Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 26)

Greetings!

Another great week!  The students came in ready to engage well in our class work.

Our Quick Write this week was inspired by a simple problem that I had getting ready this morning -- I couldn't find my shoes!  I asked the students to write about their own personal organization preferences.  I put a line on the board to represent a continuum from "Walking Tornado" to "Obsessively Organized."  Most students considered themselves Average, which was right in the middle.  I also collected some great ideas from the students to help us all be more on tip of the details of life.

Our Words of the Day were again Latin roots:

bene -- Latin," good" -- derivatives:  benefit, benefactor, beneficiary, benevolent, benign

belli -- Latin, "war" -- derivatives:  bellicose, casus belli, antebellum, belligerent, rebellious

brevi -- Latin, "short" -- derivatives:  brief, briefcase, abbreviation, brevity 

The next order of business was to discuss our writing assignment, which is a Mystery Story.  The Pre-Write for this should be done for this week, and the rough draft is due next week.  We spent some time to talk through some of the differences between writing an essay and writing a short story.  While it is important to start a story well, students don't need write introductions and conclusions as they would in an essay.  Stories also develop more slowly than essays.   We had a variety of "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" and "thumbs side-ways."  They need to think a little differently for this kind of writing.  The challenging points could be incorporating clues, coming up with motives, and avoiding sounding stupid.  I have great faith in this creative group.

I took some time to walk through the format for the essays.  The essays should be double-spaced and have 1-inch margins.  The font can be either Arial or Times New Roman and 12-point.  Another topic I covered was Headings and the Header.  The Heading needs to have the students name, teacher's name, name of the class, the assignment, and the date.  The Header is in the upper right margin and should be the student's last name and the page number.  Below in the links portion, I have a link to a Google document that shows what the papers should look like.  

We then dove into our reading selections about Sherlock Holmes.  We read aloud from the portions of the story, "The Scandal in Bohemia," which featured Irene Adler, the one person who got the best of Sherlock Holmes.  We read various parts that highlighted Holmes observation and deductive skills. A number of students hadn't gotten all of the way through the stories.  A reminder -- you enjoy a class discussion more if you've read the material.

Finally, we talked Commas.  Last week we discussed commas and compound sentences.  After a quick review, we progressed to commas and complex sentences.  This is a harder topic because students have to understand dependent and independent clauses in addition to identifying subordinating conjunctions.  Students have two worksheets to practice inserting commas into sentences.  I have some links below that might be helpful.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and "The Engineer's Thumb"

-- Answer 4 questions

-- Rough Draft of Mystery Story

-- Commas & Complex Sentences Worksheet

-- Sentences & Commas Worksheet

-- FANBOYS Worksheet

--EXTRA CREDIT -- bring a list of subordinating conjunctions

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Sample Essay format

Commas & Complex Sentences Worksheet

Sentences & Commas Worksheet

Subordinating Conjunctions website

Chomp Chomp -- Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordination Conjunctions video

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Commas & Complex Sentences Worksheet

Follow the directions for each sentence.

COMPLEX SENTENCES

Add commas where they are needed.

1.       She did not eat the cookies nor did she chew the gum that Jane made for her.

2.       I am going to bed to read the book  that Elizabeth wrote.

3.       Paul is going to the movie  and may not come home until late.

4.       Did Mary go along with her parents to the game?

Put the independent clause in parentheses and underline the dependent clause. Insert commas where they are needed.

5.       George could not find his son’s bat or his glove that he had just bought for him.

6.       Because she wasn’t very hungry Julia only ate half of her sandwich.

7.       I was tired of doing homework even though I had only worked for fifteen minutes.

8.       Sue brought her books to class but Janet left hers in the car because she tends to be forgetful.

COMPOUND/COMPLEX SENTENCES

Insert commas where needed. Underline any subordinate/dependent clauses

1.       She wanted to go to bed and read her new book but she didn’t realize that it had fallen behind the sofa.

2.       Jack is going to the movie about World War II so he may be home late because it a three hour long movie.

3.       Denise was upset that she could not go to London but she chose to save her money in order to pay for college.

4.       I told her not to eat the fresh bread but she didn’t pay attention because she was so hungry.

Put the independent clause in parentheses and underline the subordinate/dependent clauses.  Add commas.

Note:  A compound sentence has two independent clauses.

5.       Chris had tried to find his puppy but it had run around the house and hid under a bush.

6.       My father told me that he was proud that I had improved my grades and I celebrated with pizza.

7.       Peter found a part-time job around the corner so it was easy for him to get to work.

8.       I am planning to take the children to the park so that we can have a picnic because their father has the day off.

Sentences & Commas Worksheet

Insert the comma in the proper place.

1.      I am going to bed and I am planning on reading this book.

2.      She did not eat the cookies nor did she eat the candy.

3.      Paul is going to the movie and John is going but Sally is not going.

4.      Did Mom go to the concert or did Dad go alone?

5.      Debbie was upset for she wanted to go on that trip but her mother was sick.

6.      Melissa was sick so she left the party early.

7.      It was midnight but it did not seem so late so we went out for dinner.

8.      Cathy caught the heel of one of her shoes in a crack on the sidewalk and the heel broke off.

9.      Susan thought the lemonade was good yet it was a bit too sweet.

10.  Michael threw a fit for he was upset with the dog that had eaten his shoes.

11.  Did Paul go to the movie with Michael or did Michael ask John to go?

12.  Cathy had forgotten to set her alarm so she was late for work.

13.  Fred craves pizza every night but Faith would rather have popcorn.

14.  Nancy thought James had taken her phone but she realized that it was in her backpack.

15.  Mary had a little lamb and its fleece was white as snow.

Writing 2 -- Spring Technology Reminder

Greetings!

CHAT classes started again this week, and I'm excited to start the spring semester of writing classes.  We're going to have a great semester!

Below are explanations of my online sources that I provide as a resource for families.  

Class Updates:  Weekly, following our class, I will send out an e-mail that explains what we covered in class and what the assignments are. Occasionally I will include links to interesting or pertinent sites that pertain to our class discussion.  Any handouts from the class will be attached to these e-mails.  Double check to make sure these e-mails are making it to your Inbox and not the Junk/Spam folder.

Writing 2 Blog:  The weekly updates and copies of most messages are also posted on this site.  If you need to see a number of the updates at once, this is an efficient way to do it. Copies of the handouts (with the exception of those that are pdfs) will be posted on this blog.  Also, photos, images, videos, and links to other websites will appear on this site.  If you're curious, you can peruse the blog for past posts in order to get a feeling for what to expect this year. (That's where you will find this post!)

Dropbox:  This is an online storage site, and I have folders with all of the documents that I use in a folder for this class.  If a student is missing a worksheet or a handout, he/she can find it there.  You should have gotten an invitation to join the folder for Writing 2.

My GradeBook:  This is the online grade book that I will be using this year.  It is new to me, but since it is similar to the one I had previously used, I don't anticipate any problems.  My paper grade book is up to date with every assignment, but it may take a week or so to get the grades onto this site.  That said, it should be a pretty accurate picture of what homework is missing and ongoing scores for the work.  

Long story short:

-- If a student isn't sure of an assignment, he/she can check

     -- the syllabus that was handed out

     -- the Class Update

     -- the blog

-- If a student is missing something that I handed out, he/she can find it 

     -- as an attachment to a Class Update

     -- on the blog

     -- in the Dropbox folder.

-- If you have questions about grades or missing homework, you can

     -- check My GradeBook

     -- send me a personal e-mail.

If you have any questions, let me know.  

I'm looking forward to teaching this great group of students!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 19)

Greetings!

It's great to be back at CHAT again.  Students were lively and alert, and I have good material planned for this semester that I'm excited to teach.  We will also have a new student in the class.  The more the merrier, I always say!

We began the day, as usual, with a Quick Write.  Government and politics seemed to be on the minds of many, so I intentionally chose a different topic.  In 1898, the first intercollegiate hockey game was played between Brown and Harvard.  In 1905, a new bike race was announced, the Tour de France.  And finally, in 1939 Ernest Hausen of Wisconsin set a record of 4.4 seconds for chicken plucking.  With these events in mind, I asked the students to write about their favorite athletic (or unusual) competition.

Last semester, I tested the students on our Words of the Day.  We won't be having a test for Words of the Day this semester, but we will continue to deliberately work on building our vocabularies.  We're starting with Latin roots, and our words this week were:

amo -- fr. Latin, amare; to love -- English derivatives:  amicable, amorous, amateur, enamored
aqua -- fr. Latin, aqua, aquae; water -- English derivatives:  aquifer, aqueous, aquarium, aquatic, aquamarine

audi -- fr. Latin audire; to hear -- English derivatives:  audio, audiophile, auditory, auditorium, audition 

The next item on my agenda for class was "New Stuff."  I handed out the Syllabus for the semester and gave a concise overview of our Writing, Grammar, and Literature units.  I'm trying something new this semester.  We begin the semester reading Sherlock Holmes Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  I love mysteries, and most students enjoy these reading assignments.  We talked about key characteristics of detective literature and some specific detectives that we know.  Students were given a handout with background information and also a study guide for the short stories.

The first writing assignment for this term is a bit of a shift from our regular essay writing.  One year, some students asked if we could do some creative writing, so, I changed my coursework a bit to include that.  Since we're reading about Sherlock Holmes, I've assigned the students to write a Mystery Story.  Some students will find this to be great fun, while others may have a harder time.  The Pre-Write is due next week.  For some inspiration, students can check out the stories on the blog from last year's students.  (Check the right hand sidebar for the story pages.)

This semester, we will focus on commas.  My hopes are that they will be "Masters of the Comma" by the end of the semester.  This week, we went over using commas with compound sentences.

Be on the alert for another email with information about online resources.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read A Scandal in Bohemia and The Red-Headed League

-- Answer 4 Study Guide questions for either or both of the stories

-- Mystery Story Pre-Write

-- 2 Grammar Worksheets

     -- FANBOYS Worksheet

     -- Compound Sentences worksheet

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Spring Syllabus

Sherlock Holmes Study Guide

Characterization in Sherlock Holmes

Characteristics of Detective Stories

Sherlock Holmes Quotes

Mystery Story
FANBOYS Worksheet
Commas at a Glance
Compound Worksheet

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Spring Syllabus (2017)

Week/Date	Literature	Assign. Due	Writing Due	Grammar Topic
Week 1 (1/19)	Introduction to Sherlock Holmes			Comma:  Compound Sentences
Week 2 (1/26)	Holmes:  “A Scandal in Bohemia” & “The Red-Headed League”	Answer 4 Questions for “The Red-Headed League”	Mystery Story Pre-Write	Comma:  Complex Sentences
Week 3 (2/2)	Holmes: “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” & “The Engineer’s Thumb”	Answer 4 questions for one of the two stories	Mystery Story Rough Draft	Comma:  Intro Elements
Week 4 (2/9)	Holmes:  “The Final Problem” & “The Adventure of the Empty House"	Holmes Final Exam		Comma:  Restrictive Clauses
Week 5 (2/16)	Short Stories: Pushkin (p. 162); Tolstoy (p. 169); Chekhov (p. 26)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Mystery Story Final Draft	Comma:  Appositives & Parenthetical phrases
February 23 – No CHAT
Week 6 (3/2)	Short Stories: Dickens (p. 45); Wilde (p. 189); Kipling (p.101); Munro (p. 140)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Pre-Write	Comma:  Series
Week 7 (3/9)	Short Stories: Hawthorne (p. 73); Bierce (p. 10); Poe (p. 156)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Rough Draft	Comma:  Interrupters
Week 8 (3/16)	Short Stories: Harte (p. 64); Twain (p. 175) Jewett (p. 87); Crane (p. 34)	2 Short Story Worksheets		Comma: Dates & Addresses
Week 9 (3/23)	Short Stories: Chopin (p. 30); London (p. 122); Mansfield (p. 130); Gilman (p. 50)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Final Draft	End Marks & Abbreviations
Week 10 (3/30)	Short Stories: Pirandello (p. 149); de Maupassant (p. 134);	2 Short Story Worksheets	Evaluation Pre-Write	Colon & Semicolon
April 6 – No CHAT
Week 11 (4/13)	Short Stories: Larsen (p. 110); Anderson (p. 1); Hardy (p. 56)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Evaluation Rough Draft	Italics & Quotations Marks
Week 12 (4/20)	Poetry: Holmes (p. 21); Emerson (p. 4, 5); Longfellow (p. 6 – 10); Whitman (p. 22 – 26); Dickinson (p. 29 – 32)	2 Poetry Worksheets.		Hyphens, Parentheses & Dash
Week 13 (4/27)	Poetry:Wilcox (p. 33); Thayer (p. 34); Dunbar (p. 41 – 43); Frost (p. 44 – 50); Sandburg (p.53 – 54); Williams (p. 60 – 61); Hughes  (p. 75 – 78)	2 Poetry Worksheets	Evaluation Final Draft	Punctuation Review
Week 14 (5/4)	Poetry Presentation		Re-Write	Grammar Test
Week 15 (5/11)	Poetry Presentation		Final Exam	Italics & Quotations Marks

Mystery Story

Write your own Holmes mystery

Using what you have learned about characteristics of a Sherlock Holmes mystery, write your own. It can be a significant mystery (someone stole my car!) or a small one (why do my socks go astray in the dryer?).  It can be funny or serious in tone. As a reminder, include some of the following: 

a. Retelling of an action sequence 
b. Holmes using deductive reasoning 
c. Holmes taking justice into his own hands 
d. Character from a foreign land with a dark past 
e. Holmes unable to solve the case 
f. Exotic murder weapon 
g. Young woman about to be married 
h. Grotesque details 
i. Crime committed

Story Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due January 26; Rough Draft due February 2;  Final Draft due February 16

– Essay length:  500 – 900 words (between 2 and 6 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

The Character of Sherlock Holmes

Even people who have never read the Sherlock Holmes stories often know something

about his character.  If nothing else, they will associate the line, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” with him, although the literary Holmes never actually put these words together – only his film counterparts say them.  Although Conan Doyle named Holmes for one of his favorite authors, Oliver Wendell Holmes, he imagined Dr. Joseph Bell’s appearance for his hero: around six feet tall, with a thin “razor-like” face, a large nose, like a hawk, and small, sharp eyes.  Interestingly, Conan Doyle said the pictures of Holmes usually depict him as handsomer than he imagined him himself.  Holmes wears dressing gowns inside and a cape with a deerstalker hat outside, and he usually appears with a pipe or a magnifying glass in his hand. 

            Entirely unemotional, Holmes remains aloof, coolly rational, and arrogant.  He is often irritable and he possesses several idiosyncrasies that try the patience of even his longsuffering best friend, Watson.  He clutters his rooms with paperwork from his cases and paraphernalia from his numerous scientific experiments.  Watson complains that he keeps his cigars in the coalscuttle, his tobacco in one of his slippers, and his unanswered letters transfixed to the mantle with a jackknife.  He can play the violin well when he wishes to, but Holmes more often scrapes annoyingly and tunelessly on the strings.  He uses the walls of his home for target practice.  Moody and plagued by boredom when no case demands his attention, he injects a 7% solution of cocaine, a habit that his concerned friend finally helps him break.  

            Holmes possesses exceptional gifts and an encyclopedic knowledge of some areas, but remains willingly ignorant of many others, declaring he would rather not clutter his mind with facts that cannot help him solve his cases, even whether or not the earth travels around the sun.  He is respectful and polite to women, but he insists he would never let himself fall in love and marry, as Watson does.  In some ways Holmes resembles a Romantic hero, standing apart from society and even breaking its laws on occasion to obtain the clues he desires.  He will even allow a proven criminal to go free, insisting that he is not, after all, a policeman.  Holmes also can give the impression that his motives for solving his cases have less to do with combating crime or doing good than with amusing himself or impressing others.  

            In “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” when he finds what he supposes is the dead body of

his client, he cries out in rage and grief – at the black mark now on his reputation: “In order to have my case well rounded and complete,” he exclaims to Watson, “ I have thrown away the life of my client.  It is the greatest blow which has befallen me in my career.”  Interestingly, when Joseph Bell learned of his former student’s claim that he was the great detective’s inspiration, he admitted to only a slight resemblance, writing back to Doyle, “You are yourself Sherlock Holmes.”   Conan Doyle confessed, “…A man cannot spin a character out of his own inner consciousness and make it really life-like unless he has some possibilities of that character within him – which is a dangerous admission for one who has drawn so many villains as I.”

            In appearance at least, Conan Doyle seemed to share more with Dr. John Watson, whom he named after a friend, Dr. James Elmwood Watson, than he did with Holmes.  Like Doyle, Watson is a large, athletic man, wearing a bushy mustache.  Like Doyle, Watson studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and he served his country during wartime also.  He loves sports and has an eye for an attractive lady, and like Doyle, he marries more than once.  Watson is as even-tempered and genial as Holmes is moody and aloof.  Their temperaments make them opposites, but the most striking contrast between Holmes and Watson comes when they work together on a case.  Watson consistently fails when he tries to use his friend’s methods of deduction, and he often complains about how foolish Holmes makes him feel.  In “The Hound of the Baskervilles” Holmes tells Watson, “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light.  Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.”  Yet Watson recognizes that for all his friend’s arrogance, Holmes needs him, and not just to record his history. 

            In “The Adventure of the Creeping Man” Watson notes, “He was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one of them.  As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less excusable.  When it was a case of active work and a comrade was needed upon whose nerve he could place some reliance, my role was obvious.  But apart from this I had uses.  I was a whetstone for his mind.  I stimulated him.  He liked to think aloud in my presence.  …If I irritated him by a certain methodical slowness in my mentality, that irritation served only to make his own flame-like intuitions and impressions flash up the more vividly and swiftly.  Such was my humble role in our alliance.”  Watson clearly foils Holmes; he is certainly less brilliant, less able, less confident.  But he might be more human, as Doyle himself suggested.