Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 1 (January 15)

 Hello Dear Students,

Even though some may not be that excited to start up again, I am very proud of them for all they had been learning this past year.  There’s much to be grateful for!

We started the day out with a Quick Write.  Today’s topic was a choice between:

JANUARY 15–NATIONAL BAGEL DAY

JANUARY 15–NATIONAL HAT DAY or

JANUARY 17–NATIONAL CLASSY DAY

After that, we previewed the Spring Syllabus, Homework Checklist and Late Homework dates.  We highlighted the important due dates and took a brief look at what this semester has in store.  I told them a good strategy is to use the Homework Checklist to help them parcel out their work during the week to avoid having it all pile up at the last minute. Students should plan to work on this class at least 30 minutes per day.

After that, we switched gears to introduce the novella Animal Farm. We talked through a slideshow on The Cycle of Revolution and the Iron Law of Oligarchy.  We had a Jigsaw style discussion on the three themes from the book:  Government, Equality/Equity and Leadership. They had some interesting insights!  There were some that argued that though we are all created with equal rights, some people have different gifts and therefore, in reality, it is impossible for everyone to be “equal.”  How smart is that?!!  Our discussion led beautifully into the main slogan of “Animalism” from our novel which is an allegory for Communism. 

For homework, they are assigned to watch two videos and take a quiz on the historical background on this novella–which is actually an allegory about the Russian Revolution. For homework, they will keep thinking about the theme of leadership as they answer the discussion question (on GC) about what character quality makes for a great leader.

They should start reading the book (Ch. 1 & 2) and answer 3 Study Guide questions.  They also have a Vocabulary Worksheet that they should be filling out as they read–it will be due at the end of the unit.  

Grammar

After that, I introduced this semester’s grammar focus:  Basic Sentence Patterns. I explained that while English depends largely on word order to convey meaning, other languages often rely on inflection (modifications to word forms) to determine relationships between words, making their sentence structures more flexible in comparison. Some students have studied another language, so they were able to illustrate that with examples.

We watched a Youtube Short on the Basic sentence patterns and I handed out two worksheets. 

Students had time to get started on those and are to complete and correct them. This semester, instead of paper KEY, students are to use the KEY that is posted with each worksheet on Google Classroom. Please remember to correct your own work and mark those corrections! I was more lenient on that last semester than I will be this semester;)

Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings, 

Mrs. G

Homework

Syllabus

Homework Checklist

Homework & Late Dates

Read Ch. 1 & 2

Animal Farm Vocabulary Worksheet

Ch. 1 & 2 Study Guide Questions

Introduction to Animal Farm Quiz (GC)

“Top Character Quality–Leader?” Response 

Links for this week

Syllabus

Homework Checklist

Homework & Late Dates