Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 9)

Greetings!

Another great class!  Our discussions were good, and we learned quite a bit, too.

I asked the students to write "Literary Love Letters" for the Quick Write this week.  Every year I use this as a prompt during the class closest to Valentines Day.  I have a collection of these letters written by previous students.  (See the links below,)

Our Latin roots for our Words of the Day:

dict -- Latin, "to say/speak" -- derivatives:  dictate, dictation, dictionary, contradict, predict, dictator, 

dorm -- Latin, "to sleep" -- dormant, dormancy, dormitory, dorm

duct -- Latin, "to lead" -- conduct, conductor, introduce, introduction, reduction, abduct, deduct

When I handed back homework, if students were missing any pieces of homework, they got a print out listing that homework.  Now that I'm more familiar with My GradeBook, I'm hoping to get these out every 3 - 4 weeks so that students don't get behind with their work.  Students and parents can also check on progress.  For specific information for signing in, follow the link at the bottom.  (Please contact me if you have any questions.)

I handed back the Rough Drafts of the Mystery Stories -- these were all very well written papers.  We discussed the most common errors found in the essays:  punctuation with dialogue, appropriate verb tenses, run-on and comma splice sentences, and paragraph divisions.  I chalk up to the story-telling aspect of this assignment, but many students wrote their longest papers so far.  The Final Drafts are due next week.  (Note:  A couple students have mentioned having a hard time with the creative writing nature of this assignment. If this was the case, they have permission to write an essay that is either a narrative essay or one that discusses some "mystery.")

We've finished our Sherlock Holmes stories, and we discussed what the students wrote in their Take Home Essays, "What Makes a Hero?"  As I had thought would happen, the class was divided on their opinions about Sherlock Holmes character and heroic capabilities.  I listed their ideas on the board, and after some discussion, we had some points and counterpoints written on the board.  

Next week they will get their next books, Great Short, Short Stories.

Finally, I gave a quick but brief explanation of restrictive and non-restrictive clauses along with appositives and parenthetical phrases.  They have 3 worksheets for next week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Final Draft of Mystery Story

-- 3 Comma Worksheets

Links for this week:

Class Notes 

Introductory Elements

Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses

Appositives and Parenthetical Comments

My GradeBook Information

Literary Love Letters, 2016

Literary Love Letters, 2012

Literary Love Letters, 2015

Have a great weekend!  Rumor has it that warmer weather is coming!

Mrs. Prichard

Appositives & Parenthetical Comments

Appositives

An appositive renames the noun or pronoun it follows.  If omitting the appositive would change the meaning of the sentence, then do not set it apart with commas.  If the “renaming” does not change the meaning, then use commas.

 Parenthetical Comments

Parenthetical comments are those which can be left out but are included to add color or personality to the sentence.

Exercises:

Insert the commas for the appositives.

1.      Pride and Prejudice a book by Jane Austen is one of my favorite novels.

2.      Houston the largest city in Texas was named after Sam Houston.

3.      The speaker who had risen from his chair to begin his talk fell off the platform.

4.      The athletes for whom the party was given broke into singing the school song.

5.      The dog that ran under the chair was the one who had eaten her shoe.

6.      The truck that changed around the corner finally broke down across the street.

Insert commas for the parenthetical phrases.

1.      Believe it or not I haven’t been home a single night this week.

2.      I know Susan was at the party I spoke with her myself bu she may have left early.

3.      Then I thought oh dear I’ve lost my wallet.

4.      I have an idea let’s call Robert and Jill and take them out for dinner.

5.      Your mother called an oh yes she said you left your history book at home.

Misc. Sentences

1.      The clock which had been ticking very loudly burst a spring and flew off the wall.

2.      Down in the valley where the grass is greener than it is anywhere else you can see the men on tractors and other equipment.

3.      My friends Hannah and Rebecca whom I haven’t seen for six years are coming to visit me this week.

4.      The old car that sat in the driveway all winter was finally hauled away.

5.      The man who broke into our house while we were away was arrested.

Practice: Identifying Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses

For each sentence below, decide if the adjective clause (in bold) is restrictive or nonrestrictive.  Insert the necessary commas.

.

1. Parents  who have young children are invited to use the free daycare center.

2. I left my clothes at the dry cleaners which is free to all full-time students.

3. John Wayne who appeared in over 200 movies was the biggest box-office attraction of his time.

4. I refuse to live in any house that Jack built.

5. Merdine who was born somewhere in Arkansas grows homesick every time she hears the wail of a train whistle.

6. My new running shoes which cost more than a hundred dollars fell apart during the marathon.

7. I lent some money to Earl whose house was destroyed in the flood.

8. The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children.

9. A physician who smokes and overeats has no right to criticize the personal habits of his patients.

10. The beer that made Milwaukee famous has made a loser out of me.

Introductory Elements & Commas Worksheet

Introductory Elements

·         If a sentence does not being with the subject, it may open with an introductory element that tells when, where, how, or why the main action of the sentence occurs.  Separate that introductory element from the main part of the sentence with a comma. 

·         Use a comma following phrases that begin with if, when, although, because, and other subordinating conjunctions

·         Introductory prepositional phrases can be set off by commas if it is necessary for a clear understanding of the sentences meaning.

·         If the introductory element is short, and the sentence cannot be misread if the comma is omitted, you can omit the comma. 

EXERCISES

Underline each introductory element and punctuate the sentence with the appropriate commas.  Be careful to look also for other places in the sentence that require commas. (Hint:  Not all sentences have introductory phrases, and some are compound sentences.)

1.      Discovering the book under the chair she went to the den and read until dinner time.

2.      When I couldn’t find the cookies I ate an apple but my brother ate some candy.

3.      Driving home from the party Paul and I got lost.

4.      Feeling sick Debbie complained about going to school and her mother let her stay home.

5.      Before my aunt came from Chicago we bought tickets to the community play because I was in it.

6.      Agnes gets out her skis whenever it snows.

7.      I think I will go out for dinner when Tom finishes his chores.

8.      After they finished their breakfast they took the dog for a walk and I did the dishes.

9.      Because the road was glazed with ice many cars slipped on the highway and ended up in the ditch.

10.  When I looked through the newspaper I couldn’t find the article she told me about, but I had already seen the information online.

My GradeBook Information

Greetings Students and Parents!

Below are instructions for signing up for the online grade book that I will be using this year.  In past years, I've used Engrade, but that site is no longer available to individual teachers.  After lots of research and trials, I've settled on My Gradebook.  As we progress through the year, I'd appreciate any feedback.

First, a quick note about your use of this resource.  I'm using this online resource to help me compute grades and to divide the grades into categories.  Parents and students can use it to see scores and to check for missing assignments.  But a word of warning -- some weeks the homework scores will make it to my 3-ring binder but not immediately to My Gradebook.  I will send out mid-term reports and a "grades update" a few weeks before the end of the term.

Directions for Signing Up:

1.  Go to www.mygradebook.com

2.  In the username box, give the class code:  

          writing2spring17

3.  Your password is the student's first name and the first letter of the last name, all lower case.  For example,  Bobby Smith's password would be "bobbys."

4.  Click on "My Account," and on that page click on Create Primary Login.

5.  Set the Primary Login (username) and Primary Login Password that you want to use for this class.  (Note:  This username and password will be the same for the student's account, so parents and students should communicate the choices with one another.)

6.  If any of the e-mail information needs updating, click on "update email."

7.  When all information is updated, click on "save."

When you have finished these steps, you can go to the assignments page, the calendar page, etc. for the class.  I'm hoping this website will not be difficult for all of us to navigate.

Blessings,
Tammy Prichard

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

Greetings!

We had a productive class this week and covered a lot of material.  I brought two dates up for the Quick Write:  1887 was the first official "Groundhog Day" in the US (it had been a tradition in Europe and according to folklore, if the groundhog, or hedgehog in Europe, sees its shadow, we will have 6 more weeks of winter); and 1996, which was the day the record low was recorded in Minnesota (60 degrees below zero in Tower, MN).  I asked the students to put together a Winter Survival Kit.

Our Words of the Day were the following Latin roots:

capit -- Latin, "head" -- derivatives:  captain, capitol, capital, decapitate, chief, chef, chapter, recapitulate

circum -- Latin, "around" -- derivatives:  circumference, circumnavigate, circumvent, circular, circumstance

contra -- Latin, "against/opposite" -- derivatives:  contrary, contract, contradict

cred -- Latin, "believe" -- derivatives:  credible, incredible, credit, credence, creditor

Students handed in their rough drafts of their Mystery Stories.  I've told them that if they ever forget their homework at home, they can bring it in the next week, except for when Rough Drafts are due.  I need the week to grade them, and if they come in late, then their final drafts are late.  If a student didn't bring a paper copy to class, he/she can share it on Google docs or send it as an attachment either as a Word doc or a PDF.  (I don't have a patch in my computer to open documents from Apple Pages.)  I will have the rough drafts back next week for them to revise.  I am really looking forward to reading these!

We briefly walked through the content of the two assigned Sherlock Holmes stories.  A simple action that I ask of them to get a feeling for how they felt about a reading assignment is to show a "thumbs up, thumbs down, or thumbs sideways."  The class consensus seemed to be that the story "The Engineer's Thumb" was not as interesting as "The Adventure of the Speckled Band."  The first story didn't have any clues that led to solving a mystery, not did it have much action.  The second story also had some unexpected details that made it more interesting.

I handed out a Take Home Test for the Sherlock Holmes stories.  They are to answer the question "Is Sherlock Holmes a hero?"  In order to do this, they must first define "hero" and then apply this definition to Sherlock Holmes as he is presented in the stories.  With this essay exam, I'm not looking for a specific answer but for the students to do some of their own thinking and analyzing.  I explained to them that I will be grading according to the number of specific ideas and examples that they include.

We took the rest of the class for Grammar in order to go over compound and complex sentences.  In our quest to be experts in the Comma, we need to learn many other elements of grammar and sentence construction.  Students have encountered and written compound and complex sentences but are not 100% sure about how and why they work. 

A final note:  Many of the students seem to have good friends in the class.  This last week the neighbor-to-neighbor chatting seemed to be more than usual, so I'd like to remind all of the students to stay engaged with the class and to resist the urge get involved in those little conversations that distract everyone.  I will start separating people during class if it seems necessary to the wellness of the class.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House."

-- No study guide questions

-- Write the Take Home Test for Sherlock Holmes

-- 2 Introductory Elements Worksheets

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Introductory Commas Worksheet

Commas Worksheet 13-3

Take Home Test (on Google Drive)

Take Home Test (on blog)

Commas and Introductory Elements

Commas with Introductory Elements

Video:  Introductory Elements

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Final for Great Sherlock Holmes Stories

What Makes a Hero?

Is Holmes a hero?  What qualities do you admire in heroes?  In at least 3 paragraphs, discuss whether or not Holmes possesses these qualities, using examples from the text.  Specific instances and quotes should support your comments.  You may want to consider whether some of the flaws Watson acknowledges keep Holmes from becoming truly heroic in their eyes.  Feel free to compare Holmes with other literary characters.