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

Greetings!

We had a marvelous time in class today.  Our final four students presented for their classmates.  Dane spoke about the downfall of monarchies; Joe gave us information about the effects of screen time on the brain; Ilya shared the stories of 3 billionaires with drive and vision.  Finally, Ben talked about what is good about our nation, America.

Students were to hand in their Final Drafts of their Research Papers, along with any rough drafts.  Any papers not handed in should be e-mailed as soon as possible.

I'm excited about going through these papers.  The class has worked so hard on them, and I'm really proud of their writing.  They all presented fascinating information when it was their turns to stand before their classmates.

My hopes are to have the papers graded and the grades out before the end of the year.  I have papers from Writing 1, Writing 2, and Writing 3, so it will take some time.

This class is now finished.  Next semester, in the place of Writing 3, I teach a British Literature class.  In this class, we read Beowulf, Much Ado about Nothing, Great Expectations, Romantic poetry, Victorian poetry, Pygmalion, and 39 Steps -- all classics of British literature.  The class is discussion based with very little writing.

Have a great Christmas!  Be blessed with your family and with the Lord during this time of year!

Mrs. Prichard

Research Paper Rubric

Criterion	Pts	Insufficient	Limited	Adequate	Proficient	Exceptional
Format	10	Elements missing; incorrect margins, font, spacing, bibliography, endnotes.  (0 – 2 pt)	Some elements missing; flaws that detract from flow of paper (3 – 4 pt)	All elements present with occasional mistakes (5 – 6 pt)	All elements well-presented and flows smoothly (7 – 8 pt)	All elements thoroughly presented, extremely well-organized, no flaws (9 – 10 pt)
Student Scores
Mechanics	50	Frequent errors, seriously impairs flow & meaning of paper (0 – 9 pt)	Regular errors; flow/meaning of paper breaks down (10 – 19 pt)	Errors noticeable, and occasionally detract from flow or meaning of paper (20 – 29  pt)	Some errors, which are minor in nature and don’t detract from overall meaning of paper (30 – 39 pt)	Essentially faultless; errors may result from risk-taking and do not detract from meaning of paper.  (40 – 50 pt)
Student Scores
Organization	50	Elements missing; minimal organization and lack of flow; understanding seriously impaired (0 – 9 pt)	Regular breaks in organization impede flow and meaning (10 – 19 pt)	Occasional disorganization within paragraphs, but paragraph organization well presented. (20 – 29  pt)	Well organized and flows smoothly; no distractions in organization; (30 – 39 pt)	All sentences and paragraphs flow well; smooth and logical flow; crisp and clear (40 – 50 pt)
Student Scores
Content	50	Little to no examination of data; failure to present relevant information (0 – 9 pt)	Some examination of data; little evaluation of material; little understanding of relevant information (10 – 19 pt)	Adequate understanding and examination of data; some attempts to incorporate material into paper (20 – 29  pt)	Skillful examination shows strong degree of evaluation; strong understanding of various points of argument (30 – 39 pt)	Demonstrates thorough examination of data; shows ability to evaluate; reveals mature insight (40 – 50 pt)
Student Scores
Thesis/Position	15	Position incomplete; support ineffective; explanation minimal (0 – 3 pt)	Positions partially presented; weak information; lack of relevant details. (4 – 6 pt)	Position substantially presented; some imbalance in positions and missing or gaps in explanation.  (7 – 9 pt)	Position completely presented, relevant, accurate, clear and well-explained.   (10 – 12 pt)	All positions thoroughly presented; each point clearly explained; relevant and accurate support of positions (13 – 15 pt)
Student Scores
Presentation	25	Unprepared; unorganized; no eye contact; too casual (0 – 4 pt)	Shared minimal information; occasional eye contact (5 – 9  pt)	Good organization; shared relevant and interested information (10 – 14 pt)	Well-organized; material interests and engages audience; very good eye contact.  (15 – 19 pt)	Flawless presentation; covers key information; confident, engaging (20 – 25 pt)
Student Scores

Total Score – 200 possible points

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

Greetings!

We've reached one of my favorite parts of this class -- the Presentations!  The students have all worked hard on their research and writing, and this is a chance for them to share their work with their classmates.  While some students might feel self-conscious and not comfortable speaking in front of others, this is a wonderfully welcoming group of young people.  

Our first presenter was Tatum Beynon.  Her research paper was on the history of ballet, and for her presentation, she spoke on pointe shoes.  She was followed by Michael Sipprell who shared with us some information about the pay for professional athletes.  Our final presentation, given by Christopher Goddard, was an examination of Thomas Jefferson.

I handed back third rough drafts to those who had handed the in before the Thanksgiving break.  This was an optional draft.  The final drafts of the papers are due the last week of class.

Next week's presenters:  

1.  Jaden

2.  Cassidy

3.  Joe

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Finish Final Draft

-- Prepare for presentation, if necessary. 

This week's links:

Class Notes

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

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

Greetings!

I challenged the class with the same Quick Write that the Writing 1 and Writing 2 classes did this week:  to write about a favorite cartoon character or to list what they would like on their birthday menu, but they had to do it with the non-dominant hand.  As with the other two classes, this proved to be quite a challenge.  They had to concentrate really hard just to get one sentence out.

We are nearing the end, and at this point I'm trying to anticipate any questions they might have.  Before discussing the presentations they have to give, I went over some details for in-text citations and Works Cited pages.  If necessary, students can revisit pages from the blog or other posted links.

The papers written by the students are coming along nicely.  They have good content, and they really only need to do some fine-tuning and polishing up of some of the mechanics.  If they want, they can hand in a 3rd rough draft next week for me to go over.  The Final Drafts are due the last week of class.

We spent the bulk of the class time discussing the Presentations that they are to give.  I had them watch 3 short videos; 2 were instructional and 1 was a humorous talk given to illustrate the power of voice and gestures.

Below is the schedule for the presentations:

Week 13 (December 3)

1.  Tatum

2.  Michael

3.  Christopher

Week 14 (December 10)

1.  Jaden

2.  Cassidy

3.  Joe

Week 15 (December 17)

1.  Ben

2.  Dane

3.  Ilya

Assignment for Week 13 (December 3)

-- Rough Draft #3 (optional)

-- Finalize Presentations

-- Reminder:  No CHAT next week

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

MLA Style Guide

MLA Style for Citations (Video Links)

How to Sound Smart (TEDTalks)

How to Give a Great Presentation

How to Give an Awesome Presentation

Have a marvelous Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 12)

Greetings!

Another good week at CHAT under our belts.  We only have 4 weeks of class left -- where has this semester gone?

I gave the students two options for the Quick Write.  Firstly, Veterans Day was acknowledged and celebrated on Wednesday, November 11.  I mentioned to them that this holiday was originally Armistice Day because of the armistice between the Allies and Germany that was signed at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  It is also National Children's Book Week.  The students could either write about someone whom they knew served in the military, or they could write about a favorite children's book.

This week I handed back the second rough drafts that I had gone over looking for errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. These papers have really been a delight to read.  They've chosen such fascinating topics.  During class, I had the peer editing pairs sit and discuss their readings of one another's papers. Sometimes students are reticent about having people read their work, but I think  this is an important part of the process.   And they did a marvelous job.

When they finished with their discussions, I talked with them about some common challenges I saw in their writing.  As always, figuring out just where to put those pesky commas can be hard.  Mostly, we talked about citing their work.  For some, Works Cited pages needed re-formatting, and for others the problems were with the int-text citations.  I made comments in the places in the papers where I thought they were missing a citation for the material in their papers.  I also corrected the format.  In the Links for this Week I've included the videos that we watched in class about formatting.

Next week we will finish up with questions and answers and will discuss the presentations.  If any students would like to hand in a 3rd draft, they may hand it in next week.  

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Presentation Plan draft

-- Revise and Edit the Rough Draft

Links for this Week:

Videos for Formatting in MLA, part 1

Videos for Formatting in MLA, part 2

Class Notes

Enjoy this beautiful weather!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Videos for Formatting in MLA, Part 2

Videos for Formatting Documents in MLA, Part 1

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

Greetings!

This week we started the class with a Quick Write.  Sometimes we use SAT/ACT essay prompts or college application essay prompts for our beginning of class writing.  Our writing this week was a little more light-hearted; they could choose between Guy Fawkes Day (November 5) or National Sandwich Day (November 3).

The students were to bring copies of their rough drafts to class to exchange them with another classmate so that they can do peer edits.  We had gone over how to do peer edits a couple of weeks ago.  I encouraged them to read the essays in the same way that I did:

First -- Read the paper all the way through to get a big picture perspective

Second -- Read the Introduction and the Conclusion; made sure the fit together because they should mirror each other.

Third -- Read the whole paper again; look for transitions.  Read to make sure the paragraphs flow smoothly and have the right content.

For the Peer Edit, the students should fill out the rubric and the worksheet (questions 1 - 4).

We spent part of our class time working on some practice writing sections from a SAT Prep book.  The exercises we worked with included misplaced modifiers, dangling participles, parallelism, and wordiness. 

I also have the rough drafts for the students; for this rough draft I will be checking for grammar and mechanics.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the process.

Assignment for Next Week:

-- Peer Edit classmate's paper

-- Fill out Peer Edit

Links for this week:

Peer Edit Rubric

Class Notes

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

Peer Edit Rubric

Editor’s Name:  _______________________________

Writer’s Name:  _______________________________

Paper Title:  __________________________________

Peer Editing Rubric

	Needs Work	Good	Excellent
Content
Is the paper interesting and convincing?  Does it hold the reader’s interest.
Do any ideas seem vague?  What can the writer explain more thoroughly that would help the reader?
Can you determine the paper’s audience?
Writing is well-organized with introduction, body, and conclusion.
Does the introduction give the reader “clues” about the subject of the essay?  Does it give an accurate “road map?”
Is the conclusion or a mere summary?  Does it refer back to the introduction and help round out the essay?
Organization
As a reader, do you sense a structure in the paper?  Can you determine a logic behind it?
Do the transitions between sentences and paragraphs help connect the ideas?
Writing Style
Sentences are clear and concise.
Are some sections of the paper better written than others?
Is the style understandable and appropriate for the audience?
Does the writer use strong verbs and avoid using too many linking verbs and passive voice construction?
Does the writer use accurate descriptive words and show consistency of vocabulary throughout the paper?
Does the writer use words that display confidence in his/her subject, or tentative expressions such as “I think” or “It seems”?
Thesis & Support
Is the thesis statement easy to find and does it accurately voice the main idea of the paper?
Is the thesis supported in the body of the paper?
Is the thesis statement easy to find and does it accurately voice the main idea of the paper?
Is the thesis supported in the body of the paper?
Is any evidence or support missing?
Is there any evidence that contradicts the thesis or should be cut from the paper?
Research & Documentation
Is the research thoroughly documented?  Are citations for direct quotes, paraphrases and summaries accurate and understandable?
Is the research integrated into the paper?  Does the writer have a good balance of his/her own ideas and materials from other resources?
Mechanics & Presentation
Grammar and spelling are correct.
Sentences and paragraphs are punctuated properly.
Typing and presentation are neat.
Piece of writing is the required length.
Best parts of this piece of writing
Areas that need more work