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