Writing 2 Class Notes -- October 23

Greetings!

We had a good and productive class this week.  Last week we were missing students due to illnesses and testing, and it was good to have everyone back.  I'm a "the more the merrier" kind of person and really enjoy a full classroom.  

For our Quick Write this week, we used cards from a game entitled "Man Bites Dog."  Each student got 6 cards; a noun, adjective, adverb, or verb was on each card.  They object of the game is to develop a headline using those words.  For our writing exercise, they not only created headlines, but wrote a news story to go with it. Once again, we had some creative endeavors.  I love those first minutes of class when their heads are bent down towards their papers, and their pens or pencils are working quickly.

Since some students had not been able to finish the grammar test last week, I sent them to the student lounge to finish while the rest of the class discussed the last section of our book, My Antonia.  One commentary on the book called it an elegiac in that it expressed sorrow and lament.  It was also a nostalgic book in that it was always looking back.  The general opinion was that it had a sad tone and a somewhat disappointing ending. Though we all knew from the beginning that the male protagonist, Jim Burden, marries someone in New York, we couldn't help but wonder if he and Antonia would end up together at the end.  We also agreed that the episodic nature of the book was interesting, but a bit boring.  No major conflict, crisis, or climax.  However, Willa Cather did a beautiful job developing some memorable characters.  Next week, the students are to come to class prepared to present information about a character or a theme.  We'll have "panel discussions," and they can be the experts.

Discussing our Grammar Quiz/Test took the remainder of our class time.  I don't think they did as well as they would have liked. From a teacher's perspective, if gives me an idea how much of the grammar instruction is sinking in.    I know that grammar isn't exciting, but it's the foundation for good writing.  An analogy that comes to mind is the house-builder who has quality materials, but shoddy workmanship.  No one is going to give his newly-built house a second look.  These students have a lot of really good ideas and interests.  I want them to be able to express themselves in ways that attracts others to their thoughts and passions.  Because the performance on this test wasn't great, I'll be altering some of the grammar instruction.  Expect some occasional practice exercises to be part of the homework.

They handed in their rough drafts of their Comparison/Contrast Essays.  I'll go over these and hand them back next week.  With each set of essays, I not only see improvements, but I also learn a lot; their topics are fascinating.

Following our reading of My Antonia, we will be reading some American poetry and some Christmas literature.  I will have the poetry books for them next week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Character or Theme Presentation

-- Grammar Worksheets

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

This week's blog

Comparison/Contrast Essay

Grammar Quiz/Test