Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 11--November 12

 Hi Everyone!

We had a great class today!  I am always encouraged to see such bright, inquisitive students each week who are engaged and ready to learn!

Door Quiz:

Today, we had a quick quiz “for fun” 😉on the ICE technique. Students did well and will now be using that method when incorporating their quotes, paraphrases and summaries.

Quick Write.  

After a min-lesson on the [6] sentence opener, the VSS (very short sentence) students had an opportunity to practice using it. Since it is the season of Gratitude, today, students wrote about a time when they felt appreciation–could be about a person, a moment, a sunset, a bird–simply a time they felt thankful and in awe of being alive. Since we live in a fallen world, sometimes things can feel tough. Reliving a moment of gratitude and really feeling it can counteract negative emotions. I encourage students to try this in their own lives–as frequently as needed!

Literature

Today was the Peace Like A River Final Exam. Students took that in class. Since we finished the novel, we will spend the last few weeks of this semester studying the genre of magical realism. They are assigned to watch a video on this topic and answer the questions on a Google Form quiz. Keep working on your podcasts!!

Writing

After that, I rolled out the next essay-our last one this semester! This has become one of my more favorite pieces of writing that I get to assign and read. It is called the Urban Legends Essay. This assignment will require them to explain a Urban Legend/conspiracy theory/Mandela effect and they will also have to effectively debunk it. They will need to research and include MLA Style citations and a Works Cited page. We watched a few short videos on different urban legends and discussed the Mandela effect. They had a bit of time to brainstorm/consider a few ideas. We didn’t spend too much time discussing the particulars, so please read the About the Urban Legends essay Document carefully. The Key Word Outline is due next week.

Grammar

No new topics today, but students will practice working with the phrases we have been learning. They are to watch an Edpuzzle video and then take a Phrases Review on Google Classroom

That’s it! Have an awesome weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Watch the Magical Realism video (linked in quiz below)

Watch Magical Realism video

Magical Realism Quiz questions (GC)

Urban Legends Key Word Outline (with sources)

Phrases Review (GC)

CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 10 (November 5th)

We started the class with our Visual Vocabulary words:  gist and fealty.   We also had a Door Quiz over the acronym ICE for in-text citations:

I=Introduce C=Cite E=Explain

www.asia.b–when, while, where, as, since, if, although, because

Writing

Speaking of writing, today was our Peer Review day for the Process essays. Using a checklist, students gave some high quality feedback to their peers. Students that met this deadline received points for completing it on time. I am hoping that feedback will be incorporated as they continue to polish their essays.They are due next week.

Grammar

Today’s grammar discussion continued our unit on phrases. Today it was participial phrases.  Using these phrases correctly is key to “leveling up” your writing.  Students took notes on how participials look like verbs, but they function as adjectives because they describe a noun/subject.  Participials usually end in “ed” or “ing.”  Students had a chance to write a few practice sentences and they were assigned homework.  

So far we have learned the phrases:  prepositional, infinitive, gerund  and participial.  For homework they are to complete the two worksheets. Please note:  we will be spending an additional week on Phrases before moving on the the next topic of Active and Passive Verbs (please note changes on your syllabus & homework checklist.)

Literature

We were scheduled to play a board game review of Peace Like A River today, but ran short on time. Instead, students can access the game review questions online in order to prepare for next week’s in-class exam. Also, begin working on your Podcast projects!

Have a blessed weekend!

Mrs. G

Homework

Process Essay due next week

Prepare for PLAR Exam

Participials–1

Participials–2

Writing 2 Class Notes--Week 9--(10/29)

 Dear Students,

We were rolling quite along today and spirits were high!

Quick Write

Today students added the [5] www.asia.b sentence opener to their Style checklists. We also discussed when it is appropriate to use a comma for this clause.  The Quick Write options for today were a choice of topics on National Days:  National Cat Day, Oatmeal Day or Candy Day.  They are required to use a [5] sentence opener today. 

Literature

We started the Literature section for today with a quiz over chapters 18 & 19.And now they have reached the pinnacle climax of our story!  The students have been enjoying our novel and it is coming to an end.  They are to finish it this week and do a Response worksheet–by filling out an obituary for one of the characters. You may choose ones that actually did die--Jeremiah, Andreeson, Tommy Basca, Israel Finch--and write their obituary.  On the other hand, you may choose a character who didn't die in the story and use some creative license to imagine how they would have lived their lives after the story ends and before their death. Next class, we will be prepare for the final exam by playing a Peace Like A River board game.

This week, the Peace Like A River Podcast Project was introduced.  We went through expectations and technology options and listened to my example to give them a good idea of how to put it all together. For next week, students should post an answer to the question on Google Classroom about their project’s theme.  Once approved, work can begin.  Presentations will be Week 14 (12/10). That leaves you about 4 weeks to prepare–do NOT leave this until the last minute.🫠

Writing

Today, the Process Essay KWO’s were due. They needed to have at least three sources for this one, so I checked for that and gave credit to students who met the deadline today. I also answered a few questions related to this topic.

Since they will need to cite three sources and also a visual image for this essay, we practiced To help students include these quotes smoothly, we use the acronym ICE. We had a mini-lesson on this concept today. Next week, there will be a Door Quiz on what the acronym ICE stands for.

I=Introduce C=Cite E=Explain

They will also need to complete a Works Cited page for this essay. I handed out a sample of what that should look like and posted a slideshow on details. Since most academic writers use online helps, I encouraged students to consult the MLA Style Center if they have questions about how to format a citation for their Works Cited page. Online citation generators like My Bib or Owl Purdue are also VERY helpful.

Speaking of Peer Review, next week, students will perform one! Make sure to bring a paper copy of your essay and your completed Style Checklists to class! If you are not prepared, you will,  a.) not be able to benefit from this valuable peer feedback, and b.) you will not receive credit for this assignment.

Grammar

No Grammar today.

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Process Essay–bring a hard copy for peer review!

Quotes, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Worksheet 

Read Ch. 20-23 (finish book)

Reader Response–Obituary

What’s your Podcast topic? (GC)

Start working on your podcasts!

Writing 2 Class Notes–October 22 (Week 8)

 It was good to see your smiling faces back from break.  We are officially halfway through the Fall semester now.  Can you believe it?!?  I aim to get your grade reports out this week. 🤞

After that, we had our Visual Vocabulary words of the day:  rancor and denizen.  

Writing

Personal essays were due before break. I have graded them and they were handed back today. Before they can move forward with editing their work, I gave the class a tutorial on how that should be done because I am doing the revision process a bit differently this year.

In order for students to improve their writing, they must learn to fix the mistakes they make so that they will not continue to commit the same errors.  On your graded essays, you will see  numbers/letters on the physical copy (and on GC copy) that correspond to the explanation of the errors. These explanations are the “Grammar & Content Codes”.)

Directions: 

Here’s a step by step of that process (slideshow posted in GC):

Step 1:  Number all the marked errors on your paper for both grammar and content issues. (Each student has a copy of the Grammar Codes and the Content Codes for this essay.)

Step 2: On a separate sheet of binder paper, work through each of your errors by (neatly) writing the rule you violated and showing how you would correct the error.

Please note: you do NOT need to rewrite the entire essay

Step 3: Staple these hand-written corrections to a paper copy of your essay and turn in. They are due next week.You may also submit on GC by scanning your marked up essay and your handwritten corrections and posting them to the Edits assignment. (No pictures, please.)

Optional Step 4:  If you are not satisfied with the grade your essay earned, you are invited to resubmit it after you have polished it and applied the suggested corrections. In this case, write “Resubmitted” on the Edits you will turn in

Students practiced this skill together on a sample paragraph in class and turned them in when they were finished. Final Edits are due next week.

Last, I introduced the next essay which is a Process Essay. We kicked around some possible topic ideas and read about the parameters of this essay. Next week we will go into more detail on MLA citations and Works Cited pages.

Your KWO is due next week. Please note that the template for this one may not be that helpful depending on how many steps your process has. You may need to divide it differently than the template allows for. It actually may be super helpful to categorize your process into three stages. The template also has a place to record your sources and the visual.

Grammar

We’re continuing with a unit on phrases in sentences.  Students have reviewed preposition phrases and we covered gerund phrases last week.  For this week, students will be doing two worksheets dealing with infinitives.  

Infinitive phrases combine the word “to” with a verb.  (For example, to sing, to jump, to swim, etc.)  Infinitive phrases can function as nouns, adjectives or adverbs.  These phrases can also have adjectives or direct objects.  One example from the worksheet had an infinitive phrase that was functioning as a noun, and in the sentence it was the direct object.  No one said grammar was easy!! 

Literature

Keep reading your books and complete the Quiz over chapters 15-17 on Google Classroom.  Next week we’ll have another book discussion.

Since quite a few students were absent today, the Peace Like A River project will be introduced next week. 

That’s it!  Reach out with any questions.

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Process Essay KWO

Personal Essay Final Edits

Infinitives Homework–1

Infinitives Homework–2

Read PLAR Chapters 18-19

Be ready for an in-class quiz!

PLAR Project Overview Quiz

What Is Your Podcast Theme–question

Links for this Week

About the Process Essay

How to Cite a visual MLA Style

Writing 2 Class Notes–October 8 (WK 7)

 Hello All!

Quick Write

We got right to it this morning as I taught a mini-lesson on the [4] -ing ending Sentence Opener. We analyzed the clause, then added it to our Style Sheets.  Students will now be required to use one of those per paragraph in their essays and to practice using it today in our Quick Write.

After that, I explained how to do a self “check-in” in order to identify their most predominant 1 or 2 emotions right now. After they identified their emotion, they were to describe the event that caused that emotion to emerge. I set the 5 minute timer and students wrote on that topic and used and indicated at least one [4]  –ing ending sentence opener.

Literature

Today was our Literature Circles discussion.  This is usually highlight because students prepare for and lead their own small group discussions!  Each one has been assigned a role which they prepared for last week as homework.  First, they were put into their role groups to confer on their questions, quotes and illustrations. After that, they got into their assigned mixed groups, and I set the timer–the room was abuzz with insightful comments!  They will receive a grade on their preparation, participation and input from the other group members.  As homework, they are to read Peace Like A River Chs. 15-17 and take the Take Home Quiz #2. 

Grammar

So far, the Grammar worksheets have been a fairly simple review.  We are moving on to a unit on phrases in sentences.  This week there are two worksheets that have to do with the Gerund Phrase.  We flew through the teaching, so please note that the slideshow is posted as well as two additional videos in case you need more help.

Writing

Today there was no instruction on writing, however the Personal Essays were due. Most students submitted them on GC. Students were instructed to staple their essays with the Style Sheet on top and put them in the bin. They were to also Turn In on GC. I will grade them over the break. When we come back, I will give instructions on how to handle the Final Edits and explain the grading procedure.

Extra Credit Note:

If students took notes over today’s class notes/grammar lesson, they can scan and upload those to Google Classroom by midnight tonight. 

Enjoy your Fall Break!

Mrs. G

Homework

Quick Write #3 and [4] -ing sentence opener

Gerunds–1

Gerunds–2

Literature Circles Evaluation

Read PLAR Ch. 15 & 17

Take Home Quiz #2

Materials for this week

Phrases Intro + Gerunds Slides

Literature Circles Discussion–Roles & Groups

CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes–October 1--WK 6

 Greetings, Everyone!

We’ve turned the corner into Fall and the weather is still gorgeous.  I hope you can take a minute to enjoy it!

After checking in about homework, we started the class  with Visual Vocabulary. Today we bandied about the definitions for bandy and entity.  Students are really catching on to these vocab words!  (See the hint for bandy on the left.)

Writing

Their KWOs which were due today. If they didn’t have them in class, they have until 11:59pm tonight to post it on GC. Scan and attach (no pics from phone!) Personal essays are due next week! They must be composed on Google Classroom using the template. Staple the Style Checklist to the top of your essay.

As per our class discussion, if text is copied and pasted from another source, it will be flagged as possible plagiarism. In that case, a student will receive a notification from me and will need to re-do the assignment or receive a zero. If it happens again, they will need to have a conference with parents, CHAT directors and me to determine if the student will be allowed to continue at CHAT. (Refer to the class guidelines and the CHAT Academic Agreement that we went over and each student and family signed at the start of the semester.)

Literature

After a recap over the major events that occurred in chapters 11 & 12, students took a quiz then we listened to a few minutes of the Peace Like A River audio book. Chapter 13 is a turning point because we meet a pivotal character! Their homework is to keep reading the next two chapters and complete the 3 Reader Responses Worksheet over the chapters listed  below👇

Chapter 13:  “Something Warm” Chapter 14:  “The Skin Bag”

After that, I assigned roles for our big Literature Circle discussion next week. You will receive a grade on your preparation and participation and we went over the expectations.  Each student has a part to play in order to make this a fruitful discussion.  They are to keep reading chapters  13 & 14 this week and complete a 3 Responses worksheet.  Any material up to chapter 14 is fair game for the discussion

I assigned roles for our big Literature Circle discussion next week (see below.)  You will receive a grade on your preparation and participation and we went over the expectations.  Each student has a part to play in order to make this a fruitful discussion.  They are to keep reading chapters  13 & 14 this week and complete a 3 Responses worksheet.  Any material up to chapter 14 is fair game for the discussion.  Roles are listed below 👇.

Grammar

Today’s grammar concept was on misplaced and dangling modifiers.  A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word or clause it modifies or describes. Because of this separation, the meaning of the sentence is often  awkward, ridiculous, illogical, or confusing.  A dangling modifier is a phrase or clause that is not clearly and logically related to the word or words it  modifies or describes.  These mistakes can often be amusing:

The waiter served a dinner roll to the woman that was well-buttered. 😂

I didn’t have time to teach this live, but I sent home a hangout and there is a Google Slideshow posted. They have two worksheets on this concept that are due next week.

Homework

Personal Essay due next week (10/9)

Read chapters 13 & 14

3 Responses

Prep. Literature Circles Role

About Misplaced Modifiers

Misplaced Modifiers #1

Misplaced Modifiers #2

Links for this week

Decorations Slides & Game

Literature Circles Roles

Writing 2 Guidelines

CHAT Academic Agreement

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 5--September 24

 

Hi everyone!

Quick Write

Our bellringer this morning was a Quick Write. They had a mini-lesson on the [3] adverb sentence opener. Now they have another sentence pattern to include in their writing. Today’s prompt was a choice of prompts in honor of National Hobbit Day! As usual, I set the timer, they chose a prompt and  wrote for five minutes. They were required to include and indicate the [3]adverbial sentence opener. Bonus points if you include any Visual Vocabulary word we’ve had so far.

Writing

Today I introduced our first formal essay: The Personal Essay. Though there is no research required for this piece, students will need to use creative thinking as they explore a piece of media or art that has inspired them. I posted a sample essay, the grading codes and the rubric in the “About the Personal Essay” material on Google Classroom. We will go into more depth on the grading process next week. This week, we analyzed an example of this type of essay.

The Key Word outline is due next week. They may either show it to me in class OR scan and upload it online. It is due on the due date or it will not receive credit.

Literature

Since we had an in-depth discussion last week, today we kept it short. Students had an in-class quiz over Peace Like A River  chapters 9 & 10. 

They should keep reading chapters 11 & 12 and prepare for another in-class quiz next week. 

Grammar

Today's topic was prepositional phrases as we wrapped up our parts of speech review.  I FORGOT to mention the Parts of Speech Quiz!–please complete that on Google Classroom this week. Though there was no time for a  mini-lesson, I posted some notes on Google Classroom in case it is needed. Do not forget to correct your own work! 

That’s it!

Go enjoy your weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Reach Chs. 11 & 12 Peace Like A River

PLAR Ch. 9 & 10 Quiz

Personal Essay KWO

Identifying Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional Phrases

Parts of Speech Quiz (GC)

Material for this Week

About the Personal Essay

Class Blog–Archived Class Notes