Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 1 (August 28)

Greetings!

Welcome to Writing 3, Research Writing.  We had a wonderful class this week.  I'm excited to have both returning and new students.  Research Writing is an opportunity for students to write that longer paper and dive more deeply into a topic.

After opening the class in prayer, I had the class write a Quick Write.  In Writing 1 and Writing 2, we began each class with a short writing exercise.  Usually we will use the time at the beginning of class to work on SAT and ACT writing prompts and to review vocabulary building strategies.  Our Quick Write today was "What did you NOT do this summer?"  We also spent some time getting to know one another.  

I spent a lot of this class explaining the syllabus, classroom policies, and the ways in which I run the class.  I've attached the documents that I handed out in class to this e-mail.  You should also be getting an invitation to the Dropbox file with these documents.  We discussed the Classroom Policies, which I also asked them to have you read and sign/initial.  It may also help it parents read through the syllabus so that they know the steps for writing the research paper.

We went through the first six steps of the "30 Steps to a Research Paper."  We talked at length about choosing a good, strong thesis for the paper and a little bit about leading questions.  We'll go into greater depth on those topics in the weeks to come.  I had hoped to have some time in class to do some group work, however, we didn't have time.  Therefore, they'll have to do this as homework.  I would like them to do some brainstorming about the topics that would most interest them.  After listing 5 - 10 possible topics, they should then narrow it down to 2 with leading questions for each.  The next step is for the student to choose 1 or both of the narrowed down ideas, and write a page about their interest in this topic.  I not only want them to explore their interest, but I want an opportunity to see a writing sample for those students who are new to me.

Even though we did not go through the grammar sheet that explains the sentence and parts of speech, the students felt they could do the worksheets on their own since they were mostly review of information that they already know.

Assignments for next week:

-- Classroom Policies -- students and parents should both read this document and initial or sign it.  Please bring it to class next week.

-- Review the syllabus

-- Re-read Steps 1 - 6 of the "30 Steps."

-- List 5 - 10 possible topics with a thesis idea for each.

-- Narrow the topic to 2 options with some leading questions for each.

-- Write a 1 - 2 page paper describing your interest in the topic you've chosen.

-- Grammar Worksheet 1-9 TEST

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard