Writing 2 Week 12–11/20

 Dear Students,

The weather is turning and we are all ready for a break! But before the break:  one last class!  

Visual Vocabulary

I opened class with a Bellringer activity to practice paraphrasing. After that, we did our usual visual vocabulary words.  This week the words are: jaded and gambit. We had some chess players who were a bit jaded with the vocabulary word gambit.

Writing

 Today, their KWO’s for their Urban Legend essays were due. During their work time today, I circulated and gave credit to those who met their deadline. I will close this assignment by midnight tonight. Part of learning how to be a good student is learning how to budget time wisely. I hate being a stickler about deadlines–on the other hand, since we are on about a three week essay cycle, and I know from experience that once a student gets behind, it is very difficult to dig out of that hole. That is why I tend to be strict about writing due dates. On that note, I have changed the due dates for this last essay, see below:

Urban Legend KWO due–11/20 (WK 12)               🦃~~Thanksgiving Break~~🦃 Urban Legend Essay due–12/4 (WK 13) Final Edits due–12/18 (WK 15)

In preparation for writing the final essay this semester, which incorporates some research, we had a Writing Circle discussion about MLA Style citations. Students have been handling this skill fairly well, but supporting claims using citations can always use some practice. Each small group was given a folder with directions on how to cite the most common sources:  books, online articles, podcasts, videos/Youtube, and movies. After taking a look at those, I gave each group a stack of cards with an example of each type of source. Their job was to compose a Works Cited entry AND show how to cite the source in their writing. They were very engaged in this task! 

 

Literature

Now that we are finished with Peace Like A River, we have turned a corner and for the last few weeks of the semester, we’ll dive into the genre of Magical Realism. Today, we discussed the high points of that genre and discussed whether or not PLAR fits. Over the break, students get to listen to two short stories that are vivid examples of magical realism. They should complete a  One-Pager assignment  on the stories ”Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman and “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu.  I am looking forward to the discussion afterwards!

Don’t forget to keep working on your podcasts over the break! We will start our presentations after break! See schedule below:

Grammar

They are assigned the two worksheets on Active & Passive voice.  There is a video linked on one of the worksheets with tips for using this voice in their writing.

Homework

Urban Legend Essay

Process Essay Final Edits

Listen to “Chivalry” & “The Paper Menagerie” (audio)

Magical Realism One-Pager

Active to Passive Voice

Passive to Active Voice–2

Peace Like A River Podcast 

Links for this week:

PLAR Podcast Presentation Schedule

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 11 (Nov. 13)

 Hi Everyone!

Another fast-paced class today. Once again, I emjoyed each and every one of you!

We kicked off with our Quick Write.  After a min-lesson on the [6] sentence opener, the VSS (very short sentence) students had an opportunity to practice using it. I gave them a choice of writing prompts:

• National Parents as Teachers Day

• National Fast Food Day or

• Tell some current faves: songs, Youtube channel, Podcast or game.

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. Though I forgot to mention this after the test today, they are assigned to watch a video on this topic and answer the questions on a Google Form quiz.

Writing

After the exam, students practiced identifying a few elements in a sample introduction and conclusion. I want them to notice the style elements, topic-clincher rule, the clear thesis and the roadmap sentence. They have a worksheet as homework due next week.

After that, I rolled out the next essay. 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. After going over what the essay requirements will be, we watched a few short videos on different urban legends and discussed the Mandela effect. After that, they got in small groups to brainstorm a few of their own. The Key Word Outline is due next week.

Please note, there is a change in due dates for the last writing assignments. See below:

Victorian Invention KWO due–11/20 (WK 12)               🦃~~Thanksgiving Break~~🦃 Victorian Invention Essay due–12/4 (WK 13) Final Edits due–12/18 (WK 15)

Grammar

With the few minutes we had left, instead of starting a new grammar topic, students got in pairs to play a Phrases Matching game. No grammar homework this week!

That’s it! Have an awesome weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Watch the Magical Realism video (linked in quiz below)

Magical Realism Quiz questions (GC)

Urban Legends Key Word Outline (with sources)

Introductions & Conclusions worksheet

Links for this Week

Quick Write #5

About the Urban Legend Essay

Phrases Matching game

CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 10 (11/6)

 Did you see the amazing moon last night?  God’s creation is amazing! Anyway–

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 and participial.  For homework they are to complete a Phrases Review, which is posted as a Google Form on Google Classroom.

Literature

Today we played a board game that was a review for the Peace Like A River exam.  Each group had a game board, a stack of cards and a penny.  As they flipped the penny, they moved their piece forward and answered questions on our novel. Hopefully students will feel prepared to take the Final Exam in class next week.

Have a blessed weekend!

Mrs. G

Homework

Process Essay due next week

Prepare for PLAR Exam

Participials–1

Participials–2

Phrases Quiz

–Take the Edpuzzle on Phrases/Verbals first!

Links for this week

Visual Vocabulary #5

Class Blog (archived notes)