Greetings!
We
had a great day in class this week. After a week of snow and another
of sub-zero temperatures, it was nice to have a run-of-the-mill cold
winter day.
This year is the 10th anniversary of Facebook. Thinking of
how pervasive computer technology is in today's culture, I asked the
students to write as their
Quick Writes: "Imagine a day without
computer technology." For some students, this would be a difficult
challenge, while for others, they wouldn't know much of a difference. I
mentioned to them that our family occasionally takes media &
technology fasts. It's good to clear our heads from so many
distractions.
Our
Words of the Day were:
suave --
French; pleasant, sweet, sophisticated
subito --
Italian/Latin; suddenly. abruptly
subpoena -- Latin; literally, under penalty; a legal document requiring that a person appear in court
sub judice --
Latin; literally, under a judge; this phrase means that a case is before the court and currently under consideration
sub specie aeternitatis -- Latin; literally, under the aspect of eternity; this phrase means something in its essential form
I handed back the rough drafts for the
Problem/Solution Essays. Generally, as I read through the rough drafts, I keep track of common mistakes and error. These become our
Grammar lessons
for the day. The most common errors that need attention as they revise
and edit their papers are problems related to contractions, compound
sentences, and "there are" sentences. I gave the students half-sheets
for taking notes. When they hand in their final drafts, I would also
like them to list the first five corrections and the last five
corrections in their papers.
We've finished our
Sherlock Holmes stories, and the
students handed in the assigned final essay exam answering the question,
"Is Holmes a Hero?" Now that we're done with this book, we're on to
our next book of short stories,
Great Short, Short Stories. We'll start with three stories by Russian authors: Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Chekhov.
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