Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 29)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day in class.  We started the class period with a Quick Write, and today's prompt was connected with the fact that it is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.  I gave the students a sheet of paper with an extra large pocket outline. They were to write a poem within the lines of that pocket.  They could write originals or copy one from our poetry book.  

Here are our unusual Words of the Day:

Hexadosioihexekontahexaphobie -- the fear of the number 666

ructation -- the act of belching

heaven -- a place regarded as the home of God, the skies

resplendent -- attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous.

The Final Drafts of the Evaluation Essays were due today, and I introduced the next writing assignment, which is an Essay Re-Write.  For this essay, students can choose any essay they have written this year for Writing 2, or they can choose an essay that they've written for another class.  They should take a one of their final drafts and look for ways to improve it.  I often suggest that students choose the essay that they got the worst grade on or that they want to spend some more time on. Another option can be to trade essays with a friend and re-write the friend's essay.  This writing assignment is due next week, and students should hand in the original along with the re-write.  (Note:  This isn't our regular pre-write to rough draft to final draft process.)

For our Literature portion of the class, we spend most of our time talking about one of my favorite poems by William Carlos Williams, "A Red Wheelbarrow."  After our discussion, I explained our Poetry Jam, which we will have for the next 2 weeks.  The class has been divided into teams, and those teams will compete in a group by reciting poetry.  (It looks like we might have some guest "judges" for the day.)  Each student should bring in 2 poems next week for the first round of the Poetry Jam.  

Here are the teams:

Team 1:  Maria, Maddy, Anna, Sam, Josie

Team 2:  Ethan, Raya, Zach, Nalani, Grace

Team 3:  Carson, Peter, Bennett, Ellie, Ava

Team 4:  Ingrid, Leighton, Jessie M, Kara, James

Team 5:  Elliot, Benjamin, Levi, Michael S.

Team 6:  Philip, Tyler, Michael M, Jesse T

Finally, to conclude our Grammar for the year, I have a Final Comma Test that they will take next week.  For this week, they have a review sheet that they should complete and then correct.  Correcting their own work will further help them review and will be much more beneficial than waiting a week to see if they got the answers right.  

We have a couple fun weeks planned to finish out our year, so let's make sure you get caught up on any late work.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Bring 2 poems for your contribution to the Poetry Jam (Here is the scoring information)

-- Complete the Essay Re-Write

-- Complete the Mastering the Comma Review sheet and correct it. (Bring the corrected version to class)

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Have a great weekend!

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 12 (April 22)

 Greetings!

Just a brief note this week.

As always, we had a good class today.  In addition to our Quick Writes and Words of the Day, we had a discussion about common errors & corrections for the rough drafts of the Evaluation Essays.  Then, we broke into small groups to discuss the assigned poems.  Finally, for our grammar section I taught the students how to use the semicolon using Reese's peanut butter cups as an object lesson.

A gentle reminder:  Masks are still required at CHAT (including in the classroom) unless a student's parents have contacted Mrs. Nelson or Mrs. Johnson.  I often ask students to temporarily pull down their masks when I am having a hard time hearing their comments, but otherwise, the masks should be on.  

Assignments for Next Week:

• Evaluation Essay Final Draft

• Poetry: Read Frost (49-50), Sandburg (53-54), Williams (60- 61), Hughes  (75-78)

Note: The individual poems have been posted on Google Classroom: Week 13 Poetry

• Poetry Response (2 Poems)

• Grammar:  Wk11 - The Colon

• Grammar:  Wk11 - Using Semicolons and Colons

This Week's Class Notes: Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 22)

Be blessed this weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 11)

 Greetings!

We had a lovely class this week.  One aspect that I especially enjoy with this Writing 1 class is that they all get along well and participate in a harmonious way.  We have good, productive conversations.

For our Quick Writes, here were their options:

1). If your life had a theme song, what song would it be and why? 2) If your life was a movie, what would the title be and what genre would it be?  Why? 3) Skittles of M & Ms?  Why? and 4) If you could design a “National Day” what would it be and why?

We had some unusual Words of the Day:

xanthophobia -- fr. Greek, xanthos, "yellow;" phobia, "fear" -- the fear of yellow

pentheraphobia -- fr. Greek, penthera, "mother in law"; phobia, "fear" -- a fear of your mother-in-law

tumultuous -- fr. Latin, tumultus, "commotion, bustle" -- a loud uproar

sarcasm -- fr. Latin, sarcasmus, "sneer, taunt"

dunk -- fr. Old German thunkon, "to dip" -- to dip something into a liquid

redhibition -- fr. Latin, rehibitio, "a taking back" -- to return a faulty or damaged product

We had a very short quiz after our Words of the Day.  I asked the students to memorize the state of being words:  am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been.  I had them list the words, and they did a great job.

They have handed in the rough drafts of their Evaluation Essays.  I'm looking forward to reading them; these were probably the most complex essays that they will write this year.  I also asked them today to think about how they've improved as writers.  They shared some insightful comments.

We are now reading poetry for our Literature portion of the class. Some students like poetry, but many aren't that crazy about it.  Today, we watched a couple of videos of poetry recitations.  (See links at the bottom.)  The class has their new poetry books, and they should read the poems of the poets listed below.  We had some delightful poetry reading by the class of a number of Emily Dickinson poems.

For their homework, they need to respond to 2 poems, and the have 5 options:  

1.  Fill out a Poetry Worksheet for one or both

2.  Write a paragraph about the poem(s) that analyzes the poem; discuss what you think it means and why you like or don't like it.

3.  Instead of writing a paragraph, record a video commentary about the poem.  Youtube LiveStream or some other app on a device is OK as long as it can be seen by me.

4.  Do a piece of art that connects with the content and meaning of the poem.  

5.  Make a video of your recitation of the poem.

For our Grammar section of the class, we worked on 2 worksheets for the students to practice some more punctuation:  quotation marks and italics.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Poetry: Read Harper (27-29), Wilcox (33), Thayer (34-35), Johnson (41), Dunbar (p. 41 – 43)

• Poetry Packet (2 Poems)

• Grammar:  Wk12 - Italics & Quotation Marks
• Grammar:  Wk12 - Using Italics

Links for this Week

Class Notes

2019 Poetry Out Loud Winner -- Bella Callery (from my other school, Arcadia Charter School)

I Hear America Singing

The Builders

Taylor Mali "Speak with Authority"

Dead Poets Society "What will your verse be?"

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 10 (April 1)

 Greetings!

For our Quick Writes, we had 3 options:  1)  Write about a memorable joke or prank; 2) Write about your family's or church family's Easter traditions; 3) Ask Mrs. Prichard 3 questions.  Over the years, the students have enjoyed when this third option comes up; they ask thoughtful, curious, and often quirky questions.  

We had a brief check in on their Evaluation Essay; the rough drafts are due on April 15.  Some students have given this some thought, and others have waited until this next week to work on it.  Establishing criteria and evaluating something with that criteria is an important academic skill.

We had a quiz about our the four Short Stories that we read for this week, and even though I mentioned last week that I might do this, some students were not prepared.  I expected that to happen.  When spring arrives and the end of the year is in sight, most students turn their thoughts to activities other than school.  (The 2020-21 school year has been exceptionally long, so I really don't blame them.)  This was a low stakes reminder for them to do their homework.  

We are finished with our Short Stories and are now onto Poetry. Some students picked up books last week, and I didn't have the extras with me.  So, I have links for the poems they are to read.  These poems come from a book titled 101 Great American Poems, and they will be reading a chronological collection of poems, starting with poetry from the early 1800s to that of the mid-1900s.  

After the students read all of the poems, they are to choose 2 poems to respond to.  They need to respond to 2 poems, and here are their options:

1.  Fill out a Poetry Worksheet for one or both

2.  Write a paragraph about the poem(s) that analyzes the poem; discuss what you think it means and why you like or don't like it.

3.  Instead of writing a paragraph, record a video commentary about the poem.  Youtube LiveStream or some other app on a device is OK as long as it can be seen by me.

4.  Do a piece of art that connects with the content and meaning of the poem.  

5.  Make a video of your recitation of the poem.

Finally, for our Grammar portion of the class, we continued our discussion of punctuation.  This week we went over how parentheses and dashes are used and how they differ from  commas.

Have a blessed Easter weekend!  

Blessing,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Week 11 (April 15)

-- Evaluation Essay Pre-Write

-- Evaluation Essay Rough Draft

-- Poetry: Read Emerson (4-5); Longfellow (6-10); Holmes (21), Whitman (22-26),Dickinson (29 - 32)

Week 11 Poetry Pt. 1 -- Emerson, Holmes, Longfellow

Week 11 Poetry Pt. 2 -- Whitman, Dickinson

-- Poetry Responses (2 Poems)

-- Grammar:  Wk10 - Dashes & Parentheses

-- Grammar:  Wk10 - Parentheses & Dashes

-- Grammar:  Wk10 - Ellipsis

Links for this Week:  

Class Notes

Poetry for Week 11 (April 15)  (Note:  I've added some poetry that wasn't on the syllabus)

Holmes (p. 21 - 22)  Old Ironsides

Emerson (p. 4, 5) Concord Hymn, and The Snowstorm

Longfellow (p. 6 – 10) The Arrow and the Song, and The Builders, and Paul Revere's Ride

Whitman (p. 22 – 26) I Hear America Singing and  O Captain, My Captain

Dickinson (p. 29 – 32)    Because I could not stop for death, and Hope is a thing with feathers, and If I can stop one heart from breaking, and  I'm nobody, who are you? and  There is no frigate like a book, and  This is my letter to the world

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 25)

 Greetings!

It was a beautiful day outside and a fun learning day inside.  

Our Quick Write this week included prompts from the students themselves:

• If you could start a business or company, what would it be?

• What kinds of hairstyles do you like or not like?

• If you could change your name, what would it be?

• What were the highs and lows of this past week?

For our Words of the Day were feline and canine inspired. One of my favorite books, The Play of Words by Richard Lederer, has fun lists of words, including words that start with "cat" and "dog." Our words included catastrophe, category, catacombs, doggerel, dogma, dog-tired, dog-fight, and dog-tags.

Students have handed in the Final Drafts of their Problem/Solution or Cause/Effect Essays. We're now ready to start our final "from scratch" essay. (Following this essay, students will complete a re-write of an earlier written essay and a short reflection paper.) This next writing assignment is an Evaluation Essay. This writing assignment is one of the more complicated essays that they will write. Firstly, they need to decide what they want to evaluate. We brainstormed some possible topics: cars, movies, teachers, restaurants, books, food items, etc. After they've chosen the topic, they need to decide what qualities of that their topic they will evaluate; in other words, they need to establish criteria. After they've developed their criteria, they need to decide what good likes and what bad looks like. The rough draft and pre-write are due April 15, but it will be helpful for them if they have some ideas about the topics they want to write about.

Following the writing discussion, we briefly covered our four Short Stories assigned for this week. I had the feeling that not everyone had read the stories, and that might be because of some confusion about which stories were assigned. For next week they are to read stories by Kate Chopin, Luigi Pirandello, Guy de Maupassant, and Nella Larsen, but not Katherine Mansfield. (A change for the original list of stories.) And there's a chance we'll have a quiz next week. Just FYI.

We continue to work on punctuation for our Grammar instruction. We've been working on commas, and this week we've looked at periods as end punctuation and for abbreviations. We also have a worksheet for inserting hyphens.

Have a blessed weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

• Evaluation Essay Pre-Write

• Short Stories: Chopin (30), Larsen (110), Pirandello (149), de Maupassant (134)

• Short Stories Questions

• Grammar:  Wk9 - End Marks & Abbreviations

• Grammar:  Wk9 - Insert Hyphens

Links for This Week

Class Notes

About the Evaluation Essay

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 18)

 Greetings!

We are officially over half way through the Spring semester.  I don't know about you, but once we hit daylight savings time and the days get longer, the days also seem to fly by more quickly!

For the Quick Write this week students had 3 options: 

• March 18 is National Awkward Moments Day.  What is the most embarrassing or awkward situation that you’ve been in?
• March 19 is National Let’s Laugh Day.  Tell about one of the funniest experiences you’ve had. 
• Tuesday, March 16, was National Everything You Do is Right Day.  If you didn’t have to worry about making mistakes, what challenge, adventure, or risk might you take? 

We had one Word of the Day

fortuitous -- fr. Latin, fors, "chance" -- something good that happens by chance

I handed back the rough drafts of the Cause/Effect and Problem/Solution Essays that the students had written.  As part of our writing/grammar instruction, I covered common errors in the papers.  For this round of essays, these were the topics:  amount vs. number; less vs. fewer; scared vs. afraid; the word "things;" contractions; and noun/pronoun agreement.  The final drafts are due next week.  Note:  A number of students did not get their rough drafts in on time.   I might be able to get them corrected before the next class period; if not, they will be returned next week during class.

We have read two more Short Stories by Hawthorne, Bierce, Poe, Harte, Twain, Jewett, Crane, Gilman.  We briefly talked through some plot and character details.  

Following our brief literature discussion, I divided the students into small groups to work together on a worksheet for which they needed to revise some "there is/are" types of sentences.  Then for the rest of our Grammar portion of our class, we are continuing our work with commas.  This time, we are practicing putting commas in the correct places for dates and addresses.  We had time in class to work on our worksheets.

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Cause/Effect OR Problem/Solution  Final Draft

• Short Stories: Read Twain (175), Jewett (87), Crane (34), Gilman (50)
  

• Short Story Packet #2

• Grammar:  Wk8 - Commas Dates Addresses

• Grammar:  Wk8 - Dates Addresses

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 7 (March 11)

 Greetings!

This group of kids did a great job at being flexible and engaged learners today with our distance learning day.  Before our Quick Write, we talked a little bit about the advantages and disadvantages of doing classes on Zoom.  We also talked here and there throughout the class about how to be good online students, including participating in breakout room discussions and avoiding being a passive observer.  

Below are our Quick Write prompts for the day.  Students could put their writing in the Google Classroom assignment or write it by hand and turn it in next week.  After they complete their writing, I divided them into breakout rooms, and they shared their thoughts with one another.  

• On March 11 In 1969, Levi-Strauss started selling bell-bottomed jeans. What are some fashions that you hope you never see again, and what are some of your favorite “classic” fashions that you don’t think should ever go away.
• On March 11 in 1903 Lawrence Welk was born. A band leader, he hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982. (My parents LOVED this show.) Do you have any favorite old-time TV shows that you like? How would you compare older television programs to today’s?
• On March 12 in 1789 the US Post Office was established. How would you compare the way we communicate now to the communication methods of the past? What are pros and cons for each?

We usually do a quick Homework Check between our beginning of class activities and instruction.  Students can hand in their work for this week when they come to class next week.  With the exception of their rough drafts.  Those should be finished and put on the Google Classroom assignment for the Cause/Effect or Problem/Solution Rough Draft.

NOTE:  Any homework that was due during Week 4 and hasn't been handed in will get a zero.  Track My Grades has been updated to reflect any work handed in by last Saturday.

This week we read four stories by British authors.  I sent the students again to breakout rooms instructions to compare two of the stories.  They had to come up with at least 5 points of comparison and then report back to the class.  Oddly enough, all 5 groups chose the same stories!  While they had similar comparisons, they also had some unique insights.   For next week we'll read four stories by early American authors.  On Google Classroom, they have two options of homework for the the readings:  one is the discussion questions worksheet and the other is a set of charts.  They only need to do one.

In our Grammar lesson we covered the simplest comma rule:  series/serial/Oxford commas.  These are the commas used when listing more than two items.  Students have two worksheets on Google Classroom to practice putting in commas in the right places.  

Have a great weekend.  

Blessing,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

• Short Stories: Read Hawthorne (73), Bierce (10), Poe (156), Harte (64)
  

• Week 7 - Short Stories Questions (Option 1)

• Week 7 -- Short Story Packet #2 (Option 2)

• Grammar:  Wk7 - Commas & Items in a Series

• Grammar:  Wk7 - Using Commas in a List

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Writing 2 Spring Google Drive

Quick Write (3/12)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature