Writing 1B Class Notes -- Week 4 (Sept. 12)

Greetings!

Again, another great class.  This group of students brings a lot of positive energy and attitudes to the class.  The prompts for our Quick Write today were taken from the National Days Calendar:  National Video Game Day, National Day of Encouragement, and National Milkshake Day.  As always, if none of those options triggered any productive thinking or writing, students could write about something else.  We had good discussions about all three topics.

We did not have any Words of the Day from the students because Stephan was providing words for the Literature Circle, so the rest of the class did not need to do any.  

During the Writing portion of today's class I collected the final draft of their Descriptive Essays.  For all of the essays that they will write they are required to hand in the rough drafts with the final drafts so that I can see the specific changes.  Those who didn't do that in class this week can send me a picture or scanned version of their rough drafts with my corrections.  A couple of students mentioned that they had thrown away their rough drafts, so I will correct their papers without them.  I also reminded them that they SHOULD NOT throw away any work from this class until the end of the semester; they should also save all of their essays until the end of the year.

In Writing 1, as soon as students finish one paper we start another.  Their new assignment is a Personal Essay.  We discussed a number of topics and thesis statements. I introduced my equation for a thesis statement and a template for thesis statements that include a plan for development.  

Equation:

     Topic/Subject

  +  Opinion/Stand

Thesis Statement

Template:

     (topic/stand)     is/are      (opinion/stand)     because      (reason #1)      ,      (reason #2)     , and       (reason #3)     .

We also  took time to discuss the elements of an introduction and conclusion.  The introduction should include a hook, a thesis statement, and a "road map."  The conclusion mirrors the introduction and should restate the thesis, summarize the main points, and leave parting thoughts with the reader.  

A significant portion of the class was given to the Literature Circle for Animal Farm.  Each student had prepared for his/her role in the group, and I intentionally stepped away so that they themselves had to propel the discussion.  They each made insightful comments and I was pleased with what I heard.  We will continue to do Literature Circles throughout the year, especially considering how well they did.  For next week, we will continue with the study guide/ala carte assignments and vocabulary in addition to taking a Take Home Quiz for chapters 1 - 4.  Note:  There has been some confusion about the assignments for the book.  When I give the assignment for "Reader Responses," that means their answers to the study guide questions or the ala carte responses.  Their vocabulary worksheets do not need to be handed in until the end of the book.

Our first Parts of Speech presentation, Interjections, will be next week.  When students present their part of speech, they should either bring copies of the homework (8 students and 1 teacher) OR email the homework to me by the Tuesday before class so that I can make copies.  If they are showing a video or slide presentation, they can use their own computers or email them to me.  I have links listed below of videos that students have done in the past for the parts of speech unit.  For further inspiration, students can also scroll for older blog entries (Sept. - Nov) for links to other student projects.  

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Ch. 5 & 6 of Animal Farm

-- 3 Reader Responses

-- 3 Vocabulary Words

-- Personal Essay Rough Draft

-- Preparation for your parts of speech presentation

     -- Interjections (Aliena) next week

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Blog with Presentation Schedule

Adverbs Video

Nouns Video

Verbs Video

Personal Essay

Take Home Animal Farm Quiz (Ch. 1 - 4)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1A Class Notes -- Week 4 (Sept. 12)

Greetings!

Again, another great class.  This group of students brings a lot of positive energy and attitudes to the class.  The prompts for our Quick Write today were taken from the National Days Calendar:  National Video Game Day, National Day of Encouragement, and National Milkshake Day.  As always, if none of those options triggered any productive thinking or writing, students could write about something else.  We had good discussions about all three topics.

This week's Words of the Day came from the students and included:

doled--verb --  fr. Middle English, dol, to share-- to distribute shares

muted-- verb -- fr. Anglo-French, ameutir, to make fluid-- to evacuate the cloaca (a bird's process of defecation) (Who knew??)

maxim -- noun -- fr. Latin, maximus, large, great-- a general truth, fundamental principle, or rule

During the Writing portion of today's class I collected the final draft of their Descriptive Essays.  For all of the essays that they will write they are required to hand in the rough drafts with the final drafts so that I can see the specific changes.  Those who didn't do that in class this week can send me a picture or scanned version of their rough drafts with my corrections.  A couple of students mentioned that they had thrown away their rough drafts, so I will correct their papers without them.  I also reminded them that they SHOULD NOT throw away any work from this class until the end of the semester; they should also save all of their essays until the end of the year.

In Writing 1, as soon as students finish one paper we start another.  Their new assignment is a Personal Essay.  We discussed a number of topics and thesis statements. I introduced my equation for a thesis statement and a template for thesis statements that include a plan for development.  

Equation:

     Topic/Subject

  +  Opinion/Stand

Thesis Statement

Template:

     (topic/stand)     is/are      (opinion/stand)     because      (reason #1)      ,      (reason #2)     , and       (reason #3)     .

We also  took time to discuss the elements of an introduction and conclusion.  The introduction should include a hook, a thesis statement, and a "road map."  The conclusion mirrors the introduction and should restate the thesis, summarize the main points, and leave parting thoughts with the reader.  

Our Grammar topic this week included .some short videos that previous classes have done for their parts of speech presentations.  Students are not required to do videos, but sometimes showing example of work others have done sparks new ideas for students. The links to those videos are listed below.  Our first Parts of Speech presentation, Interjections, will be next week.  When students present their part of speech, they should either bring copies of the homework (25 students and 1 teacher) OR email the homework to me by the Tuesday before class so that I can make copies.  If they are showing a video or slide presentation, they can use their own computers or email them to me.  

The literature discussion about Animal Farm centered on a group effort to complete a quiz on the first four chapters.  I divided the class into 6 groups, and they had to discuss the questions and find the answers in the book all together because they would all get the same grade.  I enjoyed hearing their conversations about the material they had read.  Note:  There has been some confusion about the assignments for the book.  When I give the assignment for "Reader Responses," that means their answers to the study guide questions or the ala carte responses.  Their vocabulary worksheets do not need to be handed in until the end of the book.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Ch. 5 & 6 of Animal Farm

-- 3 Reader Responses

-- 3 Vocabulary Words

-- Personal Essay Rough Draft

-- Preparation for your parts of speech presentation

     -- Interjections (Bennett, Josh, Jesse) next week

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Adverbs Video

Nouns Video

Verbs Video

Personal Essay

Take Home Animal Farm Quiz (Ch. 1 - 4)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Animal Farm Quiz (Ch. 1 - 4)

Introduction and Preface

1.  Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a response to Communism in what country?

2.  Napoleon is a type for what real person in history? 

3.  Snowball is a type for what real person in history? 

Chapters I – IV 

1.      Before they change the name to Animal Farm, what’s the name of Mr. Jones’s farm? 

2.      Who is the old, prize boar who shares his wisdom with the animals? 

3.      What is the song that is taught to the animals? 

4.      Who is vain carriage-horse who doesn’t want to give up sugar and ribbons? 

5.      How many commandments do Napoleon and Snowball come up with and where do they paint them?

6.      What is Boxer’s personal motto? 

7.      Which animals become the best readers?

8.      What is Mr. Jones doing while the pigs are running the farm? 

9.      What happens at the Battle of the Cowshed? 

Personal Essay

Personal Essay

Definition

            In a Personal Essay, the writer tells a story about a series of events, a personal experience, or a topic of personal interest.  The writer needs to explain the event(s) clearly enough for the reader to follow what happened and when it happened or to understand the importance of the topic.  The writer also has to write with enough details to keep the reader’s attention and interest.  Your goal should be to develop an essay that informs and/or entertains, and that impels readers to think about their own lives.

           

Organization of a Personal Essay

Just about anything in your life that interests you, amuses you, angers you, or makes you think is a possible subject for a personal essay.  Dig as deep into your experience as you can.  As you think about a topic, event, person, or place of significance, look for an emerging focus, main idea, or viewpoint.

            A personal essay is a blend of narrative (sharing some aspect of your life) and analysis (commenting upon this time).

Thesis Statements

            The thesis statement of your essay presents the subject of the narration and its significance.  Your essay should reveal your attitude or opinion about the event.  Your essay can also tell a message or lesson related to the event.

Some Helpful Tips on Writing

– Decide on the story you want to tell, and think about what the story means to you.

– What attitude would you like the reader to learn by reading your story?  What feeling or attitude would you like the reader to have about the story you are telling?

– Outline what happened first, second, third, and so on.  Don’t forget important, specific details.  Divide the action into major blocks.  Determine the logical breaks.

– Focus on the people involved in your narrative, and try to describe them accurately.

– Include the feelings you experienced at different times in you story.

– Avoid stringing together a series of events without dramatizing any of them or showing their significance.

– Avoid a list.  Make sure the events are logically connected with appropriate transitions to help the reader follow the sequence of events.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Rough Draft due September 19; Final Draft due October 3.

– Essay length:  at least 300 words (about 1 page)

– Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced.

– Final draft format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

Writing 1B Class Notes -- Week 3 (Sept. 5)

Greetings!

We began class this week, as usual, with a Quick Write. This week's prompt was inspired by the fact that it was National Cheese Pizza.  I asked the students to write something pizza related.  As they shared their responses, they expressed their opinions about square pieces over triangular pieces, thin crusts vs. thick crusts, and the important question regarding the appropriateness of pineapple on pizza.  

Our Words of the Day were contributed by students and selected from this week's reading of Animal Farm:

ensconced -- verb, fr.Old French enscunser, "to hide or obscure"  -- sheltered, concealed, settled

Animalism -- noun, fr. Latin, animalis, "living, with breath"  -- behavior that is characteristic or appropriate to animals

hearken-- verb, fr. German, horchen, "to hear" --  to listen, hear, give heed

Most of the time while the students are writing their Quick Writes I am passing out completed homework, and we follow the Word of the Day work with any questions pertaining to the homework.  This week we followed our beginning of class work with the Writing portion of the class.  Whenever I hand back rough drafts of essays, I take a good portion of the class to go over common errors in their writing.  In my classes I have students label a page "Watch Out For," and under this title they are to list the items that I noted on their corrected rough drafts.  We will use this list to develop writing goals as the year progresses.  This week we talked about contractions, conjunctions, sentence fragments, subject-verb agreement, and the word "things."  For next week, students are to make corrections on their rough drafts so that they can hand in finished Final Drafts of their Descriptive Essays..

Students have read the first two chapters of Animal Farm, so we started our discussion with the first chapter in which we meet the main characters and discover the main conflict/issue of the story.  Old Major, the distinguished older leader of the animals gave a rousing speech and taught the animals a song.  In the morning class of Writing 1A, we did a little singing.  Apparently, the song is a cross between La Cucaracha and Clementine, and obviously, the animals would sound like animals.  Half of the class worked on the melody for La Cucaracha and the other half Clementine.  The Writing 1B class chose to skip the singing part.  (As one student remarked, in a large class you can hide behind the other singers.  It's definitely much harder to do in a smaller class.)

Next week, we are going to experience our first Literature Circle.  Literature Circles are structured small groups that help students have productive discussions about their reading.  Each student is assigned a role, and as they read their chapters, they are to be thinking about their particular contributions to the group.  Here are the roles for next week:

Director/Discussion Leader -- Brad

Illustrator -- Brooke S. and Brooke M.

Luminary -- Phillip

Word Nerd -- Stephan

Connector -- Mattie

Summarizer -- Alieana and Raya

I've attached a sheet explaining the details of each of the roles, and you can see the information on this link to the blog.   

This week students signed up for their parts of speech.  They are to learn about their part of speech and then teach the class.  In addition to an explanation, they are to come up with an in-class activity and homework that will help their classmates practice.  Below is the list of student groups and their dates for presenting:

Interjections -- Aliena (9/19)

Verbs -- Phillip (9/26)

Adjectives -- Maggie (10/3)

Nouns -- Stephan (10/10)

Conjunctions -- Brooke S. (10/24)

Adverbs -- Brad (10/31)

Pronouns -- Raya (11/7)

Prepositions -- Brooke M.  (11/14)

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Ch. 3 & 4

-- No Reader Responses -- prepare for your role in the Literature Circle

-- No Words, except for Stephan who is the Word Nerd for the day

-- Start researching your part of speech

-- Final Draft of Descriptive Essay

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Literature Circle Guidelines

La Cucaracha and Clementine 

"Beasts of England" video 

Animal Farm on Audible

Animal Farm on Youtube
Sample Editing Marks

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Literature Circle Guidelines

            When the class divides into small groups to discuss an assigned portion from our literature selection, having specific roles and responsibilities in the groups helps each person engage more actively in the discussion and think more deeply about the book.  Below is a list of roles that will either be assigned or chosen when we break into small groups.

Roles & Responsibilities

Discussion Director

·         Clarifies the assigned question or topic

·         Facilitates group discussion; helps everyone stay on task

·         Asks questions not only about plot, characters, and setting but also deeper critical thinking ones

·         Makes sure that everyone has a chance to speak

Illustrator

·         Draws a sketch to represent a scene from the assigned portion

·         Ties the sketch into the specific discussion points

·         Uses the drawing to further discussion

Luminary

·         Looks in the book for specific quotes that pertain to the assigned question or topic

·         Finds quotes from the book that are powerful, funny, important, puzzling, or worth hearing

Word Nerd

·         Selects words from the text that are unusual or difficult

·         Asks the rest of the group for definitions or finds definitions from dictionary or phone app

Connector

·         Points out relationships between the text and real world situations

·         Compares characters, setting, or plot to similar situations or events

Summarizer

·         At the end of the discussion, summarizes the main points and provides a big picture perspective

·         If applicable, shares the gist of the discussion with the rest of the class

Writing 1A Class Notes -- Week 3 (Sept. 5)

Greetings!

We began class this week, as usual, with a Quick Write. This week's prompt was inspired by the fact that it was National Cheese Pizza.  I asked the students to write something pizza related.  As they shared their responses, they expressed their opinions about square pieces over triangular pieces, thin crusts vs. thick crusts, and the important question regarding the appropriateness of pineapple on pizza.  

Our Words of the Day were contributed by students and selected from this week's reading of My Antonia:

ensconced -- verb, fr.Old French enscunser, "to hide or obscure"  -- sheltered, concealed, settled

ecstasy -- noun, fr. Middle English, extasie, "elation"  -- overwhelming emotion; rapturous delight

gambolled -- verb, fr. French, gambade, "the leap of a horse" --  to skip around; frolic; play

Most of the time while the students are writing their Quick Writes I am passing out completed homework, and we follow the Word of the Day work with any questions pertaining to the homework.  This week we followed our beginning of class work with the Writing portion of the class.  Whenever I hand back rough drafts of essays, I take a good portion of the class to go over common errors in their writing.  In my classes I have students label a page "Watch Out For," and under this title they are to list the items that I noted on their corrected rough drafts.  We will use this list to develop writing goals as the year progresses.  This week we talked about contractions, conjunctions, sentence fragments, subject-verb agreement, and the word "things."  For next week, students are to make corrections on their rough drafts so that they can hand in finished final drafts.

Students have read the first two chapters of Animal Farm, so we started our discussion with the first chapter in which we meet the main characters and discover the main conflict/issue of the story.  Old Major, the distinguished older leader of the animals gave a rousing speech and taught the animals a song.  We did a little singing ourselves.  Apparently, the song is a cross between La Cucaracha and Clementine, and obviously, the animals would sound like animals.  After having half of the class work on the melody for La Cucaracha and the other half Clementine, we assigned animal roles, and the class "sang" the melody for the "Beasts of England."  (Note:  a teacher popped her head in during lunch and asked what we had been doing because it sounded like a barnyard.)

This week students signed up for their parts of speech.  They are to learn about their part of speech and then teach the class.  In addition to an explanation, they are to come up with an in-class activity and homework that will help their classmates practice.  Below is the list of student groups and their dates for presenting:

Interjections -- Bennett, Josh, Jesse (9/19)

Verbs -- Elliot, Izzy, Ellie (9/26)

Adjectives -- Nalani, Gabbie P, Josie (10/3)

Nouns -- Ethan, Carson, Mike, James (10/10)

Conjunctions -- Marie, Gabi, Alison (10/24)

Adverbs -- Maddy, Ashley, Faith (10/31)

Pronouns -- Tyler, Ingrid, Philip (11/7)

Prepositions -- Leighton, Levi, Logan (11/14)

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Ch. 3 & 4

-- 3 Reader Responses (either study guide questions or ala carte)

-- 3 Vocabulary Words 

-- Start researching your part of speech

-- Final Draft of Descriptive Essay

Links for This Week

Class Notes

La Cucaracha and Clementine 

"Beasts of England" video 

Animal Farm on Audible

Animal Farm on Youtube
Sample Editing Marks