Writing 3 Class Notes -- September 6

Greetings!

We had a productive class this week.  Sometimes the class right after lunch can be the hardest; a good lunch and a morning of classes are more conducive to naptime than classtime.  But the students in this class engage well with the material and the discussions.

We began with a fun Quick Write using the cards from a game called "Man Bites Dog" in which players are given cards with common words found in newspaper headlines.  The students were to arrange the words into their own headlines and start a short newspaper story to go with it. After a couple of rounds with the cards, we worked on impromptu essays using SAT writing questions.  In the SAT, students have 25 minutes to write an essay. This week I gave the students 10 minutes to outline what they might write in response to the question.  A key skill for students to learn is to think and analyze quickly within a given time constraint.  We'll do a few of these throughout the semester.

After the essays, we did some Vocabulary Building exercises.  Some people can memorize long lists without any trouble.  I find it easier to learn words if I know the roots of the words.  Especially Latin roots.  Also, learning roots opens the door for understanding whole families of words.  This week we looked at caput ("head") and oculis ("eye").

Having a topic and leading questions was the assignment for this week.  We went around the room sharing our topics and getting feedback and suggestions.  A helpful component for this class will be the collaboration and input from the group.  A challenge in writing this paper is developing a thesis.  In other words, the students need to take a stand regarding their topic.  Not only do they need to research and present information, but they need to express it in a way that causes the readers to agree with them. 

We also discussed ways to organize notes.  Some students will prefer notecards, while others may feel more comfortable with loose leaf notebook pages or a spiral notebook.  Whichever they choose, they need to be consistent.

Next Week's Assignments:
-- Read the following articles found in Dropbox or on the blog:
      --  Brainstorming
      --  Argument
      --  Developing a Thesis
      --  How to Write a Thesis Statement
      --  Evaluating Print Sources
--  Firm up the thesis for your paper.  Write it in 1 or 2 sentences.
--  Begin work on your outline.
--  Begin work on your research.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard