We had another wonderful class this week. This is a bright group of students, and I enjoy my Thursday class times with them.
We began with our usual Quick Write. This week our topic was Benjamin Banneker, a scientist, mathematician, astronomer surveyor, and writer who died on this date in 1797. Though called the "first black man of science," he only went to school as a child. Most of his knowledge and skills were self-taught. I gave the students 2 options for the Quick Write: 1) Write about something you taught yourself; 2) If you could invent something, what would it be.
Our Words of the Day came again from the vocabulary lists that we're developing from Connecticut Yankee. This week's words came to us, complements of Dane, James and Annika:
Varlet -- fr. ME, valette, fr. OF vaslet, valet, fr LL. vassellitus, vassal, slave -- a menial servant
Emaciated -- fr. L. emaciatus, wasted away -- thin, puny, gaunt, haggard
Alacrity -- fr. L. alacritas, lively -- cheerful readiness, prompt, eager
The students handed in their final drafts of their Process Essays. A couple of students had problems with computers and/or printers. Those essays can be e-mailed to me. Also, if a student forgot the rough draft to hand in with the final draft, that can be scanned in and sent to me. I handed out to them the instructions for the next round of essays. This time, they can choose between an Extended Definition Essay or a Classification Essay. I spent some time explaining the two styles of essays and giving examples of types of topics that would work. (The descriptions for these are attached.) The first two essays for Writing 2 were written with a 2-step process: rough draft then final draft. For the rest of our essays, we will be following a 3-step procedure: pre-writing, then rough draft, then final draft. They are to do the pre-writing (brainstorming, mind mapping, outlining, researching, and thesis developing) for next week. I will check to see that these are done, but they will be handed in with the rough drafts in 2 weeks.
After correcting their worksheets dealing with pronoun agreement, I felt that we needed to go over this Grammar topic a little more. Using a handout, we discussed indefinite and impersonal pronouns, both plural and singular.
The class has a take home quiz for our book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The quiz is open book, so it should not be too hard.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Take Home (open book) Quiz
-- Read Ch. 32 - 36
-- Answer 4 Study Guide questions and 8 Vocabulary words
-- Extended Definition or Classification Pre-Write
This week's links:
Class Notes
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
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