Because October 31 is the anniversary of the day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, I used as a springboard for our Quick Write. Students could either write their thoughts about Revival or Reformation (for example, where do they see a need for either or what might either of these look like in the 21st century). Another option was to write about a cause or issue that they are passionate enough about to engage in protests or to make sacrifices for the cause. We had some strong opinions shared and yet the conversation was respectful.
Below are our Words of the Day. (Again, I had students create possible definitions, and some got pretty close to the actual meanings)
ergophobia -- an irrational or excessive fear of work
omnishambles -- a situation, particularly political, in which poor judgement leads to disorder/chaos with results that are disastrous
deracinate -- to separate or isolate someone from their native or cultural environment
I handed back the Rough Drafts of their essays. I usually take time to discuss the common grammar and usage errors in the rough drafts, but this time I focused on the structure of the introductions, conclusions, and individual paragraphs. A number of essays had introductions that were missing either a clear thesis statement or road map (plan of development.) A strong thesis statement gives structure and focus to the essay, and sometimes it is the hardest part of writing. We also discussed the need for paragraphs to have clear topic sentences and to include sentences that support the topic. And everything needs to back up the thesis. I used a Rough Draft Rubric for the first time; I hope it will help students to see more clearly the aspects of their essays that need revising. The Final Drafts are due next week.
For the Grammar portion of the class, I covered Noun/Pronoun agreement, writing numbers under 100, and compound sentences. They have a Compound Sentence Worksheet as homework.
We did not discuss the excerpt from Giants in the Earth, but I gave them an excerpt from Grapes of Wrath. For both of these readings they are to underline/highlight nature descriptions that they fill affect the characters, plot, or conflict in the book. We will discuss both of these next week. We will also sign up for presentation times for our My Antonia book project.
Assignments for Next Week
-- Read and highlight Grapes of Wrath excerpt
-- Final Draft of Extended Definition or Classification Essay
-- Compound Sentences Homework
Links for This week
Class Notes
Have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
