Hello Writing 1 Students and Parents!
We've started out our new school year well. I'm looking forward to working with this group of students. Below are the Class Notes for this week. Every week I will send out notes similar to these. I include the topics of the class and the direction of instruction. At the bottom of each email I list the homework and links to the blog, to the Google Classroom assignments, and to any other helpful information.
We got right into the nitty-gritty class details right away: Class Guidelines, homework deadlines and Syllabus. They have an assignment of having a parent sign the Guidelines–they can bring them in next week or submit on GC.
After that, we had a 10 minute Ice Breaker game where students got into groups, rolled the dice and answered corresponding questions. It was a low-key way to connect with classmates and hopefully learn something new. While they were engaged, I went around and checked on their Writing 1 Binders to see that they are complete–one of the first assignments.
Our Literature selection for this semester is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. We will start the novel next week, but for this week, they are to watch the introduction video on Google Classroom and complete the Quiz.
In Writing, our first exercise was to make a Key Word Outline on Source Texts about Orson Scott Card and Science Fiction. Outlining is a very powerful tool in learning to write well–it forces us to read and synthesize material so that we can express it succinctly.
As a class, we read a source text on Orson Scott Card. For each sentence, we chose the three (and three only!) most important, (“key”) words. Abbreviations and symbols are “free” and don’t count toward the three. After we compiled a KWO for the first paragraph, students wrote one on their own for the next paragraph. We gathered their ideas on the board and, after that, flexed our public speaking muscles.
How do you test whether an outline is good or not? You tell it back using your outline. Students paired up and took turns telling back their outlines to each other. I think some were surprised about how challenging this can be! The technique is deceptively simple:
Read
Think
Look up
Speak
Can you remember what your symbols mean? Were you able to tell it back successfully? Then your outline is “good!”
For homework, students should outline a text about science fiction. They will tell it back to someone at home and then have that person sign their KWO. It is due next week.
No Grammar this week -- we'll jump in with both feet next week!
Assignments for Next Week
(Note: The links will take you to the Google Classroom post for the particular assignment. If you plan to do the paper version, you can ignore the link. If an assignment is labeled "GC," that means that is something that must be done on Google Classroom. These are usually quizzes or questions)
Writing 1 Class Guidelines (signatures needed)
Before school started assignments–Students can still do these:
“Science Fiction” Key Word Outline
Links for this Week:
Writing 1 Assignments Checklist
Ender’s Game Introduction Quiz
Ender’s Game Audiobook (free version)
No comments:
Post a Comment