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 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

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 6)

 Greetings!

This week we had 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)

For our Quick Write, I gave the students the following options:

-- Write about Star Wars (May the 4th is National Star Wars Day)

-- Write some fanfiction about another movie, book, or TV series

-- Write about anything else that's on your mind.

For our Words of the Day, we had the following words brought in my the students:

zealot -- a person who exhibits extreme zeal for a cause or ideas

sumptuous -- something that is luxurious and lavish

patootie -- an attractive girl; someone's "backside"

pogonotrophy -- the act of cultivating and growing a beard

The Essay Re-Write was due this week, and their final writing assignment, a Reflection Paper.  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 final test to take home, complete, and then correct.  They should 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, 2021!  The class was divided into 6 teams and took turns coming up to the front to recited their chosen poems.  Not only did the other teams help out with the judging, but we had an illustrious Writing 2 alumni, Nicholas Westerberg, join us as a guest judge.  Nicholas had taken Writing 1, 2, and 3 and Latin 1 from me and is now in college. He wrote a number of original poems for our Poetry Jams!  

I loved listening to all of their poems (and heard a number of my favorites.)  I recorded the Poetry Jam and have posted the video on Google Classroom.  All of the judges' scores have been tallied, and here is the list, in no particular order, of the top 3 teams and top 3 individuals who will complete in the finals next week:

• Teams
• Team 3 (Carson, Peter, Bennett, Ellie, and Ava)
• Team 5 (Elliot, Benjamin, Levi, and Michael S.)
• Team 6 (Philip, Tyler, Michael M. and Jesse T.)
• Individuals
• Kara
• Nalani
• Peter

For the Final Round of Poetry Jam 2021, the team members should each bring 1 poem.  The individuals should also bring 1 poem.  I will also have a poem that we will do as a whole class.  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.)

I hope to finish getting all of the scores for current and late homework in my the end of the weekend.  As I've told the students, all work should be in by 11:59 PM on May 15.  I will send an email for you to double check your scores on Track My Grades.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Any old homework

-- The Reflection Paper

-- Bring a poem if you are a finalist

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

The Value of Reflection Papers

Poetry Jam 2021 Video

Blessings!

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

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

 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:

1). If your life had a theme song, what song would it be and why? 2) If your life was a movie, what would the title be and what genre would it be?  Why? 3) Skittles of M & Ms?  Why? and 4) If you could design a “National Day” what would it be and why?

We had some unusual Words of the Day:

xanthophobia -- fr. Greek, xanthos, "yellow;" phobia, "fear" -- the fear of yellow

pentheraphobia -- fr. Greek, penthera, "mother in law"; phobia, "fear" -- a fear of your mother-in-law

tumultuous -- fr. Latin, tumultus, "commotion, bustle" -- a loud uproar

sarcasm -- fr. Latin, sarcasmus, "sneer, taunt"

dunk -- fr. Old German thunkon, "to dip" -- to dip something into a liquid

redhibition -- fr. Latin, rehibitio, "a taking back" -- to return a faulty or damaged product

We had a very short quiz after our Words of the Day.  I asked the students to memorize the state of being words:  am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been.  I had them list the words, and they did a great job.

They have handed in the rough drafts of their Evaluation Essays.  I'm looking forward to reading them; these were probably the most complex essays that they will write this year.  I also asked them today to think about how they've improved as writers.  They shared some insightful comments.

We are now reading poetry for our Literature portion of the class. Some students like poetry, but many aren't that crazy about it.  Today, we watched a couple of videos of poetry recitations.  (See links at the bottom.)  The class has their new poetry books, and they should read the poems of the poets listed below.  We had some delightful poetry reading by the class of a number of Emily Dickinson poems.

For their homework, they need to respond to 2 poems, and the have 5 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.

For our Grammar section of the class, we worked on 2 worksheets for the students to practice some more punctuation:  quotation marks and italics.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

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

• Poetry Packet (2 Poems)

• Grammar:  Wk12 - Italics & Quotation Marks
• Grammar:  Wk12 - Using Italics

Links for this Week

Class Notes

2019 Poetry Out Loud Winner -- Bella Callery (from my other school, Arcadia Charter School)

I Hear America Singing

The Builders

Taylor Mali "Speak with Authority"

Dead Poets Society "What will your verse be?"

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 10 (April 1)

 Greetings!

For our Quick Writes, we had 3 options:  1)  Write about a memorable joke or prank; 2) Write about your family's or church family's Easter traditions; 3) Ask Mrs. Prichard 3 questions.  Over the years, the students have enjoyed when this third option comes up; they ask thoughtful, curious, and often quirky questions.  

We had a brief check in on their Evaluation Essay; the rough drafts are due on April 15.  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 had a quiz about our the four Short Stories that we read for this week, and even though I mentioned last week that I might do this, some students were not prepared.  I expected that to happen.  When spring arrives and the end of the year is in sight, most students turn their thoughts to activities other than school.  (The 2020-21 school year has been exceptionally long, so I really don't blame them.)  This was a low stakes reminder for them to do their homework.  

We are finished with our Short Stories and are now onto Poetry. Some students picked up books last week, and I didn't have the extras with me.  So, I have links for the poems they are to read.  These 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.  

After the students read all of the poems, they are to choose 2 poems to respond to.  They need to respond to 2 poems, and 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 Easter 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:  

Class Notes

Poetry for Week 11 (April 15)  (Note:  I've added some poetry that wasn't on the syllabus)

Holmes (p. 21 - 22)  Old Ironsides

Emerson (p. 4, 5) Concord Hymn, and The Snowstorm

Longfellow (p. 6 – 10) The Arrow and the Song, and The Builders, and Paul Revere's Ride

Whitman (p. 22 – 26) I Hear America Singing and  O Captain, My Captain

Dickinson (p. 29 – 32)    Because I could not stop for death, and Hope is a thing with feathers, and If I can stop one heart from breaking, and  I'm nobody, who are you? and  There is no frigate like a book, and  This is my letter to the world

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 23)

Greetings!

We had a good day "in class."  I know that this quarantine thing is getting old, for the students and their families. There's no instructional manual for this time -- except for the Word of God.

We started the class with a Quick Write.  Because April 23 is National Take a Chance Day, National Talk like Shakespeare Day, and National Poem in your Pocket Day, students could use any one of these as a prompt for their writing, and kudos if they could combine them.

After a quick homework check, we finished off our Words of the Day unit with a final "exam" in the form of a Bingo game (you can see the card here)  I used a mix of words and images on the card.  I gave definitions, the students figured out the word, and then they filled in their bingo cards.  It went well, from my perspective.

The Evaluation Essay Final Draft is due this week, and we have one more writing assignment for the year -- the Essay Re-Write.  For this essay, they are to take one of their previously written essays and improve it.  Many times students write essays, get them graded, put them in a file, and forget about them.  I like to end the year by giving students a chance to show their learning through their own revising abilities.  They could choose their worst essays, the one they enjoyed and want to continue to add more information, or their very first one of the year.  They can add more information or revise their sentence/paragraph structures.  I especially asked them to look at their introductions and conclusions.  They had this week to re-do one of their essays and then hand it in next week.  This isn't the regular rough draft/final draft cycle -- just one revision on one essay.

For the last 2 weeks of the semester, we do one of my favorite activities -- the Poetry Jam.  Everyone in the class should prepare 2 poems to recite for the class, and then their team will present a poem as a group. If they want, they can do a duet with someone.  The rules for the Poetry Jam are simple:  poems must be at least 5 lines long; extra credit for original poems, extra credit for memorized poems,  poems can be from our book or from another source.  The students have been sent an email with their groups and email addresses.

The Grammar homework is a comma placement review that uses the introduction from an essay that a previous student wrote.  They are to insert commas for compound sentences, complex sentences, lists, etc.  Next week, I will give them a take home test on commas.

It's good to see the faces of my students, even if it is just a video.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Essay Re-Write

-- Choose 2 poems to recite

-- Work with your team for the group work

-- Finish the Comma Placement "Flash" paragraphs

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Comma Placement "The Flash"  Paragraph 

Comma Placement "The Flash" Paragraph (Google Doc)

Essay Re-Write 

Poetry Jam Rubric

Poetry Jam Rubric

Poetry Jam Rubric

	1	2	3
Level of Difficulty	Simple, Easy, Short	Somewhat challenging	Extremely challenging
Memorization	Not at all	Kind of	Absolutely
Physical Presence	No eye contact; stiff & uncomfortable	Comfortable & confident	Authoritative, compelling
Dramatic Voice & Articulation	Inaudible, distracted, over-emoting	Clear, adequate; not overly stylistic	Mastery of rhythm, skillful, reflects meaning

Original poetry = 1 extra point

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 16)

Greetings!

What a great, flexible, mostly engaged group of students.  I say "mostly" because sometimes it's hard to be sitting in the same room all day, looking at a screen, and keep paying attention.  They're doing great!  

Our Quick Write prompt inspired by National Laundry Day:  a picture of a woman in laundromat dryer.   I didn't get to hear much about what the students wrote, but they had a chance to share with one another in a Breakout Room.  (By the way, today was National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day, which seems apropos for this quarantine season.)

For most of the semester, we've been doing Words of the Day to explore unusual words and etymologies.  Next week we will finish up this part of the class with a rollicking game of "Vocabulary Bingo."  To prepare for that, students should review the Words of the Day in order to be familiar with them. (No memorizing definitions is required.)

Following our beginning of class activities, we did a Homework Check.  On Wednesday I scanned and emailed homework that included the final drafts of their Cause/Effect or Problem/Solution essays, various worksheets, and rough drafts of their Evaluation Essays.  Students have done well in emailing their homework in.  When students hand in homework, the photos of worksheets and Quick Writes are clear enough for me to read, but not enough to be worth scanning and sending back.  When possible, I will scan work and send it back.  

The class has done a good job with the Evaluation Essay, and they are to do the final drafts for next week.  A number of students needed to expand their papers with more details about the criteria in their essays.  (See the notes that have organization options.)  The final drafts are due next week.

For the Poetry section of class, I sent students again to the Breakout Rooms to 1) choose 2 poems to discuss; 2) try to figure out why Mrs Prichard likes the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" and 3) choose a poem to recite as a group.  While none of the groups figured out my quirky fascination for this poem, they were thoughtful and had good discussions.  Next week I will introduce our Poetry Slam -- a recitation competition.

Finally, for Grammar, I used my Aver document camera to work on two more comma-related worksheets.  (This lesson was a mix of technology and old school pen and paper.)  We've been reviewing comma usage with the Edpuzzle videos.  The worksheets I've made can be finished with Word or Google Docs.  (Note:  Some students have already done this and don't need to do it again.)

Blessings on all of you and your families.

See you next week!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Final Draft of the Evaluation Essay

-- Read the handout with T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, and Lewis Carroll poems 

-- Grammar Worksheets:  

     -- Appositives & Parenthetical Phrases -- last 5 only 

     -- Appositives -- top half only

     -- Date &Addresses (top half only)

     -- Complements Worksheet (both sides)

Links for this Week

Class Notes

My GradeBook Instructions

Writing 2 Spring Words of the Day

Writing 2 Spring Google Drive folder

National Laundry Day

Dates and Addresses (a pdf)

Appositives  (you will have to make a copy to complete it online)

Appositives & Parenthetical Phrases  (you will have to make a copy to complete it online)

T.S. Eliot Poems

Wordsworth, Williams, and Carroll Poems

Poetry Submissions

I always time my Poetry Unit for April, since it's National Poetry Month.  Students have been assigned to read a number of poems, but must respond to at least 2.  One option is to find good recordings of someone reading a poem or to read the poems themselves.  Below are some results of our poetry assignments.

Emily Dickinson -- There is no frigate like a book

Recording with pictures

Recording only "There is no frigate like a book."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- Paul Revere's Ride

Recording only -- "Paul Revere's Ride"

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

Greetings!

We've finished the second week of online classes.  I hope all is going well at your homes with the adjustment to a virtual classroom.  I know that some students are having technology challenges.  Please let me know if there are any difficulties that I might be able to help with.

Beginning of Class Activities

Whether we're in a building or on Zoom, we start our class with a Quick Write.  This week's prompts included the following:  1) What is an April Fool's prank that you've experienced or heard of; 2) What is a memorable childhood movie, either loved or hated; and 3) What was a favorite childhood read-aloud book.  Students were to type their Quick Writes into an email to me, or they could hand-write the Quick Write and take a picture and send it to me.  This week, when the students were done writing, I put them into Breakout Rooms to share what they wrote.  They seemed to enjoy these connections, so I will continue to do this in future weeks.

I've decided to forgo the Words of the Day section of our beginning of class activities, but that doesn't mean the we will not have a test on our words.  Students can start reviewing using the blog entry for the Writing 2 Spring Words of the Day.

Usually after the beginning of class activities we have a Homework Check-in.  It seemed so odd to me to have a pile of homework that had been corrected but that I couldn't hand back.  My hope is to be more paperless and to have more online options for the students to do work and to show their learning.  Until then we will still have some worksheets as part of our homework.  Students are to either take a photo or scan their work in.  (Remember to have sufficient light and resolution so that I can see and correct the homework.)  Before our next class I will have a scanned package of corrected homework.  

Writing 

For the Writing portion of the class, I reminded students that Rough Drafts of the Evaluation were due.  To turn them in, they can attach a Word or PDF document, share a Google Doc, or, if none of those is an option, copy and paste the essay into the body of an email.  Please, do not send documents from Pages or Open Office.

Literature

We then jumped into our Poetry Unit.  I started this section with a short video:  Taylor Mali's Authority visual & spoken poem.  (I was also going to share the scene, "What will your verse be?" from the Dead Poet's Society, but unfortunately the sound from this video was not good when I showed it in Writing 1.  Writing 2 students should still check it out.)  My hope was to inspire them a little bit about the wonder of poetry, especially when spoken aloud.  Much like dramatic literature, poetry is meant to be heard as much as to be read.  I again divided the students into Breakout Rooms -- I'm loving this feature in Zoom -- to discuss these four questions:  1) What makes a poem a poem? 2) Why do you think poetry is important? 3) Why do people like/love/hate poetry? 4) What was your favorite poem for this week?  Why?  We used the Square Model for group discussion for this, and students took turns asking the question, then answering, then agreeing/disagreeing, and finally adding to the already spoken comments.  We've used this model before, and it helps to give everyone a chance to talk.  

Below you will find the poems assigned for our next class period.  Students must read all of the poems and then choose 2 poems to respond to. As we did for this week, students have options for how they can respond:  Fill out the Poetry analysis worksheet, write a one-paragraph analysis, make a video of yourself explaining the poem, rewrite the poem, write a poem about the poem, illustrate the poem, perform the poem, interview someone about what they think about the poem, etc.  You get the idea -- students can be creative about how they choose to respond to the poem, but they can also go the straightforward path and fill out the worksheet.

Grammar

Finally, for the grammar unit, I checked in to see how the Edpuzzle assignments were working.  Most of the students were able to access the videos, watch them, and answer the questions, but for some reason that I can't explain, some students couldn't.  For next week, I have more review videos; students can either watch them on Edpuzzle or complete a Google Forms assignment.  (Both links will be listed below.)  

Note:  We will not have class next week because of the Easter break.

Again, the students were great with our new learning experience.  

Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Easter!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for April 16

-- Read the following poems

     Wilcox (p. 33)  Solitude

     Thayer (p. 34) Casey at Bat

     Sandburg (p. 53) Chicago and I am the People

     Williams (p. 60) The Red Wheelbarrow and This is Just to Say

     Johnson (p. 41) Sence you Went Away

-- Respond to 2 of the poems (see option ideas above)

-- Edpuzzle or Google Forms assignment

     -- Video #1 --Commas and Introductory Elements on Edpuzzle or Google Forms

     -- Video #2 -- Commas and Restrictive Clauses on Edpuzzle or Google Forms

     -- Video #3 -- Commas and Lists on Edpuzzle or Google Forms

 

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Taylor Mali poem

"What will your verse be?"

O Captain, My Captain

Writing 2 Spring Words of the Day

Writing 2 Spring Google Drive folder

(Grammar videos are listed in the assignments)