Best case scenario the Class Notes get sent out Thursday evening. Worst case scenario they don't get sent out at all. This week, we're somewhere in the middle.
This week for the Quick Write I asked the students to give me some ideas for future Quick Writes. I often choose our weekly beginning of class writing with something that is current or somehow related to the date. Or I may hear something fascinating on the radio on the drive to class. I was sure that the students had some great ideas lurking in those wonderful brains of theirs. I'll put together a list from their suggestions and pull from that list throughout the year.
Our Words of the Day:
Jowls-- fr. Middle English, chawl, jaw -- the lower part of the cheeks
Discrepancy -- fr. Latin, discrepare, to sound discordant -- the state of being inconsistent or in disagreement
Eloquent -- fr. Latin, eloquent, speaking out -- having fluent, forceful, and appropriate speech
Students handed in the Final Drafts of their Process Essays, which means that it's time to start the next round of essays. Their next essay is either an Extended Definition or Classification Essay. We took some time to brainstorm what this essay might look like, especially how to develop a thesis statement. As I've told the students many times, writing the thesis statement for an essay can often be the hardest part. When a student has a good thesis statement, the organization and direction for the paper fall nicely into place.
This paper also marks the shift from a two-step process in writing to a three-step process -- I'm adding an additional step, Pre-writing. The essays are becoming more complicated, so students need to take more time to gather information and to organize. The pre-write can look like an outline, mind map, brainstorming list, etc. This is also a week to do any research for their topics. NOTE: The pre-write homework should be done this week but doesn't need to be handed in until the following week when they hand in the rough drafts.
I had a mid-term quiz for A Connecticut Yankee for the students to do, and I put them into groups to work on this. They could use their books and discuss the questions with their classmates. I heard a lot of good conversations going on as they decided what the best answer for the questions was.
We ended the class with a brief discussion about Pronouns and Antecedents. This is one of those areas of grammar where students often make mistakes, choosing the wrong pronoun for the word that it's taking the place of. They are a quick bunch of students and had most of the work done before leaving class.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Chapters 32 - 36 in ACY
-- Answer 4 study guide questions
-- Write up 8 vocabulary words
-- ACY Quiz
-- Extended Definition/Classification Pre-Write
-- Grammar Worksheets A, B, C, D
Links for this Week:
Class Notes
Have a great week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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