Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 26)

Greetings!

We might be winding down the semester, but we're still going strong and covered a lot of information today.

Our Quick Write prompt today was inspired by the fact that today was National Poem in your Pocket Day. I heard a few groans and grumblings, but they were good sports and wrote a bit of poetry.  I wrote a short diamante, which is a 7-line shape poem.  You can see some examples on this poetry site.  I look forward to reading their poems.

Our Words of the Day were connected to writing.  The following words of Greek origin are considered modes of persuasion and are also referred to as the three artistic proofs. (More explanations of these terms at this site.)

Ethos -- Greek, "nature, disposition" -- In terms of writing and logic, ethos refers to the credibility and authority of the person with the message, in other words, the ethical nature of a person. a person can express his ethos by choosing language and topics appropriate to the audience.  

Pathos -- Greek, "suffering, grief" -- In terms of writing and logic, pathos refers to an emotional appeal.  This can be done by using meaningful language emotional tone, and emotion-evolving examples.

Logos -- Greek, "word, reason" -- In terms of writing and logic, logos refers to an appeal to logic and reason.  This can be done by including facts, statistics, analogies, and citations by authorities and experts.

I did a quick check in about homework and encouraged students to check My GradeBook if they have questions about missing homework.  Here's a link for instructions for accessing the site.

Our final essay for the year is an Essay Re-Write.  This is a chance for students to rework one of their earlier essays.  I suggested to them that they choose an essay they 1) got a low grade on; 2) felt they could do better on or wanted to improve; or 3) that they enjoyed writing and want to add more.  As they are rewriting, they should look at their essays from a sentence and word choice level but also from a content consideration.  The Essay Re-Write is due next week, and students also need to hand in the original final draft of the essay they are rewriting.

For the Grammar part of our class, we had a quick quiz to check for understanding of simple, compound, and complex sentences.  We went through each sentence to identify the subjects, verbs, conjunctions, prepositional phrases, etc.  Using these sentences, I felt that some of the aspects of sentence construction and patterns were beginning to really click for most of the students.  

I handed out a sheet with some extra poetry.  For extra credit, students can write a short paragraph explaining what the poems means and why/how it means it (In other words, what does the poet do to get his meaning across?)

We start our Poetry Jam next week, so students should bring 2 poems that they are ready to recite in class.  A reminder:  students will get extra points for original poems and for poems that are memorized.  Next week we will divide into teams, and I will explain the  scoring.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Prepare 2 poems for the poetry jam 

-- Essay Re-Write 

-- Extra credit poetry analysis

-- Any old homework that is not overdue

Links for this week:

Class Notes 

National Poem in Your Pocket

Diamante Poetry

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

My GradeBook Directions

Sentences Quiz

Essay Re-Write

Extra Credit Poetry Assignment

Have a great weekend.  

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 19)

Greetings!

Who thought we would have a blizzard in April?  The weather man says we should have bona fide spring weather this weekend.

We began the day with the Weekly Announcement from the CHAT directors.  They've felt that as the student body has grown, it was important to share updates, etc. with the students via notes to be read before the classes.  I understand that the notes are also sent to parents.  The notes today covered the new tardy policy and policies about being outside when the weather finally gets nice) and dress code.  The students should hear these announcements at the beginning of each class on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  

Note:  It was mentioned in class that sometimes it's hard to finish their lunches from the cafe.  I mentioned that this is a problem that they will have to solve because they need to be in class on time.  This might mean that they bring a sack lunch on Thursdays.

I offered 2 prompts for our Quick Write.  Firstly, today is the anniversary of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, the battle of Lexington and Concord, which was known for its "shot heard round the world."  For this prompt, students could write about what makes the United States special and unique. The second prompt was inspired by Barbara Bush who died on Tuesday, April 17.  I asked the students to write about a special older "grandma" type of woman in their lives.  I heard good thoughts from the students about each prompt.

Our Words of the Day:

chagrin -- French, chagrin, "rough skin" -- the feeling of distress from being humiliated or embarrassed

chamois -- French, the chamois antelope -- a pliable leather-like cloth

Following our beginning of class activities, we discussed the Rough Drafts of the Evaluation Essay.  The class did a great job on these.  Students help develop the list of topics for us to discuss.  I asked them to look over their essays and find something from the corrections and my notes in the margins.  From the list that the students wrote, we discussed common errors found in the essays.  For next week, the Final Drafts are due. 

For our Poetry discussion, I divided the class into small groups and selected four of the poems for them to discuss as a group.  In their groups, they were to identify the story of/behind the poem, the message/meaning of the poem, and the mood of the poem.  I heard thoughtful and lively discussions.  

Assignments for Next Week

-- Finish the Final Draft of the Evaluation Essay

-- Fill out the rubric as a self-evaluation for the final draft

-- Read poems by the following authors:  Wilcox (p. 33), Thayer (p. 34),  Dunbar (p. 41 - 43), Frost (p. 44 - 50), Sandburg (p. 53 - 54), Williams (p. 60 - 61), Hughes (p. 75 - 78)

-- Fill out the Poetry Worksheet for one of the poems

-- No grammar

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Poetry Worksheet

Have a great weekend.  the weather should be pretty nice!  

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 12)

Greetings!

We had a very good day in class.  I started the class time with a "public service announcement" about getting to class in time. For the most part, this has been a very punctual class, especially since then know that they will lose the Quick Write points if they are not in class on time.  However, in a conversation with the directors of CHAT, I heard that a number of other tutors have been having difficulties with high school and middle school students coming in up to 10 minutes late.  My appeal to this group of great students was to remind them how important it is to be on time and to encourage them to continue to be good role models.

We had three options for the Quick Write today.  Wednesday was National Siblings Day, so they could write about their siblings.  Another prompt was to write about what makes them or their families unique.  (A recent article that I read about appreciating diversity stated that understanding and enjoying your own personal uniqueness is a good step towards doing the same for others.)  And finally, students could try to write from an opposite perspective regarding something that they value or believe.  For example, if I were to be very "pro" some new legislation, I would try to write as if I were very "con."  The students did some great thinking and writing!

Our Words of the Day were "E" words:

El Dorado -- fr. Spanish, "the gilded place" -- a mythical city that is made of gold

ellipses -- fr. Greek elliepsis, "to leave out" -- the omission of words in a quote signified by three periods or asterisks with spaces in between

El Nino -- fr. Spanish, literally "the Christ child" -- a warm ocean current that develops in late December that can cause catastrophic weather conditions

The rough drafts of the Evaluation Essay were due this week.  This is the most complicated essay that the students will have written because it requires them to develop criteria and then to use that criteria to evaluate their subjects.  I will return the rough drafts next week, and the final drafts are due April 26.  This is their last original essay.  The final writing assignment is a rewrite of an earlier essay.

For the literature discussion, we focused on two of our stories:  Nella Larsen's "Sanctuary" and Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg."  Larsen's story about a woman hiding the man who had shot her son is a great story of forgiveness.  Anderson's story had mixed reactions from the students.  Some thought it quirky and funny, and others felt it was sad and discouraging.  We had a number of great comments from the students.

We are into our next unit -- POETRY!  April is National Poetry Month, so I save this part of our literature for this time of year.  They are to read all of the poems by the authors listed below.  

Because we took more time on the literature, we didn't have a long grammar discussion this week.  We're continuing to work on run-on and comma splice sentences.  They had time in class to get started on the assigned worksheets.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read the poetry by the following authors:  Holmes (p. 21); Emerson (p. 4, 5); Longfellow (p. 6 – 10); Whitman (p. 22 – 26); Dickinson (p. 29 – 32)

-- Two Grammar Worksheets

 

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Sentence Fragments and Run Ons

Sentence Fragments and Run Ons Multiple Choice

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 10 (April 5)

Greetings!

It might not feel like it as you look at the weather forecast for this weekend, but it is spring, and we are beginning the homestretch for the semester.  We are two-thirds of the way through!

For the Quick Write, I gave the students these options as prompts:  National Burrito Day, National Deep Dish Pizza Day, National Caramel Day or Prompt #14 from Toastmasters -- What is the difference between existing and living.  We had some great comments for all three prompts, and at the end of our discussion, I asked students to list three things in their lives that make life worth living.  I'm looking forward to reading what they wrote.

Our Words of the Day were contributed by Carter

cuesta-- fr. Latin, costa, "rib" -- a long, low ridge with a relatively steep face on one side

quodlibet-- fr. Latin quod libet, "as you please" -- a subtle or elaborate argument or point of debate, usually on a theological or scholastic subject; a humorous musical composition

shampoo-- fr. Hindu campne, "to press" -- a cleaning preparation to clean hair, carpets, etc.

I handed back homework, and we had a brief discussion about the e-mails that I sent out this week.  If students have any homework that has been graded but they see that it is not on the online grade book, they should hand it in again.  I had a student in Writing 1 who had done two assignments on one piece of paper, but I hadn't seen the second assignment on the back.  If a student is ever absent, all of the homework can be found in these places: attachments in the weekly class notes, copies on the class blog, and with a link to the document on Google drive.  

We had a brief discussion about the next writing assignment:  an Evaluation Essay.  We brainstormed using my can of La Croix mineral water how the students were to develop criteria for the topic that they choose to evaluate.  Within this criteria, they need to establish "what good looks like."  The rough draft is due next week.

We are almost at the end of our short stories unit, and this week we discussed two stories by European authors.  Neither or them were as dark as others that we have read, but they both had a sad element.  Our final short stories will be read for next week and then we will head into our poetry unit  There will be a quiz next week, so read the stories!

For the grammar section of our class, we are working on revising sentences, especially comma splice and run-on sentences.  We took the final minutes of class to work on the worksheets.  

Finally, I've been asked to send out again the directions for accessing the student accounts on My GradeBook.  (Due to concerns for privacy, this information will not be on the class blog.)

My GradeBook:  This is my online grade book for the class.  I keep it fairly up to date, but occasionally fall behind when my weeks get too busy.  Some parents check it regularly, and some don't feel that it is needed for their students.  Below are instructions for signing up for this semester's class:

Directions for Signing Up:

1.  Go to www.mygradebook.com

2.  In the username box, give the class code:  

          writing2spring2018

3.  Your password is the student's first name and the first letter of the last name, all lower case.  For example,  Bobby Smith's password would be "bobbys."

4.  Click on "My Account," and on that page click on Create Primary Login.

5.  Set the Primary Login (username) and Primary Login Password that you want to use for this class.  (Note:  This username and password will be the same for the student's account, so parents and students should communicate the choices with one another.)

6.  If any of the e-mail information needs updating, click on "update email."

7.  When all information is updated, click on "save."

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read the short stories of the following authors:  Larsen (p. 110), Anderson (p. 1), and Hardy (p. 56)

-- Choose 1 story and write 3 discussion questions for it.  (Good discussion questions are "Why" questions.)

-- Evaluation Essay Rough Draft

-- 2 Grammar Worksheets

Links for this week

Class Notes

Sentences -- Revising Run-ons

Sentence Combining worksheet

Evaluation Essay handout

Spring Technology Reminder

Have a great weekend!  Build one last snowman!!

Mrs. Prichard

Sentence Combining Worksheet

Name:  ____________________________

Sentence Combining Worksheet

Combining into Compound Sentences

Directions

Combine the following sentences with a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

1)  She went to daycare.  She did not want to go.

2) The toddler could not decide which jacket to wear. She cried instead.

3) The teacher said she must wear her jacket. She must stay inside.

4)  Helping parents is hard. No one said helping parents with their children would be easy.

5)   The toddler would not give up the toy. He would not come inside.

6)  He loves to play outside during the day.  I will let him play after lunch.

7)  The girl was hungry.  She had not eaten since breakfast.

8)  The girls couldn’t think of anything better to do.  They decided to play in the art room.

9)  A book can be a lot of fun to read.  A book can be boring.

10)  Toddlers love to use their power. They use it whenever they can.

Sentence Combining Using Subordinating Conjunctions

Directions

Combine the following sentences with a subordinating conjunction (after all, although, while, because, before, however, therefore).  This may require a semicolon!

11)  They made plans to go to the school meeting.  They ended up not being able to make it.

12)  Professionals can view toilet training from an independence point of view. Parents can view it as a struggle.

13)  Babies like to put things in their mouths. Learning about objects in this way is how they use all of their senses.

14)  Parents often want to shower children with toys. Children learn from simple exploration of natural things, like sand and water.

15) One aspect of a child’s developing mind is using her imagination. They can use their imagination to make connections between perceptions and assumptions.

16)  Don’t give her a hard time.  She is just trying to be friends with you.

17)  We don’t believe children should be spanked.  Hitting teaches hitting.

18)  It’s going to rain today. You need to bring your raincoat to daycare.

19)  The two weren’t always this close.  When his sister went to kindergarten, he missed her.

20)  The boy refused to admit he took it.  He put the lunch box back on the shelf.

Sentence Combining with Subjects and Verbs

Directions

The following sentences share either the same subject or the same verb.  Combine the sentences into one sentence.

21)  Tommy and his mother walked to the store.  The store is two blocks away.

22)  The child is thirsty.  The child is not getting enough water.

23)  My mug was in the cupboard.  My mug is no longer in the cupboard.

24)  Drew’s dog jumped into the air.  Janine’s dog jumped into the air as well.

25)  The book fell to the floor.  It opened to a page I had never read before.

26)  Your face has freckles on it.  Your face looks friendly.

27)  The boy painted at the easel. The boy painted a rainbow. The rainbow arched colorfully.

28)  Everyone is being mean to me!  Everyone is tyring to keep me from joining in the game.

29)  Stop dancing like that.  No dancing in the classroom. Sit back down in your chair.

30)  The children sat in a circle. The children were quiet. The children waited for the teacher.

Sentence Combining in Paragraphs

Directions

Combine as many sentences as you can in the following paragraph, using the above examples to guide you.

The Sunshine Day Care Center is has sixteen children. To be eligible for Sunshine Day Care Center children have to be potty trained. Rudy’s mom is worried. Rudy needs daycare so her mom can take the full time job she is trying to get. Rudy is not potty trained yet. Rudy is three years old and insists on wearing diapers. The teacher at Sunshine Day Care Center told Rudy’s mom not to worry. She believed that once Rudy started at the center, she would see the other children using the toilet. Rudy would want to be a big girl. She would want to learn how to use the toilet, too. She would no longer be interested and diapers. The teacher encouraged Rudy’s mom to take Rudy shopping for big girl underwear. Rudy’s mom took Rudy shopping. Rudy picked out purple underwear with flowers on them. When they got home, Rudy’s mom said it was time to say goodbye to the diapers. Rudy was excited. She looked forward to being a big girl. She looked forward to going to Sunshine Day Care Center and using the big girl toilet, too.  Rudy’s mom looked forward to being able to take the full time job. She is proud of Rudy. She is glad Rudy is transitioning to child care so well.

Sentences -- Revising Run-ons

DIRECTIONS

Decide which of the following groups of words are run-on sentences.

_ If the group of words is a correct sentence, write S; if it is a run-on, write R-O.

_ Revise each run-on sentence by (1) making it two separate sentences; (2) inserting a semicolon,  or (3) using a comma and a coordinating conjunction.

______ 1. Brown bears include the grizzly and the kodiak, the largest brown bear is the kodiak.

______ 2. Kodiak bears weigh as much as 1,700 pounds, they grow to a height of ten feet.

______ 3. Bears can live more than 30 years in the wild.

______ 4. Bears’ sense of smell is more developed than their hearing or sight.

______ 5. Females give birth to as many as four cubs, the cubs stay with their mother two

or three years.

______ 6. Many people are afraid of bears, encounters with bears are actually infrequent.

______ 7. Grizzly bears are solitary animals, they do not want to interact with people.

______ 8. Generally, bears attack only when they are surprised, or when they are protecting

their young.

______ 9. People should always store food and garbage properly, bears could be attracted by

the smell.

______ 10. Never try to outrun a bear, it can run more than 30 miles per hour.

______ 11. School in Munich was too rigid and boring for young Einstein he did not do well.

______ 12. However, young Einstein showed a talent for mathematics, at the age of 12,

he taught himself Euclidean geometry.

______ 13. After finishing secondary school, he entered the Federal Polytechnic Academy

in Switzerland, he did not like the teaching methods there.

______ 14. The academy frustrated him he could learn in a way that interested him.

______ 15. Einstein chose to educate himself, he missed classes often and spent the time studying physics on his own.

______ 16. His professors had low opinions of him, he graduated anyway in 1900.

______ 17. In 1905, he published a paper on physics the University of Zürich awarded him a Ph.D. for this work.

______ 18. In the same year, he published four more papers that presented new thoughts on the

nature of light and other important concepts.

______ 19. Physicists resisted his ideas at first, eventually his general theory of relativity was

confirmed through observation.

______ 20. Einstein achieved international recognition, in 1921 he received the Nobel Prize

in physics.