Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 30)

Greetings!

We covered a lot of ground today in class, and I appreciated the class's involvement.

For the Quick Write, I asked the students to convince me of something.  They could try to convince me to eat a certain food, read a book, listen to some music, take part in some activity, etc.  For this, they should consider the audience, give specific reasons, and think about what would be appealing.  I look forward to reading their persuasive Quick Writes.

Our Words of the Day (aka Latin Roots of the Day):

magnus -- Latin, great/large -- magnum, magnanimity, magnanimous, magnitude, magnet, magnificent. magnify, electromagnetic, manganese

male -- bad/evil -- malnourished, Maleficent, malefactor, malice, malicious, dismal, malady, malignant

manus -- Latin, hand -- manuscript, manual, manufacture, manage, manacle, maintain, emancipate, manifest

migr -- Latin, wander -- migraine, migration, migrate, immigrate, migratory, transmigration

I handed back their homework, which included the Final Drafts of the Problem/Solution or Cause/Effect papers.  They worked hard on these.  Their next writing assignment is an Evaluation Essay, and the rough draft for that is due the week after our break.  If students have any missing work, this upcoming break might be a good time to get caught up.

We started discussing our Short Stories.  After some initial comments, I divided the students into two groups to discuss each story and to come up with comments for the following literary elements:  characters, plots, and themes.  Also, if they found a "gem" in the story, they could add that.  Following their discussions, they wrote their comments on the white board.  Many times students have great thoughts that they don't necessarily want to talk about with the whole class, but a small group is just the right size.

We still have more stories left to read, but I handed out the next book, a selection of American poems, so that they have it when we are ready.

We reviewed our comma rules during the Grammar portion and made a list as a class:

• Lists
• Dates
• FANBOYS and compound sentences
• Complex sentences:  Independent clauses and Dependent/Subordinate clauses
• Appositives
• Interjections & Interrupters
• Introductory elements
• Addresses
• Direct address

For their homework, they are to write 2 sentences for each rule, appropriately inserting the correct commas.

Note:  For those of you interested in checking out My Gradebook, I didn't realize the the Spring version of the class was given a fresh code, which is writing2spring17.  I will have all of the current scores entered in by the end of next week.  Let me know of you are having difficulties accessing your account.

Assignments for April 13:

-- Read stories by Larsen (p. 110); Anderson (p. 1); Hardy (p. 56)

-- Fill out one worksheet (front and back)

-- Comma review -- Write 2 example sentences for each bullet point.

-- Evaluation Essay Rough Draft

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Have a great break!

Mrs. Prichard