| english326 | grammar 4 teachers | fall2009|

• First day activities: assessing prior knowlege
  

Purchase books. Bring Course Pack to class (when it comes in).

Create blog. Send URL to Barbara via personal email at bjmonroe@wsu.edu

• Rhetorical punctuation
• Scrapbooks: some examples

Self-Assessment Blog DUE by noon, Sunday: write about 500 words (one page, single-spaced, with line breaks between paragraph, for readability on the web) in a word document on this topic: What grammatical and mechanical issues do you, as a writer, need to focus on this semester? Please, no more than three issues. Be as specific as possible: e.g., "I want to really get a handle on using semicolons and colons; "I know how to use commas, generally, but in some sentences, I'm just not sure. For example, . . . " Do cite examples from any of your written work to SHOW us what you mean; otherwise, make up example sentence to illustrate your point. Remember: at the end of the semester, you'll be writing a blog reflecting back on what you said in this blog.

Post to your blog. Then double-space your wordprocessed blog, print it out, put in a folder, and tuck the folder into your Course Pack for future workshops.

Read "Pronouns," "Pronouns as Subjects," "Pronouns as Objects," "Pronouns as Possessives," pp. 147-150 in More Nitty Gritty Grammar

• Apostrophes
  

• Complete as much of the House Style checklist (handed out in class) as you can within this class period, based on your examination of one publication (handed out in class). Don't worry if you can't answer some of the questions or can't find examples.
• Pick up scrapbook materials to complete this assignment over the weekend.
• (Completed House Style section due next class period.)

• LABOR DAY

• NO CLASS TODAY
  

• Scrapbook checkpoint (daily grade taken).
• Workshop House Style in class; Barbara will double-check any that your group can't agree on.
• Word classes

Weekly Blog due Sunday, noon: write up to 500 words in a word document, double-spaced, on this topic: What have you learned so far, and what concepts discussed in class this week don't you fully understand?

At the end, specify one question about anything we've studied so far, especially from this week, that you need clarification on.

Print out your word-processed document, put in your folder, and tuck in your Course Pack for future workshops.

Drop your document to single space, and then post to your blog.

Response due Sunday, midnight: Read others' blogs and answer one person's closing question, provided it hasn't already been answered adequately.

Read "Facilitating the Use of Description—and Grammar" by Sarah Woltje, pp. 95-99, in Lessons to Share. Mark your text as you read. Bring your book and be ready to share your markings in class today for Socratic circle.

• Brainstorm desirable discussion behaviors
• Socratic circle on "Facilitating the Use of Description--and Grammar"
• Post-discussion 7-minute write-up
• More practice with word classes
  

Study handouts on verbs, pp. 4-6, in Course Pack, with particular attention to vocabulary relating to verbs.

In More Nitty Gritty Grammar, read "Helping Verbs" p. 191; "Infinitives" p. 192; "Linking Verbs" p. 196; "Number and Person" p. 199. Bring Nitty Gritty to class.

• It's all about the verb: 3 sentence patterns

Weekly Blog due Sunday, noon: write up to 500 words in a word document, double-spaced, on this topic: What have you learned so far, and what concepts discussed in class this week don't you fully understand?

At the end, specify one question about anything we've studied so far, especially from this week, that you need clarification on.

Print out your word-processed document, put in your folder, and tuck in your Course Pack for future workshops.

Drop your document to single space, and then post to your blog.

Response due Sunday, midnight: Read others' blogs and answer one person's closing question, provided it hasn't already been answered adequately.

• Prepositional phrases
• more practice with sentence patterns
• pronoun case
  

Read the first half of "Dora Learns to Write and in the Process Encounters Punctuation" by Pat Cordeira, pp. 39-50 in Lessons to Share. Besides your usual marking, be sure to also mark every thing the teacher does, however just implied.

Mark your text as you read, and bring it to class.  

• Feedback from previous Socratic circle
• Socratic circle on first part of Cordeira, pp. 39-50

• compounding: and
• Minilesson demo: FANBOYS (Barbara)
• sentence types
  

• Socratic circle on last part of Cordeira, pp. 51-63.
• Minilesson: added commas before because and then (Barbara)

• Subordination and AAAWWUBBIS
  

SCRAPBOOK workshop:

• Bring what scraps you have to check your identifications and explanations.
• Bring_More Nitty Gritty_.
• Bring folder with blog printouts.

• Minilesson: Comma after introductory elements - STEPHANIE & SHANNON
• Scrapbook workshop (NO DAILY GRADE TAKEN TODAY)

• Appositives, dashes, and colons- Barbara
  

Read "Image Grammar" by Harry Noden, pp. 155-166 (stop at "Creating Art on Different Levels")--with special attention to pp. 160-161.

Be ready to give at least one example of each of these "brush strokes": Absolutes, Appositives, Participles, Adjectives Out of Order.

• Minilesson: because - Lana & Rachel
• some fun with "image grammar"

• NOTE: BARBARA WILL BE OUT FOR RELIGIOUS RETREAT.
• Watch DVD on birth of English, part 1 of "The Story of English"
• Take notes on how each invasion affected the English langauge.
• Turn them in at the end of the period
  

• NOTE: BARBARA WILL BE OUT FOR RELIGIOUS RETREAT.
• Watch DVD on history of African American English.
• Note anything you didn't already know: "I didn't know that..." with a numbered list.
• Turn in your notes at the end of the period

• Minilesson: punctuating nonrestrictive elements- DAVID & MIKE
• more image grammar

SCRAPBOOK CHECKPOINT. Complete 10 examples for your Scrapbook. They may be for any of these sections: Errors in Print, Breaking the Rules, Gems.

Examples must be fully "scrapped" (with description) to get credit for the daily grade; otherwise, zero.

• Scrapbook checkpoint (daily grade taken).
• Workshop your 10 examples in class; Barbara will double-check any that your group can't agree on.
• Revising prose: the Lanham method

Weekly blog DUE SUNDAY NOON: Revise an 'old' piece of your prose (1 paragraph to 1 page), using the four brush strokes we've been playing with. Up to 5 extra points awarded for correctly done brush strokes.

RESPONSE DUE SUNDAY MIDNIGHT: check another person's brush strokes. Is each example correct?

• Revising prose: the Lanham Method (continued)
• Passive voice
• misplaced modifiers
  

• Minilesson: lie/lay, etc. - CHASE & AUSTEN
• Minilesson: parallelism- LUKAS & BYRON

Weekly bllog DUE SUNDAY NOON:

Revise one page of your non-Creative Writing prose that you've written previously. Use the Lanham Method to create mostly S-V-O sentences (with transitive verbs in active voice). [no need to paste the old copy and then the revised copy; just the revised copy will do.]

RESPONSE DUE SUNDAY MIDNIGHT:

Check another person's revision, to see if you spot any weak verbs that could be stronger by using transitive, action verbs OR any passive voice verbs that could be revised into active voice verbs. Show the writer how these sentences might be stronger using the Lanham Method.

• minilesson: pronoun case (her and I; who/whom) - KIMBERLY & MELISSA
• Anticipation guide for AAE attitudes

• VETERANS DAY - NO CLASS

• Socratic circle
• Post-discussion quickwrite
  

• minilesson: pronoun agreement/ indefinite pronouns - MICHELLE & SAM
• turn in AAE exercises (2X daily grade taken)

SCRAPBOOK CHECKPOINT. Complete 10 examples for your Scrapbook. They may be for any of these sections: Errors in Print, Breaking the Rules, Gems.

Examples must be fully "scrapped" (with description) to get credit for the daily grade; otherwise, zero.

• Scrapbook checkpoint (daily grade taken).
• Workshop your 10 examples in class; Barbara will double-check any that your group can't agree on.
• Brainstorm blog: letter to parents, administrators, and colleagues.

• minilesson: vague pronoun reference this, which - WHITNEY & JENN
• minilesson: hyphen - ALEX & KRISTI

Self-Reflection Blog: To what degree have you met your goals (as you discussed in your first blog)? Cite specific examples from your blogs and any other writing you've done this semester to support your claims. And what else have you learned this semester?

THEN, mark in italics any sentences where you experiments with new-to-you syntactic structrues and/or punctuation.

THIS BLOG IS WORTH 2X: one grade for content, one grade for taking risks and showing growth.

• minilesson: different from/different than - SHANNYN & KATIE
• minilesson: punctuating however -KAT
• minilesson: punctuating asides (or interruptors) - David & Mike

• SCRAPBOOKS DUE

• Scrapbook celebration
• Course evaluations