Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 7 (October 10)

Greetings!

It was full day in Writing 2 today.  Our day started with our Quick Write, titled “Magic Mailbox.”  The students were to imagine a mail box that could send a letter to anyone, any where, in any time period.  The letter would get to that person, and that person could reply.  We had letters to Jesus, Bach, and a football player. 

Our Words for the Day were: 

Cloche – French – literally, a bell; any bell-shaped enclosure to cover and protect plants; also, a small woman’s hat

Herr – German – the title “Mr.” or “Sir.”

Following the Quick Write and vocabulary words, I had three important points on the agenda for the day:  the grammar quiz, the explanation of the next essay assignment, and discussion of our book, My Antonia.  I let the students choose which they wanted to do first.  It was an unanimous decision to take the grammar quiz first.

The Grammar Quiz was worth 70 points and was 1/3 fill in the blank, 1/3 sentence correction, and 1/3 writing.  I gave a similar quiz last year that was 100 points and almost brought students to tears.  I pared this one down, and the students worked diligently to finish it.  I’ll have them graded and ready to hand back next week.

We took a longer time to discuss Jim Burden (the narrator in My Antonia) and his place in the social structure of his home town.  The students had some great insights about popularity, reputation, and solitude.  We also discussed one of the hired girls, Lena, who also moves out of Black Hawk to Lincoln, NE.  We will finish the book in two weeks, and in three weeks I could like each student to give a short presentation to the class about some aspect of the book.  They can choose from the following categories:

-- Setting

-- A specific Character

-- A specific Theme

-- The general structure of the novel.

We made a list of possible themes that can be considered:  coming of age, man & nature, human relationships, man & his past (memories), immigration, the frontier, education, the American dream, family, reputation, solitude. 

The next essay assignment is to write either a Classification Essay or an Extended Definition Essay.  The class was given handouts for each type of essay.  They should re-read them and decide which one would work best.  This essay will be done in 3 steps:  pre-writing (which includes making lists, brainstorming, outlining, and researching), writing a rough draft, and finishing a final draft.  The pre-writing is due next week.  I will check to make sure the work was done, but they can keep their pre-writing work and hand it in with the rough drafts. 

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read p. 141 – 153 in My Antonia

          -- Answer 2 questions from the Study Guide

-- Begin work on the Presentation for the end of the book

-- Classification or Extended Definition Essay Pre-Write

This week’s blogs

Class Notes

Analysis of My Antonia

Classification Essay

Extended Definition Essay

Grammar Quiz

Have a great weekend!  The weather should be stunning!

Mrs. Prichard