What a great first day! It's always good to see everyone after a long break. We've added a few more to our numbers, making this a fairly large class.
As always, we began the class with a Quick Write. For this week I asked the students to write a letter to themselves. Starting with "Dear Future Me,' they could write about goals, interests, or questions. Rather than hand them in, they are to go to the Future Me website, type in their letters, and set the letters to be sent to them on January 1, 2021.
We will continue doing Words of the Day at the beginning of class. This semester, I will focus on foreign words and phrases; unusual expressions, and Latin roots. There will be a test at the end of the semester. Today's words were for those little bits and pieces that we might simply call "thingamajigs" or "whatchamacallits."
meme -- fr. Greek mimeme; to imitate -- a digital image combined with text to express a cultural comment.
pintle -- the pin or bolt that is used in hinge.
ferrule -- the metal cap on the end of an umbrella
aglet -- the cover of the end of a shoe lace
Students were given a shortened version of the Class Policies that they should have you read and sign. Reminders of class expectations is a good way to start a fresh semester. I also made some brief comments about having a good system for keeping track of homework and for planning time wisely so that assignments get done.
Our first Literature selections for the semester are short stories from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. (Unfortunately something went wrong with my book order, so some of the students got pdf versions of the first two stories. The books will be here by next week, so they will have the full collection.) We'll be reading six stories from this book, answering study guide questions, and participating in small group and whole class discussions. Most students really enjoy this literature unit because they've seen some versions of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
This then leads to our first Writing assignment for the semester: a Mystery Story! A few years ago a group of Writing 2 students lobbied for some creative writing to be incorporated into the class, and this assignment has become a favorite. Not all students enjoy writing fiction, so I've adjusted the parameters of the assignment.
They can write a bona fide mystery with clues and a detective, or they can write an essay about a topic that is "mysterious," which could include a scientific problem that is hard to solve or the elements of crime-solving.
The students should begin work this week, and the pre-write and rough draft are due in two weeks. (Note: On the blog are some samples of stories from previous years. They are on the right hand side bar.)
Our Grammar focus for this semester will be commas and other punctuation. Last semester I polled the students, and that topic was the one that the majority of the students wanted to conquer. Fortunately, in order to fully understand where to place commas, students will need to know a lot of other grammar topics, so they will be learning about more that where to put the small bit of punctuation. We had time in class to work on the worksheets.
Finally, a note about our class culture. I enjoy a lively class and encourage discussion and camaraderie among the students. With 24 students in the class, we will probably break into small groups more often so that each student has an opportunity for his/her voice to be heard. I will also be "cracking down" on side conversations and off-topic chatter.
Have a great weekend! Enjoy the snow!
Mrs. Prichard
Assignments for Next Week
-- Read the handouts about the Sherlock Holmes stories
-- Read "Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Red-Headed League"
-- Answer 4 Study Guide questions
-- Mystery Pre-Write
-- Letter to Future Me
-- Grammar -- 3 worksheets about compound sentences
Links for This Week
Class Notes
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