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