Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (September 10)

Greetings!

Another great class this week -- they are a smart bunch!  Our Quick Write this week was in recognition of Northfield's Defeat of Jesse James Days.  We collected a list of Western words, such as Howdy, pardner, saloon, Stetson, y'all, yeehaw, etc.  The assignment was to write something and include at least 2 of the words from our list.  They were great sports and endured my attempt at a western accent.

Our Words of the Day were chosen by classmates from our reading selection, A Connecticut Yankee.

Blatherskite -- fr. mid-17th century English -- a person who talks at great length without making much sense

Biddable -- fr. Old English; biddan, to beg or ask -- meekly ready to accept and follow instructions; docile and obedient

Lackaday-- fr.late 17th century expression, "a lack a day"  -- an expression of regret, sorrow, dismay

I handed back their homework and discussed my grading.  For many of the assignments, I put on a check mark with a circle around it.  Students get full points for doing the assignments.  Worksheets and final drafts of the essays will be evaluated according to right or wrong answers and quality of work.  

After handing back the rough drafts of the Personal Commentary Essays, I went over common errors that I found in their rough drafts.  They are to keep a sheet in their notebooks with a list of the top mistakes that I find when correcting their rough drafts.  On the blog, I will include a picture that has examples of some of the marks that I make on their papers.

We spent time on our Parts of Speech projects.  For this project, students are to give a lesson to explain their assigned part of speech, possibly have the students do an activity, and have some kind of homework assignment.  In class we discussed where and how they might find information to help with this assignment.  The students then broke into their groups to plan for their presentations.  These lessons and activities are to take 10 to 20 minutes.

Next week the students will take a Pre-Test to test their knowledge before they've had the series of lessons.

Because I wanted to take extra time with this first round of rough drafts and to make sure that the students were clear on the grammar project, we did not have time for a discussion of our literature, A Connecticut Yankee.  Next week!

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 15 - 19 of A Connecticut Yankee

-- Answer 4 Study Guide Questions

-- Select & define 8 Vocabulary words

-- Work on Parts of Speech project

This Week's Links:

Class Notes

A Connecticut  Yankee Audiobook Suggestions

Librivox Audio Book

AudioBook Treasury

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

Sample Editing Marks

Below is a picture of the editing symbols that I use most often when I'm editing the rough drafts of the students' essays.  I put the squiggly line under problematic words.  A word might be mispelled or the wrong word for that sentence.  For example, contractions are not allowed in essays and will get the squiggly line.  

The next symbol, the line with the loop, is used for words that should be deleted or replaced.  The upside down "v" is put in a sentence where a word or phrase needs to be added.

The double-stemmed backwards "P" is the paragraph symbol.  I put this where it would be good to start a new, indented paragraph.  Finally, the three little lines are placed under a letter that needs to be capitalized.

Parts of Speech Update

Hey class!

I've gotten a couple of e-mails with questions about the Parts of Speech unit, so I thought I'd send out a group-wide e-mail.

Even though we talked about this in class last week, I feel that there may still be some confusion about the guidelines for the project and the specifics of the assignment.  So, here's what I'd like to do --- let's push the presentations out a week so that we have extra time to plan and to work in groups.  This week we will talk through any questions that students might have.

Adjusted schedule:

Week 3 -- Review Parts of Speech/Discuss assignment

Week 4 -- Parts of Speech Pre-Test
Week 5 -- Nouns (Chader, Darren, Ted)

Week 6 -- Pronouns (Rachel, Anna.)

Week 7 -- Adjectives (Nicole, Andrew, Luke)

Week 8 -- Adverbs (Hannah, Shay, Ian)

Week 9 -- Verbs (Corey, Abby, Faith)

Week 10 -- Prepositions (Christopher, Savannah, Megan

Week 11 -- Conjunctions (Katelyn, KC, Danielle)

Week 12 -- Interjections (Simon, Nick, Jack)

Week 13 -- Review

Week 14 -- Parts of Speech Post-Test

I've taught this lesson using this process at the other school where I teach, and I was excited about how students learned.  We all know that if you have to teach something, you learn it a little better.  Also, students enjoyed being taught by their classmates.

On the down side, we only see one another once a week, so we need to fit a lot in to our weekly class.  Students may not realize that they have questions about an assignment until AFTER they've left class.  Always feel free to send an e-mail to clarify anything.

See y'all on Thursday,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 2 (September 3)

Greetings!

We had a good second week of classes.  We're getting to know one another, and I'm enjoying this group of students.

Our Quick Write this week was inspired by the State Fair, also known as "The Great Minnesota Get Together."  I asked the students to either write about the fair or about some other favorite "get together."   I always tell students that if they ever draw a blank with the prompt, they can write whatever they would like.  

I had three students select our Words of the Day from their vocabulary lists from A Connecticut Yankee (ACY)  Our words were:

forsooth -- fr. Ole English, sooth, truth -- truly, verily (a comment or response)

morion -- fr. Old French & Spanish morro, round -- an open helmet from 16th/17th century

nettle -- fr.Old English, netele, stinging plant -- to irritate or provoke

The students are to keep a list of these words because there will be a quiz at the end of the semester to see what they can remember.

I collected homework, and we discussed any questions that they might have with any of the homework.  The rough drafts for the Personal Essays were due this week.  If a student is ever not able to hand in an assignment in class, they can e-mail it in.

I introduced our Parts of Speech Unit.  Students received a handout explaining the unit and a planning worksheet.  I spent this week and will do a quick review next week of the primary definitions of the 8 parts of speech (interjections, verbs, adverbs, nouns, conjunctions, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions).  Next week the students will take a brief pre-test.  The following weeks, the students will teach one another more specifics about their assigned parts of speech.  For this unit, students will do some research in order to learn more and then come up with a lesson, an activity, and homework

The Parts of Speech assignments are:

Interjections -- Simon, Nick, Jack

Verbs -- Corey, Abby, Faith

Adverbs -- Hannah, Shay, Ian

Nouns -- Chader, Ted, Darren

Conjunctions -- Katelyn, KC, Danielle

Adjectives -- Nicole, Andrew, Luke

Prepositions --  Christopher, Savannah, Megan

Pronouns -- Rachel, Anna

We had a good discussion about our book, A Connecticut Yankee in Kin Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (ACY).  For those of you parents who have not read this book, the main character, Hank, is hit on the head and wakes up in Camelot with King Arthur.  A lot of the attraction of this book is the verbal humor that Twain uses.  Another key aspect to pay attention to is the way in which Twain comments on issues of his time through the lens of the 6th century.

Another note about the book.  Some students are stronger auditory learners, and hearing the book is really helpful.  I've included on the class blog a post with links to some audio versions.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Chapters 7 - 14 of ACY

-- Answer 4 Study Questions

-- Fill in 8 Vocabulary Words in the worksheet

-- Review the Parts of Speech handout

Links for this week:

Class Notes

ACY Study Guide

Parts of Speech Unit

Parts of Speech Planning Worksheet

Parts of Speech Review (Weeks 1 & 2)

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Parts of Speech Planning Worksheet

Name:  ____________________________________________

Parts of Speech Project Planning Worksheet

My assigned part of speech:  _______________________________________

In your own words, define this part of speech:

What important aspects of this part of speech are important for your classmates to know?

What information do you need to find out about this part of speech?

Where can you find this information?

List the best resources that you’ve found:

Lesson Plan

Objective:  to teach my classmates about _______________________________ by explaining these key points:

1.       Main Point:  ______________________________________________________________

     a.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     b.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     c.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

2.        Main Point:  ______________________________________________________________

     a.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     b.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     c.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

3.        Main Point:  ______________________________________________________________

a.     a.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     b.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     c.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

4.        Main Point:  ______________________________________________________________

     a.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     b.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     c.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

5.        Main Point:  ______________________________________________________________

     a.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     b.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

     c.       Details:  _____________________________________________________________________

Parts of Speech Unit

The 8 parts of speech are the important building blocks for our sentences.  Every single word in our vocabulary falls into one of the following categories:  interjections, verbs, adjectives, nouns, conjunctions, adverbs, prepositions, or pronouns.  These are especially important to know as we learn to revise and improve our writing.

Every student is to do a project on one of the parts of speech.  For this project, students are to do some research on their assigned parts of speech and put together a lesson that includes a worksheet and an activity.  During the first two weeks of the Fall term, students will get a brief overview and explanation of each of the parts of speech.  For the next 8 weeks, presentations/lessons will be given by student(s). 

Requirements for the unit:

–   Fill out the Parts of Speech Planning Worksheet

–   Research the assigned part of speech

–   Put together a short lesson that explains the part of speech

–   Put together a worksheet for the class to practice using the part of speech

–   Have the worksheets ready the week before your presentation

Parts of Speech Unit

Week 1 – Introduction to Parts of Speech, part 1

Week 2 – Introduction to Parts of Speech, part 2

Week 3 – Parts of Speech pre-test

Week 4 – Nouns Presentation

Week 5 – Pronouns Presentation

Week 6 – Adjectives Presentation

Week 7 – Adverbs Presentation

Week 8 – Verbs Presentation

Week 9 – Prepositions Presentation

Week 10 – Conjunctions Presentation

Week 11 – Interjections Presentation

Week 12 – Review

Week 13 – Review

Week 14 – Parts of Speech Test

A Connecticut Yankee Audiobook

Some students are strong auditory learners, and it helps to have an audio version of a piece of literature. Below are some options for students who would be helped by listening to the book.

LibriVox (whole book and iTunes)

Youtube (Parts 1 & 2)