Writing 2 Class Notes -- October 10

Greetings!

Once again, we had a great Writing 1 class.  I really enjoy working with this group of student.  Since I had a lot planned today, our Quick Write was brief.  Using the first line from Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times," they were to write the first line of the great novels they plan to write.  Or the last line. Or the title.  Even in brevity, they were creative.

We're over half-way through with Willa Cather's My Antonia.  I enjoy the thoughtful reading and insights from the students.  In this week's section, Jim Burden leaves his grandparents's home to go to college in Lincoln, Nebraska.  It views his life as a student and his friendship with Lena, who has also has moved to Lincoln and has started her own shop.  We spent time discussing her character, using the text for our clues. For next week, The students are to read Book IV and to answer 2 of the Discussion Questions from Week 8. The following week the students will give presentations on a character or a theme.  They should begin thinking about this.

The next writing assignment is a Comparison/ Contrast Essay.  Learning to form a thesis is one of the most challenging aspects of essay writing.  I have simple equation for a thesis:  

Thesis = Topic + Opinion/Stand

For the previous essays, we used a 2-step process.  (rough draft then final copy)  For the rest of the year, we'll be using a 3-step process (pre-writing, rough draft, then final copy)  The pre-writing activities include brainstorming, list-making, researching and outlining.  We discussed some strategies for brainstorming and for organizing this type of essay.

At the end of the class, we finally reached what all the students had been waiting for:  the Grammar Quiz.  Actually, what I had intended to be a quiz, came out as a full-sized test of 100 points.  We did pages 1 and 2 and will do pages 3 and 4 next week.  Some students had left sections blank or were unsure of the correct answer.  I will NOT correct the tests this week, but will leave them for the students to finish and/or correct.  If they review the handouts again from the first 6 weeks, they will find them helpful for part 2 of our test next week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Book IV.

-- Answer 2 of Discussion Questions from Week 8.

-- Think about which character or theme They would like to present.

-- Comparison/ Contrast Pre-Write

-- Review grammar handouts

Time to pull out the hats and mittens!  Enjoy your weekend.

Mrs. Prichard