Thoughts on Grading

Dear Writing 1 Class,

I've just finished calculating the grades for this first semester.  As tutors, these are suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

 

Before I send them, let me share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschooled, I didn't give my children grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective.  I taught my own children for mastery.  We didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready no matter how long that took. 

 

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as a person or as an academic learner.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

 

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

 

For this class, I gave points for attendance, participation, short assignments and longer papers.  I also offered a few extra credit opportunities.  I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best.

 

Each student (and parents) will get an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester. 

 

Blessings,

Tammy Prichard

 

PS.  I will be gone to England and without internet options from December 28 to January 9.  Feel free to contact me after that date if you have any questions about the scores.

Writing 1 Spring Semester Initial Syllabus

Writing 1 Syllabus

Semester 2

Tammy Prichard (tamprichard@gmail.com)

Resources:

·         A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court  (Mark Twain)  Dover Publications

·         Great Short Poems (Philip Smith, ed.)  Dover Publications

Objectives:

Literature

            As we read Mark Twain’s classic, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (ACY), we will specifically study the character development, themes, and humorous language of the book.  Not only is this book an entertaining story, it is well-crafted and artful.

Writing

            The students will write 4 papers for this class.  Since Mark Twain was a reporter, it seems fitting to do some journalistic writing.  The first assignment will require some research, while the second one will utilize some persuasion techniques.  The third papers will be an analytical response to our literature.  All of these papers will follow the 3-step process (pre-writing to rough draft to final copy).  The final paper will be a re-write of any of the papers that they’ve written this year.  “There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.” (Louis D. Brandeis)

Grammar

            We will continue to study grammar, paying special attention to building strong, clear, accurate sentences.  Again, the open spaces on the syllabus leave room to work on weak areas.

Initial Draft – Subject to change

Week	Literature	Writing	Grammar
1	Introduction to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (ACY)		Sentence construction review
2	ACY:  Intro; Ch. 1 – 4	News Story Pre-Write	Correcting weak sentences
3	ACY:  Ch. 5 – 9	News Story Rough Draft
4	ACY:  Ch. 10 – 14		Review common errors in rough drafts
5	ACY:  Ch. 15 – 19	News Story Final Copy
6	ACY:  Ch. 20 – 24	Editorial Pre-Write
7	ACY:  Ch. 25 – 29	Editorial Rough Draft
8	ACY:  Ch. 30 – 34		Review common errors in rough drafts
9	ACY:  Ch. 35 – 38; Final PS	Editorial Final Copy
10	ACY:  Presentations	Theme & Character Pre-Write
11	ACY:  Baseball	Theme & Character Rough Draft
12	American Poetry		Review common errors in rough drafts
13	American Poetry	Theme & Character Final Copy
14	American Poetry & Poetry Presentations	Re-Write #1
15	Poetry Presentations & Final Exam	Re-Write #2

Word Search for A Christmas Carol

Here is an original word search to use in conjunction with the reading or studying of Charles Dickens' classic story, "A Christmas Carol."

The word list is from vocabulary generated in the first and second section of the story.

J X P X M G K Y Z B P X V L U R Y D V K
L B Z F K I D H U F J E C U S V C A B X
Z M Q I G J H Y F H J D O L O S S O D U
J D X D T B O G D B E T N I N H W O S D
C U Q Z B M L Y F W A C G N C Y S N W B
O Q S B I M P R O P R I E T Y B X E H U
R B C N F I Z L O E R T A I J D Q C Q Y
D M O L E S L V D L D S L M N H T C T L
B U X M V A O E K X W U W A D K I A Y S
S R B L H N N L G N N A T T P N E R E S
D F S N S T P A I A Q C C I I R K T J X
S Z U D I H R F T T T S U O T E V O C C
D H O A N R L I R Z A E H N A L Q G F L
A F L C E O C J F N C R E S O L U T E Q
T S U T L P V E T L L O Y X S X X M Y Q
I H M B P I U Q P S E L F O K Y Y D I H
V B E X E C U T O R A P T U R E H P O C
R H R H R A W T Z V A M D Q S A F E A W
R W T U C N C B O S E I A K H L R L J R
Q Q U V G T R U Y N L O P U A S R E H Y

Word List:
CAUSTIC
CONGEAL
COVETOUS
CREDENTIALS
ENTREATY
EXECUTOR
GARRET
IMPLORE
IMPROPRIETY
INTIMATION
LEGATEE
LUNATIC
MISANTHROPIC
MULTITUDE
OMINOUS
RAPTURE
REPLENISH
RESOLUTE
SOLITARY
TREMULOUS
TRIFLE
UNHALLOWED

Writing 1 Class Notes -- December 6

Greetings!

We are in Week 14 of our Fall term!  Next week will be our last week of classes before Christmas break.  The students have worked hard this fall.

I used a Story Starter book for the Quick Write.  With his eyes closed, a student randomly chose pages that read:  "I've never seen this before," said the kangaroo as he/she turned on the flashlight.  As always, the students were creative; we even had a poem.

For our Vocabulary Practice we did a rhyming exercise.  Often at our dinner table we will take turns rhyming our sentences.  We did the same in class today.  Again, the students were creative in constructing rhyming sentences with "-en" and "-end" words.

I gave the students a quiz for A Christmas Carol.  It was labeled "Final Exam," but it was really was a simple multiple choice exercise that I had the students do together. I'm not a big fan of multiple choice tests because they test a students surface knowledge of a topic and not the depth to which they understand the material.  However,surface knowledge is a part of knowing a topic.  In addition to the quiz, I gave the students a vocabulary Word Search to do next week for Extra Credit.

I handed back the rough drafts of their Biography Essays.  The students chose a rich variety of topics:  e.g. Elvis, Herman Cain, Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan.  We discussed common mistakes found in their essays.  Commas continue to be challenging.  Another problem was with pronoun, verb, and noun agreement.  The final copies are due next week.

Assignments for Next week:
-- Read Stave Five of A Christmas Carol
-- Write 3 "Final Exam" questions for us to use in class
-- Write Final Copy of Biography Essay.
-- Extra Credit:  Word Search for vocabulary words (which can be found on Dropbox)

Next week we'll have a "final" for A Christmas Carol and play some word/writing/literature -related games.  Students can bring treats if they want.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- November 29

Greetings!

A quick recap of this week's class:
Our Quick Write required them to write about Thanksgiving from the perspective of an inanimate object.  We had a story about a shredded napkin and a turkey gone to heaven. 

I used our Vocabulary Building time to review words from our book, A Christmas Carol.  I made a matching exercise using the words and 3 synonyms for each.  I allowed them to work together.  I enjoyed listening to their diligent conversations about the meanings of the words.

The students handed in their rough drafts for their Biographical Essays.  They had few questions which leads me to think that they're growing in their understanding of developing thesis statements and organizing content.  I look forward to reading them this week.  We did discuss some grammar topics, especially my personal pet peeve regarding sentences using "there is/are/was/were" etc. 

We are at Stave Three in our Dickens book.  This section features the Spirit of Christmas Present.  We found some of our vocabulary words from our earlier exercise which helped us have fuller understandings of the words when found in context.  We read portions aloud and discussed Dickens's use of contrasts and use of time to teach his lessons.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Stave Four of A Christmas Carol.
-- Answer 7 of the study questions for this stave
-- Define and find roots for half of the vocabulary words.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- November 15

Greetings!

We had a great class yesterday.  I really enjoy that they stay so well-engaged for a 90 minute class.

Our Quick Write for today was created with their help.  Using my husband's storytelling abilities as inspiration, I asked them to give me four first names, four animals, and four adjectives.  With that information, they wrote stories about a cumbersome squirrel, named Samuel and a mawkish unicorn named Nate.

Our Vocabulary Activity was a mix of "Scrabble," "Bananagrams," and their literature assignments.  We built a Scrabble-like form from words on our Christmas Carol vocabulary list.

We discussed Stave 2 of our book, A Christmas Carol.  After reading more of the book, the students are more comfortable with the language and sentence styles.  We came across many of our vocabulary words as we read sections out loud.  We watched a two clips from my favorite version of this story, A Muppets Christmas Carol.

I handed back the final copies of their History Essays.  The whole class did a wonderful job writing these essays.  I think I'm a pretty easy grader -- my primary goal is that the students learn by writing and learn from their mistakes.  Our next assignment is a Biographical Essay in which they develop and support a thesis statement.

CHAT doesn't have classes next week due to Thanksgiving.  That means only three weeks left in our semester:  November 29, December 6 and December 13.

Next Assignments:
-- Read Stave 3 of A Christmas Carol
-- Answer 7 questions and write up 10 vocabulary words
-- Rough draft of Biographical Essay

Have a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Prichard

Introduction to A Christmas Carol

Introduction to A Christmas Carol

            A Christmas Carol is a fairly straightforward allegory built on an episodic narrative structure in which each of the main passages has a fixed, obvious symbolic meaning. The book is divided into five sections (Dickens labels them Staves in reference to the musical notation staff--a Christmas carol, after all, is a song), with each of the middle three Staves revolving around a visitation by one of the three famous spirits. The three spirit-guides, along with each of their tales, carry out a thematic function--the Ghost of Christmas Past, with his glowing head, represents memory; the Ghost of Christmas Present represents charity, empathy, and the Christmas spirit; and the reaper-like Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come represents the fear of death. Scrooge, with his Bah! Humbug! attitude, embodies all that dampens Christmas spirit--greed, selfishness, indifference, and a lack of consideration for one's fellow man.

from Victorian Age

http://www.guidanceassociates.com/victorianage.html

            The Victorian Age is a very elastic term used to denote an extremely dynamic period. Although the Victorian Age roughly spans most of the 19th century (from 1832 to 1900), it is not totally confined within these dates. The rumblings of change to come were felt for some time before 1832, and changes did not stop occurring as soon as Queen Victoria died in 1901. However, lifestyles did change more dramatically during this period than ever before in English history. England was suddenly pulled together by the railways, the penny post, and the rest of the newly constructed apparatus of fast, cheap communication. The country became unified in a way never before possible.

            Prior to the middle of the 19th century, education had been reserved for the nobility and those who could afford to send their children to exclusive private schools. Even if the poor had been able to enter their children in these schools, they would not have done so. A child of six was expected to start bringing home money to help support his entire family; he would be put to work as soon as possible. In those days work meant twelve to sixteen hours a day of grueling, hard labor in conditions that would today be considered totally unacceptable. There was no time spare for education. However, with the appearance of the modern public school system it became fashionable and necessary for the children of the lower classes to at least learn the rudiments of the 3 R’s. With these assets, they could go on to vocational apprenticeships in one of the trades.

            Great nationalistic spirit developed during the Victorian Age, and England struggled to place herself at the top of the international scene. At the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851, England was influential in many countries. By the end of the Victorian Age, the British Empire had reached the high point of its development.

            During this period the extreme poverty of the lower working classes was pointed up by the increasingly congested living conditions of city life. While the nobility still hung onto its money and its social barriers, and an individual’s birthright tended to be the deciding factor of his future, the rapidly expanding middle classes made steady inroads. The middle-class novelist, Charles Dickens, did more than any writer before or since to expose the sufferings of the working class. His books found their way into the drawing rooms of the titled and wealthy, and social consciousness began to rise. Emancipation of women and the rights of children became popular cases for the previously sheltered nobility. They brought their money and influence to bear in demanding better working conditions and broader education for the working class. A kind of feverish sentimentality of guilt gripped everyone.  The debt owed to Charles Dickens for the many reforms of the Victorian Age is certainly not a small one.