We had a full day in class and covered a lot of information. Students stayed engaged and did a great job. At the beginning of class, we took care of "housekeeping" items. For those students who eat in the cafe area or buy their lunch there, I reminded them to clean up after themselves and to return their trays. And, we had a discussion about phones in the classroom. What students sometimes don't realize is that their small interactions can distract the whole class and even keep us from getting important work done.
I gave two options for the Quick Write. The first was in recognition of "World Gratitude Day" that started on Sept. 21, 1965 in Hawaii. Students could write about something for which they were grateful. The other option came as a result of a student's searching for other notable event during September of 1965. She came up with the first notable printed use of the word "hippie," which occurred in the San Francisco Examiner on Sept. 5, 1965. Students were somewhat aware of what hippies, and more currently hipsters, are, but most chose to write about gratitude.
The Words of the Day:
status quo -- Latin "the state in which" -- refers to the existing state of affairs or condition
joie de vivre -- French "joy of life" -- an exuberant joyfulness in living
carte blanche -- French "blank check" -- complete freedom to act as one wishes, unrestrained power
caveat emptor -- Latin "Let the buyer beware" -- refers to the buyer's responsibility to check the quality of the goods before purchasing
tempus fugit -- Latin "time flies"
alpha and omega -- Greek "Beginning and end"
I handed back the Final Drafts of the Personal Commentary Essays. The students did a great job on their first essays of the year. For this round of essays I evaluated them using a rubric that considers the elements of an essay: Focus (Introduction, conclusion, and thesis), content, organization, and mechanics. When I handed back the rough drafts, I asked the students to start a page in their notebooks titled "Watch out for . . . " where they could keep track of their common writing errors. I had meant to direct them today to start a page "What I did well . . . " where they could keep track of the elements of writing that they felt they had done well. Their list could include my comments of their own observations. Students are more likely to grow and improve as writers when they deliberately think about their own abilities. (We will discuss this next week.)
Rough Drafts of the Process Essays were handed in today. (Note: A couple students mentioned forgetting the essay at home or having printer problems. They can e-mail them to me whenever that happens.)
Students had done a worksheet two weeks ago on Sentence Patterns. When I corrected them, I noticed not only many mistakes, but many of the same mistakes, so I thought it best to go over the worksheets as a class. Projecting the worksheets on the whiteboard, we went over the sentences, labeling subjects, verbs, predicate nouns, predicate adjectives, direct objects, and indirect objects. They have another worksheet as homework to do more practice.
Finally, the students broke into their Literature Circle groups. Each student in the group was assigned a role, and as I listened I heard good discussions and information sharing. One group thought that it might be a good idea to give students two roles so that they would have multiple perspectives. I was proud of the work they did.
Assignments for Next Week
-- Read Book II, Sections VIII – XV (p. 94 – 118)
-- 3 Reader Responses
-- 5 Vocabulary Words
-- Sentence Patterns Worksheet
Links for this week
Class Notes
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
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