Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 4 (September 16)

 Greetings!

This week's class was productive, but I always find myself wishing we had more time together.  They are a great group of students!

Quick Write

This week's prompts was a little more academic.  On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower departed from England.  In addition to bringing faith to this new land, the Pilgrims helped lay the foundation for democratic, self-government for the sake of community well-being in their document, the Mayflower Compact.  I had the students write about what they felt were essential rights AND responsibilities.  These could either be attributed in a large scale to humanity as a whole or closer to home (e.g. I have a right to my personal space and a responsibility to keep it clean.)  AND, if they were not thinking so deeply, they could write about their favorite fall beverage!

No Words of the Day this week.

Writing Discussion

I handed back rough drafts of their Personal Essays and went over common mistakes.  Students were to start a document in their folders or notebooks titled either "Watch out for ..." or "Areas to Work On."  On this page I want students to keep track of their own common writing mistakes.  We will refer to this list often over the course of the year, using it to set personal writing goals and to gauge progress.

Literature Discussion

We're reading My Antonia, and this week we had a good discussion about our reading.  We talked about the primary characters and a timeline of the plot so far.  Next week we will have our first Literature Circles.  Students were divided into groups of five, and in those groups each member chose a role:  Discussion Director, Illustrator, Luminary, Word Nerd, Connector, and Summarizer.  They are to each prepare for their roles in the group next week.

Grammar Discussion

Our grammar for these first few weeks is a review of the parts of speech, which are the basic sentence elements.  Students have worksheets this week that review interjections, verbs, and conjunctions.  A reminder:  They must correct their worksheets and turn in the corrected versions.  

Assignments for Next Week

Read pages 47 - 69 of My Antonia

Prepare for Literature Circles

Week 4 -- Reader Responses (p. 47 - 69) EXTRA CREDIT

Interjections Review

Verbs Review

Conjunctions Review

Links for This Week

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 4 (September 16)

My Antonia -- Audiobook on Librivox

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (September 9)

 Greetings!

We had a good class this week.  The students came into class ready to learn, and we had a productive time.  

Quick Write

Sept. 10 is National Swap Ideas Day, and it encourages us to share a creative or helpful idea with someone and trade them for their thoughts in return. Prompts:

• Where do you go to get good ideas?  

• What great ideas do you have to share with others?  

• What kind of group that you’d like to be in to share ideas.

On Sept. 8, 1930, the American company 3M began marketing a transparent adhesive tape that later became known as Scotch® tape.  On Sept. 10, 1846, American inventor Elias Howe was granted a patent for his sewing machine, which revolutionized garment manufacture in the factory and in the home.  Prompts:

• What is one of your favorite inventions/gadgets?  

• What invention do you think the world needs? 

Words of the Day  (These were invention-related words to go with our Quick Write.)

Patent -- fr. Latin, patere, to lie or be open; including litterae patentes, which means open letters. -- a document that is a license issued by the government conferring rights of ownership of an invention.

Innovation -- fr. Latin innovare, to change or renew -- a new method, idea, or product

Enigma -- fr. Greek ainigma, a dark saying or riddle -- a problem, puzzle, or mystery

Revised Syllabus

This week I was going to hand back the rough drafts of their Personal Essays and go over common writing errors, but I'm afraid my week took a turn that I had not expected.  I was with my mom from Friday to Tuesday until she passed away on Tuesday.  The papers weren't graded, so I pushed back the due dates of some of the writing assignments.  I will have the rough drafts back to them next week and will have all of the homework corrected and updated on Google Classroom.

Google Classroom

I reminded the students that if they don't do an assignment on Google Classroom, they should leave it alone.  I will update the scores for work that was handed in during class.

Literature Discussion

The class has read the first 20-some pages My Antonia and done their first set of reader responses.  We had small group discussions about grammar, and next week we'll have small group discussions about this book.  

Grammar Topics

Last week I had the students write 3 - 5 questions that they had about grammar.  They could be specific questions or general, over-arching ones.  This week we used the 4-Square model for asking and answering these questions.  This model requires everyone in the group to listen in order to respond.  One question that I suggested was "Why Grammar?"  I heard some good, academic conversations going on.  For our grammar topics this semester, we will start with a parts of speech review and then work through different types of phrases.  They will review nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs this week.

As I mentioned in the class policies, this year I am doing something different with the grammar homework.  This week students were given keys to all of the worksheets.  After they finish the grammar homework that was assigned for a week, they should correct it and then hand it in.  I want to see what they missed, so they should mark what was incorrect and then fix whatever was wrong.  Doing it this way will be more beneficial to the students.  They can see right away if they know the material.  Each worksheet is worth 10 points, regardless of how long it is.  If a student forgets to correct it, I will hand it back to be corrected.  

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read p. 24 - 47 (Book I, Sections VII - XIII)

-- 3 Reader Responses

-- Nouns/Pronouns Review

-- Adjectives/Adverbs Review

Links for This Week

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (September 9)

Grammar Worksheets KEY

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

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

 Greetings!

We had a good class today.  The students were engaged and interacted with the material and with one another.  

Quick Write

Students had 4 options today:  1) Sept. 1 was National No Rhyme Day  Students could try to rhyme some words that don't have clear "rhyme partners."  2) Sept. 2 is National Blueberry Popsicle Day.  Students could write about favorite frozen treats or foods "on a stick." 3) Sept. 3 is National Lazy Mom's Day, and students were prompted to write about tasks they could do for their moms or tasks that their moms do that they would never want to do.  4)  "Whatever."  Students could write about something else that was one their minds.  

Words of the Day

• Pertinacious -- fr. Latin, pertinax, "very firm, tenacious" -- stubbornly persistent.
• Ulotrichous --- fr. Greek, oulos, "curly, woolly" and thrix, "hair" -- having very curly, wool-like or stiff hair
• Gobbledygook -- a word coined by Maury Maverick in 1944 - means unintelligible, whether in communication is nonsense/gibberish or overly complicated

Google Classroom Instructions

I took a few minutes to go over the CHAT classes email and Google Classroom.  Some students haven't used Google Classroom and are unfamiliar with this resource.  It might take a while to become completely comfortable with all of the necessary aspects of Google Classroom.  

Writing Discussion

The rough drafts of the Personal Essay were due today.  They could be handed in on Google Classroom or as paper copies in class.  I will go over these rough drafts and hand them back next week for students to revise into final drafts.  I clarified that all students get a basic score for their rough drafts.  A qualitative evaluation will be given for the final draft using a rubric.

Literature Discussion

We're starting into our book for the semester, My Antonia by Willa Cather.  For a Pre-Reading exercise, they gathered some information about their family histories.  I gave students an introduction to the book and a study guide.  For each reading assignment, they're to complete 3 Reader Responses, and those could be study guide questions or something from the "Ala Carte" section at the end of the study guide.  They can do a mix of questions and ala carte options.

Grammar Topics

We started some thinking about grammar.  I asked students to think of 5 questions about grammar.  We will use those questions for small group discussions next week.  We will also start with some specific grammar topics next week.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Introduction to My Antonia

-- Take Intro Quiz for My Antonia

-- Read p. 1 - 23 of My Antonia

-- Week 2 -- 3 Reader Responses for My Antonia

-- Writing Discussion Question (on Google Classroom)

Links for This Week

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

My Antonia Study Guide

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 1 (August 26)

 Greetings!

We've started out our new school year well.  I'm looking forward to working with this group of students.  Below are the Class Notes for this week.  Every week I will send out notes similar to these.  I include the topics of the class and the direction of instruction.  At the bottom of each email I list the homework and links to the blog, to the Google Classroom assignments,  and to any other helpful information.

I almost always start class with a Quick Write and sometimes with a Word of the Day.  I use a variety of prompts for these short writing opportunities that give students a chance to shift into a writing mode.  These prompts are sometimes serious but usually lighthearted.  For our Words of the Day, I like to choose unusual words, words of current interest, or words with interesting backgrounds.  I especially enjoy looking at the etymologies of words and trying to figure out the journey of the word from its ancient meaning to its modern meaning.

For this week's Quick Write I asked students to respond to these 3 questions:  1) What do you need to be successful this school year?  2) What do you need from others, including me, to be successful this year? 3) What can you do for others in order to help them be successful?

We had two Words of the Day:

education -- fr. L. educare, to lead or bring out -- the act of teaching or receiving knowledge

teach -- fr. OE takn, token, to show, point out, declare -- to show or explain how to do something.  

Much of our first class of the year is spent taking care of logistics and looking at some Class Resources.  I gave the students a Class Policies handout, a syllabus, and a checklist of assignments.  These are important documents that will help us be organized with our work this year.  (Note:  Parents, please read the class policies and initial it)

In addition to an overview of the topics in the class, we discussed Google Classroom.  All of the materials and assignments will be posted on Google Classroom.  If they haven't, students need to sign in to their chatclasses email and then join the Google Classroom for Writing 2. Many students are familiar with Google Classroom, but I plan to spend a little more time on it next week in order to clear up any questions students might have.

A quick note about scores on Google Classroom -- if a student has handed in a paper copy of an assignment, I will record the score on Google Classroom, usually by the next class period.  A student SHOULD NOT use the "Turn In" option on the Google Classroom assignment.

We will write 4 essays this semester, and I introduced the first Writing assignment of the semester, a Personal Essay.  This essay can be on any topic of personal interest.  It can be about a hobby, a life-changing experience, a cause, etc.  Students are not required to do an outline/pre-write for this short essay, but they can if they would like.

Our Literature selection for this semester is My Antonia by Willa Cather.  I will introduce the book more fully next week, but for a pre-reading exercise, students should take time to consider their family backgrounds and histories.  (The assignments checklist mentions the introduction and a quiz.  We'll wait a week for that.)

No Grammar this week -- we'll jump in with both feet next week!

Have a great weekend!!

Blessings!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

(Note:  The links will take you to the Google Classroom post for the particular assignment.  If you plan to do the paper version, you can ignore the link)

Writing 2 Class Policies (signatures needed)

Personal Essay Rough Draft  (Please use the Google Doc template attached to this assignment.)

Pre-Reading -- Family History

Before school started assignments

Welcome Back #1

Welcome Back #2

Links for this Week:

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 1 (August 26)

Mrs. Prichard's Guide to Technology 2021 - 2022 (on the blog)

Mrs. Prichard's Guide to Technology 2021 - 2022 (on Google Classroom)

Writing 2 Assignments Checklist

Writing 2 Syllabus

About the Personal Essay

Welcome to Writing 2 @ CHAT!

 Greetings!

This is just a short note to say "Hello!" and to welcome both students and parents to my Writing 2 class at CHAT.  (I see a great mix of familiar and new names on the list. ) 

I'll be sending a longer, "here's what you need to know before school starts" email over the weekend, so this is just a brief greeting.  

This year I will be using Google Classroom for all of the assignments, so if you don't already have one, you should be getting from Mrs. Nelson a student chatclasses email for your child who is enrolled in this class.  My practice is to send all class emails and updates to parents and students, so if you want to use another email in addition to this one, please let me know.  

I hope you've had a good, fun, and relaxing summer.  And I also hope you're looking forward to a new school year.  I know I am!!

Blessings, 

Mrs. Prichard

Mrs. Prichard's Guide to Technology for 2021 - 2022

Greetings CHAT families!

Last year because of the potential restrictions from COVID-19, I put all of my materials and assignments on Google Classroom.  For many students, Google Classroom helped them keep track of assignments, was a repository of any handouts from class that they had lost, and offered an online way to complete homework.  Considering those benefits, I will again be using Google Classroom for my classes at CHAT.  Below are explanations and descriptions of some helpful resources to help you get set up for the year.

Online Option using Zoom.

• If at any point we require distance learning this year, the classes will meet via Zoom

• Students who are sick or out of town can attend my classes via Zoom.

• Follow this link:   Tamera Prichard’s Zoom classroom.  (password:  chat)

• Note:  Google Classroom offers a Google Meet address for the classes, but at this time I will not be using Google Meet

The G-Suite for CHAT Classes

Kim Nelson has assigned an email account with chatclasses.com to all of my students.  (Last year’s students will continue with their emails.)  This is essential for using Google Classroom and the multiple tools that come with the G-Suite for education.  Mrs. Nelson has also made some videos and a teaching sheet for using your CHAT email account and getting into Google Classroom.  She uses an Algebra 1 class as an example, but the steps will be the same for my writing classes.  

• How to Sign in to Gmail and Google Classroom for CHAT students

• How to Forward Your Email and Create a Filter

• Intro to Google Classroom for Students (20 minutes)

• How to scan a multi-page document using Genius Scan (free) and get it into Google Classroom  (Note:  Genius Scan is phone app that scans documents and saves them as PDFs.)

• Student Quick Guide to Google Classroom

• Another Google Classroom Tutorial

Google Drive

• With the G-Suite, students have access to Google Drive, which is a multi-dimensional platform for documents, slides, spreadsheets, etc.  Think of it as a filing system for your digital content.

• To get started, students should create separate folders for each of their classes.  For some classes, they might want folders within a folder.  (e.g. A Writing 2 folder could have subfolders for Essays, Grammar, Literature.)

• A well-organized Google Drive will help students stay better organized with their school work.  

Google Classroom

• All assignments for the semester will be posted in Google Classroom even if we’re face to face.  

• Students will be added to the roster and will get an invitation to join the class.  Follow the links in the email.  Parents will also be added.  If you prefer to not be added, let me know.  

• The assignments will come in one or more of the following formats:

• An attached Google Doc on which students can type

• A quiz or form that students can complete

• A discussion question on which students can type a comment or respond to a classmate

• An assignment where a student can upload a document or some other type of electronic work

• Students will need to remember to “Turn in” their homework via a button on the assignment page.

• Google Classroom has an attached gradebook and should be used for checking for missing work.  This year I will be using it as my online gradebook.  

• Google Classroom also has a calendar that keeps track of due dates for assignments.

Communication

• Email:  My email is tammy.prichard@chatclasses.com.  (Some of you have my older gmail account, so please change it to this one.)

• Blog:  I send weekly notes in an email and post them on the class blog.  I will also use the blog for sharing other information, such as videos, websites, etc.

• Writing 1

• Writing 2

• Writing 3

Finally, the 2 most important questions

• “Where to find worksheets and materials?”

• Attached to Class Notes emails.

• Attached to Google Classroom assignments

• In the shared folder for your class

•  Writing 

• Writing 2

• Writing 3

• Note:  These documents can only be accessed by students with CHAT emails; they are also set to be “View Only.”

• On the gradebook after the assignment has been posted on Classroom.

• “How can students hand in homework?”

• When we’re face to face, all work can be handed in physically in class

• For face to face OR distance learning:  Via the Google Classroom assignment (using the attached document or uploading material)

• If and only if the Rocketbook app is not working or a student is still in the process of figuring out Google Classroom

• Send an electronic version (i.e. pdf, Google docs, or Word document – NO Pages or photos) via email.

• The specific name of the assignment must be in the subject line.

• Send only one assignment per email.  

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