Bad Writing Samples

#1       The amount of grammer and usage error’s today is astounding. Not to mention spelling. If I was a teacher, I’d feel badly that less and less students seem to understand the basic principals of good writing. Neither the oldest high school students nor the youngest kindergartner know proper usage. A student often thinks they can depend on word processing programs to correct they’re errors. Know way!

            Watching TV all the time, its easy to see why their having trouble. TV interferes with them studying and it’s strong affect on children has alot to due with their grades. There’s other factors, too, including the indifference of parents like you and I. A Mom or Dad often doesn’t know grammer themselves. We should tell are children to study hard like we did at they’re age and to watch less TV then their classmates.

#2       The television can be helpful sometimes, especially when people watch the news, but of course we all know that you can’t get everyone to watch the news. Some people watch television to learn about things that go on in our world. And there’s people that watch it cause there’s nothing else to do. People that watch television because there’s nothing else to do are making television harmful because almost all of the shows have something wrong with them like the language, their actions, and some of the things that they show. And most of the kids that watch these shows want to be the same way. Like say that a teenager killed someone, the kids that watch it and think that’s cool and do the same thing when they get older.

            Some shows are learning experienses like a show on saving our economy, if you  watched this you could help save the economy. I think that there are too many people using television in the harmful way such as gaining weight from sitting in front of the television too much. There are also a log of people who stay away from television as often as they can and try to be more active, but still do watch the educational way of shows and that is the education way of doing it. There are also a lot of controversy going on about some of the things they on television. But it you think about it television is very helpful.

#3       As that there are alot of people (weather they are philosophers or not) there are many exceptions to moral rules or laws. One thing I find interesting about Immanuel Kant, are his strong feelings toward not lying at any time ever no matter what and not to deal with the consequences and the considerations of individual situations and circumstances and possible exceptions that need to be accounted for when making a decision of morality and ethics. Immanuel Kant felt strongly that lying was always wrong, he was against it. But whose to say? Wasn’t lying just Kants biggest how shall I say "pet-peeve"? "No lying ever, no exceptions" needs to be addressed more seriously in the future by later philosophers, if you ask me its worth a try. Immanuel Kant was probably one of the most supportive philosiphers of absolute rules in the ethical and moral decision-making systems of thought I have studied.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- March 6

Greetings!

We had an enjoyable class this week.  The first signs of spring often invigorate us and give us fresh energy for the tasks at hand.  (That is, until the change in weather makes us antsy to be done with all school work!)

Our Quick Write for this week was this:  “BREAKING NEWS:  Mrs. Prichard’s writing class has a bad case of ………”  The students must have felt inspired because they took a bit of time to finish their writing.  I also tested to see if they knew a bit of trivial information about this past Sunday.  None of them knew that the day was an “imperative” (“March forth.”) or that it was National Grammar Day.  I suppose those are details that writing teachers are more aware of.

Many of the students wrote clever “literary love letters” for our Valentine’s Day Quick Write.  They’ve given me permission to put them on the blog site.  I’ll let you know when I get those up.

We took some time to discuss our literature, A Connecticut Yankee.  Within the context of looking at some of the particulars of the plot, we discussed Twain’s humor and his use of words.  Regarding word usage, we talked about denotation (the dictionary meaning of words), connotation (the emotional nuances and shades of meaning), vernacular and colloquial speech (common every day language as opposed to formal expressions.)  We discussed how a writer will carefully word portions so that we like or don’t like characters.

As part the students’ end-of-the-book test, we will play a Baseball Game.  Hank, the main character in ACY, “invents” the game of baseball for the knights to play.  The students are to come up with questions ranging in difficulty (singles, doubles, triples, and home runs) that will be “pitched” to their classmates.  For the remainder of the weeks that we’re reading this book, the students will be assigned to write questions to be used in this game.  These questions can be about the characters (names, descriptions, etc) the setting, the plot (events, conflicts, etc.), themes, or vocabulary words.

In our writing portion of the class, we worked on editing a sample of bad writing.  Being able to recognize and correct poor writing is a skill that will help them in editing their own work.  I was impressed not only with the 3 revisions that the students formulated, but their insight into the fine differences in meaning in each of the sentences. 

The students have handed in their editorial (short persuasive essay) rough drafts.  I will correct them and have them ready next week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read ACY through Chapter 31

-- Write 6 “Baseball Questions.”

-- Rewrite either #1 or #2 from the Bad Samples worksheet.

-- EXTRA CREDIT – Write a bad paragraph (at least 5 sentences long) that the class can correct.  E-mail this to me before Monday morning.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

This week’s blog entry

Writing 1 Class Notes -- February 21

Greetings!

Thankfully, we all made it to class safely despite our biggest snow of the season.  With President's Day in mind, our Quick Write for today was "Write a promo for a new national holiday."  For our Vocabulary Challenge, they shared words they had found in their reading of A Connecticut Yankee.


We segued from our vocabulary discussion to our book, ACY.  We specifically read aloud a  portion that describes "Sandy," Hank's companion on his quest.  We also looked at a portion in which Morgan le Fay thinks she can take a photograph with an axe.  Twain's use of words both in describing and in humor are key aspects of this book.  The class broke into small groups to discuss their assignments for this week which was to find examples of humor.  The students were then to present what they thought was the best example.  Some students are not enjoying the book as much as others.  The vocabulary is challenging, but if the students read carefully, they'll enjoy the story and the ironic wit of the book.  Encourage them to give themselves plenty of time to read (instead of quickly cramming just before the class).

I handed back the their final copies of their news stories.  I enjoyed reading them. Their writing is definitely improving.  We discussed how to write numbers in essays.  On the blog, I explain the guidelines generally used.  The students are to be working on the rough drafts of their editorials.  These are to be short, persuasive essays.


Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read ACY to Chapter 26 (p. 150)
-- Continue to work on the Themes, Character & Vocabulary worksheets.
-- Work on Editorial Rough Draft
-- Extra Credit:  Find the origin and meaning of your names (first, middle, and last)

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing Numbers in Essays

Convention determines when to use a numeral and when to spell out a number.  Numerals are commonly used in scientific and technical writing and in journalism, but they are used less often in academic or literary writing.

The following guidelines are base on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.  APA style, however requires that all numbers below ten be spelled out if they do not represent specific measurements and that the numbers ten and above be expressed in numerals.


Spell the numbers out as words if:
-- you can to so in one or two words; as a rule of thumb, these are numbers one hundred and under;
-- beginning a sentence with a number;


Conventional Uses of Numerals
-- Addresses.  e.g.  111 Fifth Avenue
-- Dates.  e.g. January 15, 1929; 1914 - 1919

-- Exact times.  e.g.  9:16; 10 a.m.; 10:00 a.m. (but spell out times of day when they are used with o'clock:  ten o'clock)
-- Exact sums of money:  e.g.  $25.11; $6,738.00
-- Literary divisions:  e.g.  Act 5; lines 17 - 28; page 42
-- Percentages and decimals:  e.g.  80%; 3.14
Note:  You may spell out a percentage (eighty percent) if you use percentages infrequently in your paper, provied the percentage can be expressed in two or three words.  Always use a numeral (not a spelled-out number) with a % symbol.

-- Measurements with symbols or abbreviations.  e.g.  32°, 15cc

-- Ratios and statistics.  e.g.  20 to 1; a mean of 40

-- Scores.  e.g.  a lead of 6 to 0

-- Identification numbers.  e.g.  Route 66; Track 8; Channel 12

When using numbers, follow the general rules.  However, it's important to be consistent.  If some of your numbers are written as numerals because they're decimals or over 100, then the related numbers should also be written in that manner.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- February 14

Greetings!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!  In honor of the day, the Quick Write was a "literary love letter."  They were to write a letter of affection and appreciation to an author, book, character, grammar item like punctuation or parts of speech.  We had a creative piece expressing love for "rhyming."  For our Vocabulary Challenge, the students added their own words to the list.

The next part of our discussion centered on the our book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  I re-explained the worksheets on Character Analysis, Themes, and Vocabulary.  It's important that they work on these AS they are reading.  In other words, they should fill in the boxes with words, actions, and supporting information from the book.  Students from last year's Writing 1 class felt that leaving it to the last minute had a hard time.

As we discussed the book, we read aloud some of the portions   Twain's writing can be difficult at first, but if you read carefully and not try to rush through it, the humor and descriptions are delightful.

The students handed in their final copies of their News Stories.  Continuing in a "reporter" theme, they are to write an Editorial which is a really a short persuasive essay.  I expound on this assignment in a separate blog entry.  For next week, the students are to do their pre-writing work.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read ACY (p. 71 - 107; Ch. 16 - 21)
-- Continue working on the worksheets
-- Find and write down 3 examples Twain's humor.
-- Pre-writing for the Editorial

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing an Editorial

An editorial is a short persuasive essay which contains the writer's opinion or reaction to a timely news story or event.  Its primary purpose is to influence readers to think or act the same way the writer does.

An editorial (persuasive essay) also:
-- Informs:  Sometimes the topic requires careful explanations because it is a complicated issue.
-- Promotes:  An editorial can promote the value of a worthy activity or involvement in that activity.
-- Praises:  The aim of some editorials is to commend or praise individuals or events because of their impact.
-- Entertains:  Some editorials simply encourage their readers and aim to lift the mood of the readers.

Choose a timely topic for your editorial, and make sure that it is a subject that is of real interest to you and to your readers.  One way to start is with a clear statement of what you are trying to prove in your writing.  Put this statement in positive terms.  For example: "The food in the cafeteria should be well-balanced and healthy." NOT "The food in the cafeteria is not healthy."  The essay could also begin with a unique statement or quote.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- February 7

Greetings!

When you combine a busy schedule with being under the weather, sometimes you don't get things done as soon as you'd like.  I aim to get the Class Notes done ASAP after the class.  I hope the fact that they are a little later doesn't mess up anyone's schedule.

In honor of the caucuses which were to be held, I asked the students to write a politically-themed Quick Write.  They were to write from the following prompt:  "Dear _________ , Won't you please be our president. ..."  They could pick anyone and be either serious or funny.  As always, we enjoyed the responses.  One student even wrote asking his dad to be president.  Our Vocabulary Words came from the first section of our reading of A Connecticut Yankee.

I handed back the rough drafts of their most recent writing assignment which was a News Story.  I feel that our discussions about the rough drafts are the most productive.  We not only cover grammar mistakes, but our discussion about writing strategies makes more sense when you have something you've written in your hands. We took a longer time to discuss "choosing the right word."  I look forward to reading the final copies of these papers next week.

We've begun reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain.  I encouraged the students to be patient with his writing style.  After a few chapters, we'll be more accustomed to his word choices and sentence structures.  I took a longer time to explain the worksheets that I handed out.  On the handout which was an introduction to the book, I listed 12 characters and 7 themes.  The worksheets/charts that I handed out are to help them keep track of the information they find when they read.  I would like them to fill out papers for 4 characters and 4 themes.  I explained that they should be reading the book while looking for the answers as they read.  I'll check in with them weekly, but the worksheets aren't due until the end of the book.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read p. 37 – 71(Ch.  8 - 15) of ACY
-- Fill out Vocabulary, Character and Themes worksheets as you read
-- Final copy of News Story

Enjoy the weekend!
Mrs. Prichard