Friday Before Spring Break

§ Vocabulary Unit 8 Quiz.

§ Returned Logical Fallacies Quiz.

§ Outline/Thesis/Works Cited Check in West Wing Lab

Michael Pollan's "Corn Walking"

Finished Vocabulary Unit 8 Worksheets for a grade.

We discussed essay structure, and the Pro-Con Pattern C handout with its accompanying model essay. The model was well-structured, but unsupported with in-text citations.

Accordingly, we read “Corn Walking” from Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma to analyze a well-supported argument.

Writing Lab Day

West Wing Lab work day & individual conferences.

Logical Fallacies

Today we reviewed and discussed Parts 1-2 of the Vocabulary Unit 8 Worksheet.

Mini-lesson on viewing statistics with skepticism; we looked at charts contrasting public opinion about the leading causes of death among women (breast cancer) with actual causes of death (heart and cardiovascular disease).
After reviewing the logical fallacies in Chapter 48 of The Bedford Handbook, students divided into small groups and worked collectively to solve Exercises #1-10 on p. 516-17.

Using Specific Evidence to Support an Argument

Exam make-ups. Read and discussed Chapter 47 on Argument, particularly the three types of Evidence (Examples, Statistics & Facts, Testimony). This is the kind of support students should include in their argumentative essays.

On Thursday and Friday I would like to review your Works Cited page, outline, and thesis statement for your first Argument Essay.

Poltergeist!

Students edited their essay exams--well, except for our three students whose essays were lost in the cyberspace of bits and bytes in the Mellen lab. Funny story: I sent two of these students to the Library's brand new computers, only to have the computers reboot during the students' typing--again, losing EVERYTHING. It's enough to make one a Neo-Luddite! Yes, it's so disheartening when one attempts a twenty-first century innovation--such as using a word processing program to write an in-class essay exam, allowing students to compose their writing using state-of-the-art technology instead of antiquated paper and pencil--and it fails catastrophically. (Am I a fool for even attempting this?) Perhaps some Poltergeist or other supernatural force is responsible for this mayhem. Two irretrievable breakdowns in two days: go figure!
But I digress; the majority of students turned in their edited essays, while the abject minority will finish them over the weekend. And the Vocabulary Final Exam over Units 1-7 was a smashing success, all A's and B's from these superlatively motivated students.

Essay Final: A Failure of Technology

Students wrote their in-class essays today in the Mellen lab; unfortunately, three students lost their essays due to computer problems. Despite gracious help from the office and the tech department, all was lost. I've scheduled make-up time with our new computers in the Library, which are working perfectly. Tomorrow: Vocabulary Exam.

More on Language

We finished the Vocabulary 7 Worksheets and students turned them in for a grade. We discussed Chapter 18 of the Bedford Handbook, another chapter on language, including idioms, word choice, and clichés.

I discussed Argumentative Essay #1 topics with students.

Students prepared for the In-class Essay Exam tomorrow by studying Part 1 of the Bedford Handbook.

Reading and Discussing Language

· Vocabulary Unit 7: Worksheet Parts 1-2 reviewed in class

· Bedford Handbook reading: Appropriate Language Chapter 17 (p. 212-226): We had a lively discussion about jargon, euphemisms, and sexist language and did exercises 17-1, 17-2, and 17-3. Americans have euphemisms for things we are uncomfortable with, like death, sex, and other bodily functions.

· Argument topic sheets due Wednesday

· Homework: Bedford Handbook readings: Argument

o Monday: Chapter 47

o Tuesday: Chapter 47 & Write out questions #1-10 on p. 516

Final Evaluation Essays; Argument Topics

Revised Evaluation Essays are due tomorrow!

Reviewed exam schedule.

Vocabulary 7: New words. Worksheet Parts 1-2 due tomorrow.

Argument Essay #1: Topics due by Wednesday.

Today I discussed topics with students and gave them time for research in the Mellen lab.

Argument Essay Topics

We had individual conferences about Argumentative Essay #1 topics, brainstorming Pros and Cons and filling out the Topic Proposal form.

Finals schedule for next week:

Monday: Revised Evaluation Essays due

Thursday: In-class Essay Exam

Friday: Edit In-class essay; Vocabulary Exam over Units 1-7

No Class: CSAP Testing Day 3

No Class: CSAP Testing Day 2

No Class: CSAP Testing Day 1

Evaluation Essay Conferences/Morphology Lesson

I had conferences with each student about their evaluation essays: some need a little editing, others need structural revision. I encourage students to use resources like The Bedford Handbook and web sources to refine their knowledge of grammar and apply it to their writing. For example, check out comma splices on The Tongue Untied or on OWL at Purdue. Please try to complete your revisions by Friday's class.

We did a lesson on morphology, starting with watching a clip from the "morphing" sequence in Michael Jackson's "Black or White" video. Morph means "form" in Greek. We focused on the form classes of speech: nouns, verbs, adjective, and adjectives. The handout shows a chart with a sampling of derivational suffixes: suffixes that can be added to a word to change its part of speech. The chart also shows inflectional suffixes: suffixes that change some aspect of the word but do not change its part of speech. For example, adding –ing to a verb changes its tense, but it is still a verb; similarly, adding an –s to a noun makes it plural but doesn’t change its part of speech.

Launching my Classroom Blog

Only yesterday, Teachers Rime, Belden, Martucci and Thiel cheated death, the intrepid Ms. Belden at the wheel, driving over tortuous, treacherous Wolf Creek Pass, on our way home from the Colorado Language Arts Society Spring Conference in Englewood, Colorado. Newly energized by leaders in our profession--like Jeff Wilhelm, Tom Romano, and Chris Tovani--by our colleagues in other districts, and by the hundreds of dollars worth of professional materials we acquired at the exhibit hall--materials purchased with our own money, I might add, since our Department budget is shot for the year--we discussed various and sundry ways we might attempt to bring our teaching methods into the twenty-first century.

Mrs. Rime observed, Why wait for next year to implement what we have learned into our classrooms? Why not start now? So here is my first attempt: creating a classroom blog. Even though we cannot access blogs from the school because of the filter, I will try maintaining it from my home computer.

Initially, I will try to duplicate my assignment binders so that students who miss my class can keep up with what we accomplished each day. Here we go!