Fall is here in full force. Weather maps show that we are nearing peak colors, making this one of my most favorite weeks of year.
Our Quick Write came from a list of college application essay prompts that I had gathered over the years. Many colleges use the Common Application and its prompts and don't have their own specific application essays. For today, students could choose from these three:
1. what can you do that no one else can do?2. List your topic 10 favorite places.3. Name a family tradition and explain why it is significant to you.
Our Words of the Day came from my book of foreign words and phrases:
chapeau -- fr. French chapeau, "hat" -- fr. Latin cappellum, "cap" -- a hat or cap
charade -- fr. French charra, "chatter" -- an absurd pretense intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance.
charisma -- fr. Greek kharis, gift, favor, grace -- NOTE: For extra credit, students are to bring a definition and a sentence using the word to show its meaning.
While students were writing their Quick Writes, I handed back their homework, which also included a missing homework report. I intend to hand these out every few weeks so that students know what homework, if any, has not been turned in. I don't want anyone to get too far behind and not feel that they can catch up. Our fall break is a great time to get caught up. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
I also handed back the final drafts of their Process Essays. These were very enjoyable to read, and the students did very well. I graded the papers in four areas: the Focus, which includes the introduction, thesis, and conclusion, the Content, the Organization, and the Mechanics. In our next essays we will work on these areas, especially the introductions and conclusions. Our next writing assignment is an Extended Definition Essay or a Classification Essay, and the pre-write was to be done for this week. However, students don't hand in these this week but in two weeks when they hand in their rough drafts.
The Proposals for the the class's final projects for our book My Antonia were due today. They can still be handed in, and I want them to be working on their projects over the next couple of weeks. We are nearing the end of the book, and we had a short conversation about which characters we would like to have lunch with and what questions we would ask. After break, we will break into our Literature Circles again. Students should come prepared to present themselves in their roles.
A few weeks ago, the students wrote short pieces titled "Penguins as Pets," which my students in Northfield used for editing practice. Today my Writing 2 students used some of the essays from my Northfield students for their own editing practice. In small groups of 4, they worked sentence by sentence fixing mistakes. I have found that learning to edit is an essential practice in becoming a strong writer. I heard great discussions all around. Their next short assignment is to write 1 - 2 paragraphs titled "Music & Me;" make sure it has at least 5 mistakes.
Our final moments in class focused on Subject/Verb Agreement. We talked through some of the rules, and the students have some exercises to do as homework.
Note: Please remind your students to come to class on time. A number of students came in late today, and when this happens, the whole class either has to wait to start or has to re-start. Possibly, adjustments need to be made to their lunch routines.
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Assignments for October 26:
-- Finish My Antonia -- Final chapters
-- 3 Reader Responses
-- 5 Vocabulary Words
-- Subject/Verb Agreement Worksheets
-- Work on Final Book Projects
-- Write 1 - 2 paragraphs titled "Music & Me;" including at least 5 errors
-- Write Extended Definition or Classification Rough Draft
-- Extra Credit Word of the Day definition
Links for This Week
Class Notes
Have a great weekend! Enjoy your Fall Break!
Mrs. Prichard
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