Writing 2 - Shared Google Folder, Google Classroom, and Zoom students

Greetings Class!

In just a couple of days, we'll be starting a new school year at CHAT.  I'm excited to see everyone, both face to face and via Zoom!

By now, you all have your chatclasses email information from Kim Nelson. Students, make sure you've signed into it BEFORE the first day.  Also, you've been invited to the Writing 2 Google Classroom.  Make sure you've joined the class and have tried at least one of the sample assignments.

I'm doing something new this year -- I'm handing out all of the materials for the semester during the first and second weeks.  Usually, I hand them out as we need them, but you never know when someone might not be in class.  If you are taking the Zoom option, please send me your mailing address so that I can get the copies and the books to you.

All of our materials will be also be available on Google Drive, and here are the folders for Writing 1

• Fall Writing 2 Students (Primary folder)
• Grammar (Includes all worksheets)
• Literature (includes study guides & introductions)
• Writing (includes descriptions of essays)
• Syllabus & Class Resources (includes assignment lists & class policies)
• As always, most information sent via email will also appear on the blog -- Writing 2 - Shared Google Folder, Google Classroom, and Zoom students

If you are taking Writing 1 via Zoom, please confirm that by responding to this email and including your mailing address.  I've heard from a couple, but in the flurry of last minute emails and changes, I might have missed someone.

Finally, on Thursday we will talk about apps for Rocketbook and Google Classroom.  You don't need to do anything now UNLESS you're curious and want to download those apps and play around with them a bit.

All my papers and books and folders are packed and ready for Thursday.  Until then ...

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Mrs. Prichard’s Guide to Hybrid Learning

Greetings CHAT families!

Due to the changing landscape of social interactions because of COVID-19, all educational plans and practices need to be flexible for the unforeseeable future.  With that in mind, I’ve planned my classes for this year to work whether we can be face to face or distance.  Below are explanations and descriptions of the resources I will use this year.

The G-Suite for CHAT Classes

Kim Nelson has 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:  The same steps work for the Rocketbook app.)

·         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.)

Google Classroom

·         All assignments for the semester will be posted Google Classroom even if we’re face to face.  The assignments will come in one or more of the following formats:

o    An attached Google Doc on which students can type

o    A quiz or form that students can complete

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

o    A worksheet made with the Rocketbook template.  (More on this later.)

o    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.  For accurate scores and grades, you should check the your student’s Google Gradebook Sheets.

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

Rocketbook Templates and App

·         All worksheets have been overlaid on the Rocketbook template.  Using the Rocketbook app, students can scan their finished worksheets and send them to the Google Classroom assignment.

·         If we are face to face, students can hand in material in class or upload it to the Google Classroom assignment. 

·         You must have the Rocketbook app on your phone for this to work.

·         Watch this Rockekbook App Tutorial

·         Make sure your Rocketbook app is set to save scanned material as pdfs.

·         Watch this video about setting your destination settings

o    I suggest the following destinations:

§  -- to the student’s chatclasses.com email

§  -- to a Google Drive folder labeled as the class’s Quick Writes & Class Note-taking  (e.g. Writing 1 Quick Writes & Class Note-taking)

§  -- to a Google Drive folder labeled as the class’s assignments  (Writing 1 Assignments)

o    You can also share documents to other destinations (see ).  If you have the Google Classroom mobile app, you can upload the scan to an assignment.

·         You can label your Rocketbook pages with double hashtags.

o    For example --    ## Tammy Prichard Grammar Aug 27 ##  --  will label the document.  This makes it easier to find it in your Google folder.

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.

o    Writing 1

o    Writing 2

o    Writing 3

·         Office Hours – Thursdays, 4:00 – 5:00 , and Tuesdays, 4:00 – 5:00.

o    This is new for me this year, but I feel that if we are at any time distance learning, students might need more help than a Zoom class offers.  I will have my Zoom class open during that time.

·         Zoom:  If our classes are at any time online, we will meet in Tamera Prichard’s Zoom classroom.  (password:  chat)

o    Note:  Google Classroom offers a Google Meet address for the classes, but at this time CHAT will not be using those. 

·         “Where to find worksheets and materials?”

o    Attached to Class Notes emails.

o    Attached to Google Classroom assignments

o    In the shared folder for your class

§  Writing 1

§  Writing 2

§  Writing 3

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

o    On the Gradebook Sheets after the assignment has been posted on Classroom.

·         “How can students hand in homework?”

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

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

o    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. 

Fall Plans -- Face to Face OR Distance Learning?

To the Families of Writing 2 students,

Welcome!  Even though it's summer, many of us are thinking ahead to the next year, so I want to share with you some of my plans for these classes next year.

Firstly, if we're clear to go with a full house at Grace Church, I will follow my regular curricular plans but add in some of the online tools that I've found especially helpful and/or fun.  (Edpuzzle, Padlet, Flipgrid, YouTube, etc.)  I will continue to use an online grade book, Google Drive for copies of handouts, and a blog for each class.  (If you're interested, check out Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3, and ACT Prep)

Because CHAT will have access to the Google Educational Suite, I am considering using Google Classroom even if we don't need to do any distance learning.  I've used Google Classroom for the past 5 years at my charter school, and it's a pretty efficient learning management system.  Assignments are posted and can be turned in electronically with this site.

If we need to be online for any of the year, in addition to using Google Classroom, all of my instructional materials (e.g. handouts, worksheets, quizzes, etc.) would be available electronically, and we would continue classes through video conferencing.  While nothing beats being with one another face to face, the Zoom class times seemed to work well.  If we are online at the beginning of the year, I would take sufficient time to work with students regarding how to be online learners.  

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 15 (May 7)

Greetings!  

This was our last week of Writing 2 at CHAT.  We had a fun day, but it also felt bittersweet.  I must admit that I was a bit tear-y after our last farewells.  This was a delightful group of students, and it was hard not seeing them all in person.  (I also think we would have had even more fun it we'd been able to play our games in person.)

After a quick check in on homework and practical stuff, the students wrote their final Quick Write, which asked them to give "Wrong answers only."  They were given 4 pictures and had to give new titles or answer questions.  (Here's the slide I used.)  After the students had written answers to the four prompts, they went to the breakout rooms that were also for their poetry groups. In their groups they shared their Quick Writes and then chose who from their groups would take part in the last half of our Poetry Presentation.

This week's Poetry Presentation was a continued "Poetry Jam" contest, but this time they only had to recite poetry if they wanted to.  It was fun to hear them enjoy their recitations.  We had a number of original poems, which was also really cool.

After our poetry, we played another game, which I called Charada-Pictiona-Catch-a-Phrase.The first round was for acting out words from a list, the second was for drawing from a list of words, and finally, the third round required clue-giving.  It seemed to work well on the Zoom platform.  

Now, for the nuts and bolts for finishing up the class.  Students can hand in any homework until Sunday midnight.  (11:59, to be exact.)  I will be sending out grades on Monday.  If for some reason that won't work, please contact me.  Look for 2 emails from me:  one the explains how i grade and then the grades themselves.  

Next week, CHAT is having a materials pick up and drop off at Grace Church at 10:00.  There is nothing for Writing 2 that you need to return or that I need to give to you.  I will be there to pick up some items. so if you want the paper copies of finished homework, let me know.

This has been a great year with these students.  They're bright and engaging, and they've worked hard this year.  I've been especially proud of how they've stayed the course during this season of distance learning.  I hope you all have a great summer.  Come visit me in Northfield some time.  

Blessings!

Mrs. Prichard

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 23)

Greetings!

We had a good day "in class."  I know that this quarantine thing is getting old, for the students and their families. There's no instructional manual for this time -- except for the Word of God.

We started the class with a Quick Write.  Because April 23 is National Take a Chance Day, National Talk like Shakespeare Day, and National Poem in your Pocket Day, students could use any one of these as a prompt for their writing, and kudos if they could combine them.

After a quick homework check, we finished off our Words of the Day unit with a final "exam" in the form of a Bingo game (you can see the card here)  I used a mix of words and images on the card.  I gave definitions, the students figured out the word, and then they filled in their bingo cards.  It went well, from my perspective.

The Evaluation Essay Final Draft is due this week, and we have one more writing assignment for the year -- the Essay Re-Write.  For this essay, they are to take one of their previously written essays and improve it.  Many times students write essays, get them graded, put them in a file, and forget about them.  I like to end the year by giving students a chance to show their learning through their own revising abilities.  They could choose their worst essays, the one they enjoyed and want to continue to add more information, or their very first one of the year.  They can add more information or revise their sentence/paragraph structures.  I especially asked them to look at their introductions and conclusions.  They had this week to re-do one of their essays and then hand it in next week.  This isn't the regular rough draft/final draft cycle -- just one revision on one essay.

For the last 2 weeks of the semester, we do one of my favorite activities -- the Poetry Jam.  Everyone in the class should prepare 2 poems to recite for the class, and then their team will present a poem as a group. If they want, they can do a duet with someone.  The rules for the Poetry Jam are simple:  poems must be at least 5 lines long; extra credit for original poems, extra credit for memorized poems,  poems can be from our book or from another source.  The students have been sent an email with their groups and email addresses.

The Grammar homework is a comma placement review that uses the introduction from an essay that a previous student wrote.  They are to insert commas for compound sentences, complex sentences, lists, etc.  Next week, I will give them a take home test on commas.

It's good to see the faces of my students, even if it is just a video.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Essay Re-Write

-- Choose 2 poems to recite

-- Work with your team for the group work

-- Finish the Comma Placement "Flash" paragraphs

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Comma Placement "The Flash"  Paragraph 

Comma Placement "The Flash" Paragraph (Google Doc)

Essay Re-Write 

Poetry Jam Rubric

Comma Placement "The Flash"

NAME:  _________________

In the paragraphs below, insert the necessary commas

How the Flash Came To Be

            Barry Allen also known as the Flash had a very rough life but his powers changed his life forever. Living with his adoptive father and sister he began his career in forensics at his local police station. When Allen was young his mother had died and his father was wrongly accused of killing her. For many of his young years Allen's life was depressing but he soon grew out of his depression and worked at a police station with his adoptive father Joe West. Before too long Barry Allen's life changed for the better.

            Barry Allen's early life was very tough and depressing.  Because his mother had been murdered by his father his father went to jail.  With his mom was gone he changed homes.  His new family's name was the Wests; his adoptive father's name was Joe and his sister's name was Iris. Allen lived with them until he moved out. He often felt very sad and angry at his life because he wanted his family back but that never happened. Allen's life had ups and downs but his early life was especially depressing.

Essay Re-Write

Definition

The purpose of this essay is to improve editing skills by rewriting a previously written essay.  Effective editing is a step-by-step process.  One key is to re-read a paper multiple times, looking for only one kind of error at a time.

Editing Plan

As you re-read your paper, look for any errors in the following areas:

·      Complete sentences:  Each sentence should have a subject, verb, and a complete thought.  Look for incomplete and run-on/comma splice sentences.

·      Parallel Constructions:  Faulty parallel construction leads to unclear and awkward sentences.

·      There are/is/was/will be, etc.:  Any sentences with this type of construction must be changed.

·      Punctuation:  Pay close attention to commas and ending punctuation.

·      Agreement:  Make sure all subjects and verbs agree; also look for noun/pronoun agreement.

·      Spelling:  With the spell check function for most word processing software, this is not as much of a problem as it used to be.  However, your computer will not know if you’ve put the wrong word in, or it may autocorrect and change the word from the one you intended.

·      Paragraph construction:  Each paragraph must have a main idea.  Make sure that all of the thoughts expressed in the paragraph are part of that main idea.  Do any sentences need to be moved to another paragraph?  Does the paragraph need to be divided into smaller paragraphs?

·      Organization:  Is the overall organization of the paper logical?  Does each point lead to the next?  Should it be rearranged?

·      Content:  The essay should give sufficient information to support your thesis. Have you included enough background information?  Have you satisfactorily covered the material?  As you re-read, look for ways to expand your essay.  Also, note any information that seems unnecessary. 

Thesis Development

Your essay should have a clearly defined thesis that you explain and support.  Sometimes a thesis is simple and straightforward; sometimes they are more complex.  Your reader should never be confused as to your topic and your decided opinion or stand on that topic.           

Essay Guidelines

– Due date:  April 30

– Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)

– Final draft format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay