We had a great first class for our 2017 school year! This is a great group with both returning and new students; I'm looking forward to spending time with them.
This first week of classes is about taking care of the business regarding how the class is run. I handed out a lot of papers, which you will find attached to this e-mail, inserted into the blog and on the Google drive folder. As I told the students, they have multiple ways to find assignments and handouts should they be missing any.
We began the class with a Quick Write, which we will do every week. The purpose of the Quick Write is to get the students in a writing mood. Most of these are light-hearted; often they are connected to a current even or something that happened on that day in history, and sometimes they are of a more serious tone. The topic for today's Quick Write was the fact that it is National Waffle Day, in honor of Cornelius Swarhout who obtained the first waffle iron patent. Students could write anything about waffles, breakfast foods, or favorite fair foods.
Another key beginning-of-class activity is our Word of the Day. This semester, we will be selecting words from my book of foreign words and phrases and the book Crazy English by Richard Lederer. Some of the words and phrases in the book are familiar, but the students will probably not be acquainted with many of them. My goal is to expand their vocabularies and to pique their interests regarding words.
Today's Words of the Day:
Today's words were those "thingamajig" and "whatchamacallit" kinds of words.
ferrule: the cap at the end of the staff of an umbrella
pintle: the verticle pin inserted in a hinge
aglet: the plastic end of a shoe lace
opisthenar: the back of the hand
NOTE: Students are to keep a running list of these words because we will be having a Word of the Day test at the end of the semester.
NOTE: Students are to keep a running list of these words because we will be having a Word of the Day test at the end of the semester.
After these beginning exercises, we got down to business with all of the handouts. We went over, at length, my Classroom Policies for this class that included conduct, communication, and grading. I especially talked about electronics and cell phone use in class. More and more students have smart phones, and some find it difficult to keep them stowed away during class. This year, if I suspect a student is using his/her phone for some purpose other than class work, I will ask and then confiscate the phone if needed. Parents will get an e-mail if this happens. The students were in agreement with me, and I don't anticipate this being a problem with this class.
The rest of the handouts for today include: Writing 2 Syllabus, My Antonia Introduction, My Antonia
For our Grammar portion of the class, we got a start on some worksheets about basic sentence construction. These are due next week.
I gave a brief introduction to our literature selection, Willa Cather's My Antonia. For next week, the students should read Sections I - VI (p. 1 - 23) and give 3 responses to the reading. This year, in addition to choices of study guide questions, I have also included some "ala carte" options, many of which are more creative or artistic responses to the reading.
I also assigned them their first essay, a Personal Commentary Essay. The handout explains that this essay is a thoughtful reaction to some aspect of life. This can be related to current events, big or small, or to personal, close-to-home situations. The rough draft for this is due next week. It was asked in class whether this should be a standard 5-paragraph essay with an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and conclusions. My response was that if that is a writing structure that is familiar, go for it. If writing essays is a new adventure, write 1 - 2 paragraphs. I consider this essay to be their first writing samples. We will talk more about thesis statements, introductions, conclusions, etc. as the semester proceeds.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read the Classroom Policies and have parents read and initial.
-- Read the Introduction handout for My Antonia
-- Read the Sections I - VI (p. 1 - 23)
-- Complete 3 Responses for the reading (study guide questions or ala carte options)
-- Select 5 words from your reading and add them to your Vocabulary Worksheet
-- Write the rough draft of the Personal Commentary Essay
Links for this week:
(Note: Most of these links are to the blog and are copies of the handouts for the week's class and discussions. Occasionally I will include links to other helpful or interesting web resources.)
Class Notes
Have a great week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
No comments:
Post a Comment