Writing 2 Class Notes -- October 17

Greetings!

We had a good class today even though we were missing a few students.  For our Quick Write I handed out cards from a game called "Pictureka."  I still don't know the real rules for this game, but they were to choose at least 2 of their cards for a short story.  They were very creative!

I handed back their Final Drafts of their Process Essays.  They did a great job working over their rough drafts and making corrections and revisions.  In these first rough drafts I did a lot of correcting of grammar mistakes.  In the upcoming essays I will continue to make corrections and suggestions, but I will also put troublesome sections in brackets for them to fix on their own.

Our current writing assignment is a Comparison/ Contrast Essay.  Our essays are now following a 3-step process.  For today they were to have done some brainstorming, outlining, and initial research.  Next week the rough drafts are due.

At the end of our book, My Antonia, the students are to give a presentation on either a theme or a character.  We talked about the ways in which an author develops a character.  The students are to look at what the character says and does, how other characters respond, what the character thinks a values, how the character interacts with others, etc. We also discussed some of the themes of the story.

The students finished the Grammar Test that they started last week.  I'm looking forward to correcting them because they'll help me know where to go next in our grammar discussion.  They are a hard-working bunch, and I'm very proud of them.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Book V of My Antonia
-- Choose which Character or Theme to present
-- Write Rough Draft of Comparison Contrast Essay
-- Extra Credit -- bring information about "roman a' clef" and "Bildungsroman."

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard