Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 15 (December 17)

 Greetings!

We had a marvelously full day today.  I always feel so proud of my students on our presentation days.  They have worked hard on their research papers, and listening to them talk about aspects of their topics allows the rest of the class to appreciate their hard work. 

Another aspect of the presentations is that the students are able to give visual images for the information that they had been putting into words.  Whether it's the animals of the national forests, bridges and buildings, or paintings by Degas, these items provide broader representations of their topics.

Today we heard about the Dutch language, Degas and Impressionism, technology's benefits and pitfalls, cultural differences in architecture, the national parks, and the history of the piano.  We had some technical difficulties for one of the slide presentations, but other than that, the students were wonderful!

Now, all that's left to do is get the final drafts in. As I told them last week, I will take any work (except rough drafts) until Sunday at 5:00 p.m. 

I would love to get everything graded and have grades out before Christmas, but that might happen.  I have final drafts from all three classes, so the whole process might take a little longer.  I will send electronic copies of my notes and rubrics, but if a student wants the physical copy, he/she should let me know.  It could be picked up at CHAT in January, or I could mail it.

This class has been a pleasure.  May all of the students have a well-deserved rest!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Links for this week

(Note:  I've included links to the slide presentations.)

Class Notes

History of the Piano (Abby Kate)

Technology (Will)

National Parks (Isaac)

Architecture (Jacob)

Dutch Language (Laura)

Degas (Katie)

Low Cost Weddings (Annika)

Trafficked (Dellia)

Chemical Warfare (Lilly)

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 14 (December 10)

 Greetings!

Now, we are truly down to the home stretch for Writing 3 and our research papers.  In class we talked about that bittersweet feeling when you near the end of a bigger project; most people feel both relief and a bit of a letdown when they finish something that has taken a lot of work.  

We started class with a Quick Write, using these prompts:

Option 1: What is your favorite restaurant? Why? What do you like to order there? Option 2: What is your least favorite kind of music? Why don’t you like it? Option 3: What is the most generous thing you’ve done? Would you do it again? Why?  

I had chosen these prompts from a list from another class, but the music-related prompt set us up for Martha's presentation.  

Following the Quick Write discussion, I covered again some of the details about in-text citations and the Works Cited page.  This is one of those topics that only fully makes sense when you are actually writing a paper and using that knowledge to correctly document your sources.  

We had two strong Presentations today:  Annika shared about weddings and low cost options, and Martha spoke about music.  Both were well-prepared and thought-provoking.  Next week we will only do presentations, and these are the people presenting:  Sophia, Abby Kate, Will, Laura, Isaac, Jacob, Brad, and Katie.  (No Quick Writes or instruction!)  We are not allowed to eat in our classroom, but I will bring some treats for afterwards.

I reminded the students that their Final Drafts are due next week (Dec. 17), but I also told them that I would take any work until 5:00 pm on Sunday, Dec. 20.  However, I will not take any more rough drafts after next 8:00 AM, Wednesday, Dec. 16.  I spend almost an hour on rough drafts of research papers, going over not only the body of the paper but also each reference on the Works Cited page.  Students should also feel free to have peers, parents, or siblings go over their papers.

Note:  Students, if you hand in anything between now and next Thursday, please also send me an email so that I know it's there.  

Until next week,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 13 (December 3)

 Greetings!

It's hard to believe that we're in December already and that there are only 2 weeks left.  I feel like I'm just getting to know them as students, and we're going to be done.  

For this week's Quick Write, I offered the following prompts:

• Option 1: On December 2, 1867, Charles Dickens gave his first reading in America. People waited in mile long lines in New York to hear him read. Is there an author, speaker, or other person whom you would wait in a long line to hear? Why?
• Option 2: On December 1, 1824, the results of the election went to the House of Representatives because no presidential candidate had received a majority of the total electoral votes in the election, and according to the 12th amendment, Congress turned to the House to decide. What do you think of the election results and the efforts to find evidence of fraud?
• Option 3: On December 4, 1783, George Washington bid farewell to his officers, leaving military life before being elected in 1797 the first president of the United States. Do you have a favorite found father, military leader, or world leader? Who and why?

Following our Quick Write discussion, I went over the various rubrics that we're using with our final products.  For the Presentations, I will evaluate the students with a rubric, students will use the same rubric for a self evaluation, and classmates will use a shortened version for a peer evaluation.  Rubrics allow for a more holistic evaluation; a student can be strong in one point but weaker in another, and a rubric acknowledges those differences.  An important part of learning (and thinking) is to both reflect on work done and to think about the work of others.  I also use a rubric for the Final Draft of the Research Paper; students will fill out the same rubric as a Self-evaluation.

Here are the links to the Self-Evaluation Rubrics

Presentation Self-Evaluation Rubric

Research Paper Self Evaluation Rubric

After looking at those rubrics, we had our first Student Presentations.  Joseph told us about the dangers of rotational falls and frangible technology in the context of cross-country eventing.  Lilly, whose paper is about World War I, chose to focus on one aspect, the details of the chemical warfare of WWI.  Finally, Dellia had done research about the issue of trafficking in the United States and shared some sad, yet important statistics about this concern.  As I told the class, they've worked hard on their papers, and not only is it good for the rest of the class to learn some of what they've learned.  

With two weeks left, students should not only be finalizing their presentations, but they should be finishing up their papers.  Every student is in a different place and in varying stages of rough draft revisions and final draft preparations.  As soon as a student has a draft ready for me to go over, he/she should submit it to Google Classroom AND send me an email.  I'll do my best to get it back ASAP.  If there's a concern about a draft or any questions, please let me know.  The Final Draft of the Research Paper is due on December 17, which is the last day of class.

Here are the links to the Google Classroom assignments for each of the drafts:

Rough Draft #1

Rough Draft #2

Rough Draft #3 (opt)

Final Draft

Looking forward to more presentations:

December 10

Sophia

Annika

Abby Kate

Martha

December 17

Will

Laura

Isaac

Jacob

Brad

Katie  

We're down to the homestretch!

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 12 (November 19)

 Greetings!

A good class today!  

Our Quick Write today was to write about goals (short term or long term) and/or bucket list items.  At this time in students' lives, they are often thinking about the future and makeing plans.  As an older person, I often contemplate  who some goals/dreams have stayed the same and how some have drastically changed.

We covered 3 Latin roots in our Words of the Day:

ambi - Latin, ambiguu, having double meaning or both -- derivatives:  ambidextrous, ambiguous, ambidexterity

aud - Latin, audire, to hear -- derivatives:  auditory, audio, audience, auditorium.  (by the way, audacious comes from audacia, boldness)

aqua -- Latin, aqua, water --  derivatives:  aquatic, aquarium. aqueduct, aquifer

We had a short discussion about the challenges of writing this research paper.  On a scale from 0 to 5, students were somewhere between 1 and 3.  Most of them found time, motivation, and momentum to be concerns.  Other issues that came up were the challenges in organizing information, figuring out what to include and what to leave out, and finding the right balance between opinion and facts.  The students are each in a different place in their processes -- some are on the first draft, the second draft, or the third draft.  

Our other discussion topics for the morning included common grammar topics (commas, semicolons, and the like), documentation, and presentations.  We watched two videos about how to give presentations.  One student asked about using a video, which would certainly be OK.  As I told him, the key issue for this presentation is for students to share their information with their classmates.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Week.  Be blessed!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for the upcoming weeks:

-- Work on Rough Draft #1, Rough Draft #2, Rough Draft #3 (if you want), or Final Draft

-- Work on presentations.

-- Citations Quiz

Links for this week:

Class Notes

How to Sound Smart TEDtalk

How to Give a Great Presentation

How to Give an Awesome PowerPoint Presentation

Avoiding Death by PowerPoint (TED Talk)

Links for Documentation

Videos for Formatting in MLA, pt. 1

Videos for Formatting in MLA, pt. 2

EasyBib Format GuidelinesEasyBib

Citation Machine

Cite This For Me

Purdue OWL Research Guides

Insert Citation in Google Docs

How to Create a Hanging Indent in Google Docs

Creating Citations in Google Docs (video)

Formatting a Works Cited Page in Google Docs (video)

Formatting a Works Cited Page In Word (video)

Adding References and Citations in Word (video)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 10 (November 12)

 Greetings!

We had what I hope was a productive class -- this week we went over more specifics about incorporating research material into the body of a paper and the details for in text citations and entries on a Works Cited page.

For our Quick Write we used these 3 prompts:

• What would you do if you were locked inside your favorite department store overnight?

• What would you do if you woke up one morning to find yourself invisible? 

• What would you do if you were able to communicate with animals?

Our Words of the Day followed a Latin root theme of omni, which means "all."

omnibenevolence -- Latin, omni, "all," bene, "good," and volo, "to be willing; have the power to do" -- Unlimited kindness and generosity

omnia vincit amor -- Latin -- love conquers all

omniarch -- Latin, omni, "all" and arch, "lead, command" -- the ruler of everything

omnific -- Latin, omni, "all" and facere, "to make, to do," -- capable of doing everything

Before explaining the citations, I divided the students into small groups to talk to one another about the challenges and progress with their rough drafts.

I used a PowerPoint slide presentation to walk through signal phrases, paraphrases & direct quotations, and elements of in text citations. I've uploaded the files into a Google Slides presentation with a link below.

The students are in various stages with the writing of their rough drafts. I heard one comment about how the research and writing is taking longer than was expected. That is very common with every big project. Students, keep it up. I believe in you!!

Have a good weekend,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Work on your papers!!

Links for This Week

-- In Text Citation Slides

-- Class Notes

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 10 (November 5)

 Greetings!

I can't believe that we're 2/3 of the way through this first semester.  At the beginning of the year, I think many of us were uncertain about how school would go, but the students have been amazing.  Working with Google Classroom, attending class via Zoom when necessary, and wearing masks has not daunted this great group of students. Pat yourselves on the back and thank God for his abundant grace!

I gave a plethora of options for the Quick Write today. 1) Nov. 5, 1605 is Guy Fawkes Day in England, which commemorates the plot to blow up parliament, the king, and his family. 2) Nov. 5, 1872 is the day that Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting (it was not yet legal for women to vote); 3) Nov. 5, 1935 is the day Parker Bros. launched the Monopoly game; 4) Thursday was National Donut Day; and finally, 5) Thursday was National Men Make Dinner Day.  Students could write about violence vs. civil discourse, women in politics, board games, donuts, or men who cook.

Our Words of the Day were common Latin abbreviations, some I often use in notes to students and others students might encounter in their reading:

i.e. -- Latin id est, "that is"-- this signals an expansion on a comment.  (Make sure you do your homework, i.e. your rough draft and worksheets.)

e.g. -- Latin, exempli gratia, "for the sake of example" -- this signals possible examples.  (You must create a project, e.g. an activity, artwork, or game.)

c.f. -- Latin, conferro, "to compare with" -- this is often used in reference materials as a shortcut to point out comparisons

n.b. -- Latin, nota bene, "note well" or "a good note" -- used to draw attention to a side, related comment.

Rough drafts of the Research Papers were handed back, so it was time for me to discuss common errors found in the essays.  I especially took time to go over the introductions and thesis statements.  Personally, I think one of the hardest and yet most important aspects of writing a thesis-driven paper is developing a strong thesis statement and giving a clear road map/plan of development.  By the end of an introduction, the reader should know not only the topic, but should know the driving idea (the thesis tells why it's important) and where the essay is headed (the road map tells what subtopics will be covered to support the thesis.)  Strong thesis statements elevate a paper from a report with some details to an essay with a strong purpose. 

Our student-led discussions this week included writing sentences that are parallel (parallel structure) and avoiding writing sentences using the "There is/There are" structures.  See the links below for more information.

We also talked briefly about the presentations that students will give at the end of the semester when they are done with the writing of their papers.  These are to be short 10 - 20 presentations that can include visual aids and that either present the highlights of their information or just one specific aspect.  The final drafts of the research papers do not need to be done before the presentation is given.  We signed up today, and here are the dates and presenters:

December 3

Joseph

Lilly

Dellia

Brad

December 10

Sophia

Annika

Katie

Abby Kate

Martha

December 17

Will

Laura

Isaac

Jacob

A quick note about Google Classroom -- A reminder -- if you go into Google Classroom from another gmail account, you will not be able to answer discussion questions, fill out quizzes, or turn in homework.  If you're not sure if you are in the right account, look in the upper right hand corner of the screen where the settings and Google apps icon are.  Hover your cursor over the small circle to the right.  This will tell you what account you're in.  

Have a wonderful weekend!  Enjoy this great fall weather, Rumor has it that winter is coming!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Rough Draft #1 (if not finished)

-- Rough Draft #2

-- Worksheet -- Analytic Evaluation Rubric

Links for this Week

Class Notes (11/15)

Fall Writing 3 Google Drive folder

Parallel Structure (Purdue OWL)

Parallel Structure:  Self Teaching Unit

There is & There are -- Grammatical Expletives

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 9 (October 29)

 

Greetings!

We had a full class yesterday with our Quick Writes, student-led topics, rough draft discussions, and small group conversations!

We started the class with our Quick Write, For today's prompts, they had 3 options:  They could write about National Chocolate Day (10/28), about National  Cat Day, or about something that refreshes them.  The best advice I got when I first started homeschooling was to figure out what was refreshing and to do it often.   I talked a bit about the fact that because these days are challenging, we all need to figure out how to keep balanced and at peace.  As an addendum to this topic, I referenced an article about the benefits of science. 

Our Words of the Day  (This is an activity that I have done in previous classes and will do occasionally for this class.)

biblioklept -- fr. Greek biblio, "book" and klept, "thief" -- someone who steals books

psephology -- fr. Greek I, "small stone" -- the study of elections, taken from the ancient practice of dropping pebbles or small stones in order to cast a vote.

sophomoric -- fr. Greek sophos, "wise" and moros, "foolish" -- conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature

Following our beginning of class activities, we discussed the progress of Rough Draft #1.  For this rough draft, I'm looking primarily for content and organization.  Many students find that they are still in the researching phase and that they have a rough, rough draft.  That's OK.  They should hand in what they've got so that I can give some input and direction.  On the second rough draft I will particularly be looking at grammar, mechanics, and sentence construction. 

Our student-led topics this week included discussions about introductions and conclusions.  Martha and Isaac and Joseph did a good job highlighting crucial information about successfully writing these portions of the essay.  We also had some good comments and insights from the rest of the class.  Below is the list for next week's student-led topics.  For the "there is/are" sentence information, I've included 2 sites that might be helpful. 

Week 10 (11/5)	Writing Strategies – Parallel Structures	1. Dellia Barrett
		2.
	Writing Strategies – Avoiding “There is/are” (check this site, too)	1. Jacob Roberts
		2.   William Hutchinson
	Writing Strategies -- Transitions	1. Brad Juhnke
		2.

For the remainder of the class, the students gathered in groups of 3 to discuss their topics, thesis statements, and subtopics.  While saying your plans for writing out loud to another person can feel intimidating, it often helps to generate an increased enthusiasm from classmates and for the writers themselves.  I listened to each group and all of the students shared thoughtful comments and were encouraging of one another.

Have a good weekend.  Who knows, the snow might be gone fairly soon, and we'll have Fall again.

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Evaluating Sample Thesis Statements

-- Keep working on the rough draft

Links for This Week

Class Notes (10/29)

Quick Write (10/29)

The Hidden Benefits of Silence

Writing Well:  Avoiding There is/There are

Thesis Statements, Introductions, and Conclusions

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 8 (October 22)

 

Greetings!

We had a good time in class this week.  This is a good group of students, and I always enjoy the time I have with them in class.

As many of you know, the church has expressed that students must wear masks in the hallways, common areas, and classrooms.  If students are exempt, parents must communicate with Laura Johnson, who will communicate with tutors.  Some teachers allow students to snack and/or drink in their classrooms, but the church doesn't allow food in the clubhouse, which is the room where my writing classes take place. (They can have water.)  This week a few students were snacking, and I let it go.  Next week, only water.    I know that some students are not happy with having to wear masks in class, but they all had great attitudes and seemed willing to bless the church and its leadership.  

Our Quick Write today had 3 options.  First, October is German-American Heritage Month, so I gave students the option to write about their family heritages.  Secondly, on October 22, 1938, Chester Carlson invented the first photocopier.  He presented it to IBM, RCA, and Kodak, but they rejected it because they didn't see the value in a machine that only made copies.  I asked the students to write about their favorite gadget/inventions or about something that they felt needed inventing.  And, as always, students could write about anything else that was on their minds.

Before talking about our  student led topics, we briefly talked about what the students had learned about the consequences of plagiarism from the assignment that they had done for today.  We also included comments about why we think people plagiarise. 

Most of the instruction in class this week was led by the students themselves.  They explained the following topics:  signal phrases, the quote sandwich, in text citations, and block quotes.  Below are links to the handouts that I have for those topics.  Each student was well-prepared and I appreciate the time and energy they put into the explanations.  Each of these topics deals with how to incorporate material into a research paper.  Many young writers simply plop a quote into a paper and leave it to the reader to figure out what the quote is doing there.  This paper is an opportunity to learn how to skillfully include a quote so that the paper flows smoothly.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Research Paper Rough Draft #1

-- Signal Phrases Quiz (GC)

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Fall Writing 3 Google Folder

Student Led Topics

Block Quotes

Effectively Incorporating Quotes

Introduce a Quotation

The Quote Sandwich

Incorporating Sources into Papers

Have a wonderful weekend!  Peace to your homes!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 7 (October 15)

 Greetings!

This would have been our fall break, so I feel that we should all get a merit badge for having a good class today.  For our Quick Write, I asked students to write about a strong opinion that they have.  Then, they were to give three specific points about that opinion.  Following that, they were to think about what the other side might think.  The goal of this Quick Write was to encourage the students to think about how others think about the same topics.  As I told them, being able to actively listen to others while trying to understand their perspectives is a sign of maturity.  In this day and age, God needs us to value those around us, whether we agree with their strong opinions or not.  (By the way, one of the most controversial topics for all classes today was "Does pineapple belong on pizza?")

We had a short Words of the Day portion of class.  Here are our words:

comma -- fr. Latin, comma, and Greek komma, which means a "piece which is cut off." --   The comma is that little bit of punctuation that separates parts of a sentence.

noun -- fr. Latin nomen, "name" -- The noun is the part of speech that names a person, place, things, or ideas.

veb -- fr. Latin verbum, "word" -- The verb is the part of speech that communicates action or state of being.

We covered the following topics today:  narrowing and focussing topics; developing leading questions; finding good resources; taking notes, and plagiarism. When writing research papers, students need to consider these various topics as they do their research and start writing their papers.  

A major topic to consider when writing research papers is the issue of plagiarism, and one of their homework assignments is to read 4 short articles about the consequences of plagiarism.  

For the last part of class, I divided the students into 2 groups to share their topics and thesis statements.  I enjoyed listening to their conversations.  Their rough drafts of their research papers are due next week.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Quick Write 10/15

-- Truth or Consequences Packet

-- Research Paper Rough Draft

Links for This Week

Class Notes

The Research Proposal assignment

Research Paper Outline assignment

Information about Plagiarism

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 6 (October 8)

 Greetings!

We had a good day in class yesterday.  We started with a Quick Write.  The two prompts for today were inspired by two October 8 events.  In the year 876, Charles the Bald was defeated in the Battle of Andernach.  I was struck by the unusual nickname, so nicknames were the topic of one option.  Also on October 8, 1871, was the Great Chicago Fire.  I asked students to write about fires, especially if they had a fun fire-related story.

Today we had the following Student-Led topics:  Common Knowledge, Mosaic Plagiarism, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing.  Plagiarism and correctly recording the information found while researching is part of being an ethical researcher and writer.  The students who presented the information did well.  We will not have student-led topics next week, but on Oct. 22, these topics will be covered: signal phrases, "the quote sandwich," in text citations, and block quotations.  (Please check this Google doc to see who presents what and when.) 

In addition to these topics, we discussed evaluating sources and the differences between skimming and scanning material to find pertinent information.  To further that understanding, I have two assignments for the students:  Evaluating Sources and Skim, Scan, etc.  They should use sources that are a part of their research for their paper.

Students were to hand in their research proposals today, and the outlines for their papers are due next week.  As a reminder, the first rough draft of the research paper is due on October 29.

In addition to the assignments on Google Classroom, I've posted some material that might be helpful for students to read:

Resources for Planning the Research Paper

Research and Relevant Sources

Research & Note-Taking

Information about Plagiarism

Have a wonderful weekend.  Weather should be great for enjoying the fall colors!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Research Proposal (due 10/8)

-- Research Paper Outline

-- Evaluating Sources Worksheet

-- Skim, Scan, etc. Worksheet

Links for This Week

Class Notes 10/8

Quick Write 10/8

Charles the Bald

Great Chicago Fire

Student-Led Topics

Resources for Planning the Research Paper

Research and Relevant Sources

Research & Note-Taking

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 5 (10/8)

 Greetings!

We had a good, productive day today.  We started with a Quick Write.  For today's prompts, I used the facts that October 1, 1908  was the day that Ford manufacturing rolled the Model T off its production line and that October 2, 1950 was the day that the first Peanuts comic was published.  Some students also mentioned that Tuesday was National Coffee Day.  Many students wrote about car-related stories.

Following our Quick Write I usually do a Homework Check (I use the time while they're doing the Quick Write to pass back work.)  Today I took time to go over the Final Drafts of their essays. The rubric that I use for evaluating their essays consider 5 categories:  Focus, Content, Organization,  Sentence Structures, and Mechanics.  This allows me to give more holistic grades for the papers they write.

I went over the assignments connected with the longer Research Paper which is the primary assignment for this class.  We went over the due dates, which are as follows:

10/8 -- Research Proposal

10/15 -- Research Paper Outline

10/22 -- (nothing due)

10/29 -- Research Paper Rough Draft #1 (focus on content and organization)

11/5 -- Peer Reviews (in class)

11/12 -- Research Paper Rough Draft #2 (focus on sentences/mechanics)

11/19 -- Research Paper Rough Draft #3 (opt.)

12/3, 12/10. and 12/17 -- Final Drafts and Presentations

For next week, students should prepare their Research Proposal.  This writing assignment has 2 parts:  "Why I'm Interested" and Research Plan.  In addition to this short paper, students are assigned a worksheet about developing their thesis statements.  I've posted on Google Classroom some other resources for Planning Research Papers.

Following this discussion, we had student-led discussions.  Lilly and Martha talked about ways to take notes for research paper writing, and I covered evaluating sources and bibliographical information.

Here are the student-led discussion leaders for next week.

Week 7 (10/8)	Paraphrasing & Summarizing	1. Joseph Viskocil
		2.   DelliaBarrett
	Mosaic Plagiarism	1. Annika Choate
		2.
	Common Knowledge	1. Jacob Roberts
		2.   William Hutchinson

Assignments for Next Week

-- Write the Research Proposal

-- Writing Your Own Thesis Statement

Links for this Week

Class Notes

October 1, 1908   & October 2, 1950  Days in history

Writing 3 Google Drive folder

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 3 (Sept. 17)

 Greetings!

We had a great class yesterday.  This is a good, conscientious group of students.

We started with a Quick Write.  For today's prompt, I offered them 2 options.  September 15 was Agatha Christie's birthday, and she is known as the "queen of mysteries" with over 80 books to her name.  She also wrote the world's longest running play, The Mousetrap.  Students could write their opinions about mysteries, a mysterious event, or an original mystery.  The other option was related to National Apple Dumpling Day (Sept. 17).  Baked apple goods seem to be the quintessential fall food.  Students could write about apples or some other favorite fall food.

Following our Quick Write, I went over some Google Classroom "Protocols," hopefully clarifying questions that students have had.

• 99.9% of your assignments are on Google Classroom (GC)
• You can hand in work on GC or in class but NOT BOTH
• If you do the assignment on Google Classroom, remember to "Turn In"  (button in the upper right corner of the window.)
• If you have handed in an assignment during class (the paper version), please the Google Classroom assignment alone.  I will assign a grade and return in.
• Some assignments can ONLY be done on Google Classroom. When that is the case, those homework assignments will be designated (GC)
• For the Final Drafts of your essays, follow these steps IN ORDER:
• Open your Rough Draft document, select/highlight all of the content (Ctrl-A) and copy it (Ctrl-C)
• Open the Google Classroom assignment for the Final Draft and then open the document/template.
• Paste the contents of the Rough Draft onto this document.
• Make corrections and revisions. (DO NOT MAKE CORRECTIONS WHILE IT IS STILL IN THE ROUGH DRAFT DOCUMENT!)
• Turn it in!

This week, students were to take notes of class, and these notes are due in class next week.  Sometimes when we are covering a significant amount of content, I will have students take notes and then turn in copies of those notes.  Students can hand in the paper copies of their notes next week OR upload copies to the Google Classroom assignment.  

Students are taking part in some of the instruction of the various topics related to research writing.  This week Katie and Laura led the discussion/instruction regarding MLA paper format.  They thoroughly covered the bases.  (Here's a link to a copy of their whiteboard.)

We took the rest of our class time to go over the Rough Drafts of their essays in a peer review session.  Students traded papers and read through one another's essays, making comments about content, organization, and mechanics.  I was pleased with how thoughtful and intentional they were and how thorough they were in filling out the peer review worksheet.  (Those who were absent will receive scanned copies of their rough drafts.)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Final Draft of Essay #1

     -- This should be submitted online via Google Classroom 

     -- Bring the rough draft with my corrections to class on 9/24

-- The MLA Format Quiz (GC)

-- A Copy of your 9/17 notes

-- 3 potential topic ideas for the Research Paper

Other Links for This Week

Videos for Formatting in MLA, pt. 1

Videos for Formatting in MLA, pt. 2

EasyBib Format Guidelines

Class Notes for 9/17

Writing 3 -- Homework & Google Classroom

Greetings!

A couple notes about handing homework, Google Classroom, and the Grades page on Classroom:

• Students DO NOT need to do an assignment both on paper and in Google Classroom.
• Most homework assignments can be handed in during class.  
• If a student hands an assignment in class, they DO NOT need to do anything with the Google Classroom assignment
• I will mark those assignments as done and return them with a score AFTER I've corrected the paper versions
• If a student does the assignment on Google Classroom, they DO NOT need to hand in a paper version
• Some assignments can ONLY be done on Google Classroom (e.g. quizzes, discussion questions)
• I will designate these assignments as (GC) and include a link to the assignment
• Some students have handed in homework using the Rocketbook app and uploading it to the Google Classroom assignment.  When they do that, they DO NOT need to hand it in again in class.
• When I grade some homework on Google Classroom, I use my Samsung tablet
• I can "write" on the document, and it saves as a pdf and attaches to the assignment, which students will see with their returned work.
• I'm experimenting to figure out the best way to correct rough drafts.  I've done it with pen and paper for years, but I'm going to do one set with my tablet, and then one set comments in Google Docs.  Students can give feedback about what works best for them.
• The gradebook for Google Classroom is not the greatest format for communicating with students their scores.  
• If students see a score but the comment "not turned in," it's because they turned the work in during class.  I have updated the score to match the one on paper.
• Some students don't like seeing the "Missing" when they know they have turned in their work.  They need to be patient for me to correct the material handed in during class.  
• PLEASE DON'T TURN IN A BLANK ASSIGNMENT to get rid of the "Missing" designation.  I will take care of that.
• The best place to check on grades is on your student's personal Gradesheets.  This document will be updated every other week.

I apologize for confusion or challenges with Google Classroom.  Learning new systems always takes a bit of time, and my hope is that over the course of the semester we will all find the benefit of having this online repository for all of our assignments and resources that enables us to not only stay on top of our work (i.e. not lose stuff) and to participate digitally if we can't be face to face.

If you need your link to your Google Gradesheets, please let me know.  

One other tip -- an idea that has been helpful for me:

Since I'm online so much these days, often with multiple tabs open every day, I've started bookmarking and organizing those bookmarks to be more efficient. Students should consider bookmarking their chatclasses.com email, Google Classroom, and their Gradesheets.  Here's a link for how to create bookmarks and how to create folders of bookmarks.  (I have a folder called CHAT Stuff, and when I right click on the folder, all of the tabs open.)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 2 (Sept. 10)

 Greetings!

We had a great class yesterday.  These students are coming in with a readiness to learn and are encouraging a positive perspective for one another.

Our Quick Write today was from the National Days Calendar.  Yesterday was National Swap Ideas Day, in which people are encouraged to share their ideas and creativity with one another.  I asked them to write about any big, outside-the-box ideas they've done or had.  They could also write about whether or not they are creative.  I've just finished reading their Quick Writes, and this class has a wonderful variety of creative and practical students!

This week students handed in their first paper assignment of the year, their Essay #1 Rough Drafts.  (Here's the link to the Google Classroom assignment.) I'm looking forward to reading them.  My procedure with student papers is to go through and correct them after they're handed in and then hand them back the next week.  Students are to take that following week to make revisions.  Next week, when I hand back the papers, we will take some time to do Peer Reviews of one another's papers.  I find that students often have insightful and helpful comments about the content and organization of one another's writing.  I will bring copies of the essays to class next week.  

The content that we covered this week in class centered on types of pre-writing work (i.e. types of outlines) and types of informational essays.  In Writing 1 and Writing 2, I assign essays according to a certain type of organizational structure.  These essays were shorter, concentrated explanations of a topic that followed certain structures.  For example, a student writing a cause & effect essay, might choose to write about the causes of the Revolutionary War and explore both causes and effects.  For the longer research papers, students might employ a number of organizational strategies when explaining a bigger topic.  Using the example of the Revolutionary War, a student might have a section that is cause/effect, and possibly some narrative elements, and even some extended definition sections to explain the concepts of liberty and freedom.  

To give students some practice in thinking in broader terms regarding the types of information and organization that a topic might require, I had them write topics on post it notes that their classmates chose.  Every student has 2 topics, and they must think of the types of information that would be needed to fully explain that topic.  They should use the "Types of Information Essays" handout to do this. (Here's the Google Classroom assignment.  It can be done on paper or typed up into the attached Google Doc.)

Next week we will discuss MLA format.  Katie and Laura will lead the discussion.  

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

This Week's Homework

-- Two Topics & Types of Informational Essays

-- Start thinking about your topic for your longer research paper.

This Week's Links

Class Notes -- Week 2 (Sept. 10)

Mrs. Prichard's  Zoom link 

National Days Calendar.  

National Swap Ideas Day

Writing 3 -- Information about Google Classroom, CHAT emails, and Rocketbook

 Greetings,

Our discussion in class about chatclasses emails, Google Classroom, and the Rocketbook app took up a good part of our logistics discussion, so I thought it would be good to address some of the important points in a separate email.   

• Students must use their chatclasses email to join Google Classroom.  Most of the students have done this, but for those who haven't, they can follow this link to the Writing 3 Google Classroom. (One difficulty some students have had is that they are going to Google Classroom via another email account.  To avoid this, try closing your other email accounts so that the chatclasses account is the only one open.)  The class code for the Writing 3 Google Classroom is *******.
• If a student joined Google Classroom from another account, I've removed that account.
• Some students are forwarding their chatclasses emails to another personal email account.  This is a personal preference issue.  I initially had mine forwarded, but then disabled that function because it was causing way too many emails in my personal account.  (Here is the link to the video that Mrs. Nelson did about forwarding emails.)
• All assignments will be posted on Google Classroom.  Students who are face to face can hand in assignments during class UNLESS I've designated an assignment as "GC" for Google Classroom.  (All Zoom students should hand in all of the assignments via Google Classroom.)  I recognize that this will be confusing until we settle into the flow of the classroom.  Google Classroom is meant to be both a repository of assignments AND a place that makes distance learning an option.  
• Here's a good video about Google Classroom:  Google Classroom for Students and Parents
• All worksheets have been formatted onto a Rocketbook template.  Again, if students are face to face and can hand in work in person, they won't need to think about the Rocketbook app.  However, those students attending via Zoom or who are absent for any reason will need to use  either the Rocketbook app, a flatbed scanner, or another scanning app. 
• Here's an article about Rocketbook and Google Classroom
• The Rocketbook app Instructions video (including IOS)
• A video about setting up destinations.
• One student mentioned the plethora of emails regarding Google Classroom assignments.  If students are careful to check for assignments on the Writing 1 classroom, they can disable the notifications.  To do this, go to the settings page (click the 3 horizontal lines in the upper left corner and scroll to the bottom of the list).   Students can choose to receive all notifications, some notifications, or no notifications.  
• Another helpful mobile app is the Google Classroom app.  
• Here's a video for how to install the app and get started (This video shows the step by step process with a music background, but some of the words on the screen are in Hindi.)
• Make sure you sign in using the chatclasses email
• The class code for Writing 3 is *******.

One of the greatest challenges last spring was getting homework in all shapes, sizes, and formats, so I'm narrowing down those options. As I said, most of the time face to face students will physically hand in homework during class, but some assignments will need to be done on Google Classroom and will be specifically designated.  For the first weeks of the semester, I'll require a number of "GC" assignments so that we can get used to using this format and can troubleshoot any problems.  It might be helpful for both student and parent to explore Google Classroom together so that everyone is familiar with the site.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  At some point all of the technology we use will become "old hat," but when it's new and unfamiliar we often wonder if it's more trouble than it's worth.

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 1 (Sept. 3)

 Greetings!

It was so good to be in class again.  The students all brought good, attentive attitudes to the room, and I think we're going to have a good year together.  Many of the students are new to me, so we'll hopefully be able to quickly get to know one another.  In my classes, I incorporate full class and small group discussions, which I think we can still do in a socially distanced manner.  

Our first order of business for our class periods, after praying, of course, is to complete a Quick Write.  The prompts for these are usually light-hearted, but occasionally the topics require a little more serious thinking.  For today, I asked students to write about what they would put in a "Back to School Survival Kit."  Each student shared aloud one or two items, and snacks, drinks, and music were the top choices of items that students wanted to help them get their homework done.(You'll notice the embedded link -- it is for the Google Classroom assignment.  I will include these homework links in these emails; they will be especially helpful for students who were absent, who forgot what an assignment was, or who lost an assignment.)

We had a small group of students joining the class via Zoom, and I'm hoping it worked well for those students.  This is an option for any students who might miss a week for one reason or another.  

Most of our first morning together was spent in getting acquainted with materials and some of the logistics of the class.  I'm trying something new this year:  I handed out a complete Materials Packet for the whole semester, which included essay explanations, writing-related material, literature study guides, grammar worksheets, extra Rocketbook pages, etc.  I recommend that students put all of this material in a 3-ring binder or separate folders.  If the binder has inside pockets, the front pocket could be for homework to hand in and the back one could be for homework that is returned.  In the past I've handed out materials one week at a time, but this year I thought having everything at the beginning would help avoid the issue of any missing papers should a student be unable for any reason to be in class.  

One piece of paper from the packet needs both the student's and the parent's attention:  the Class Policies handout.  Students are to read it and put their names (not initials) in the top margin, and then I would like parents to read it and initial it.  Thank you!  (You can do the paper version or the Google Classroom version.)

I also took time to check in on the chatclasses emails, Google Classroom, and the Rocketbook app.  I will include that information on another email.  

The primary focus of this class is learning research principles, ethical documentation practices, and advanced writing skills.  Before we embark on the longer research paper, students stretch their writing muscles in a shorter essay on a topic of their choosing.  This should be a topic about which they know a considerable amount but still need to do a little research to add details or specific information.  The Essay #1 is explained here, and these are the Google Classroom assignments for the Outline/PreWrite and the Rough Draft.  Students can hand in paper copies in class next week, but I would also like them to copy their essays onto the templates attached to these Google Classroom assignments.  

Another aspect of the class that I'm especially looking forward to is the student-led discussion/teaching on various topics.  Most of the topics related to becoming a high quality research paper writer are smaller yet interrelated.  On the syllabus,  students will find the dates and topics spread out throughout the weeks of the semester.  In class and online, students have signed up for topics (2 each) that they will help teach.  More on this next week.

If you are new to my classes, this is what the weekly Class Notes will look like.  I'll tell you about Quick Writes, classroom discussion, and writing assignments.  I'll include links to the Google Classroom assignments and attach any pertinent materials.  At the bottom of the email I'll list the homework and any links.  (I've found that most students simply scroll to the bottom of the email to get homework info.)  These class notes will be the record of what we cover in class.

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy our beautiful weather.

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Homework for Next Week:

(Note:  Any assignments that are designated GC must be completed on Google Classroom)

-- Class Policies -- signed & initialed

-- Organize your materials packet  (binder? folders? 

-- Read #16 - 18 in 30 Steps to a Research Paper

-- Essay #1:  Outline and Rough Draft (GC)

Other Links for this week:

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 1 (Sept. 3)

Note:  The Class Notes blog post will not contain any of the hyperlinks to Google Classroom information or to Google Drive documents.  

Writing 3 Google Drive folder

30 Steps to a Research Paper pdf

Writing 3 -- Information about Google Classroom, CHAT emails, and Rocketbook 

Writing 3 - Shared Google Folder, Google Classroom, and Zoom students

Greetings Class!

In just a couple of days, we'll be starting a new school year at CHAT.  I'm excited to see everyone, both face to face and via Zoom!

By now, you all have your chatclasses email information from Kim Nelson. Students, make sure you've signed into it BEFORE the first day.  Also, you've been invited to the Writing 3 Google Classroom.  Make sure you've joined the class and have tried at least one of the sample assignments.

I'm doing something new this year -- I'm handing out all of the materials for the semester during the first and second weeks.  Usually, I hand them out as we need them, but you never know when someone might not be in class.  If you are taking the Zoom option, please send me your mailing address so that I can get the copies and the books to you.

All of our materials will be also be available on Google Drive, and here are the folders for Writing 3

• Fall Writing 3 Students (Primary folder)
• Inside this folder are separate folders for each week and a Writing Assignments folder
• As always, most information sent via email will also appear on the blog -- Writing 3 - Shared Google Folder, Google Classroom, and Zoom students

If you are taking Writing 3 via Zoom, please confirm that by responding to this email and including your mailing address.  I've heard from a couple, but in the flurry of last minute emails and changes, I might have missed someone.

Finally, on Thursday we will talk about apps for Rocketbook and Google Classroom.  You don't need to do anything now UNLESS you're curious and want to download those apps and play around with them a bit.

All my papers and books and folders are packed and ready for Thursday.  Until then ...

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Mrs. Prichard’s Guide to Hybrid Learning

Greetings CHAT families!

Due to the changing landscape of social interactions because of COVID-19, all educational plans and practices need to be flexible for the unforeseeable future.  With that in mind, I’ve planned my classes for this year to work whether we can be face to face or distance.  Below are explanations and descriptions of the resources I will use this year.

The G-Suite for CHAT Classes

Kim Nelson has made some videos and a teaching sheet for using your CHAT email account and getting into Google Classroom.  She uses an Algebra 1 class as an example, but the steps will be the same for my writing classes. 

·         How to Sign in to Gmail and Google Classroom for CHAT students

·         How to Forward Your Email and Create a Filter

·         Intro to Google Classroom for Students (20 minutes)

·         How to scan a multi-page document using Genius Scan (free) and get it into Google Classroom  (Note:  The same steps work for the Rocketbook app.)

·         Student Quick Guide to Google Classroom

·         Another Google Classroom Tutorial

Google Drive

·         With the G-Suite, students have access to Google Drive, which is a multi-dimensional platform for documents, slides, spreadsheets, etc.  Think of it as a filing system for your digital content.

·         To get started, students should create separate folders for each of their classes.  For some classes, they might want folders within a folder.  (e.g. A Writing 2 folder could have subfolders for Essays, Grammar, Literature.)

Google Classroom

·         All assignments for the semester will be posted Google Classroom even if we’re face to face.  The assignments will come in one or more of the following formats:

o    An attached Google Doc on which students can type

o    A quiz or form that students can complete

o    A discussion question on which students can type a comment or respond to a classmate

o    A worksheet made with the Rocketbook template.  (More on this later.)

o    An assignment where a student can upload a document or some other type of electronic work

·         Students will need to remember to “Turn in” their homework via a button on the assignment page.

·         Google Classroom has an attached gradebook and should be used for checking for missing work.  For accurate scores and grades, you should check the your student’s Google Gradebook Sheets.

·         Google Classroom also has a calendar that keeps track of due dates for assignments.

Rocketbook Templates and App

·         All worksheets have been overlaid on the Rocketbook template.  Using the Rocketbook app, students can scan their finished worksheets and send them to the Google Classroom assignment.

·         If we are face to face, students can hand in material in class or upload it to the Google Classroom assignment. 

·         You must have the Rocketbook app on your phone for this to work.

·         Watch this Rockekbook App Tutorial

·         Make sure your Rocketbook app is set to save scanned material as pdfs.

·         Watch this video about setting your destination settings

o    I suggest the following destinations:

§  -- to the student’s chatclasses.com email

§  -- to a Google Drive folder labeled as the class’s Quick Writes & Class Note-taking  (e.g. Writing 1 Quick Writes & Class Note-taking)

§  -- to a Google Drive folder labeled as the class’s assignments  (Writing 1 Assignments)

o    You can also share documents to other destinations (see ).  If you have the Google Classroom mobile app, you can upload the scan to an assignment.

·         You can label your Rocketbook pages with double hashtags.

o    For example --    ## Tammy Prichard Grammar Aug 27 ##  --  will label the document.  This makes it easier to find it in your Google folder.

Communication

·         Email:  My email is tammy.prichard@chatclasses.com.  (Some of you have my older gmail account, so please change it to this one.)

·         Blog:  I send weekly notes in an email and post them on the class blog.  I will also use the blog for sharing other information, such as videos, websites, etc.

o    Writing 1

o    Writing 2

o    Writing 3

·         Office Hours – Thursdays, 4:00 – 5:00 , and Tuesdays, 4:00 – 5:00.

o    This is new for me this year, but I feel that if we are at any time distance learning, students might need more help than a Zoom class offers.  I will have my Zoom class open during that time.

·         Zoom:  If our classes are at any time online, we will meet in Tamera Prichard’s Zoom classroom.  (password:  chat)

o    Note:  Google Classroom offers a Google Meet address for the classes, but at this time CHAT will not be using those. 

·         “Where to find worksheets and materials?”

o    Attached to Class Notes emails.

o    Attached to Google Classroom assignments

o    In the shared folder for your class

§  Writing 1

§  Writing 2

§  Writing 3

§  Note:  These documents can only be accessed by students with CHAT emails; they are also set to be “View Only.”

o    On the Gradebook Sheets after the assignment has been posted on Classroom.

·         “How can students hand in homework?”

o    When we’re face to face, all work can be handed in physically in class

o    For face to face OR distance learning:  Via the Google Classroom assignment (using the attached document or uploading material)

o    If and only if the Rocketbook app is not working or a student is still in the process of figuring out Google Classroom

§  Send an electronic version (i.e. pdf, Google docs, or Word document – NO Pages or photos) via email.

§  The specific name of the assignment must be in the subject line.

§  Send only one assignment per email.