Writing 1 Class Notes Week 4 (Sept. 15)

 Greetings!

I cannot believe how the time flies with these students!  What a great group!  We covered a lot, but I find myself wishing we had more time.

Quick Write

They had four eclectic  topics to choose from today: 

– Last week–and still today, there are many flags flying at half staff.  The original reason is in observance of Patriot’s Day.  On that day, we remember the victims and the heroes of the September 11, 2001 terror attack that toppled the World Trade Center in NYC and crashed into the Pentagon building in VA.  What thoughts do you have about that tragic event?

–The second reason is that it was announced that Queen Elizabeth had passed away on 9/8.  What thoughts do you have on her passing?  On British royalty? 

OR: 

–Eclectic=(adj) deriving ideas, styles or tastes from a broad, diverse range of sources.  How does the word “eclectic” connect to an experience you’ve had?

–Of course, choice number four is to write on a topic of their choosing.

Words of the Day

awkward (adj) Lack of dexterity or skill; not easy to handle or deal with.  From middle English awk=wrong way around.  The meaning shifted from “perverse→ill-adapted→clumsy

Adroit (adj) having or showing skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness in handling situations; from Old French ‘a =to + droit=”right”;  latin=directum = “right, justice, law”; expresses predominately “a trained right hand”

spurious (adj) fake; counterfeit.  From latin=false; applied specifically to false marriages

On the reverse side of their cards, students were asked to sketch a situation that is awkward and one that is adroit.  They also enjoyed drawing up a spurious ID.  

HW Check:

We spent some time reviewing how to use some aspects of Google Classroom.  Some students have been having trouble turning in assignments–we looked at how to “Make A Copy” of the Rough Draft/Final Essay Templates and how to “Turn In”.  Students can choose to submit their assignments on  paper if they wish, however, I do require all Essays/Rough Drafts to be submitted through Google Classroom.  It is much more expedient for grading and returning leaving students time to revise as needed.  The same process of “Make a Copy” works for other assignments as well–we talked especially about the 3 Reader Responses.  As you type in the box, it will expand to fit your answer.  Please answer the questions with specific examples from the book!

Writing Discussion

The Descriptive Essays are due next week.  Most students are finishing their essays, so I assigned the next one.  The next essay is a Personal Essay.  For this essay they should choose a personal experience or a topic that is of strong personal interest to them.  We touched on topic ideas and thesis statements.  The rough draft is due next week.

Literature Discussion

We're reading Animal Farm, and this week we had a good discussion about our reading.  We used the 4 Square Discussion model to discuss the content.  We also did a little singing. If you have been in the hallway, you would have heard animal noises to the tune of La Cucaracha and Clementine.  Students were assigned Chapter 5-6 and 3 Responses.  They will also need to complete a Week 4 Take Home quiz

Grammar 

Unfortunately, we ran out of time before we could have our Grammar portion of class, but we will remedy that next week.

 Since we are covering Parts of Speech using the memory device IVAN CAPP, we will have a short contest for our mascot.  A number of students contributed drawings and pictures. The drawings are posted on Google Classroom.  I'll let them know the winner next week.

Students have been put in groups of 3, and they are to research and come up with explanations about their assigned parts of speech.  Additionally, they are to come up with an activity/game/video for the class.  Some students use PowerPoint or other types of presentations.  Sometimes videos are helpful.  I've extended the first presentation.  Instead of starting next week, I've pushed the first presentation off until Sept.29 (Week 6).  Interjections and Verbs will be presented that week.  We will use a bulk of our class time to work on these presentations next week.  STUDENTS SHOULD CONNECT WITH THEIR GROUP MEMBERS TO PLAN AFTER CLASS!

Parts of Speech Groups

Interjections -- Celia, Grace, Lydia 

Verbs -- Lily, Stella, Maesen

Adjectives -- Doug, Gabe

Nouns -- Vivi, Annie, Phoebe

Conjunctions -- Elliot, Judah

Adverbs -- Teegan, Jack

Pronouns --Kirsten, Avery, Esther 

Prepositions -- Zach, Henry

Assignments for Next Week

About the Personal Essay

Personal Essay RD (due WK 6–9/29)

Descriptive Essay–Final Draft

Discussion Question–Top Character Quality

Week 4 Take Home Quiz

Read Chapters 5 & 6

Reader Response for Chapters 5 & 6

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (September 16)

Quick Write–Sept. 15

Animal Farm 4 Square Discussion

Discussion Question–Descriptive Essay

Parts of Speech Checklist

Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 3 (Sept. 8)

We had a good class today.  The students were ready to learn and we got a lot accomplished.

Quick Write

The students had a prompt today about “Fun theory”.  They watched a short video about a company’s attempt to encourage commuters to take the stairs instead of the escalator because it’s healthier.  Does making something “fun” encourage people to make better choices?  

• How would you describe “Fun theory”?

• Describe a time you devised a way to make an odious task more “fun”.

• Pretend you are one of those stairway goers–describe your experience

• How could you incorporate “fun theory” into your life?

• Or whatever!

Words of the Day

I started something new this week for Words of the Day.  I handed out punched index cards with an O ring.  Students are to write the definition and etymology of the word.  On the reverse side, they’ll do a short activity to make the definition “stick”--like make a list or a quick drawing.  Research shows interacting with a word helps us remember it.  I hope to hear students using these words in conversation or to incorporate them in their writing.

(Learning-process related words)

Dilettante–fr Latin delectare, to delight, charm, please; formerly positive connotation, but has shifted to negative connotation.  Means a person who takes up an art, subject or activity merely for amusement; a dabbler

Neophyte–fr Latin neophytus; neo=new; phytos=planted; means a beginner or novice

Writing Discussion

I handed back the Descriptive Rough Drafts either on paper or Google Classroom–wherever it was submitted.  We went over a few common mistakes.  Students were to start a document in their folders or notebooks titled either "Watch out for ..." or "Areas to Work On."  On this page I want students to keep track of their own common writing mistakes.  We will refer to this list often over the course of the year, using it to set personal writing goals and to gauge progress.

Literature Discussion

The class has read the first 2 chapters of Animal Farm and done their first set of reader responses.  We talked a bit about the tenets of Animalism.  Next week we will have a 4-Square Discussion on Chapters 1 - 4.  (More on that next week.)

Grammar Topics

I gave the students two documents to help them plan for their parts of speech presentations.  Students grouped up for their parts of speech using a random name generator.  I took the liberty to tweak the arrangements and assign the parts of speech to save time.  (See the list below).  Students will  have time next week in class to prepare for their presentations.

As an Extra Credit assignment, they can submit a picture of "IVAN CAPP" (our mnemonic device for the parts of speech) to be voted on as a class favorite to use as a mascot for this unit.  As a class, they decided to make this a competition.  May the best IVAN CAPP win!  We will vote next week, so if a student hasn't done a picture but wants to, there's still time.

Parts of Speech Groups

Interjections -- Celia, Grace, Lydia 

Verbs -- Lily, Stella, Maesen

Adjectives -- Doug, Gabe

Nouns -- Vivi, Annie, Phoebe

Conjunctions -- Elliot, Judah

Adverbs -- Teegan, Jack

Pronouns --Kirsten, Avery, Esther 

Prepositions -- Zach, Henry

Assignments for Next Week

–Week 4 Take Home Quiz

–Ch 3-4 Questions (EXTRA CREDIT)

–Discussion Question–Descriptive Essay (on Google Classroom)

–Extra Credit IVAN CAPP drawing

–Descriptive Final Draft:  due 9/22

Links for This Week

–Piano Stairs

–Parts of Speech Planning Worksheet

–Parts of Speech Checklist (both docs for group work next week)

–Grammar Review Sheet

Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 2 (September 1)

 Today we had a full class.  What a delightful class of students I have!  I am looking forward to working with you this year!

Quick Write:

How would you “show up” in the world if no one knew you yet?  Today students responded to a piece of writing on Google slides about what you want to be known for–what kind of “kid” do you want to be?  The kind of kid who speaks with a British accent?  The one who wears shorts no matter the weather?  The kid who is known for being welcoming and kind?  

Students could respond with “I am the type of kid who…”, or list some unique facts about themselves or, of course they could write whatever piqued their interest.  They just need to write!:)

Words of the Day:

• Halcyon:  past period of happiness and success (figuratively)

Greek–”days of the kingfisher”; (literally) 14 days of calm weather attributed to the “magic” of the kingfisher. Too late to share with the class, I found the following:

The name is from Latin halcyon, alcyon, from Greek halkyon, variant (perhaps a misspelling) of alkyon "kingfisher," a word of unknown origin. The explanation that this is from hals "sea; salt"

• Author:  latin-auctor; creator, originator, power to create (authorize, authority).  Today we use it to refer mainly to the written word

Students can submit their notes for Extra Credit.  

Google Classroom

I took a few minutes to go over Google Classroom specifically around turning assignments in.  I had a volunteer come and help with a simple tutorial. Some students haven't used Google Classroom and are unfamiliar with this resource.  It might take a while to become completely comfortable with all of the necessary aspects of Google Classroom.  

Writing:

The Descriptive Essay Rough Drafts were due today.  Students could hand in a paper copy or hand it in on Google classroom.  I will go over them and hand them back next week.  I clarified that students will receive a basic score this time, but in the future, I will be using a rubric to grade them.  Also, students will need to hand in their Rough Drafts on Google Classroom for quicker turnaround time.  The final essay is due Week 5 (9/22).

Literature Discussion:

We started our book Animal Farm.  Students watched a short Youtube video and a slide show to get familiar with the themes and ideas.  Students are to think about “What Makes a Good Leader?” and submit it next week–although some finished and handed it in today.  We discussed the subtitle:  A fairy story and if they thought it was appropriate.  We also discussed the meaning of the slogan:  “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  There were some good thoughts!

I gave students an introduction to the book and a study guide.  For each reading assignment, they're to complete 3 Reader Responses, and those could be study guide questions or something from the "Ala Carte" section at the end of the study guide.  They can do a mix of questions and ala carte options.  Students should complete a vocabulary list as they read.

Grammar:

This week I introduced our grammar unit:  The 8 Parts of Speech.  Students will be the teachers–in teams they’ll gather information about their assigned part of speech and present it to the rest of the class.  We will divide up into groups next week.  For their homework, they are to complete a Parts of Speech Pre-Test.  They can complete the paper copy or the Google Classroom copy.

As an Extra Credit assignment, they can submit a picture of “IVAN CAPP” (our mnemonic device for the parts of speech) to be voted on as a class favorite to be used as a mascot for this unit.  As a class, they decided to make this a competition.  May the best IVAN CAPP win!

Assignments for next week:

–Read Ch. 1-2 Animal Farm

–Animal Farm Vocab. Sheets (due WK 8)

–3 Responses

–What Makes a Good Leader?

–Animal Farm Introduction

–Quiz (on the Animal Farm Introduction)

–Grammar Pre-Test

–IVAN CAPP drawing (Extra Credit)

Links for this week:

Links for This Week:

Syllabus (w/signature)

Blessings,

Mrs. G.

Writing 1--Week 1 (8/25)

 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.

I almost always start class with a Quick Write and sometimes with a Word of the Day.  I use a variety of prompts for these short writing opportunities that give students a chance to shift into a writing mode.  These prompts are sometimes serious but usually lighthearted.  For our Words of the Day, I like to choose unusual words, words of current interest, or words with interesting backgrounds.  I especially enjoy looking at the etymologies of words and trying to figure out the journey of the word from its ancient meaning to its modern meaning.

For this week's Quick Write I asked students to respond to these 3 questions:  1) What do you need to be successful this school year?  2) What do you need from others, including me, to be successful this year? 3) What are your favorite school/office supplies?

We had two Words of the Day:

Academy–old French; meaning college, place of training; Latin–place in Athens where Plato taught; a grove or a park

Learn–[OE] verb; from the German lernen; gaining experience by following a track

Much of our first class of the year is spent doing a fun ice breaker, taking care of logistics and looking at some Class Resources.  I gave the students a Class Policies handout, a syllabus, and a checklist of assignments.  These are important documents that will help us be organized with our work this year.  (Note:  Parents, please read the class policies and initial it)

In addition to an overview of the topics in the class, we discussed Google Classroom.  All of the materials and assignments will be posted on Google Classroom.  If they haven't, students need to sign in to their chatclasses email and then join the Google Classroom for Writing 1. Many students are familiar with Google Classroom, but I plan to spend a little more time explaining it next week in order to clear up any questions students might have.

We will write 4 essays this semester, and I introduced the first Writing assignment of the semester, a Descriptive Essay.  They should choose something that they would enjoy describing, using as many of the 5 senses as they can, including taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell.  They are not required to do an outline or pre-write for this essay.  (This is my chance to get a feeling for their writing styles and abilities.)  Please use this Google Doc link (on Google Classroom) to compose your Rough Draft.  I did not emphasize this in class!!

Our Literature selection for this semester is Animal Farm by George Orwell.  I will introduce the book more fully next week, but for a pre-reading exercise, students should take time to think about what qualities they think a good leader should have (not due for 2 weeks).  We will have a quiz on the Animal Farm Introduction 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 Policies (signatures needed)

Descriptive Essay Rough Draft (Please use the Google Doc template attached to this assignment.)

Pre-Reading–”What makes a Good Leader?” (due WK 3;9/8)

Before school started assignments–Students can still do these:

Welcome Back #1

Welcome Back #2

Links for this Week:

Mrs. G’s Guide to Technology 2022 

Writing 1 Assignments Checklist

About the Descriptive Essay

 Mrs. G’s Guide to Technology for Writing 1, 2, 2023-23

Greetings CHAT families!

For the past two years, students at CHAT have begun to use and be familiar with Google Classroom. Students found that the platform helped them keep track of assignments, was a repository of any handouts from class that they had lost, and offered an online way to complete homework.  Considering those benefits, I will continue the work my predecessor (the AMAZING Mrs. Prichard) began by using Google Classroom for my classes at CHAT.  Below are explanations and descriptions of some helpful resources to help you get set up for the year.

The G-Suite for CHAT Classes

Kim Nelson has assigned an email account with chatclasses.com to all of my students.  (Last year’s students will continue with their emails.)  This is essential for using Google Classroom and the multiple tools that come with the G-Suite for education.  Mrs. Nelson has also made some videos and a teaching sheet for using your CHAT email account and getting into Google Classroom.  She uses an Algebra 1 class as an example, but the steps will be the same for my writing classes.  

• How to Sign in to Gmail and Google Classroom for CHAT students

• How to Forward Your Email and Create a Filter

• Intro to Google Classroom for Students (20 minutes)

• How to scan a multi-page document using Genius Scan (free) and get it into Google Classroom  (Note:  Genius Scan is phone app that scans documents and saves them as PDFs.)

• Student Quick Guide to Google Classroom

• Another Google Classroom Tutorial

Google Drive

• With the G-Suite, students have access to Google Drive, which is a multi-dimensional platform for documents, slides, spreadsheets, etc.  Think of it as a filing system for your digital content.

• To get started, students should create separate folders for each of their classes.  For some classes, they might want folders within a folder.  (e.g. A Writing 2 folder could have subfolders for Essays, Grammar, Literature.)

• A well-organized Google Drive will help students stay better organized with their school work.  

Google Classroom

• All assignments for the semester will be posted in Google Classroom even if we’re face to face.  

• Students will be added to the roster and will get an invitation to join the class.  Follow the links in the email.  Parents will also be added.  If you prefer to not be added, let me know.  

• The assignments will come in one or more of the following formats:

• An attached Google Doc on which students can type

• A quiz or form that students can complete

• A discussion question on which students can type a comment or respond to a classmate

• An assignment where a student can upload a document or some other type of electronic work

• Students will need to remember to “Turn in” their homework via a button on the assignment page.

• Google Classroom also has a calendar that keeps track of due dates for assignments.

Communication

• Email:  My email is amanda.gonsalves@CHATclasses.com.   

• Blog:  I send weekly notes in an email and post them on the class blog.  I will also use the blog for sharing other information, such as videos, websites, etc.

• Writing 1

• Writing 2

Finally, the 2 most important questions students and parents ask:

• “Where can I find worksheets and materials?”

• Attached to Google Classroom assignments

• In the shared folder for your class

• Writing 1

• Writing 2

• Note:  These documents can only be accessed by students with CHAT emails; they are also set to be “View Only.”

• “How can students hand in homework?”

• When we’re face to face, all work can be handed in physically in class

• Via the Google Classroom assignment (using the attached document or uploading material)

• If and only if a student is still in the process of figuring out Google Classroom 

• Send an electronic version (i.e. pdf, Google docs, or Word document – NO Pages or photos) via email.

• The specific name of the assignment must be in the subject line.

• Send only one assignment per email.