We had a great first class for our 2016 school year! This is a great group with both returning and new students; I'm looking forward to this year.
This first week of classes is about taking care of the business regarding how the class is run. I handed out a lot of papers, which you will find attached to this e-mail, inserted into the blog and on Dropbox. As I told the students, they have multiple ways to find assignments and handouts should they be missing any.
We began the class with a Quick Write, which we will do every week. The purpose of the Quick Write is to get the students in a writing mood. Most of these are light-hearted; often they are connected to a current even or something that happened on that day in history. Students had two options for today's Quick Write: it is National Banana Split Day and it was the day that Ethelda Bleibtrey became the first female Olympics swimming champion. Students could write something about ice cream or the Olympics or overcoming adversity.
Another key beginning-of-class activity is our Word of the Day. This semester, we will be selecting words from our literature selection, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. My goal is to expand their vocabularies and to pique their interests regarding words.
Today's Words of the Day:
Today's words were those "thingamajig" and "whatchamacallit" kinds of words.
ferrule: the cap at the end of the staff of an umbrella
pintle: the verticl pin inserted in a hinge
aglet: the plastic end of a shoe lace
chimb: the metal rim of a barrel
neb: the curved tip on the wooden handle of a knife
opisthenar: the back of the hand
After these beginning exercises, we got down to business with all of the handouts. We went over, at length, my Classroom Policies for this class that included conduct, communication, and grading. I especially talked about electronics and cell phone use in class. More and more students have smart phones, and some find it difficult to keep them stowed away during class. This year, if I suspect a student is using his/her phone, I will ask and then confiscate the phone if needed. Parents will get an e-mail if this happens. The students were in agreement with me, and I don't anticipate this being a problem with this class.
The rest of the handouts for today include: Writing 2 Syllabus, A Connecticut Yankee Introduction, A Connecticut Yankee Study Guide, A Connecticut Yankee Vocabulary Worksheet, Personal Commentary Essay,
For our Grammar portion of the class, I divided the class into small groups to answer the question, "Why is grammar important?" They put their ideas on post-it notes, which we put on the white board, grouping similar ideas together. Their ideas reflect what the experts say: Grammar facilitates good, clear communication. Much in the same way that the rules of the road keep us safe and going in the right directions, grammar helps us get ideas from one person to another safely.
I gave a brief introduction to our literature selection, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. For next week, the students should read the Introduction handout, the Preface and first 6 chapters, answer 2 study guide questions, and fill in 5 vocabulary words.
I also assigned them their first essay, a Personal Commentary Essay. The handout explains that this essay is a thoughtful reaction to some aspect of life. This can be related to current events, big or small, or to personal, close-to-home situations. The rough draft for this is due next week. It was asked in class whether this should be a standard 5-paragraph essay with an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and conclusions. My response was that if that is a writing structure that is familiar, go for it. If writing essays is a new adventure, write 1 - 2 paragraphs. I consider this essay to be their first writing samples. We will talk more about thesis statements, introductions, conclusions, etc. as the semester proceeds.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read the Classroom Policies and have parents read and initial.
-- Read the Introduction handout for A Connecticut Yankee (ACY)
-- Read the Preface and Chapters 1 - 6
-- Choose 2 Study Guide questions and answer them.
-- Select 5 words from your reading and add them to your Vocabulary Worksheet
-- Write the rough draft of the Personal Commentary Essay
Links for this week:
(Note: Most of these links are to the blog and are copies of the handouts for the week's class and discussions. Occasionally I will include links to other helpful or interesting web resources.)
Class Notes
Have a great week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
