Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 2 (Sept. 4)

Greetings!

(Firstly, my apologies for the lateness of this update.  Our family had neither phone nor internet connections until Sunday afternoon.  We survived quite well without them, but some work items were delayed.)

We had a good, productive time in class this week.  I'm pleased at the class interaction as we discuss ideas and writing first thing in the morning.

In my other classes, I begin with a Quick Write -- a 5 - 10 spontaneous writing exercise to get us in the groove of writing.  For these older students, our beginning of class activity includes SAT and ACT writing prompts.  Our prompt this week was:

   

Winning does not require people to be against someone else; people can reach their goals through

cooperation just as well as they can through competition. Winning is not always the result of selfish

individualism. People achieve happiness by cooperating with others to increase the happiness of

all, rather than by winning at others’ expense. Ours is not a world in which the price of one person’s

happiness is someone else’s unhappiness.

Adapted from Gilbert Brim, Ambition

Assignment: When some people win, must others lose, or are there situations in which everyone

wins? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support

your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or

observations.  Source: www.collegeboard.com, 2009

We had a wonderful discussion about competition.

The students have my "30 Steps to a Research Paper," which we will use weekly to guide our discussions and the research process.  Last week we covered Steps 1 - 6; this week we covered # 7 - 10.  In these steps we talked about developing a thesis, forming leading questions, and writing a research proposal.  Their assignment for next week is to write a research proposal.  For this paper, they should discuss these areas:

   -- The Topic

   -- Leading questions

   -- Sources for research

   -- Timeline for completion

   -- Acknowledging challenges

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Review the 30 Steps handout up to Step 10.

-- Write the Research Proposal.

See y'all on Thursday!

Mrs. Prichard