Writing 2 Spring Syllabus, 2018

Week/ Date	Literature	Assign. Due	Writing Due	Grammar Topic
Week 1 (1/18)	Introduction to Sherlock Holmes			Intro Parallel Structures
Week 2 (1/25)	Holmes:  “A Scandal in Bohemia” & “The Red-Headed League”	Answer 4 Questions for “The Red-Headed League”	Mystery Story Pre-Write	Review Parallel Structures
Week 3 (2/1)	Holmes: “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” & “The Engineer’s Thumb”	Answer 4 questions for one of the two stories	Mystery Story Rough Draft	Intro:  Sentence Parts, Simple Sentences
Week 4 (2/8)	Holmes:  “The Final Problem” & “The Adventure of the Empty House"	Holmes Final Exam		Review:  Sentence Parts, Simple Sentences
Week 5 (2/15)	Short Stories: Pushkin (p. 162); Tolstoy (p. 169); Chekhov (p. 26)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Mystery Story Final Draft	Intro:  Compound & Complex Sentences
Week 6 (3/1)	Short Stories: Dickens (p. 45); Wilde (p. 189); Kipling (p.101); Munro (p. 140)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Pre-Write	Review:  Compound & Complex Sentences
Week 7 (3/8)	Short Stories: Hawthorne (p. 73); Bierce (p. 10); Poe (p. 156)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Rough Draft	Intro:  Fragments, Run-on, Comma Splice Sentences
Week 8 (3/15)	Short Stories: Harte (p. 64); Twain (p. 175) Jewett (p. 87); Crane (p. 34)	2 Short Story Worksheets		Review:  Fragments, Run-on, Comma Splice Sentences
Week 9 (3/22)	Short Stories: Chopin (p. 30); London (p. 122); Mansfield (p. 130); Gilman (p. 50)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Final Draft	Intro:  There is/There are sentences
Week 10 (4/5)	Short Stories: Pirandello (p. 149); de Maupassant (p. 134);	2 Short Story Worksheets	Evaluation Pre-Write	Review:  There is/There are sentences
Week 11 (4/12)	Short Stories: Larsen (p. 110); Anderson (p. 1); Hardy (p. 56)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Evaluation Rough Draft	Intro:  Combining Sentences
Week 12 (4/19)	Poetry: Holmes (p. 21); Emerson (p. 4, 5); Longfellow (p. 6 – 10); Whitman (p. 22 – 26); Dickinson (p. 29 – 32)	2 Poetry Worksheets.		Review:  Combining Sentences
Week 13 (4/26)	Poetry: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)	2 Poetry Worksheets	Evaluation Final Draft	Review
Week 14 (5/3)	Poetry Presentation		Re-Write	Grammar Test
Week 15 (5/10)	Poetry Presentation		Final Exam

Class Policies, Spring 2018

Classroom Policies

Writing 2 – Spring Semester Update

Below are brief reminders from the first semester and some new homework and attendance guidelines:

Classroom Conduct

·         Be polite and respectful of each other’s time and comments. If the teacher or a classmate is talking, listen respectfully and avoid any unnecessary conversations or interactions that would disrupt the class.  Students who habitually engage in distracting behavior might be asked to leave the room, as per CHAT policies.

·         Come to class prepared and with the appropriate materials (books, notebook, pens, etc.).  Turn off ALL electronic devices.  (They may be confiscated until the end of the CHAT school day.)

Communication

·         Weekly updates will be sent that include comments about class discussions and homework.  If you are not getting these, check your Spam/Junk file and/or contact me.

·         The websites below are also helpful classroom resources:

–  Writing 2 – www.chatwriting2.blogspot.com.  The blog entries will contain the same information from the e-mail updates

–  Google Drive –Most of the handouts will be available on a shared folder in Google Drive either as Word documents or PDF files.

–  MyGradeBook – www.mygradebook.com. This is an online grade book on which I will enter the grades and scores for completed assignments.  Note:  Scores may not be immediately added to the website; feel free to contact me for any questions.

NEW!!  Late Homework Guidelines

·         Homework is most useful when it is completed by the due date.  Grammar worksheets and literature-related homework is not as beneficial for the student if it is done after the class has covered that topic.

·         Starting this semester, any homework handed in more than 2 weeks late will not be scored.  For example, if a worksheet is assigned in Week 2 and due Week 3, it will not be accepted after Week 5.

·         If a student is absent due to an illness or family situation, parents should contact me.  Extensions will be given in these circumstances.

NEW!! Attendance & Tardiness Guidelines

·         If a student will be absent, it helps to let me know, but this is not required.  If a student is missing from class and I haven’t heard from parents, I will contact them regarding the student to see if it is a situation for which homework extensions would be required.

·         If a student is late and arrives to class after we have started the Quick Write, he/she will lose the 5 points from that Quick Write.  If the tardiness is due to an unavoidable family situation, parents should contact me, and those points will not be subtracted.  (Note:  Last semester a number of students were present in the building but not in the classroom when the class started.)

Writing 2 -- Grades are Coming!

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 by the end of the week.  As tutors, these are 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, I didn't give my children grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective.  I taught my own children for mastery.  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 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 a person or as an academic learner.  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 attendance, participation, 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.)  For this essay assignments, the final drafts were graded using a rubric that divided the papers into the following categories:  focus, content, organization, and mechanics.  The grades will be divided into the following categories:  Assignments (Quick Writes and in class activities), Literature, and Writing.  A student may have been strong in one area and not in another, and this will be reflected in these categories.  The categories are not evenly weighted; in other words, 100% in Assignments, which were almost all Quick Writes, does not have the same value as 100% in Grammar, which included lots of worksheets and new material to learn.

Each student (and parents) will receive an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester.  I’ve seen each student improve with each paper.  Good Work!

Blessings,

Tammy Prichard

Links:
Writing 2 -- Grades are coming!
Grades, Percentages, and Scores Clarification

Writing 2 -- Spring Technology Reminder

Greetings!

CHAT classes started again this week, and I'm excited to start the spring semester of writing classes.  We're going to have a great semester!

Below are explanations of my online sources that I provide as a resource for families.  

Class Updates:  Weekly, following our class, I will send out an e-mail that explains what we covered in class and what the assignments are. Occasionally I will include links to interesting or pertinent sites that pertain to our class discussion.  Any handouts from the class will be attached to these e-mails.  Double check to make sure these e-mails are making it to your Inbox and not the Junk/Spam folder.

Writing 2 Blog:  The weekly updates and copies of most messages are also posted on this site.  If you need to see a number of the updates at once, this is an efficient way to do it. Copies of the handouts (with the exception of those that are pdfs) will be posted on this blog.  Also, photos, images, videos, and links to other websites will appear on this site.  If you're curious, you can peruse the blog for past posts in order to get a feeling for what to expect this year. (That's where you will find this post!)

Dropbox:  This is an online storage site, and I have folders with all of the documents that I use in a folder for this class.  If a student is missing a worksheet or a handout, he/she can find it there.  You should have gotten an invitation to join the folder for Writing 2.

My GradeBook:  This is the online grade book that I will be using this year.  It is new to me, but since it is similar to the one I had previously used, I don't anticipate any problems.  My paper grade book is up to date with every assignment, but it may take a week or so to get the grades onto this site.  That said, it should be a pretty accurate picture of what homework is missing and ongoing scores for the work.  

Long story short:

-- If a student isn't sure of an assignment, he/she can check

     -- the syllabus that was handed out

     -- the Class Update

     -- the blog

-- If a student is missing something that I handed out, he/she can find it 

     -- as an attachment to a Class Update

     -- on the blog

     -- in the Dropbox folder.

-- If you have questions about grades or missing homework, you can

     -- check My GradeBook

     -- send me a personal e-mail.

If you have any questions, let me know.  

I'm looking forward to teaching this great group of students!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Spring Syllabus (2017)

Week/Date	Literature	Assign. Due	Writing Due	Grammar Topic
Week 1 (1/19)	Introduction to Sherlock Holmes			Comma:  Compound Sentences
Week 2 (1/26)	Holmes:  “A Scandal in Bohemia” & “The Red-Headed League”	Answer 4 Questions for “The Red-Headed League”	Mystery Story Pre-Write	Comma:  Complex Sentences
Week 3 (2/2)	Holmes: “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” & “The Engineer’s Thumb”	Answer 4 questions for one of the two stories	Mystery Story Rough Draft	Comma:  Intro Elements
Week 4 (2/9)	Holmes:  “The Final Problem” & “The Adventure of the Empty House"	Holmes Final Exam		Comma:  Restrictive Clauses
Week 5 (2/16)	Short Stories: Pushkin (p. 162); Tolstoy (p. 169); Chekhov (p. 26)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Mystery Story Final Draft	Comma:  Appositives & Parenthetical phrases
February 23 – No CHAT
Week 6 (3/2)	Short Stories: Dickens (p. 45); Wilde (p. 189); Kipling (p.101); Munro (p. 140)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Pre-Write	Comma:  Series
Week 7 (3/9)	Short Stories: Hawthorne (p. 73); Bierce (p. 10); Poe (p. 156)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Rough Draft	Comma:  Interrupters
Week 8 (3/16)	Short Stories: Harte (p. 64); Twain (p. 175) Jewett (p. 87); Crane (p. 34)	2 Short Story Worksheets		Comma: Dates & Addresses
Week 9 (3/23)	Short Stories: Chopin (p. 30); London (p. 122); Mansfield (p. 130); Gilman (p. 50)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Cause/Effect OR Problem/ Solution Final Draft	End Marks & Abbreviations
Week 10 (3/30)	Short Stories: Pirandello (p. 149); de Maupassant (p. 134);	2 Short Story Worksheets	Evaluation Pre-Write	Colon & Semicolon
April 6 – No CHAT
Week 11 (4/13)	Short Stories: Larsen (p. 110); Anderson (p. 1); Hardy (p. 56)	2 Short Story Worksheets	Evaluation Rough Draft	Italics & Quotations Marks
Week 12 (4/20)	Poetry: Holmes (p. 21); Emerson (p. 4, 5); Longfellow (p. 6 – 10); Whitman (p. 22 – 26); Dickinson (p. 29 – 32)	2 Poetry Worksheets.		Hyphens, Parentheses & Dash
Week 13 (4/27)	Poetry: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)	2 Poetry Worksheets	Evaluation Final Draft	Punctuation Review
Week 14 (5/4)	Poetry Presentation		Re-Write	Grammar Test
Week 15 (5/11)	Poetry Presentation		Final Exam	Italics & Quotations Marks