Writing 1B Class Notes -- Week 7 (Oct. 3)

Greetings!

Our Quick Write for today was this prompt:  If you could learn anything from anyone, what would it be and from whom would it be?  The purpose of this prompt was to cause students to look inward, forward, and outward. In life, it helps when we can identify what we want to learn for the sake of our futures; then we need to engage in the world around us to find mentors and teachers.  They shared both practical ideas and more abstract, personal growth ideas.  After they wrote what they would like to learn, I then asked them to write about what skills or qualities they had to teach the world.

We didn't do any Words of the Day from our book, Animal Farm.

This week the class handed in their final drafts of their Personal Essays, along with their rough drafts, so it was time to assign another essay.  This time, they are to write a Biographical Essay.  We took a bit of time to talk about the difference between a report and a thesis-driven essay.  In a report, a student would give details and information, but in a thesis-driven essay, a student needs to take a stand or form an opinion and then chose details to support that opinion.  As I explained, it might help to think about what parts of a person's background were especially formative or what kind of impact that person has had on the world.  

During our discussion of the essay, I also explained the new stage of the writing process that we will be using for this and the rest of our essays.  In addition to a rough draft and final draft, students are to do a Pre-Write for their essays.  This can look like a mind map or an outline, and the goal of a pre-write is to facilitate brainstorming and organizing. (Here is a link with a picture of a mind map.)  This will give them an extra week to plan, research, and organize their essays.   (In fact, for this essay, they have the extra week of fall break.)

Next week (10/10) we will have a Grammar  presentation about Adjectives from Maggie and about Nouns from Stephan.  Below is the list of the remaining students and their dates for presenting:

Adjectives -- Maggie (10/10)

Nouns -- Stephan (10/10)

Conjunctions -- Brooke S. (10/24)

Adverbs -- Brad (10/31)

Pronouns -- Raya (11/7)

Prepositions -- Brooke M.  (11/14)

Finally, for the Literature Discussion, we discussed the final two chapters of the book.  We talked about whether the animal's revolution was successful or not.  We also talked about some of the interactions between the characters.  We have now finished Animal Farm, and for next week students are to complete the final exam.  In addition to that, they are to prepare for a discussion about the characters in the book.  To do this, they are to choose one character and list 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses of this character. Then, they are to write a sentence that gives a full understanding of the character. 

A note about My GradeBook:  I worked with a couple of students and discovered that they were putting the class code where the password should go.  If you are having difficulties, remember that the temporary user name (until you change the primary log in) is the class code, and your student's first name and last initial (unless I've had to change it for you) is the password.  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Take Final Exam for Animal Farm

-- Prepare Character Sketch (choose a character and list 3 strengths/3 weaknesses; write a sentence that encompasses that character's qualities)

-- Prepare for Parts of Speech presentations

-- Pre-Write for Biographical Essay

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Student Notes (Rocketbook)

Mind Map Image

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1A Class Notes -- Week 7 (Oct. 3)

Greetings!

Our Quick Write for today was this prompt:  If you could learn anything from anyone, what would it be and from whom would it be?  The purpose of this prompt was to cause students to look inward, forward, and outward. In life, it helps when we can identify what we want to learn for the sake of our futures; then we need to engage in the world around us to find mentors and teachers.  They shared both practical ideas and more abstract, personal growth ideas.

The Words of the Day were taken from our book, Animal Farm:

taciturn -- adjective; fr. Latin taciturnus, wordless, noiseless -- to be reserved and uncommunicative in speech; saying little

morose -- adjective, fr. Latin morosus, peevish -- sullen, ill-tempered

infanticide -- noun, fr. Latin, infanticidium, infant -- the killing of children under a year old

spinney -- noun, fr. Latin, spinetum, thicket  -- a small area of trees or bushes

This week the class handed in their final drafts of their Personal Essays, along with their rough drafts, so it was time to assign another essay.  This time, they are to write a Biographical Essay.  We took a bit of time to talk about the difference between a report and a thesis-driven essay.  In a report, a student would give details and information, but in a thesis-driven essay, a student needs to take a stand or form an opinion and then chose details to support that opinion.  As I explained, it might help to think about what parts of a person's background were especially formative or what kind of impact that person has had on the world.  

During our discussion of the essay, I also explained the new stage of the writing process that we will be using for this and the rest of our essays.  In addition to a rough draft and final draft, students are to do a Pre-Write for their essays.  This can look like a mind map or an outline, and the goal of a pre-write is to facilitate brainstorming and organizing. (Here is a link with a picture of a mind map.)  This will give them an extra week to plan, research, and organize their essays.   (In fact, for this essay, they have the extra week of fall break.)

For our Grammar portion of the class, we had an excellent presentation about Adjectives from Josie,  Gabbie P, and Nalani.  They had a helpful video, a detailed slide presentation, an in class activity, and homework.  Next week we will have the Nouns presentation from Ethan, Carson, Michael, and James.  

Finally, for the Literature Discussion, the students broke into their literature circles and shared whatever they had prepared for their roles.  I circulated among the groups to listen to their discussions, and I heard many thoughtful and insightful comments.  One aspect of group discussions is that they often trigger fresh ideas.  We have now finished Animal Farm, and for next week students are to complete the final exam.  In addition to that, they are to prepare for a discussion about the characters in the book.  To do this, they are to choose one character and list 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses of this character. Then, they are to write a sentence that gives a full understanding of the character. 

A note about My GradeBook:  I worked with a couple of students and discovered that they were putting the class code where the password should go.  If you are having difficulties, remember that the temporary user name (until you change the primary log in) is the class code, and your student's first name and last initial (unless I've had to change it for you) is the password.  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Take Final Exam for Animal Farm

-- Prepare Character Sketch (choose a character and list 3 strengths/3 weaknesses; write a sentence that encompasses that character's qualities)

-- Adjectives Homework

-- Pre-Write for Biographical Essay

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Student Notes (Rocketbook)

Adjectives Video

Adjectives Slide Presentation

Mind Map Image

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1B Class Notes -- Week 6 (Sept. 26)

Greetings!

Again, another great class.  This group of students brings a lot of positive energy and attitudes to the class.  The prompt for our Quick Write today was the  190th anniversary of Scotland Yard.  We discussed detectives, law enforcement, mysteries, and perspectives about rules.  Students could take the topic(s) in any number of directions.

We skipped the Words of the Day this week because I knew that we already would have a full class.  We'll resume next week.  A new element that I'm adding to the class is the role of a "Class Scribe."  I recently purchased a Rocketbook, that is a digital notebook, and I want students to take turns taking handwritten notes, especially of the examples and diagrams that I put on the board.  Those notes then get shared to the Google Drive folder for the class and a link to them will be included with the Class Notes.

I handed back rough drafts of their Personal Essays.  Whenever I hand back rough drafts, I take a significant amount of time to go over common errors/mistakes so that we can make those mistakes into learning opportunities.  The two most common mistakes this week included the following: 

1. Having the right spelling but it's the wrong word (spell check and auto-correct can be helpful but not always trusted); e.g. costumer/customer, plane/plain, right/write, heard/herd
2. Formatting issues.

I took some time to discuss some new guidelines for formatting their papers, moving towards MLA formatted papers.  (Here is a video for formatting in Google Docs, and here is one for doing the same in Word.) Going forward, I would like the students to format their papers in the following way:  1 inch margins, 12 pt. font, double spaced, header in the upper right margin with last name and page number, and a heading on the left side with full student's full name, class name, teacher's name, assignment name, and date handed in. This document is a "sample."  

With all of our essays, I'm having the students designate a section of the note-taking to those "Watch Out For" points that I've noted in the comments section of my corrections.  Along with making revisions for their final drafts, I want students to fill out the little half-sheet titled, "My First 5 Errors."  For this worksheet, students should look at the first five marks that I made on their rough drafts and write what the error was and, if they know, what grammar rule is connected with the error.  Under the First 5 section is a place for them to write about what area they want to improve in.

Our Grammar topic this week included the Verbs Presentation by Philip.  He showed a familiar Schoolhouse Rock video about verbs.  We discussed action, linking, and helping verbs for a while.  On the Class Scribe notes, you will see the forms of the verb "to be" which we will work on memorizing:  am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been. Philip had homework for the students that they were able to finish in class.  Next week Maggie will share about adjectives

We had another round of a Literature Circle for our discussion about Animal Farm.  I do a lot of talking in the class, so I enjoy the circles in which the students are responsible for moving the conversations forward and for making the thoughtful and rigorous.  We will be finishing the book, so next week we will also be wrapping up our discussions of the book as a whole.  (Note: Next week I will send home a Take Home Quiz and the following week they will get a final exam for Animal Farm, so they should get caught up on their reading if they are behind!)

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Chapters 9 & 10

-- 3 Reader Responses & 3 Vocabulary Words

-- Personal Essay Final Drafts

-- My First 5 Errors worksheet

-- Verbs Homework (if not finished in class)

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Class Scribe Notes

Sample Google Doc with Formatting

School House Rock Verbs Video

How to Format a Google Doc in MLA

How to Format a Word document in MLA

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1A Class Notes -- Week 6 (Sept. 26)

Greetings!

Again, another great class.  This group of students brings a lot of positive energy and attitudes to the class.  The prompt for our Quick Write today was the  190th anniversary of Scotland Yard.  We discussed detectives, law enforcement, mysteries, and perspectives about rules.  Students could take the topic(s) in any number of directions.

We skipped the Words of the Day this week because I knew that we already would have a full class.  We'll resume next week.  A new element that I'm adding to the class is the role of a "Class Scribe."  I recently purchased a Rocketbook, that is a digital notebook, and I want students to take turns taking handwritten notes, especially of the examples and diagrams that I put on the board.  Those notes then get shared to the Google Drive folder for the class and a link to them will be included with the Class Notes.

I handed back rough drafts of their Personal Essays.  Whenever I hand back rough drafts, I take a significant amount of time to go over common errors/mistakes so that we can make those mistakes into learning opportunities.  The three most common mistakes this week included the following: 

1. Having the right spelling but it's the wrong word (spell check and auto-correct can be helpful but not always trusted); e.g. costumer/customer, plane/plain, right/write, heard/herd
2. Parallel structure.  If students have a list, all of the elements need to be in the same form, such as all nouns or all verbs with the same endings.
3. Formatting issues.

I took some time to discuss some new guidelines for formatting their papers, moving towards MLA formatted papers.  (Here is a video for formatting in Google Docs, and here is one for doing the same in Word.) Going forward, I would like the students to format their papers in the following way:  1 inch margins, 12 pt. font, double spaced, header in the upper right margin with last name and page number, and a heading on the left side with full student's full name, class name, teacher's name, assignment name, and date handed in. This document is a "sample."  

With all of our essays, I'm having the students designate a section of the note-taking to those "Watch Out For" points that I've noted in the comments section of my corrections.  Along with making revisions for their final drafts, I want students to fill out the little half-sheet titled, "My First 5 Errors."  For this worksheet, students should look at the first five marks that I made on their rough drafts and write what the error was and, if they know, what grammar rule is connected with the error.  Under the First 5 section is a place for them to write about what area they want to improve in.

Our Grammar topic this week included the Verbs Presentation by Ellie, Izzy, and Elliot.  They showed a familiar Schoolhouse Rock video about verbs and then presented their information with a slide presentation.  We played a game of Verbs Hangman that included action, linking, and helping verbs.  They also had some homework for the class. 

There was not enough time for our Literature Circles, so we will have the same groups and same roles for next week's discussion about Animal Farm.  We will be finishing the book, so next week we will also be wrapping up our discussions of the book as a whole.  (Note: Next week I will send home a Take Home Quiz and the following week they will get a final exam for Animal Farm, so they should get caught up on their reading if they are behind!)

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Chapters 9 & 10

-- Prepare for Literature Circles

-- Personal Essay Final Drafts

-- My First 5 Errors worksheet

-- Verbs Homework

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Class Scribe Notes

Sample Google Doc with Formatting

School House Rock Verbs Video

How to Format a Google Doc in MLA

How to Format a Word document in MLA

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1B Class Notes -- Week 5 (Sept. 19)

Greetings!

We worked this week and covered a lot of material in class.  As always, we started our day with a Quick Write. Yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day (here is the official website and here is a Wikipedia article and here are the Muppets!)  Most of the students were unaware of this notable event.  As an alternative, they could write about super heroes.  We also listened to Amy Walker's Tour of American Accents, and I challenged the students to try to write something as if it were some other accent. I look forward to reading their responses.

In connection with the returned homework, we discussed their Final Drafts of their Descriptive Essays.  As I grade the final drafts, I use a rubric for a more holistic look at their work.  (The rubric is attached and is on this blog post.)  For the first essay, I'm a pretty easy grader.  As we progress through the year, we will use these rubrics to set writing goals and students will use them to evaluate their own writing.  For example, in the Focus category, students will be thinking about whether their thesis statements are compelling and thought-provoking or simply a statement that combines the topic and opinion.

This week's Grammar topic of the Parts of Speech, Interjections, was brought to us by Aliena.  We watched a Schoolhouse Rock video, Interjections, and had a short teaching.  Then Alieana had a number of in-class activities for us to practice using interjections.  She did a great job, and I look forward to next week's presentation on Verbs by Phillip.  (The Adjectives presenter, Maggie, should be preparing for her presentation on 10/3.)

Rather than complete Reader Responses for our discussion of Animal Farm, the students chose to do another Literature Circle.  Therefore, as the students are reading through Chapters 7 & 8, they should be preparing for their assigned roles:

Discussion Director -- Maggie

Illustrator -- Phillip

Luminary -- Stephan

Word Nerd -- Alieana

Connector -- Brooke M. and Brad

Summarizer -- Brooke S.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Animal Farm Chapters 7 & 8

-- No Reader Responses

-- 3 Vocabulary

-- Prepare for your role in the Literature Circles

-- Interjections Homework

-- No writing homework

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Essay Rubric

Literature Circles

International Talk Like a Pirate

Talk Like a Pirate Wikipedia

Muppets Talk Like a Pirate

Tour of American Accents

Interjections

Parts of Speech Presentation Dates

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)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1A Class Notes -- Week 5 (Sept. 19)

Greetings!

We worked this week and covered a lot of material in class.  As always, we started our day with a Quick Write. Yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day (here is the official website and here is a Wikipedia article and here are the Muppets!)  Most of the students were unaware of this notable event.  As an alternative, they could write about super heroes.  I look forward to reading their responses.

This week's Words of the Day included:

watchword-- noun -- fr. Middle English, wacchen, to be awake and woord, word--  a word or phrase used as a sign of recognition among members of the same society, class, or group

perpendicularity-- adjective -- fr. Latin, perpindicularis, a plumb line-- the relationship between lines forming right angles

blithely-- fr. Old English, bliþe , joyous, kind, cheerful, pleasant--  without thought or regard; carefree; heedless

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I had told the students that there would be a test at the end of the semester for their words of the day.  Instead, we will have a test at the end of second semester for the second semester words.  The Words of the Day will include unusual foreign words and Latin roots. 

In connection with the returned homework, we discussed their Final Drafts of their Descriptive Essays.  As I grade the final drafts, I use a rubric for a more holistic look at their work.  (The rubric is attached and is on this blog post.)  For the first essay, I'm a pretty easy grader.  As we progress through the year, we will use these rubrics to set writing goals and students will use them to evaluate their own writing.  For example, in the Focus category, students will be thinking about whether their thesis statements are compelling and thought-provoking or simply a statement that combines the topic and opinion.

This week's Grammar topic of the Parts of Speech, Interjections, was brought to us by Bennett, Joshua, and Jesse.  We watched a Schoolhouse Rock video, Interjections, and had a slide presentation about the main points regarding interjections.  We had an in-class activity (a pretty challenging Word Fit) and a take-home assignment.  The group did a great job, and I look forward to next week's presentation on Verbs by Elliot, Izzy, and Ellie.  (The Adjectives group of Nalani, Gabbie P, and Josie should be preparing for their presentation on 10/3.)

We spent the remainder of the class dividing into 4 groups for next week's Literature Circles for our discussion of Animal Farm.  This is the first time that this class has done this kind of small group discussion.  In Literature Circles, each member is assigned a role.  As they read through the assigned portion of the book, students are to prepare for their individual roles:  Discussion Director, Illustrator, Luminary, Word Nerd, Connector, and Summarizer. The circles give a structure and framework to help the students with academic talk.  We will continue to use these circles throughout the year.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Animal Farm Chapters 7 & 8

-- No Reader Responses

-- 3 Vocabulary

-- Prepare for your role in the Literature Circles

-- Interjections Homework

-- No writing homework

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Essay Rubric

Literature Circles

International Talk Like a Pirate

Talk Like a Pirate Wikipedia

Muppets Talk Like a Pirate

Parts of Speech Presentation Dates

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)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Essay Final Draft Rubric

Criterion	Incomplete (0)	Beginning (1 – 2)	Developing (3 – 5)	Proficient (6 – 7)	Advanced   (8 - 9)	Exceptional (10)
Focus:  Thesis, Intro, Concl.	Specific topic is unclear and no statement of an opinion or a stand. No introduction No conclusion	Specific topic is clear but no statement of an opinion or a stand. Brief introduction that doesn’t state the topic or subtopics Brief conclusion; abrupt ending	Thesis statement expresses the topic but not an opinion or a stand. Weak introduction that states the topic but is missing a clear thesis. The focus of the paper is unclear. Conclusion does not fully summarize the main points nor restates the thesis statement.	Thesis statement includes the topic and expresses a stand or opinion. Introduction states topic and thesis and gives direction to the paper. Conclusion reiterates main points and restates the thesis statement.	Clearly-stated topic and thoughtful thesis statement. Strong introduction with a thesis statement that grabs attention and directs the course of the essay. Strong conclusion that summarizes the main points and restates the thesis statement.  Satisfactorily wraps up the essay.	Clearly-stated, thought-provoking topic and compelling thesis statement. Excellent introduction with a thesis statement that grabs attention and directs the course of the essay. Excellent conclusion that summarizes the main points and restates the thesis statement.  Skillfully wraps up the essay.
Content	Contains mostly unrelated information No specific details, only generalities.	No major points to support the thesis are included.  No details related to the topic have been used; ideas are disconnected.	Some of the major points are covered. Some specific details are included. Lacks sufficient material to fully support thesis.	Many of the major points are covered. Many of the appropriate details are included with each point.	All major points are discussed. All points include some details.	All major points are thoroughly and insightfully discussed. All points are fully supported with strong details.
Organization	Ideas are arranged randomly.  There may be no division of paragraphs.	Ideas are slightly random with occasional orderly sections.  Inconsistent division of paragraphs.	Like ideas are grouped together, and paragraphs are present, but ideas within may not be organized logically.  Transitions may be lacking.	An apparent progression of ideas that allows the reader to move through the text without confusion. Sentences with paragraphs are organized and flow smoothly	A coherent progression of ideas that allows the reader to move through the text without confusion. Sentences within paragraphs flow smoothly with good use of transitions.	Expresses a clear, logical sequence of ideas within paragraphs and throughout the paper. Sentences within paragraphs flow effortlessly with excellent use of transitions.
Mechanics	Numerous errors; meaning of paper unclear	Frequent errors, seriously impairs flow & meaning of paper	Errors noticeable and occasionally detract from flow or meaning of paper	Some errors that are minor in nature and don’t detract from overall meaning of paper	Very few errors that are minor in nature and don’t detract from overall meaning of paper	Essentially faultless; errors may result from risk-taking and do not detract from the paper

Total Score – 40 possible points