Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 5 (2/13)

 

                                      Greetings!

The weather was seasonably cold today and I had more than a few out with different viruses.  We are one week away from a break, and I sense we are in need of some time off!  These students are a joy to teach–even when circumstances are challenging.

Since Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, our Quick Write today was on the subject of conversation hearts.  After watching a short video on this candy’s history, students brainstormed as many aspects of, things about and topics pertaining to this subject.  I even challenged them to come up with as many “Gen Z” messages as possible.  The heart shaped lollipops helped this process along!  Students also made some Valentine’s for a friend or family member.  Sweet!

Literature

We have read up to chapter 8–almost done with the book, so we took some time to think about all the different characters we’ve met so far. They had some time to brainstorm 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses of one of them.  For homework, they’ll need to write a “character sketch” that details these aspects of their chosen character.  They should finish the novel and complete the Reader Response questions.

For Writing, I gave the students a few minutes to review the assigned reading for today–specifically about the “Battle of the Windmill” in chapter 8. After reading that short section aloud, I passed out a series of pictures from the graphic novel Animal Farm by Odyr which depicts this episode. Although the pictures suggest a story, they are fairly minimal.  I told the students that their job is to describe the events depicted in each picture.  Simply report.  

In order to think about the events effectively, one must ask questions!  This is something we have been practicing in our Quick Writes since last semester:  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 using the novel and the pictures as a base.  

After taking notes on the process, we made a Key Word Outline for the first two pictures together.  They wrote their own outline for the third picture and then compared it with a table mate.  Their homework is to finish this KWO and post it (or bring it to class) for next week.  They are welcome to make any changes to their story from what we competed in class together.  Four points per picture (plus the topic and clincher is plenty.  Changes will happen organically as they begin to write.) 

I gave an option to use a different set of pictures if they’d rather.  The second set has nothing to do with Animal Farm, and will challenge them to come up with a completely new story based on each picture.  Though the KWO is due next week, the three paragraph composition will be assigned next week (due March 7).   

At the end of class, I assigned the Grammar worksheets, practicing identifying and classifying prepositional phrases.  Prepositional phrases function either as adjective phrases or adverb phrases, and it can be tricky to tell what kind of phrase it is.  They have these as homework.

Blessings on your weekend!

Mrs. G

   

Homework

Read Ch. 8 & 10 Animal Farm

Ch. 9 & 10–3 Responses

Animal Farm Character Sketch

About Writing from Pictures

Writing from Pictures KWO

Classifying Prep Phrases

Prepositional Phrases -- Adj or Adv

Links for This Week

History of Conversation Hearts–video

Animal Farm The Graphic Novel

CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 4 (2/6)

Hello All,

We’ve hit a cold snap in Minnesota, but that didn’t keep these lovely Writing 1 students from the task at hand this week.  It was good to be together again!

Our Visual Vocabulary words today were delineate and discordant.  We took a few minutes to discuss the words. They wrote some sentences (and drew pictures!) to help cement these words into their brains.  I always look forward to reading these sophisticated words in their writing!

Writing

Before they passed their Visual Vocabulary sentences in, we added two new sentence openers to our style sheets and practiced writing sentences using the #3 -ly adverb opener and the #4 -ing opener.

These will be added to our checklists for the next compositions!

Last week we discussed different propaganda techniques used on Animal Farm AND that are commonly used in the media today.  They are to choose an advertisement and analyze it for propaganda as well as use of any literary devices.  This assignment is due next week, so I took the opportunity to check their progress and answer any questions. Before moving on, we took a minute to learn the persuasive techniques of ethos, pathos, and logos. We learned that pathos is the most common technique in advertising today.  Playing on consumers’ emotions seems second nature to ad agencies.  Logos–logical facts and stats are also powerful.  Ethos is like the bandwagon technique in some ways–it appeals to a person’s credibility  by showcasing their achievements and  accomplishments.   (If you want to play ball like Michael Jordan, wear this brand of shoe!)  After that, I called students’ attention to this page for a longer list of literary devices to use in their analysis.  Those are due next week.

Literature

We are moving along in Animal Farm and are up to chapter 6.  We broke into groups and had a 4 Square Style Discussion over the significant events in those chapters. Each group member was assigned a role and we had some great participation.  After the small group discussion, each group presented their most significant or surprising takeaways to the large group.They demonstrated some wonderful critical thinking!  I told the students I wish we had the entire class time to just talk about the book and many agreed.  Instead of reader response questions, they have a take home quiz to complete on Google Classroom.

Alas, time moves on and Grammar awaits.  Today’s topic was on a Simple Sentences Review and the other was practice on prepositional phrases.  Make sure to correct your work before you turn it in!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Advertisement analysis (due next week)

Read Animal Farm ch. 7 & 8

AF Take Home Quiz #2

Simple Sentences Review

Prepositional Phrases Practice

Links For This Week

Style sheet

Ethos, logos, pathos slideshow

4 Square  discussion

CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes--Week 3 (1/30)

 Hello, Dear Students!  

Back with another action-packed and learning packed class!

We started out with a Quick Write on a very out-of-the-box subject:  Yodeling!!  In honor of National Yodel for your Neighbors Day today, we learned a few facts about this art from and then I asked the students to think of as many writing topics on this subject as possible.  We also had some fun trying to “break” our voices into a yodel and listening to some experts.  

This week’s Writing focus centers around a very powerful technique of persuasion used heavily in Animal Farm called propaganda.  After watching a video on how propaganda was used in the novel, I introduced our next writing project.  After learning more about specific common propaganda techniques through an assigned Edpuzzle video and quiz at home (GC), students will scour the internet for an advertisement to analyze.  They will then write up a critique of the ad’s use of propaganda and rhetorical devices.  They will post these critiques on GC where they must then read and comment on a classmate’s post.  The analysis is due February 13 (Week 5.)

After that, we dove into a Grammar lesson on simple sentences.  Since we haven’t had time in the past few weeks to focus on grammar, we took an extended amount of time to dig in and catch up. The topics were Subject-Verb agreement and Compound Subjects and Compound Predicates.  In a series of mini-lessons, we worked through several examples where we practiced identifying subjects and predicates and made sure those two were in agreement, and looked at how to vary sentences by inverting that order.  I gave them time to get a good, healthy start on their work during class and students should complete and correct their worksheets and hand them in next week.

 

In Literature, we had a check-in about the Animal Farm.  We are getting momentum in the story now and we reviewed the ballad that was sung in chapter 1–”Beasts of England.”  I asked them to skim the lyrics and notice how the song was filled with descriptive images, hope for a bright future of what life will be like when they finally get rid of the oppression of man.  After that, we stood up and sang it to the tune of “O My Darling Clementine.”  In true capitalist style, enthusiastic singers received a fabulous juice box prize.  (In true communistic style, they ALL received one! ;)  As homework, they are to read chapters 5 & 6 and complete 3 Study Guide questions.

That’s it!  Keep up the good work, students!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework 

Propaganda techniques EdPuzzle and Quiz

About the Ad Analysis

Ad analysis (due Feb. 13–Week 5)

Read AF Ch. 5 & 6

Ch. 5 & 6 Discussion Questions–bring to class for 4 Square Discussion

Grammar 

Subject-Verb Agreement

Complete Subj-Predicate & Inverted Order

Simple Sentences (Compound Subjects)

Simple Sentences (Compound Predicates

Simple Sentences (Compound Subjects & Compound Predicates)

Links for this week

Yodeling QW

CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 2 (1/23)

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. 

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!

Writing

Our focus today was largely on a paragraph technique called the TRIAC technique.  The beauty of this model is that the paragraph almost writes itself.  The paragraph uses the topic-clincher rule and the acronym stands for:

Topic

Restriction Make a statement or claim about the topic, which focuses the paragraph.

Illustration Give an example illustrating the statement or claim.

Analysis Explanation of the illustration.

Clincher

Together, we analyzed an example paragraph about pet iguanas.  After that, we practiced with two more paragraphs where students found the function of each sentence in the paragraphs and noticed if there were any signal phrases used.  The next step is to use this model to write a paragraph of their own as homework.  They are to write a TRIAC paragraph on “What qualities make a great leader?”  I hope this style of writing a paragraph will serve them to write purposeful paragraphs for years to come!

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.  Don’t forget to mark your corrections!  (Please note that we are one week behind on our grammar worksheets.  Hopefully we’ll catch up next week.)

Homework

Read Animal Farm Ch. 3 & 4

Take Home Quiz #1 (GC)

“What Makes a Good Leader?” TRIAC paragraph

Grammar worksheets

What is a Sentence?

Sentence Patterns–N-V

Links for this week

Visual Vocabulary #1

Basic Sentence Patterns

TRIAC Discussion

Hillsdale College Socialism/Marxism course

Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 1 (January 16)

Hello Dear Students,

Even though some may not be that excited to start up again, I told the students that I was 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 bit humorous as they were to imagine that their toaster has gone on strike.  They were to come up with a list of demands from the toaster (Clean my crumb tray!  Stop sticking forks inside!) and optionally, to design a snappy sign with a slogan.

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.

After that, we switched gears to introduce the novella Animal Farm.  After examining the graphic organizer about Equity, students had some time to discuss with each other and with the large group. 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:  

After guessing what  this slogan could mean, we got some historical background on this novella–which is actually an allegory about Russia.  They watched two short videos on the Russian revolution and communism while they answered questions on a worksheet (which helped them focus on the videos :)   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.

Now they were ready to read!  Together,  we listened to the audio version for a few minutes.  They should continue reading (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.  Lastly, they should read the Introduction to Animal Farm document and take the Quiz on the introduction after they have read it.

Grammar

We had enough on our plate with a new semester and novel to introduce, so we will jump into our first writing and grammar topic with both feet next week.  NO GRAMMAR ASSIGNMENT THIS WEEK!  

Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings, 

Mrs. G

Homework

Syllabus

Homework Checklist

Homework & Late Dates

Edpuzzle & Ted Talk (watched in class)

Read Ch. 1 & 2

Animal Farm Vocabulary Worksheet

Ch. 1 & 2 Study Guide Questions

Introduction to Animal Farm document

Introduction to Animal Farm Quiz (GC)

“Top Character Quality–Leader?” Response