Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 10 (October 30)

Greetings!

We had a good day in class.  As we continue to work on the the research papers, we're at the place where the students should be finished with research and doing mostly writing.  That being said, many times as students are writing, they find that they have gaps in their research, and off they go to another website or book to find the missing bit of information in order to support their theses.

I had the students do a Quick Write today from the College Application Essay Prompts.  Our prompt today was #40 -- If you were a door to door salesperson, what would you be able to sell?  We had a window salesman with a catchy sales pitch about "panes."  Again, the goal of the college application prompts is to help students think creatively and reflectively.

I had three videos for them today.  The first one was a spoken word presentation about words, conviction, and the tendency of today's society to end declarative sentences with that little lift of the voice that makes it a questions.  Following that, we watched of video about the writing process as a whiteboard animation lecture.

Next week Rough Draft #2 is due, and we took time to go over revising and editing strategies.  Revising refers to the broader questions related to content, organization, and paragraph structures.  To edit a paper students should re-read their papers and go through it carefully, sentence by sentence.  Obvious matters of spelling, missing, and doubled words will be noticed as they read.  As more mature writers, they should also be aware of stylistic points.  They took notes during class to help them with as they work on these rough drafts.

I was reminded by a student that today is Reformation Day.  We closed out the class with a video called "Reformation Polka."

Assignment for Next Week:

-- Rough Draft #2

This week's links:

Class Notes

Taylor Mali -- Conviction

Writing Process Animation

Reformation Polka

OWL Revising & Editing

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 9 (October 23)

Greetings!

My apologies for the lateness of the week's e-mail; it's been a busy week at the Prichard house.  You never know when it's going to be this nice again for yard work.

Our beginning of class activity was to work through one of the ACT test prompts, which proved to be timely since this Saturday was a test day for the ACT.  The question we worked on was #10 and had to do with dress codes. I had the students individually brainstorm for ideas that both supported and opposed a dress code.  Then, I assigned them to a side (pro or con), and had them work together to come up with the main points of an essay.  Strong thinkers are able to look fully at both sides of an argument.

I took some time to have a class-wide check-in about their progress.  When working on a research paper, students often find that one step of the project is harder than others.  Whether it is researching, organizing information, the actual writing of the paper, or simply finding enough time to get it all done, each and every student encounters small to overwhelmingly large road blocks.  Many times, procrastination sets in when we reach those personally challenging spots.

We talked more about MLA formatting and the Works Cited pages.  For the most part, the Works Cited page is done according to a formula.  The harder part is figuring out exactly what needs to be cited and how to cite it in the body of the paper.

A reminder of our upcoming due dates:

Class	Discuss	Hand In
Week 10	Revising & Editing	Works Cited Draft
Week 11	Giving Presentations	Rough Draft #2
Week 12	MLA formatting	Presentation Plan
Week 13	Presentations	Rough Draft #3   (opt)
Week 14	Presentations	Final Draft
Week 15	Presentations	Final Draft

The Works Cited draft is due next week; the next rough draft is due in two weeks.  It doesn't take too much time to do the Works Cited, so students should also be working on their rough drafts.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Works Cited draft

This week's links:

Helpful videos for MLA in-text Citations

Class Notes

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

MLA Style for Citations (Video Links)

Below are some links for helping with MLA Citations:

MLA Tutorial #1 -- Basic Paper Formatting

MLA Tutorial #2 -- Basic Citation Format

MLA Tutorial #3 -- Works Cited Page Formatting

MLA Tutorial #4 -- Web Citation

MLA Tutorial #5 -- Citing Research

MLA Tutorial #6 -- In-Text Citation

MLA in text Citations for Beginners
Easy Bib for Websites
In Text MLA Style

Reverse Outline

Reverse Outlines

Many times students make a plan to write an essay in a certain orders with certain details, but as they do the actual writing it seems to take a different turn.  Sometimes fresh ideas come to mind as they are in the process of writing.  Other times, they can’t find the material they had hoped to include.  A helpful strategy is to write a Reverse Outline.  This kind of outline shows them more clearly what they actually wrote in their essays.

If you think of an outline, the major points coincide with Roman numerals (i.e. I, II, III, etc.) and the important points that come under those points are designated with capital letters (i.e. A, B, C, etc.). The specific details are numbers and lower case letters (i.e. 1, 2, 3, etc.; a, b, c, etc.)

In the structure of a paper, the capital letters  are the topic sentences for the paragraphs and the numbers and letters are the details, often individual sentences within the paragraph.  To construct a Reverse Outline, a student re-reads his paper, and fills in the headings for the various layers of an outline.

Example

I.  Introduction

                A.  Attention grabber  (add specific ideas)

                B.  Thesis & road map

II.  First Important Point

A.      Topic of Paragraph 1

1.    Detail (These are the data or ideas as they appear in the sentence)

2.    Detail

3.    Detail (You may many details for each paragraph, but they should fit with the topic of that paragraph)

B.      Topic of Paragraph 2

1.    Detail 

2.    Detail

3.    Detail

C.  Topic of Paragraph 3

1.    Detail 

2.    Detail

3.    Detail

III.  Second Important Point

A.      Topic of Paragraph 1

1.    Detail

2.    Detail

3.    Detail

B.      Topic of Paragraph 2

1.    Detail 

2.    Detail

3.    Detail

C.  Topic of Paragraph 3

1.    Detail 

2.    Detail

3.    Detail

and so forth

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 8 (October 16)

Greetings!

Another beautiful fall day and another great class!

We began the day with a Quick Write.  I gave the students the prompts for the essay for the Common Application.  One of the key aspects of these essays is that they are intended for the student to show some his/her personality and character.  Admissions counselors are looking for those characteristics that cause the student to stand out.  Today, I had the students choose one of the prompts and brainstorm some ideas that they could include in an essay.  I often tell students that the writing part is easy; it’s the thinking part that is the challenge.

I handed back their copies of Rough Draft #1 that they handed in to me.  As I read through them, I didn’t correct grammar, mechanics, or sentence structures.  I read them primarily for content and organization.  I was purposely looking for areas in which they could expand, and I usually propose questions for further research.  

For part of the instruction time, I went over introductions.  A good, strong introduction makes a world of difference in a paper.  In short essays, the introduction is a paragraph.  In longer papers, the introduction can sometimes be 2 paragraphs.  Keys to a great introduction include engaging the reader and establishing a common ground, writing a clear thesis, and giving a the readers a road map of the direction of the paper that includes the primary subtopics.

We spent some in-class time starting on the Peer Edits.  These are assigned to be due next week, but I wanted the students to get started in case they had any questions for me or for the writers of the papers they were working on.

Another helpful strategy to check organization and content is a Reverse Outline.  Their detailed outlines were plans for what they intended to write.  A Reverse Outline shows them what they really did write.  Follow this link for an illustration of a Reverse Outline

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Peer Edit

-- Keep researching and writing

This week's blog:

Class Notes

Reverse Outline

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

College Application Brainstorming

1.       What can you do that no one else can do?

2.       List your top 10 favorite places.

3.       Name a family tradition and explain why it is significant to you.

4.       If you could have a dinner date with anyone, who would it be, why would you choose that person, and where would you go?

5.       Tell your favorite joke and explain why you think it’s funny.

6.       In what novel would you like to be a character?  Why?

7.       What sets your heart on fire?

8.       What makes you really angry?

9.       Would you rather go to an orchestra concert or an art museum?  Why?

10.   Give your name as an acronym so that it reflects who you are.

11.   Your assignment:  give away $1,000.  Where would you give it?  Why?

12.   Describe in complete sensory details your favorite meal.

13.   Your house is on fire, and you can only grab 3 items.  What would they be?  Why?

14.   You are a brilliant and forward thinking inventor.  What would you invent?

15.   How is your family different from any other family?

16.   Describe your favorite childhood memory.

17.   If you could re-live any day, what day would that be?

18.   What have you learned from your grandparents?

19.   You are suddenly invisible.  What would you do?  Where would you go?

20.   List 20 things that you don’t do well.

21.   What do you NEVER want to do again?  Why?

22.   Describe a day without technology.

23.   Tell about a time when you were disappointed by an adult.  What happened?  What did it feel like?

24.   Why did you come to school at Arcadia?  Was it a good decision?

25.   You’ve been given a 10- day, all expenses paid trip.  Where would you go?  Why?

26.   What holiday is most meaningful to you?  Why?

27.   What is your favorite school subject?  Why?

28.   Describe something you do really well.

29.   What is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?  What made it hard?

30.   Describe yourself in 140 characters – the length of a tweet.

31.   Write 20 adjectives that describe you.

32.   Do you make decisions quickly or slowly?  Describe the process of making decisions.

33.   Describe what is boring to you.

34.   Describe what is exciting to you.

35.   Describe how you are “quirky.”  What makes you just a little odd?

36.   List your top 10 weaknesses.

37.   You've been grounded for 10 days.  What did you do and how will you spend your time at home?

38.   When you are a parent, what will you do the same as your parents and what will you do differently?

39.   A group is hotly discussing a political issue.  Will you join in, quietly listen, or walk away?  Why?

40.   If you were a door to door salesperson, what would you be able to sell? 

41.   What place have you been to that you could go back to over and over again?

42.   What is your least favorite school subject?  Why?

43.   Create for yourself a personal motto.  Explain it.

44.   Describe a time in the last 3 years when you change your mind.  What prompted the change?

45.   You can travel back in time.  When and where would you go?

46.   Write a radio ad to “sell” yourself. 

47.   Tell about a time when you volunteered for an organization.

48.   What causes are you passionate about?  Why?

49.   How would you like to change the world?

50.   What is wrong with our world today?

51.   What is best about your life?

52.   What is worst about your life?

53.   What is right about our world today?

54.   Would you rather wash the dishes, mow the lawn, or babysit a toddler?  Why?

55.   Would you rather write a paper, take a math test, or give a speech?  Why?

56.   Would you rather go to church or go to a political rally?  Why?

57.   Would you rather help at a homeless shelter, clean up garbage in a park, or work a political phone bank?

58.   Describe yourself as a learner. 

59.   You've inherited a library.  How do you feel?  What will you do?

60.   If you could be 2 people, what would the other “you” be like? 

Updated Timeline

Below is the updated timeline for completing our Research Papers:

Class	Discuss	Hand In
Week 7	Rough Draft #1 MLA citations	Rough Draft #1
Week 8	Peer Edits	Rough Draft #1 (extra copy)
Week 9	Works Cited page	Peer Edit
Week 10	Revising & Editing	Works Cited Draft
Week 11	Giving Presentations	Rough Draft #2
Week 12	MLA formatting	Presentation Plan
Week 13	Presentations	Rough Draft #3 (opt)
Week 14	Presentations	Final Draft
Week 15	Presentations	Final Draft

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 7 (Oct. 9)

Greetings!

We had a good, productive class today.  We started the class with a Quick Write.  Instead of doing ACT/SAT essay prompts, I gave them some prompts for brainstorming college application essays.  We took some time to discuss the value of these essays and how they play a role in the application process.  Because these are older students, I often take time in this class to talk about some of the writing aspects of the college search process.

Following our Quick Write, we discussed the syllabus, which I altered in order to give them more time for the next rough draft.  Below is the an updated plan:  

Class	Discuss	Hand In
Week 7	Rough Draft #1 MLA citations	Rough Draft #1
Week 8	Peer Edits	Rough Draft #1 (extra copy)
Week 9	Works Cited page	Peer Edit
Week 10	Revising & Editing	Works Cited Draft
Week 11	Giving Presentations	Rough Draft #2
Week 12	MLA formatting	Presentation Plan
Week 13	Presentations	Rough Draft #3 (opt)
Week 14	Presentations	Final Draft
Week 15	Presentations	Final Draft

In class, we watched a video about MLA citations, MLA Tutorial #6,  This is part of a series, which might be helpful to watch if any students have questions or are unclear about to do in-text citations or Works Cited pages:

MLA Tutorial #1 -- Basic Paper Formatting

MLA Tutorial #2 -- Basic Citation Format

MLA Tutorial #3 -- Works Cited Page Formatting

MLA Tutorial #4 -- Web Citation

MLA Tutorial #5 -- Citing Research

MLA Tutorial #6 -- In-Text Citation

I also  showed them one of the online resources for putting together the entry that would be on a Works Cited page.  EasyBib is one of several useful sites.

I have some writing handbooks available for the students that I will bring to class next week.  Most students prefer to use online sources for the specifics of formatting.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Continue to work on your papers, researching and writing

-- Bring an extra rough draft to class for the peer edits

This Week's Blogs:

Class Notes

MLA Style Guide

Helpful Citation Sites

MLA & Microsoft Word

How to Avoid Plagiarism

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Rough Draft Pep Talk

Greetings!

Before we meet this Thursday, and possibly while you're sweating bullets over getting the first rough draft completed, I want to remind you that this first draft of your paper is to check for content and organization.  Honestly, it is OK if it is really "rough" at this point.  Leave blank spaces for paragraphs about information that you haven't finished researching.  Write poor sentences; don't worry too much about grammar.  We'll work on all of that later.

This may seem to soon in the class to have that first rough draft due.  However, I've found that pushing at the beginning of the process pays off.  In past years, students have said that there wasn't much to do at the beginning, so they really procrastinated.  When that happens, they don't have much time to be careful editors and polishers of their final products.  

On Thursday, bring what you have; we'll talk as a group about the process.  One of my goals for this class is that you get a stronger sense for the kind of researcher, writer, and all-around learner you are.  That self-awareness is an important key to academic success.

Feel free to whine and moan a little because this is hard work.  Just don't let it distract you from your task at hand.  (I remember one of my 4 year olds fussing for an hour about having to clean his room.  After that hour, his siblings were done, but he still had his work to do AND he'd worked himself into a gloriously bad mood.)

Contact me if you have any questions,

Mrs. Prichardro

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 6 (Oct. 2)

Greetings!

We had a good class yesterday.  We're progressing nicely through the research writing process.  I divided the class into 3 groups to discuss 3 different ACT/SAT essay prompts:

1.  In this country, most people see and hear advertising for many different products every day.  Some people think advertising is useful because it provides important information about many different products. Other people think advertising is not useful because it tries to persuade people to buy products they do not really need. In your opinion, does advertising serve a useful purpose in our society?

In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on the question. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

2.  In some high schools, students are required to complete a certain number of community service hours prior to graduation. Some people think community service is a good requirement because they think students will benefit from this experience. Other people think schools should not require community service because students will resent the requirement and, as a result, will not benefit from the experience. In your opinion, should high schools require students to complete a certain number of hours of community service?

In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on the question. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

7.  Educators debate extending high school to five years because of increasing demands on students from employers and colleges to participate in extracurricular activities and community service in addition to having high grades. Some educators support extending high school to five years because they think students need more time to achieve all that is expected of them. Other educators do not support extending high school to five years; they think that students would lose interest in school and that attendance would drop in the fifth year. In your opinion, should high school be extended to five years?

The small groups then presented their ideas about important points and a potential outline for the essay.

Following the test prep work, we discussed the informal and detailed outlines, choosing sources, principles about quoting and citing sources.  The detailed outlines were due this week.  Those who didn't have them ready for class time should get them in sometime this weekend.

The first rough draft is due next week.  With this rough draft, I will be looking for content and organization.  If they don't feel they have enough information, they should write using what they have.  It's easy to feel overwhelmed at this point, but I encourage the students to just start writing, even if they don't feel they are ready to put together their research papers.

I mentioned to them that I have some resources for citing sources.  Below are some links from previous Writing 3 classes.  I've also attached some other documents that will be helpful.  An important reminder:  since we only meet once a week, most of the work that students need to do is between classes.  

I will be sending another e-mail with more attachments regarding citing your resources.

Next week we will discuss  citations and the peer edit.

Assignments for Next Week:  

-- Rough Draft #1

Helpful Links for this Week:

Class Notes

MLA Guide from Purdue OWL

Helpful MLA Citation sites

Another Helpful Web Resource

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm and dry!

Mrs. Prichard