Styles, and Techniques of O. Henry
Austin, TX, O. Henry Museum