College+Prep+Writing+LOG

The Daily LOG for College Prep Writing: First semester

September 7: Greetings, letters, and books were passed out. Students need to return necessary paperwork and $180 dollars by Friday, September 10 if they wish to take the course for College Credit. This **college credit may be used for certain colleges ONLY**, so the student must determine if they wish to take the course for college credit. September 8: students signed up for the online supplement to the //Brief Bedford Reader// at the website bedfordstmartins.briefbedfordreader.com and then took the diagnostic grammar test. Assigned to read pages 9-40 and take notes about the general ideas put forth. September 9: Discussed "Critical Reading " chapter- journaled on some quotations and group ideas. Assigned to Think about the last really good social, cultural, or sports event you have attended involving school, and describe it as if you were telling your best friend about it. Write a paragraph about 7-10 sentences long. September 10: Reviewed "Critical Reading " notes and wrote another paragraph about the same cultural event only this time we described it as if we were talking to a group of incoming freshman and their parents at the School's Open House Night.
 * These dates and assignments BELOW are related to the Fall Semester of the College Prep Writing Course.**

September 13: Students went outside took down observations about the outside surroundings of the school. In about 200 words the students were to OBJECTIVELY describe (118) the school building and its surroundings. Please read the pages on description in the __Bedford Reade__r (118-123). September 14: Students discussed the differences between objective and subjective description. Students were reminded to read pp 118-123 in their book and to write a SUBJECTIVE description of the school grounds for tomorrow. IF the description was to be a positive one, the students were to use this sentence at the start of the paragraph: "The pristine building stood on top of the hill warmed by the early morning sun. " IF the description was to be a negative one, the students were to use this sentence at the start of the paragraph:"The ominous clouds cast a pall over the school building." September 15: Students were assigned to read two narratives "Champion of the World" p88-91 and "Fish Cheeks" 94-96 and then answer the "Questions of Writing Strategy" for tomorrow. **Also, students were to go on line to the "Brief Bedford Reader website and record their scores from their diagnostic test by Friday.  September 16: Students were asked to go to the "Brief Bedford Reader website and record their scores from their diagnostic test by Friday. DIRECTIONS- login at  website. Go to "Exercise Central". Click on the "Exercise" tab. Click on "Comprehensive Study Plan". Click on "View Diagnostic Report". Go to the right side of the screen and find the "Select Test" button, and then pull down the word "Diagnostic" from the pull down menu. Scroll down the page to find your test results and information. Students received their Narrative assignment and were told that the questions and stories due today will be discussed tomorrow. Students discussed word choice and the reason for the maps of our neighborhoods and how they might spur them on to think of possible narratives to write. September 17: (Friday) Students discussed stories and questions and were asked to read pp 75-84. Outlines of narratives are due on Monday. Outlines SHOULD HAVE THE PURPOSE STATED CLEARLY ON THE TOP OF THE OUTLINE. (see sample outline) The rest of the outline should delineate the beginning, climax, and ending of the story and any important details. Please bring your MacID and password to class.

September 20: (Monday) Students handed in outlines and discussed purpose, word choice, and figurative language as it related to Angelou's "Champion of the World". September 21: (Tuesday) Students were reminded of literary devices that are in good stories ( AND should be placed in their essays). Terms --- allusion, figurative language (i.e. simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole), sensory images and the AVOIDANCE OF CLICHES. Students discussed handout about flashbacks, flashforwards, and brain arguments. The rough draft should be typed and ready for class on Thursday. (This will be the day we will peer conference). September 22: (Wednesday) Students discussed components of good narrative essays and made examples of brain arguments and Flashforwards. Reference about CLICHES given out. Typed rough drafts due tomorrow. September 23: (Thursday) Students conferenced with their peers. Work on Revisions. Students were to read pp99-103 "The Chase" and write the answers to the "Questions on Writing Strategy" in their notebook. September 24: (Friday) Students went over the essay "The Chase" and received grading rubric for narrative essay, they are to revise and edit and complete their FINAL draft for Monday and submit it electronically to turnitin.com by next Wednesday. Absent students may download a copy of rubric. .

September 27: (Monday) Students handed in papers, took diagnostic vocabulary test, did sentence combining and were given tonight's assignment. On page 117, after looking at the photograph and questions in blue box, write a paragraph answering the question --What messages, thoughts, or impressions is the photographer trying to impart to the audience? Give reasons and explanations to justify your point of view. September 28: (Tuesday) Students got vocabulary packets, discussed analyzing visual art, did some sentence combining exercises. Homework: Vocabulary Unit #1 packet is due on Friday. Test will be Friday or Monday. September 29: (Wednesday) Students worked with sentence combining were assigned to read an article "The Way It Should Be." September 30: (Thursday) Students did a pressure-write activity. October 1: (Friday) Students corrected vocabulary packet, graded pressure write activities, Vocabulary test is on Monday.

October 4: (Monday) Students took vocabulary test, received papers back, were assigned to complete the sentence combining exercises for Model A (pp164-5) and Model B (pp166-7) making one sentence for each grouping of kernels. October 5: (Tuesday) Students worked on sentence combining, were assigned to read pp 163-173 and do all of the questions on Writing Strategy and only question 2 on the Questions on Language. These answers may be placed in notebooks. October 7: (Thursday) Students discussed writing sentences coherently and grammatically, discussed how illustrations are needed to support a thesis, (see notes here) and were assigned to write 250-300 entry in their notebook following the directions for "journal writing" on page 173. Mr. Kocon will check Tuesday and Thursday's assignments on Friday. October 8: (Friday) Students discussed "On Compassion" and were to read Anna Quindlen's essay "homeless" two times and complete the vocabulary packet.

October 11: (Monday) Students discussed the two essays "On Compassion" and "Homeless" and deconstruct one of them. Click here to see an example of deconstruction. Students were assigned the job of deconstructing the essay "Homeless".

October 12: (Tuesday) Students discussed the deconstruction of the essay "Homeless". Click here to see sample of group discussion. Students were to study for Vocabulary test tomorrow and look over p 196 to begin to decide on what their topic will be for the next essay. Outlines, will be due later this week, and typed rough drafts on Monday. October 13: (Wednesday) Students took online test for vocabulary and then did some online grammar exercises on word choice. October 14: (Thursday) Students did some writing in their journals using their descriptive powers. Showing vs. Telling, topics were discussed. Outlines for essay of examples is due tomorrow. Typed rough draft is due on Monday. October 15: (Friday) Students did some writing in their journals using allusions, analogies, and Showing vs. Telling. Typed rough draft is due on Monday. Click here for more specific details for typed rough draft of Essay of Example.

October 18: (Monday) Students looked at their sentence structure, attempted writing an analogy, and were not given homework unless they wanted to revise their rough drafts. October 19: (Tuesday) Students evaluated other students writings. October 20: (Wednesday) Students evaluated other students writings. October 21: (Thursday) Students discussed how to make changes to Essays of example. Essays are due by Monday with score sheets as well.

October 25: (Monday) Students handed in essays, and were assigned to finish steps 1-5 for "Writing an Abstract" for the article "Black Men in Public Spaces". The Unit #3 vocabulary was passed out as well, the exercises will be due on Friday, with the test coming on Monday, November 1. October 26: (Tuesday) Students reviewed MLA citations, compared how they broke down the essay from yesterday, talked about the thesis or purpose behind "Black Men in Public Spaces." Homework: After completing steps 1-5 for yesterday, tonight students are to write an abstract for the essay by completing steps 6,7 for "Writing an Abstract". Guidelines to Remember: the thesis must be present, the author's name should be in the first sentence, combine ideas as needed to CAPTURE THE ESSENCE of the article, length (approx.) 175 words, students will need to decide which examples will they use to show the depth of the problem for the essay "Black Men in Public Spaces." October 20: (Wednesday) Students checked summaries of "Black Men in Public Spaces." and demonstrated the procedure for creating a summary / abstract correctly, and then were assigned to make a draft of a summary for "Zeros to Heroes" for tomorrow. October 28: (Thursday) Students discussed the summary of "Zeros as Heroes" and were assigned to write a commentary on the chapter by selecting two quotations and writing their thoughts on each. Click on commentary to find more specific directions. October 29: (Friday) Students discussed and read commentaries about "Zeros as Heroes" article. Vocabulary unit 3 worksheets are due on Monday. Vocabulary test will be on Monday.

November 1: (Monday) Students discussed, corrected, and reviewed vocabulary words from units 1,2,3. Vocabulary test is Tuesday. Papers (essays of Example) will lose 2 points if they are not electronically turned it to "Turnitin.com" by Midnight tonight. Students were to download and finish the allusions for tomorrow-click on the following file November 2: (Tuesday) Students took vocabulary quiz, got papers back, were assigned to read pages 49-72, paying particular attention pages 49-56 (about research) and 69-72 ( a model research paper). November 3: (Wednesday) Students reviewed allusions, notes about plagiarism and conducting research, and were assigned to read the article "The convenient untruth," tonight, and tomorrow in class, students must break it into parts, and a sentence must be written for each part. November 4: (Thursday) Students finished reading and dividing article into parts. They should have one sentence summaries for each part of the article written down on a separate sheet of paper. After that is complete, the students must write one MORE sentence for what they believe is the "thesis" of the article was. November 5: (Friday) Students received grades, discussed homework, journaled on what biased did Shnayerson have in the article, and were to check the list of topics this weekend and select 5-6 possible topics they would like to use.

November 8: (Monday) Students discussed research projects, sentence errors, and "A Convenient Untruth." November 9: (Tuesday) Students reviewed [|research project], selected topics, started to research, were notified of [|deadlines], and assigned to find sources. CLICK HERE TO SEE WHICH TOPICS were taken in [|period 2] AND [|period 1.] November 10: (Wednesday) Students did research in the library and reviewed how to complete the "preliminary research" hand out, which is due on Thursday. November 4: (Thursday) Students handed in their homework and did research in the library.

November 15: (Monday) Students discussed using note cards for note sheets and must have all 6 sources in hand for tomorrows class. November 16: (Tuesday) Students reviewed making a works cited page and entries. The works cited page is due tomorrow and One of the annotated bibliographies is due Thursday. November 17: (Wednesday) Students checked their works cited page using the checklist, and were given a handout to follow when making their first entry of their annotated bibliography, which is due tomorrow.

November 22: (Monday) Students reviewed sentence structure and rules for annotated bibliography for tomorrow.

November 23: (Tuesday) Students reviewed and did exercises on how to use numerals correctly in papers. Students are to keep on taking notes for research paper. November 17: (Wednesday) Students worked on their note taking. All notes are due on Monday, November 29. November 29: (Monday) Students were to type out their outlines for their papers TOMORROW. Please keep in mind what the final paper will need to have so that your outlines adequately touches all its bases. All papers will include some analogy (where the students compare their topic to something completely different- e.g. the football season is similar to the Advent season), evidence (i.e.- facts, expert opinion, definitions -if they are needed, examples, reasons), an opening description to get the audience's attention, and the counter argument that opposes your point of view.

November 30: (Tuesday) Students handed in outlines, discussed how to make an analogy (copies were passed out in class), vocabulary sheets were distributed, students were told to bring all their resources to class tomorrow so that they could work on the paper in the library.

December 1,2,3,6: (Wednesday-Monday) Students will be working on their drafts of their research papers. Rough drafts will be peer reviewed on Tuesday, December 7. Click here to view the scoring rubric for the research paper.

December 7,8: (Tuesday-Wednesday) Students were working on their papers and or revising their papers after peer editing with a partner. students discussed some points about citations. View the powerpoint another time if you like. December 9: (Thursday) Students handed in papers, did some online grammar exercises --comma usage-- and were to complete their vocabulary unit 4 for tomorrow's class. December 10: (Friday) Students corrected and reviewed vocabulary for test on MONDAY, units 1,2,3,4.

December 13: (Monday) Students worked on comma rules in the online grammar exercises. December 14: (Tuesday) Students were to read pages 200-214 and do all of the Questions on Writing Strategy and question #1 about Language on page 212. December 15: (Wednesday) Students were assigned to read pp. 215-219, questions 1-6 on Writing Strategy and question #1 on Language. December 16: (Thursday) Students discussed essays and were to come up with ideas for their compare/contrast essays. December 17: (Friday) Students discussed Dave Barry's essay Batting Clean up and Striking Out." Students were to decide what they were to write about in their compare contrast essay.

December 20: (Monday) Students worked on using the right TONE in writing. Students were to create an informal outline or graphic organizer concerning their next essay. Rough draft is due Tuesday, Jan 4, Final draft is due Jan. 5. December 21: (Tuesday) Students checked in outlines and worked on writing their drafts.

January 3: (Monday) Students worked on writing their drafts. January 4: (Tuesday) Students worked in groups with peer editing papers. Final drafts are due on Thursday Morning, Jan 6. The essays should also be electronically submitted to Turnitin,com by Friday, January 7, before Midnight. January 5: (Wednesday) Students read and discussed essay "Grant and Lee". Compare/Contrast essays are due tomorrow and should be electronically submitted to Turnitin.com by Midnight Friday, January 7. January 6: (Thursday) Students worked on vocabulary Unit 5 which is due on Monday, Jan. 10. Students handed in papers and were to electronically submit them to Turnitin.com by Midnight Friday, January 7. January 7: (Friday) Students read a review of the movie Salt, and wrote a review of their own movie using 10 vocabulary words (at least 5 from Unit 5 and the rest from any of the other units this semester). This was due with their vocabulary unit on Monday, January 10.

January 10: (Monday) Students reviewed vocabulary unit 5 for test tomorrow and handed in movie review assignment. The test will primarily be on Unit 5;however, some words from units 4,3,2,1 will be tested as well. Students were to respond to the question on page 399 concerning the advertisement on page 398. January 11: (Tuesday) Students took vocabulary quiz, were assigned to read (take notes) pages 400-411. They were asked to write their response to the questions in the "Journal Writing" section on page 400. January 12: (Wednesday) Students took notes about the "Definition" essay and were assigned to write a detailed answer for question #2 in the Writing Strategy section on page 412. January 13: (Thursday) Students were assigned to read the three remaining essay of definition and do the following questions on Writing Strategy for each of the essays. pp 417-18 questions 2,3,5 on page 423 questions 2,3 on page 428 question 3. January 14: (Friday) Students discussed the questions and essays. The directions were given for the final essay, and students received a handout about its criteria, content, and rubric.

January 18: (Tuesday) Students filled out surveys, worked on brainstorming ideas for the Final essay- which will be an in class essay of definition written the day of finals. Students may bring in one sheet of notes/outline and must bring in their grading rubric which was handed out on Friday, Jan 14.