Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 13 (November 20)

Greetings!

We have come to one of my favorite parts of the Writing 3 - Research Writing class:  the Presentations.  Students have worked hard researching and writing about a topic of interest.  The difficulties of this project are many:  finding a good topic, finding suitable resources, fitting in the research and writing into busy schedules, and, finally, writing a clear, insightful, coherent paper.  When we start the presentation part of the class, I feel so proud of the students for working so hard and doing their best.  Even if a student isn't completely satisfied with the work he or she has done, something has been learned in the process.

This week, we had the following presentations:

Cynthia Krause spoke on homeless youth in the Twin Cities.  She had great statistics about causes and effects of this situation.  She also gave us good information about organizations working to help young adults and youth who find themselves on the streets.

Sally Russell's research project was about the Common Core, an educational initiative aimed at centralizing curriculum in our country.  She shared pros and cons, its origins, and information regarding who supports it and who doesn't.

Luke Swenson gave his presentation of his research about sleep.  We learned about  what causes us to sleep, the benefits of sleep, sleep disorders, and biphasic sleep.

Each of the students had PowerPoint presentations to go along with their oral comments.

As you know, we won't have class next week due to our Thanksgiving break.  This is an important family time and can be really busy, but having the extra days off from CHAT classes gives students more opportunities to work on revising the rough draft and preparing the Final Draft.

We have two weeks left in class.  Their Final Drafts are due on the last week of class.  I told them that I would accept a late paper, but it's best to get them done on time.  Once the class is over, the energy and drive to finish the paper will dissipate.

The schedule for the following presentations:

Week 14 (December 4)

Zac

Taylor

Hannah

Makana

Week 15 (December 11)

Garret

Josh

Grant

Lena

Spencer

Have a great Thanksgiving celebration!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 12 (November 13)

Greetings!

We had a productive class this week.  As we near the end of the semester, more of their work is happening outside of our weekly class time.

I began the class with a trial test-taking activity.  With #19 on our SAT/ACT prompts list, they were given 15 minutes to work on writing their responses.  This particular question happened to be an ACT question, and in real life they would have had 30 minutes to write.  When it comes time to take these tests for real, I feel that each of the students will be able to formulate and write strong essays.

I handed back their second rough drafts this week.  I read their first rough drafts for content and organization.  These were read for mechanics, grammar, and writing style.  Those students who have had me for other classes are accustomed to the manner in which I mark up rough drafts.  In other words, they are used to the multitude of marks and comments.  I took a significant amount of time to go over the types of corrections that I made and some common errors.  We also talked about style and strategic writing that yields strong sentences.  

In addition to talking about their individual rough drafts, we went over the guidelines for standard MLA formatting.  For those who are comfortable with their second rough drafts, they can hand in their final drafts on either Week 14 or Week 15 (the last 2 weeks of class.)  For those who would like to do a third draft, they can hand those in next week or the week after.  That will give me enough time to go over the drafts and get them back.

We start presentations next week.  Luke, Cynthia, and Sally have volunteered to present.  The rest of the class still needs to sign up for a slot.

They've all worked hard.  I'm really looking forward to their final drafts and their presentations.

Assignment for Next Week:

-- Revise and Edit the rough draft

-- Prepare the presentation.

This week's Class Notes

Have a great weekend!  Keep warm!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 6)

Greetings!

This week in class we covered a number of items related to the research papers.  We began our class with another Quick Write.  The day of our class, November 6, was James Naismith's birthday.  He was the inventor of the game of basketball, which he did as a class assignment.  The topic of the Quick Write was to write about a creative project they had done or would like to do for school.

In class, we discussed the format and details for the Works Cited page.  If they have any doubts about this part of the paper, they can check some of the online resources listed below.

Another topic for the day was their Presentations that they are to give at the end of the semester when their papers are due.  Some students really dislike this part, while others have a lot of experience speaking in front of others.  The reason for the presentations is that many times deeper learning happens when you explain to others what you're learned.  They are doing this in the process of writing the paper, but they will also be doing this via the presentation.  They should be thinking about what key points from their research they would like to share with their classmates.  

We watched a short video on giving presentations.  Also, I shared with the students the following statistics:

People remember 10% of an oral presentation; 35% from a visual presentation: and 65% of one that is oral and visual.

The students had a worksheet with a sample edited portion of a paper.  In groups, they discussed why the various edits were made.

Rough Draft #2 was due this week.  If it wasn't handed in at class, it should be e-mailed to me.  I will hand them back next week.

Assignment for Next Week:

-- Presentation Plan

This Week's Links:

Class Notes

MLA Format for Citations

MLA Guide (from Purdue OWL)

Examples of a Bad Presentation Video

Keep warm; winter's coming!

Mrs. Prichard