Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 5 (September 22)

Greetings!

Another great day in class!  

In recognition that Thursday is the autumnal equinox (the first day of fall when we have as many hours of daylight as we do night), I asked student to write in their Quick Writes about what they like about fall.  In addition to the changing leaves and "sweater weather," yummy foods like pumpkin and apple cider were mentioned.  Of course, some weren't so happy about the coming cold winter season.

Our Words of the Day from A Connecticut Yankee:

Pandemonium -- fr. Milton's capital of hell in Paradise Lost -- a wild uproar or unrestrained chaos

Lubber -- fr. Middle English lob, a clumsy person -- a big, clumsy, stupid person

Squabble -- fr. Swedish sqvabbel, to quarrel or gossip -- to verbally engage in a petty quarrel

Limpid -- fr. Latin limpidus, clear -- clear, transparent, calm, especially with water

I handed back the graded Final Drafts of the Personal Essays.  I enjoyed this set of essays and look forward to a full year of work from them.  They handed in the rough drafts of their Process Essays, which I will hand back next week.

We took more time with our literature selection.  Dividing the class into small groups, I asked them to discuss one of the themes found in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court:

Education & Training

Religion & the Church

Magic & Superstition

Slavery

Following their  small group discussions, each group shared with the class the key points and thoughts for their themes.

Our Grammar discussion focused on one of the common errors that I find in student writing -- Subject/Verb Agreement.  In sentences, if you have a singular subject, you need a singular verb.  For most sentences, this is obvious, but often in complex sentences the subject and verb are not close to one another.  Students are to do both sides of the worksheet.

Finally, a couple students mentioned that they had not been able to log on to My GradeBook, so here are the code and instructions:

Go to My GradeBook

Initial log in: Classword: JH2J6Z9JN

Initial password:  student's first name and last initial

After you have logged in the first time, you can change the log in information.

Assignments for This Week:

-- Read A Connecticut Yankee:  Ch. 24 - 27

-- Answer 4 Study Guide questions

-- Fill in 8 Vocabulary words

-- Grammar Worksheets

Links for This week:

Class Notes

Washington Post Article on Twain and ACY

Have a great weekend!

Blessings, 

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (September 15)

Greetings!

We had another productive class yesterday.  One of my favorite  aspects of teaching writing is getting to know students through discussions and their writing.  This week I learned from many about their favorite books.  For theQuick Write, I brought up two dates:  1890, which is the birth date of one of my favorite authors, Agatha Christie; and 1984, which is the birth  date of Prince Harry of Wales.  I asked students to write about either a mystery, a favorite book, or the concept of being part of a royal family.   For an extra credit assignment, I asked the students to bring in the name of their favorite book and an explanation for why I should read it.

We took our Words of the Day from my book of foreign words and phrases:

Prowess-- fr. Old French proesse, bravery -- exceptional bravery, courage, or ability

Feeble-- fr. Latin flebilis, lamentable -- physically weak; frail

Dirk-- fr. Scottish -- a dagger from the Scottish Highlands

We took some time to clarify some of the Homework that needed to be handed in.  I had forgotten to tell them that I would like them to hand in rough drafts with final drafts.  If students had them, they could hand them in.  If they don't, I will still be able to grade their Final Drafts; I'll make sure that they are reminded for the next round of essays.

On the same day that students hand in one rough draft, we start with the next round of essays.  Our next writing project is a Process Analysis Essay.  We took time to talk about how this not just telling about the steps of a process or giving instructions, but it's doing so "with a purpose."  This purpose could be the importance of the particular steps or ingredients; it could also be about the importance of the end result.  In other words, in the essay the student should tell how or why this process is important.  (Note:  I suggest a length for the essay, but if that can be a flexible number.  If a student is having difficulties with this number, feel free to contact me.)

We listened to the Librivox version of Chapter 12 of A Connecticut Yankee.  Listening sometimes affects people differently than reading.  I had them listen for examples of Twain's verbal humor and for his unexpected comparisons/metaphors. I must admit, some of his humor is so subtle that it is easy to miss.

Our last task of the day was to learn a thing or two about sentence construction.  We worked on simple and compound sentences.  I have an equation for a sentence that I will repeat multiple times over the course of the year.  This equation can be for a simple sentence or an independent clause:

                     Subject

                     Verb

                +   Complete Thought

                    SENTENCE

The formula for a compound sentence:

           S - V, and S - V.

We finished one worksheet in class, and they have one to do as homework.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Ch. 20 - 23 in ACY

-- 3 Study Guide Questions

-- 5 Vocabulary Words

-- Process Essay Rough Draft

-- Grammar Worksheets:  10-1 and 8-5

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Librivox version of ACY

Process Essay Rough Draft

Process Analysis Essay

Definition

            In the process analysis essay, the writer describes how to do something or how something happens by describing the steps or stages in the process.  The writer breaks down the process into steps and describes them in detail in order to inform or persuade the reader about the process.  Process analysis by be used to describe a simple process such as how to bake a cake or change the oil in a car, or it may be used to describe a complex process such as scientific experiments or works of Congress.

Organization of a Process Essay

            The process you are analyzing will dictate the structure of your essay.  Break the process down into its component parts (or steps) and structure your writing around logical divisions in the process you are analyzing.

Thesis Statements

            The thesis or topic statement names the process that will be described or analyzed.  Often the thesis contains an attitude or opinion about the process.

            Examples:

– Changing a tire is easy if you follow the right steps.

– Anyone can fail a class if he tries hard enough.

– It is important for citizens to know how ideas become laws.

Tips on Planning

1.    First, divide the process into logical parts.  Decide what actions you would take and in what order they would happen.

2.    Next, list the individual steps or stages in the process, making sure not to leave out any steps, including any preparation that might be necessary.

3.    Describe each step in detail.  Try not to leave anything out.  Remember that your readers may not be familiar with the process you are describing, so your directions will have to be explicit and complete. 

4.    Anticipate any problems that might arise at each step in the process, and tell the reader how to avoid or remedy the problem.

5.    Avoid incomplete details.

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Rough Draft due September 22; Final Draft due October 6

– Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)

– Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced.

– Final draft format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (September 8)

Greetings!

I love how the students come in after lunch ready for class.  They are a bright and attentive group!

Students were given two options for the Quick Write.  Thursday was the 50th anniversary of the pilot episode of Star Trek, and they could write something about the show or about "space" shows.  Alternately, they could continue the food theme from previous weeks and write about their favorite or least favorite foods.  As I expected, a number of students hated foods that others loved.  Isn't this diverse world amazing!

Our Words of the Day came from individual students, who had selected them from our literature, A Connecticut Yankee.

picturesque -- visually charming or quaint, as if resembling or suitable for a painting

anomalous -- deviating from or inconsitent with the common order, form, or rule; irregular; abnormal

impregnable -- strong enough to resist or withstand attack; not to be taken by force, unconquerable

Our next item on the agenda for the day was to discuss the Rough Drafts.  My practice is to go over the most common grammatical or mechanical errors when I hand back these papers.  In fact, I feel this is a far more effective way to teach grammar because it is in the context of a student's actual use of the knowledge. Since this is the first essay of the year, I also walked students through the symbols that I use.  For these papers, some of the most common errors were:

-- Compound sentences & commas  (to discuss this, we usually need to spend a lot of time on basic sentence construction)

-- Contractions

-- Paragraph construction

-- Numbers

I believe there is some confusion about the Homework related to these essays.  Students write their rough drafts and hand them in on the due dates.  Then, I take them home and go over them, marking errors and making comments.  I bring them in the following week, and the students are to take the essays and make corrections.  The result, the Final Draft, is then brought to class, and that version of the essay is the one that I evaluate for a score that reflects their work.

Our literature discussion this week focused on the characters whom we had meet so far in the book.  Some times a book is all about the plot, and sometimes it's about the characters.  A key for understanding this book at a deeper level is to know how the characters.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapter 15 - 19

-- 4 Study Questions

-- 8 Vocabulary Words

-- Final Draft of Personal Commentary Essay

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Grammarly's Top 10 Mistakes

Enjoy the weather!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 2 (September 1)

Greetings!

We are off to a good start here in Writing 1.  One aspect I noticed last week is that it is hard to enter into class discussions when you don't know your classmates very well, so we did the Quick Write this week in a collaborative manner.  After putting the students into small groups, I asked them to make lists about their favorite parts of the State Fair or about their favorite "fair food."  They were then to share their lists with one another; when we came together as a whole class, they were to share what someone in their group had said.  They did really well with this activity.

Our Words of the Day:

candid -- (fr. Latin, candidus, white); frank, outspoken, open and sincere

blether -- (fr. Old Norse, blathr, nonsense); foolish talk

magnanimity -- (fr. Latin, magnus, great, large); a high-minded, noble act

Following our beginning activities, we discussed the Essay assignment.  I handed out the rubric that I use to evaluate their final drafts.  Rough drafts can be really polished or really rough, and all students get the same score for their assignments.  The final drafts are the papers that I evaluate for quality.   I asked the students to look over the rubric and to think about where they currently see themselves as writers and which area they would like to improve the most.

Students handed in the rough drafts of their Personal Commentary Essays, which I will correct and hand back next week.  We discussed ways that homework can be handed in:  1) put in the homework bin during class time when it's due; 2) emailed as an attachment; 3) shared as a Google doc; 4) brought to class the week after it's due.

Students were also given handouts about Drafting the Essay and PreWriting Strategies.

During the Grammar section of class this week, we reviewed the 8 parts of speech:  interjections, verbs, adjectives, nouns, conjunctions, adverbs, pronouns, and prepositions.  Last year in Writing 1, the students worked in groups to learn these parts of speech.  For students who were not in this class, I'm attaching a couple review sheets that cover this information.  A lot of the grammar we will be doing this year will be in the context of their own essays.

We discussed our new book, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  Although this book is a typical high school text, many students find the book challenging to read because of the unusual vocabulary and more complicated sentence structures.  We discussed how writing styles of American literature have changed over the years.  One way for students to make their ways through this book is by using audio versions.  A favorite place to find free versions of many books is Librivox, and many times those recordings are also on Youtube.  (I'll provide links below.)

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 7 - 14

-- Answer 4 Study Guide questions

-- Find and define 8 Vocabulary Words

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Drafting the Essay

Pre-Writing Strategies

Essay Rubric

Audible's ACY audiobook

Librivox's ACY audiobook

Youtube's ACY audiobook

Enjoy this beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Pre-Writing Exercises

Getting Started

·        Think right:  believe in yourself and ability to learn; keep trying and learn from mistakes

·        Get organized

–  Use a notebook:  keep track of handouts and assignments

–  Take notes:  notes help you to retain important information and stay focused; write down whatever your teacher writes on the board and specific information about assignments.

–  Schedule study time:  don’t leave assignments to the last minute; schedule regular time

–  Use good resources:  teachers, books, on-line sources, classmates

           

First Steps to Writing

·        Understanding the assignment

–  Make sure you are clear on requirements:

Due Date

Length

Format of paper

Topic restrictions

·        Narrowing the topic

–  Find an area of the topic that you can write about

–  Narrowing tree to divide a general topic or subject into more specific parts until you find a specific topic of interest

–  Brainstorming by thinking of the aspects of the topic or of specific examples and writing down all the ideas that come to mind (can be done in a group)

·        Determining the writing context

–  Purpose:  why are you writing, what your goals are, and what you hope to accomplish; what to include and what to leave out; most writing is to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.

–  Audience:  tailor your statements to the person or group to whom you are speaking; keep in mind your audience’s interests, concerns, values, educational backgrounds, and attitudes.

–  Tone:  the writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience; can range from serious, sarcastic, angry, humorous, condescending, insensitive, compassionate, etc.

·        Formulating a main idea:  think about the direction you might be heading in or what you might write about; stating a tentative main idea will help you generate ideas about your narrowed topic more effectively.

Generating Supporting Ideas

·        Brainstorming:  write down everything you think of regarding this topic; be aware of all the senses; can be done in phrases; can be done individually or in a group

·        Freewriting:  start writing sentences and paragraphs; write everything that comes to mind

·        Listing:  visualize and write what comes to mind;

·        Clustering/ Mind map:  cluster related ideas together; group or organize ideas

·        Dividing:  break the topic into its components; use journalistic questions (who, what, where, when, why how)

Organizing Ideas

·        State the main idea:  narrow your topic into a thesis statement; sometimes this will need to be revised as you gather materials

·        Map your topic:  Use the a table similar to the one below the develop your ideas

Supporting Ideas	Specific Details	Relation to Thesis

·        Outline:  use the formal outline structure to help organize topics of support and subtopics.  The outline below is an example of style.

I.  Introduction

            A.  Specifics

            B.  Specifics 

II.  Suppporting idea #1

            A.  Specifics

            B.  Specifics

                        1.  Details

                        2.  More details

III.  Supporting idea #2

            A.  Specifics

                        1.  Details

                        2.  More details

            B.  Specifics

IV.  Conclusion

DRAFTING THE ESSAY

Writing a Thesis

– A thesis statement expresses a main idea that can be developed with stated reasons.  This statement is usually an opinion, feeling attitude, belief, or point of view about the topic.  It should not be a statement of fact that needs no development.

– The thesis must create an adequate focus for the paper.  If the main idea is too broad, it cannot be adequately developed on one paper; if it is too narrow, an entire paper is not needed to develop it.

– The thesis can be the first sentence of the introduction, or can be placed anywhere in the introductory paragraph.

What kind of information to include?

– Include information that proves, illustrates, explains, or defines the thesis.

– Support your thesis and give specific information and concrete details that include examples, facts, statistics, and other concrete information.

– The specific details should relate directly to the main idea.  Supporting sentences often explain how the specific detail proves the thesis statement.

– Supporting sentences should express unity.  Every sentence should support the thesis.

Building Strong Sentences

– Plan your sentences using a map or outline

– Put your sentences in a logical order.  Sentences that have a logical connection and consistency illustrate cohesion.

– Two tools that help make sentences coherent are transitions and repeated key words.  These help clarify the relationship between ideas.

Organizing Supporting Sentences

– The most logical ways to organize supporting statements are

            Time relation (present to past OR past to present)

            Space relation (near to far OR far to near; circular; height positions)

            Order of importance (often the strongest supporting sentences come first and last)

Writing the Introduction

– Because the introduction establishes the reader’s attitude toward the topic and toward the writer, it is the most important part of the essay.

– The introduction should

            Get the reader interested in the topic (attention-getter)

            Provide background information about the topic (factual material)

            State the thesis of the essay (main idea)

– Attention-Getter and Background Information  

Some essays start gradually by getting the reader ready for the thesis.  Background information gets the reader in the mood for the rest of the essay.

– Strategies for attention-getting and background information:

A good story or anecdote

History, facts, or initial information

An appropriate quotation

A problem the reader should know about concerning the topic

A question that limits your topic

A statement that popular ideas about your topic are wrong

A reference to something historical, something in the news, a current event, or a literary work

A strong opinion.

– Appeal to Audience:  address the audience of the essay. 

– Length and Placement:  how much background information to provide depends upon the length of the essay and the strategy the writer uses to get the reader prepared for the thesis.

– Thesis or Thesis statement:  This sentence should be in the introduction in order to create a focus for the essay.

Body Paragraphs

– Each paragraph in the body of the essay develops one main point that supports the thesis.

– The body paragraphs usually follow the traditional paragraph pattern of topic sentence, supporting sentences, and conclusion.  Not every paragraph necessarily has a stated topic sentence, but every paragraph has a main idea.

– Effective body paragraphs use transitions within and between paragraphs to create coherence.

Order of Body Paragraphs

– You can organize your paragraphs in a number of ways; the important consideration is to make the order clear and logical to the reader.

– Possible presentations:

            Chronological order

            Order of importance

            Combination of plans

Conclusion

– The conclusion is the final paragraph.  If the essay is very long, the conclusion might be more than one paragraph, but usually have only one paragraph.

– Strategies for concluding:

– Refer back to the story, problem, question, or quote that began the introduction

– Emphasize the important point.  Remind the reader of the thesis of the essay and how its major details are developed.

– Avoid beginning the conclusion with “in conclusion” or “finally” or “to summarize.”  This is obvious to the reader.

– Do not repeat the thesis statement word for word and list the major details explained in the introduction.

– Avoid beginning a new argument in the conclusion.

Essay Rubric for Writing 2

Criterion	Beginning (0 - 2)	Developing (3 - 5)	Competent  (6 - 8)	Advanced (9 - 10)
Focus:  Thesis, Introduction, Conclusion	Specific topic is unclear and no statement of an opinion or a stand. No introduction. No conclusion.	Thesis statement expresses the topic but not an opinion or a stand. Weak introduction that states the topic but is missing a clear thesis. The focus of the paper is unclear. Conclusion does not fully summarize the main points nor restates the thesis statement.	Thesis statement includes the topic and expresses a stand or opinion. Introduction states topic and thesis and gives direction to the paper. Conclusion reiterates main points and restates the thesis statement.	Clearly-stated, thoughtful & compelling thesis statement. Strong introduction with a thesis statement that grabs attention and directs the course of the essay. Strong conclusion that summarizes the main points and restates the thesis statement.  Satisfactorily wraps up the essay.
Content	No major points to support the thesis are included.  Few details have been used. Ideas are disconnected.	Some of the major points are covered. Some specific details are included. Lacks sufficient material to fully support thesis.	All major points are covered. Appropriate details are included with each point.	All major points are thoroughly and insightfully discussed. All points are fully supported with strong details.
Organization	Ideas are arranged randomly.  There may be no division of paragraphs.	Like ideas are grouped together, and paragraphs are present, but ideas within may not be organized logically.  Transitions may be lacking.	An apparent progression of ideas that allows the reader to move through the text without confusion. Sentences with paragraphs are organized and flow smoothly	Expresses a clear, logical sequence of ideas within paragraphs and throughout the paper. Sentences within paragraphs flow smoothly with good use of transitions.
Mechanics	Frequent errors, seriously impairs flow & meaning of paper	Errors noticeable, and occasionally detract from flow or meaning of paper	Some errors, which are minor in nature and don’t detract from overall meaning of paper	Essentially faultless; errors may result from risk-taking and do not detract from meaning of paper.

Total Score – 40 possible points