Today, we started our Visual Vocabulary words for Spring. This is where we work with some ACT/SAT vocabulary words; we learn the definition, the part of speech, and use it in a sentence. I gave them this semester’s worksheet where the words will be cumulatively compiled. They turned in the sentences or prompts that they completed to help cement this word in their memories and to “furnish the mind” as writing teacher Andrew Pudewa says. I hope to see some of these words in composition this semester! The words today were: bellicose and presume.
Writing
Today I introduced our first essay for this semester: The Narrative Essay. This style of essay tells a story from a clear point of view. A narrative essay allows for some creativity and is more informal than expository essays–and tells a story from a clear point of view. In this assignment, students will tell the story from the perspective of a character from a Normal Rockwell painting. (Paintings are posted on GC).
On the board, we talked through how to break writing this story down into manageable parts. We looked at the painting “Happy Birthday, Miss Jones” by Norman Rockwell. I gave the class a chance to do a “picture study” as we observed all the details we could. After naming some, we began to ask ourselves questions: who, what, (what are they thinking/doing/saying/feeling) when, where, why, how? And then a level deeper: what happened before the picture? After? Outside the picture? What may have happened before or after? In this way, students begin to access their thinking and imagination and create their own story.
We also imagined what could have happened before this moment, then what was happening in the moment captured on the canvas and last, what happened after. That’s where they come up with their story’s message or takeaway. Those three “moments” will become their three paragraphs for the story.
After reading and discussing the sample essay based on the same painting, students will be ready to compose their story. They are to use the Topic-clincher rule for each paragraph and to employ all the Dress-Ups we have used so far: -ly adverb, who/which clause, strong verb and a decoration of some sort. In addition, I encourage them to use dialogue where appropriate. Please take the dialogue quiz (GC) to brush up on how to punctuate dialogue correctly. The Key Word Outline is due in class next week!
Literature
We had a quick check-in today on Animal Farm. I asked them to think/pair/share on a few questions. They had some thought-provoking answers! After touching on the qualities of a good leader, I shared with them a free resource on the topic of socialism and communism. It’s a FREE course through Hillsdale College for those students who are interested in learning more about the political background of this novel. It is excellent! For homework, they are to keep reading (chapters 3 & 4), answer the questions AND take the quiz over chapters 1-4 posted on Google Classroom.
Grammar
For the Grammar portion of class, we worked again on simple and compound sentences. The worksheets are a review of the basic elements of a sentence (subject + verb + complete thought). Many times students write sentence fragments and run-on sentences and comma splice sentences because they don't have a strong sense for these sentence elements. [Note: Remember to correct your grammar worksheets and to clearly mark that they've been corrected.]
Homework
Read Animal Farm Ch. 3 & 4
Take Home Quiz #1–Chs. 1–4(GC)
Narrative KWO–due IN CLASS next week!
Grammar worksheets
What is a Sentence?
Sentence Patterns–N-V
Links for this week
Visual Vocabulary #1
Hillsdale College Socialism/Marxism course
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