Writing 2 -- Grades are Coming!

Dear CHAT Writing 2 Students & Parents,

I've just finished calculating the grades for the Spring semester, and you will be finding them in your inbox by the end of the week.  As tutors, these are suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

For those who are new to my classes, let me share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschooled, I didn't give my children grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective.  I taught my own children for mastery.  We didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready no matter how long that took.  In a class setting, knowing where each student is with regards to his/her understanding of a topic is not possible, so any grade given is not a complete representation of what the student learned or accomplished this year.

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as a person or as an academic learner.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reflection and reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

For this class, I gave points for attendance, participation, short assignments, literature assignments, grammar exercises, and longer essays. (I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best.)  For this essay assignments, the final drafts were graded using a rubric that divided the papers into the following categories:  focus, content, organization, and mechanics.  The grades will be divided into the following categories:  Assignments (Quick Writes and in class activities), Literature, and Writing.  A student may have been strong in one area and not in another, and this will be reflected in these categories.  The categories are not evenly weighted; in other words, 100% in Assignments, which were almost all Quick Writes, does not have the same value as 100% in Grammar, which included lots of worksheets and new material to learn.

Each student (and parents) will receive an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester.  I’ve seen each student improve with each paper.  Good Work!

Blessings,

Tammy Prichard

Links:
Writing 2 -- Grades are coming!
Grades, Percentages, and Scores Clarification

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 15 (May 11)

Greetings!

Well, we've made it through another great year at CHAT.   I know that these great students learned a lot -- just compare their first essays with their final ones!

Even though I had a full day planned for the class, we didn't skip the Quick Write.  Thursday was the 159th anniversary of Minnesota's statehood, the day that SPAM was produced, and National Eat What you Want Day.  Students could write about any of the choices.

We didn't do any Words of the Day this week.  I wanted to make sure we had time for the rest of our activities.

I handed back all the homework that I had graded, and students handed in their Spring Grammar Tests along with any other homework that they had for me.  If there is still any homework left to be handed in, I will take it until next Thursday (May 18).  After that, I will send out grades.  I'm not planning on returning any worksheets, etc. unless a student notifies me.

Now for the fun stuff ...

We finished our Poetry Jam.  Last week the class decided that they would all like to participate in Round 2 of our competition.  So, all students recited again while their classmates judged.  The results:  

First Place -- Team 4 (Grace, Gavin, Samuel, Leah)

Second Place -- Team 2 (Maggie, Isabel, Brady)

Third Place -- Team 1 (William, Ashley, Jean-Marc, Abby)

Fourth Place -- Team 3 (Jack, Daniel)

We had one more poetic activity for the class. We divided up Dr. Seuss's "One Fish, Two Fish" and read it as a rap, complete with a rap music accompaniment.  They did a great job!

. 

Remaining in our teams, the class then played a Jeopardy game with questions related to the grammar, writing, and literature that we've covered this year.  

I'm pretty proud of these kids.  They've written well, engaged well in class discussions, worked hard on homework, and been generally great all-around kids.  We had a marvelous year reading and writing!

Assignments for Next Week:

-- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

This week's links:

Class Notes

Jeopardy Final Exam

Have a great summer!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 4)

Greetings!

Just brief notes about today.  I'll give a fuller summary of the year next week.

This week's Quick Write options:

National Day of Prayer -- write about what you feel is the most pressing prayer need for our country.

Cinco de Mayo -- The 5th of May, -- write about what you know of Hispanic culture or your favorite Mexican food.

Star Wars Day -- "May the forth be with you."  See this article for how this became Star Wars day.

Words of the Day:

trans -- Latin, across -- trans-Atlantic, transportation, transport, transition, trans-continental

tempo -- Latin, time -- tempo, temporarily, temporal, contemporary

ultra -- Latin, beyond -- ultrasound, ultrasonic, ultraviolet

In with the Homework that I handed back were two handouts from My GradeBook:  missing reports, and current grade reports.  Since next week is our last week, I'd like students to be able to get any missing homework in.  (Note:  Be sure you contact me if you have any questions.)  If a student is missing any worksheets, he/she can find missing worksheets on Google Drive:

Grammar Worksheets

Literature Worksheets

Writing Handouts

Students have finished the Mastering the Comma Review, and are to take the Spring Grammar Test about commas at home this week.

After handing in their homework for this week, we settled into our Poetry Jam. When one team recited, the other teams judged.   While we had two winners for our first round, the whole class decided that they'd like to have a replay.  We'll have our Poetry Jam Play-offs next week.

Next week we will also have a final exam in the form of a Jeopardy game.  Students can bring snacks to share.

Assignments for Next Week 

-- Spring Grammar Test

-- Bring a poem to recite

-- Any old homework!!

Links for This Week:

Class Notes

Spring Grammar Test

Grammar Worksheets

Literature Worksheets

Writing Handouts

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard