CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes--Week 9 (10/30)

 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 Hermit Day, National Cat Day OR National Frankenstein Day.  They are required to use a [5] sentence opener today. If they use a [2], [3], [4] OR Visual Vocabulary today, they will receive extra credit for each one!

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.

We touched base on the podcast project that they should begin working on. We went over a “Putting it All together" slideshow. Students got in small groups to share ideas and I fielded some questions on details.

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.

No Grammar Today!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Final Edits Personal Essay

KWO Process Essay

Process Essay–bring a hard copy for peer review!

Quotes, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Worksheet 

Read Ch. 20-23 (finish book)

Reader Response–Obituary

Start working on your podcasts!

Links for this week

Quick Write

About the Process Essay

MLA Slideshow + Summarizing/Paraphrasing + Quoting Slides

Putting Your Podcast Together

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 8 (10/23)

 It was good to see your smiling faces back from break.  We are officially halfway through the Fall semester now.  Can you believe it?!?

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

Writing

Before we started the Writing portion of today's class, I gave students some time to fill out the Decorations portion of their Style Sheets. Since the emphasis of this past narrative/descriptive essay was to use vivid language, it will be helpful to keep that list of literary devices handy as we move forward.

Speaking of Personal Essays:  those 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:  

• Number all the marked errors on your paper for both grammar and content issues. 

• On a lined sheet of binder paper, work through each of your errors by writing the rule you violated and show me what you would need to do to correct the error. You do NOT need to rewrite the entire essay. Instead, write the rule and isolate/fix the error. 

• These handwritten corrections are due on the Final Edits due date along with your original and graded essay. 

• Staple your Edits to your  essay and hand in at class OR scan and turn in your handwritten Edits and submit a copy of your Essay (with numbered errors) on Google Classroom in the Final Edits assignment for that essay.

• Please write neatly.

• If you are not satisfied with the initial grade your essay earned, you may fix all the errors you isolated and resubmit your essay. 

We practiced this process on a sample paragraph. Final Edits are due next week.

Last, I introduced the next essay which is a Process Essay. 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

This week, the Peace Like A River project was introduced.  As homework, students should listen to my example and answer some questions about the assignment. 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 12/4 & 12/14.  

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

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

Visual Vocabulary

About the Process Essay

PLAR Podcast Project

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 7 (10/9)

 Hello All!

Quick Write

We got right to it this morning as I taught a mini-lesson on the [4] who/which clause Dress-up. After learning about essential vs. non-essential clauses,we added that Dress-up to our Style sheet. 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–along with a  [2] -ly adverb opener. They will need to indicate those with a [#]. As usual, bonus points will be given for each Visual Vocabulary word they use. Today’s topic choices were: 

NATIONAL HERO DAY

NATIONAL MOLDY CHEESE DAY

NATIONAL PRO-LIFE CUPCAKE DAY 

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. I will grade them over the break. Please note: the Final Edits will be due Oct. 30 NOT Oct. 23. Changes are updated on the syllabus/homework checklist.

Homework

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

Phrases Intro + Gerunds Slides

Gerunds–1

Gerunds–2

Literature Circles Evaluation

Read PLAR Ch. 15 & 17

Take Home Quiz #2

Links for this week

Literature Circles Discussion–Roles & Groups

CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 6 (10/2)

 CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 6 (10/2)

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

Since the focus of this first essay is narrative and strong use of language, we talked through figures of speech–aka “decorations.” We reviewed similes, personification, metaphor, alliteration, the VSS and 3SSS and duals/triples. While they got into groups to play a game, I circulated and they showed me 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. Personal essays are due next week! They must be composed on Google Classroom using the template–use some decorations :)

Literature

I made the mistake last week of posting the wrong quiz! Since it was my error, I exempted the class from last week’s quiz and canceled this week’s quiz.🫠 Though we didn’t have time for a  discussion over the major events that occurred in chapters 9-12, students should be familiar with those for our discussion next week. The names of the chapters are:

Chapter 9 “By the Grace of Lurvey Chapter 10: “The Substance of Things Hoped For” Chapter 11: “The Last Thing He Would Do” Chapter 12: “At War with the Whole World”

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.  

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. 😂

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

Visual Vocabulary #3

Decorations Slides & Game

Literature Circles Roles