Writing 2 -- Thoughts & Details about Grades

 Dear CHAT Writing 2 Students & Parents,

I've just finished calculating the grades for the Spring semester, and you will be finding them in your inbox in just a few minutes.  As tutors, we give you suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

For those who are new to my classes, let me share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschooled my own children, I didn't give them grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective, especially coming from their mother.  Instead, I taught my own children for mastery, and we didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready, no matter how long that took.  In a class setting, knowing where each student is with regards to his/her understanding of a topic is not always possible, so any grade given is not a complete representation of what the student learned or accomplished this year.

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as people or as  academic learners.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reflection and reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

For this class, I gave points for Quick Writes, short assignments, literature assignments, grammar exercises, and longer essays. (I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best.)  The final drafts of the essay assignments were graded using a rubric that divided the papers into the following categories:  focus, content, organization, and mechanics.  

The scores for class work is divided into the following categories:  Quick Writes and Miscellanea, Writing, Literature, and Grammar.  A student may have been strong in one area and not in another, and this will be reflected in these categories.  These scores are also weighted; in other words, not all of the categories have the same importance. The Quick Write points are worth are 15% of the total grade, the Writing assignments are 30%, the Literature homework is 28%, and the Grammar work is 27%.

The grade breakdowns for Writing 2 are as follows:

98% - 100% (A+), 93% - 97% (A), 90% - 92% (A-),

87% - 89% (B+), 83% - 86% (B), 80 % - 82% (B-),

77% - 77% (C+), 73% - 76% (C), 70% - 72% (C-),

67% - 69% (D+), 63% - 66% (D), 60% - 62% (D-),

55% - 59% (Pass), 50% - 54% (Fail); 0% - 49% (Incomplete)

Each student (and parents) will receive an e-mail with percentages and a suggested overall grade for this semester. (Note:  You will need to scroll down to the bottom of the document.)   I’ve seen each student improve with each paper and have truly enjoyed my interactions with this class.  Good Work!

Blessings to all,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 15 (May 5)

 Greetings!

We had a marvelous final day of Writing 2 at CHAT for the 2021-22 school year.  Every year when we get to this last week, I have a plethora of mixed perceptions and feelings.  We cover so much over the course of the year, that our heads are full; but the weeks go by so quickly that it seems hard to think that we're at the end.  For me this year, it's so much more bittersweet since it's my last CHAT class ever.  I'm grateful to have had this awesome class who made this such an awesome year!

We, as always, started with a Quick Write. I use a lot of story generator websites for my creative writing classes, but this week I had students as the story generators.  They wrote a noun on a slip of paper, then some else wrote a verb, and finally a third person wrote an interjection.  From those 3 words, students wrote their Quick Writes.  

Before Round 2 of the Poetry Jam, we had a short, "parts of speech" oriented game.  Our family calls the game "Bowls," but others know it as "Fishbowl."  (Here's a link to a description.)  Students wrote nouns and verbs on small slips of paper, and then they took turns as teams with trying to make their team say the words.  Round 1 was like Catch Phrase; Round 2 was Charades; and Round 3 students could only give a one-word clue.  Needless to say, lots of laughter ensued.

Our guest judges, Levi, Halle, Maria, Michael, Gabi, and Grace, came in for Round 2 of the Poetry Jam.  I must admit that this is one of my favorite parts of the whole year.  Some students love poetry, some tolerate, and some can't stand it.  That said, everyone is a great sport about standing up and reading/reciting a piece of poetry for their class mates.  And some even confess to liking it just a little bit more.  We had our individual finalists perform first, and then all of the teams recited again.  We had a number or original poems and memorized poems.

And the winners were . . . 

Team Scores	Round 1
1st Place	Anonymous Notes
2nd Place	Bull Frogs
3rd Place	Rhythmic Rhinos
4th Place	Things
Individual Scores	Round 1
1st Place	Rachael & Michelle
2nd Place	Michael
3rd Place	Annelise
4th Place	Nina

Now, for the nuts and bolts for finishing up the class.  Students can hand in any homework until Saturday morning midnight.  (8:00 am, to be exact.)  All of the remaining homework for the class can be handed in (and returned) via Google Classroom.  I will be sending out grades sometime next week.  Look for 2 emails from me:  one the explains how I grade and then the grades themselves.  

This has been a great year with these students.  They're bright and engaging, and they've worked hard this year. I will miss working with them next year but have complete confidence that Mrs. Gonsalves will be the perfect fit for Writing 2!

Blessings!

Mrs. Prichard

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 15 (May 5)

Play the Fishbowl Game

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 14 (April 29)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day in class.  We started the class period with a Quick Write, and today's prompt was connected with the fact that it is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.  I gave the students a sheet of paper with an extra large pocket outline. They were to write a poem within the lines of that pocket.  They could write originals or copy one from our poetry book.  (Note:  We also watched one of my favorite spoken word artists, Harry Baker, for some inspiration.)

This week was our penultimate class for the year -- the one before the last one!  We had fun during class, which can be a very good thing, especially since, according to research, "humor activates the brain's dopamine reward system, stimulating goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory, which means that humor can improve retention in students of all ages.? (Edutopia, 2015)

The Essay Re-Write was due this week, and their final writing assignment, a Reflection Paper, is due next week.   For this paper, they are to write about what they learned this year, what they learned about themselves this year, and what did and didn't work well this year.  At the bottom of this email is a link to an article about the value of reflection as a part of learning.

Last week, students took home, completed, and then corrected their Mastering the Comma Review.  This week, they have the Spring Grammar Test test to take home, complete, and then correct.  They should use different colored pens/pencils for correcting their work and be sure to make their marks clearly.  I will figure the final scores for their tests.  The test and the answer key are posted on Google Classroom.  If for some reason they are not able to access Google Classroom, they should still take the test and bring it to class.  I will then correct it.

And, finally, it was time in class for the Poetry Jam, 2022!  The class was divided into 4 teams and took turns coming up to the front to recite their chosen poems.  We had an exceptional panel of judges:  Levi M, Gabi F, Maria B, Halle H, and Mike M, all alums of Writing 2.  I loved listening to all of their poems (and heard a number of my favorites.) 

Here are the final places for Teams and Individuals

Team Scores	Round 1
1st Place	Anonymous Notes
2nd Place	Rhythmic Rhinos
3rd Place	Bull Frogs
4th Place	Things

Individual Scores	Round 1
1st Place	Michelle
2nd Place	Rachael
3rd Place	Michael
4th Place	Annelise
5th Place	Nina

     

On Thursday I sent an email telling the students that all of the scores were pretty close.  I also included a survey to find out what their thoughts were about Round 2 of the Poetry Jam.  Most people said it didn't matter what we did.  I would really love to have everyone read again, so unless someone is super opposed to reciting, ALL FOUR TEAMS will be in Round 2.    EVERYONE  should each bring another poem to recite.  The individual finalists (Michelle, Rachael, Michael, Annelise, and Nina) will present separately, and their scores will be added to the team scores   We'll finish our year with a "Party," and I'll set up a table in the hallway with some snacks.  (Students can bring some if they'd like.)

Next week is the final week, and I've told students that I will accept homework until Saturday, May 7 at 7:00 AM.  My experience is that once the CHAT classes are done, students really lose momentum for completing late homework.  My plan is to get final grades out within the week.  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Any old homework

-- Essay Re-Write

-- Spring Grammar Test

-- The Reflection Paper

-- Bring a poem -- EVERYONE!

Links for this Week:

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 14 (April 29)

The Value of Reflection Papers

Harry Baker:  99 Problems but Maths Ain't One & Dinosaur Love

See you next week!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 21)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day in class.  We started the class period with a Quick Write, and here are the prompts:

• Today, April 21, is National Kindergarten Day.  What is something that you remember from your kindergarten days, when you were about 5 years old?  Can you remember toys you played with or activities you liked to do?  
• Today, April 21, is World Creativity and Innovation Day.  How do you like to express your creativity?  In what ways do you like to think outside the box?
• Saturday, April 23, is World Book Day.  What books would you recommend that others read?  Write convincing comments.
• Saturday, April 23, is also National Shakespeare Day and National Talk Like Shakespeare Day.  Write anything but put it in language that soundeth liketh the Bard of Avon hath verily penned it.

The Final Drafts of the Evaluation Essays were due today, and I introduced the next writing assignment, which is an Essay Re-Write.  For this essay, students can choose any essay they have written this year for Writing 2, or they can choose an essay that they've written for Writing 1 or another class.  They should take a one of their final drafts and look for ways to improve it.  I often suggest that students choose the essay that they got the worst grade on or that they want to spend some more time on. This writing assignment is due next week, and students should hand in the original along with the re-write.  (Note:  This isn't our regular pre-write to rough draft to final draft process.)

For our Literature portion of the class, we spend some of our time talking about one of my favorite poems by William Carlos Williams, "A Red Wheelbarrow."  After our discussion, I explained our Poetry Jam, which we will have for the next 2 weeks.  The class has been divided into teams, and those teams will compete in a group by reciting poetry.  (It looks like we might have some guest "judges" for the day.)  Each student should bring in 2 poems next week for the first round of the Poetry Jam.  

Here are the teams:

Team 1: Joe, Tate, Aoife, Nina, Anthony

Team 2:  Grace A, Michael, Kevin, Eden, Rachael

Team 3:  Cale, Michelle, Morgen, Julia, Lilia

Team 4:  Danica, Katelyn, Gracie M, Annalise, Mary

Finally, to conclude our Grammar for the year, I have a Final Comma Test that they will take next week.  For this week, they have a review sheet that they should complete and then correct. (The KEY is on the Google Classroom assignment.)  Correcting their own work will further help them review and will be much more beneficial than waiting a week to see if they got the answers right.  

We have a couple fun weeks planned to finish out our year, so let's make sure you get caught up on any late work.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Bring 2 poems for your contribution to the Poetry Jam (Here is the scoring information)

-- Complete the Essay Re-Write

-- Complete the Mastering the Comma Review sheet and correct it. (Bring the corrected version to class)

Links for This Week

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 21)

About the Essay Re-Write

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 7)

 Greetings!

As always, we had a good class today.  This is a lively class (who sometimes need reigning in ), but they are always ready to learn.  

For our Quick Write this week, they had 4 options:

• On April 6, 1917, the United States officially entered World War 1.  What do you know about either of the World Wars?  What are your thoughts about the US’s involvement in conflicts in other parts of the world?

• On April 6, 1896, the first modern Olympic games were held.  Do you have a favorite Olympic sport?  What are your thoughts about the Olympics?  About amateur and professional sports?

• On April 9, 1959, NASA introduced the first astronauts.  What do you think about America’s space program?  Do you keep up with current developments?  Do you think we should continue to explore space?

Our Words of the Day came from Grace, Ike, and Megan:

autodidact-- fr. Greek autos, "self," didaktos, "taught" -- a person who is self taught

enervate-- fr. Latin enervare, "to weaken" -- to weaken or impair

cerebration-- fr. Latin cerebrum, "brain" -- the working of the brain; thinking

After our beginning of class activities, we talked through common errors found in the rough drafts of their Evaluation Essays. Students put on the white board the issues that I marked on their papers. These ranged from using capital letters and italics to comma splice sentences to parallel structure. Their Final Drafts of the Evaluation Essays is due April 21. For those who got their rough drafts in late, I will go over them by this weekend and will let students know when they are ready to revise.

I introduced our Poetry Jam, a poetry recitation & competition that will be held the last 2 weeks of the semester (Weeks 14 & 15). In order to get ready for that, we watched 3 poetry presentations; two were from Harry Baker, a national and world slam poetry champion and Bella Callery, a 2019 national champion for Poetry Out Loud (who happens to be a graduate from the charter school in Northfield where I teach) These and some others are posted on Google Classroom, link below.

Our Grammar assignment for this week will have students using italics and quotation marks.  NOTE: I will correct the Grammar assignments, so no KEYs were given.

Be blessed this weekend! Happy Easter!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Poetry:  Whitman (p. 25), Dickenson (p. 27), Burgess (p. 39), Frost (p. 44), Sandburg (p. 46), Williams (p. 48), Hughes (p. 53)

Note: All of the poems are in the book and can also be found on this Google Classroom post: Week 13 Poetry

• 2 Poetry Responses

• Evaluation Essay Final Draft

• Grammar – Wk12:  Italics & Quotation Marks

• Grammar – Wk12:  Using Italics

Links for This Week

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 7)

Week 13 Poetry (pdfs)

Sample Spoken Word Videos

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 11 (March 31)

 Greetings!

We had a lovely class this week.  One aspect that I especially enjoy with this Writing 1 class is that they all get along well and participate in a harmonious way.  We have good, productive conversations.

For our Quick Writes, here were their options:

• Wednesday (3/30) was National I am in Control Day.  What areas of your life do you feel like you are in control of?  What would you like to be more in control of?  What would you like to NOT be in control of?

• Thursday (3/31) is National Taters Day.  What is your favorite way to eat potatoes?  Or you could list all of the ways that you can think of to fix potatoes.

• Friday (4/1) is April Fool’s Day.  What is the best prank that you have ever done or heard of?  Or what prank would you like to pull?

• Sunday (4/3) is World Party Day.  If you didn’t have to worry about the expense, what kind of party would you like to throw?  Describe it in detail.

We had some unusual Words of the Day:

polychromatic-- fr. Greek, polys, "much" and khroma, "color" -- showing a variety or change in colors, e.g. Joseph and his polychromatic coat.

taciturn -- fr. Latin tacere, "to be silent" -- disinclined to participate in a conversation

Before we proceeded to the next part of our class, I introduced Amanda Gonsalves, my replacement for teaching Writing 2 next year.  For the past 10 years I've been teaching part time at CHAT and at Arcadia Charter School in Northfield where I live.   I've been offered a full-time position at Arcadia, and I feel I'm to focus more time in my community.  I have ABSOLUTELY LOVED teaching at CHAT, so this has been a very hard decision.  In Writing 1 and Writing 2 we build a good community of learners & writers, and I've come to know and appreciate each one of the students.  Saying good-bye to students I've gotten to know so well these past 2 years will not be easy.  Kim Witthuhn will be teaching the Writing 3:  Research and Writing class next year.  Many students are familiar with her middle school writing and social studies classes.  Now onto the rest of the class stuff before I get teary again ......

They have handed in the rough drafts of their Evaluation Essays.  This is one of the hardest essays of the year.  Students must first establish and explain criteria used to evaluate a product, event, person, etc., and then they need to apply that criteria to their topic.  All of the students have grown as writers over the year, and I look forward to reading their essays.

We are now reading Poetry for our Literature portion of the class. Some students like poetry, but many aren't that crazy about it.  For our first poetry discussion, I did Jigsaw groups again.  The students were first in groups that discussed one of the assignment poems.  Then I remixed the groups so that a group had a representative for each of the poems.  From both groups I heard some thoughtful comments about both the surface and deeper meanings of the poetry.  Well done, class!

The class has their new poetry books, and they should read the poems of the poets listed below.  For their homework, they need to respond to 2 poems, and the have some options:  

1.  Fill out a Poetry Worksheet for one or both

2.  Write a paragraph about the poem(s) that analyzes the poem; discuss what you think it means and why you like or don't like it.

3.  Instead of writing a paragraph, record a video commentary about the poem.  Youtube LiveStream or some other app on a device is OK as long as it can be seen by me.

4.  Do a piece of art that connects with the content and meaning of the poem.  

5.  Make a video of your recitation of the poem.

6.  Do some kind of movement (creative dance or acting out) that relates to the poem.

For our Grammar section of the class, we had a special lesson on the semicolon.  Most people (students and adults alike) are confused about the bit of punctuation; they use it as a comma or as a colon.  I use the Reese's peanut butter cups as an object lesson.  Ask your students about how the semicolon is like this candy.  They also have 2 worksheets to practice putting semicolons and colons in the right place.  [Note:  I did not print a KEY for these worksheets, so if they handed them in during class I will correct them.  If they do them over the week, they should use the KEY attached to the Google Classroom assignment.]

Have a beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Evaluation Essay Pre-Write

• Evaluation Essay Rough Draft

• Poetry: Read Harper (27-29), Wilcox (33), Thayer (34-35), Johnson (41), Dunbar (p. 41 – 43)

• Week 12 Poetry on Google Classroom (pdfs)

• Poetry Packet (2 Poems)

• Grammar:  Wk11 -- The Colon
• Grammar:  Wk11 -- Using the Semicolon and Colon

Links for this Week

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 11 (March 31)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 10 (March 31)

Greetings!

Another great day!!

Here are our prompts for the Quick Writes:

Prompt #1
On March 24, 1603, Elizabeth I died and King James I was crowned the King of England, and on March 25, 1306, Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland.  How much do you know about the history and rule of other countries?  Is this important knowledge for us to have?  Why?

Prompt #2
On March 26, 1874, American poet Robert Frost, much admired for his depictions of rural New England life and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people, was born in San Francisco.  What are your thoughts about poetry?  Do you like to read it and do you think it’s an important part of our culture?

Prompt #3
Next Week is National Cleaning Week.  How would you describe your cleaning style?  Do you do fall or spring cleaning at your house?  Write about anything cleaning-related.

Our Words of the Day were from Annelise and Michelle

hippophile -- a lover of horses

peristeronic -- of or relating to pigeons

We had a brief check in on their Evaluation Essay; the rough drafts are due on March 31.  Some students have given this some thought, and others have waited until this next week to work on it.  Establishing criteria and evaluating something with that criteria is an important academic skill.

We finished up with our Short Stories unit with a discussion of Nella Larsen's story "Sanctuary."  This is an early 1930s.  She was part of the Harlem Renaissance, a blossoming of black American cultural and artistic voices of the early part of the twentieth century.  I also recommended a short book, Passing, by Larsen that deals with being in and out of the black culture as a mixed race person.

We are finished with our Short Stories and are now onto Poetry. Our poems come from a book titled 101 Great American Poems, and they will be reading a chronological collection of poems, starting with poetry from the early 1800s to that of the mid-1900s.  Students have the books, but I will also post the poems on Google Classroom.  

After the students read all of the poems, they are to choose 2 poems to respond to; here are their options:

1.  Fill out a Poetry Worksheet for one or both

2.  Write a paragraph about the poem(s) that analyzes the poem; discuss what you think it means and why you like or don't like it.

3.  Instead of writing a paragraph, record a video commentary about the poem.  Youtube LiveStream or some other app on a device is OK as long as it can be seen by me.

4.  Do a piece of art that connects with the content and meaning of the poem.  

5.  Make a video of your recitation of the poem.

Finally, for our Grammar portion of the class, we continued our discussion of punctuation.  This week we went over how parentheses and dashes are used and how they differ from  commas.

Have a blessed weekend!  

Blessing,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Week 11 (April 15)

-- Evaluation Essay Pre-Write

-- Evaluation Essay Rough Draft

-- Poetry: Read Emerson (4-5); Longfellow (6-10); Holmes (21), Whitman (22-26),Dickinson (29 - 32)

Week 11 Poetry Pt. 1 -- Emerson, Holmes, Longfellow

Week 11 Poetry Pt. 2 -- Whitman, Dickinson

-- Poetry Responses (2 Poems)

-- Grammar:  Wk10 - Dashes & Parentheses

-- Grammar:  Wk10 - Parentheses & Dashes

-- Grammar:  Wk10 - Ellipsis

Links for this Week:  

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 10 (March 31)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature