Exemplification

After four more vocabulary words, we began our next mode of discourse: exemplification, or more simply put as using specific examples to clarify an idea or topic.

To break this down into digestible components, we used the broad topic of "student" as our introductory sample.

 First, brainstorm all related words, ideas, objects, people, feelings, or anything that pops in your head regarding the topic. You do not want to limit your possible examples, so do not edit your ideas.

Second, select a theme or (better yet) a working thesis statement that could could cover several, specific examples. For example, we picked "stress" as an overall theme for students.

Third, select the relevant examples from your brainstorm and group like examples together. For instance, we removed the chaff not related to stress and then combined remaining examples into school-related stress, outside of school stress, and results of stress.

Fourth, select the range, or the order you would like your exemplification to follow. This may be chronological, spatial, least to most important, most to least, cause and effect, or any other way to keep your exemplification organized. In class, we chose cause and effect by ordering school, outside, and results.

Fifth, specify each examples. During our class practice, we went from having "a lot of homework" to exemplifying the hours, the practices, and the steps involved for PreCalc; we went from having "to do everything" to exemplifying counter service, customer service, drive-thru service and food preparation while working at McDonalds; we went from "everything in the past and present" to exemplifying scholarship, GPA and ACT statistics, and college major selection.

To further specificity, we read "Be Specific," an essay that calls upon all writers (that would be you) to bring in specific names of flowers, people, and places to help the reader better understand your exemplification.

And, we are not finished yet! To practice all of this exemplification, you created a class brainstorm on the board - the topic of "evil" haunting all of your examples. With all of these samples, we created a class thesis statement to define evil and help tie together our specific examples. Then, each of you selected one example of evil.

Lots to do outside of class tonight...

1. The final draft of the narrative essay is due by 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Please staple the scoring guide to the final draft.
2. On your selected evil example, jot down the reasons why this person/thing/entity/idea is evil. You will need to include at least one direct quote from a website or source. Do not forget to write down your website and address for citations purposes. (For this assignment, you may use .com and even Wikipedia for your sources.)
3. Complete the second grammar review. We will go over this in class tomorrow.

Narrative Peer Review Day

The majority of the class focused on peer reviewing your narrative first draft. Each student read his or her essay out loud, and the other students gave feedback and editing suggestions for improved writing. THE FINAL DRAFT - IN HARD COPY FORM - IS DUE ON TUESDAY BY 2:45 P.M.

The remainder of the time was for vocab experts and handing out your second grammar review, which is due Monday for our class time.

Prepositions

Today's class focused on our last part of speech, the preposition. Utilizing prepositional phrases, we created short stories -- without any verbs since these phrases do not partake in any verbage! Afterwards, we practiced identifying all the parts of speech, discussed how not to end a sentence with a preposition, and practiced the eradication of too many prepositional phrases in a sentence.

For the remainder of the class, you began working on the module review for englishgrammar101.com, in which you are practicing grammar and mechanical reviews in preparation for the Grammar Quest next week. Make sure to check off if you have mastered a skill, need some review, or need full study for each element. This will help individualize your studies and success on the quest.

See you on Friday with your narrative first drafts and the grammar handout completed!

P.S. The number is 372.

College Ap Tips & Samples

After recapping "Porkopolis," an excellent college application essay that reveals the narrator's genuine nature, passion, and dedication, we continued forward with tips for writing college ap essays and narrative essays. To further exhibit the qualities of voice, imagery, and random Bananas, we read two sample essays from Harvard, and you heard three sample essays from my former students. With all of these narrative and college ap samples, it was time to assign the narrative essay. You have 3 choices for your narrative assessment: game narrative, future narrative, or a college ap/scholarship prompt.

For Friday's class, you will need to have the first draft of your narrative for peer and teacher evaluation. This draft will need to be a Google document as we will be sharing drafts with each other over the course of the hour. Final draft will be due Tuesday, September 27, by 2:45 p.m. in hard copy format.

Warming Up, Punctuating, College Apping

1. Simultaneously, we briefly met to review your narrative warm-ups while you copied down unit 4 vocabulary. For those of you camping, that means I will need to see your narrative warm-ups for credit points.
2. After assigning vocab words to begin tomorrow, we reviewed punctuation by having students go to the board and correct sentences for comma, semicolon, and colon issues.
3. We began a college application essay example entitled "Porkopolis," which takes the boring prompt of selecting an influential person and creates a narrative that reflects more about the writer than Lisa Simpson.

For tomorrow, finish those last 3 paragraphs of "Porkopolis" and be ready to talk about the author's decisions in creating this narrative structure.

Punctuation on the Board!

For those missing our third vocab quiz, you have until Tuesday to make up the assignment. For the majority of the hour, we reviewed comma, semicolon, and colon rules using the handout you received on Wednesday. To add to the drama, we worked on the handout on the board, with students noting punctuation errors and explaining why. For homework, complete narrative warm-ups 1 & 2.

Lastly, if you would like to bring in your own college application or scholarship prompt for your narrative writing, find the prompt and bring this to class with you next week.

Narratives & Punctuation

1. We performed our dialogue conversations, with each interlocutor portraying a specific gender and age. With this brief activity, you were required to pay close attention to diction and how this portrays a character in a narrative.
2. We reviewed vocabulary by playing last person standing. That means your quiz is tomorrow!
3. We read "My Mother Never Worked," a sample narrative that we discussed in small groups.
4. We started punctuation rules by identifying independent and dependent clauses, learning about the rule of 5 and how it involves those FANBOYS, seeing how commas impact the mixing of independent and dependent clauses, and locating transitions and their punctuation.

For homework, finish highlighting 1-5 on the punctuation handout and complete Narrative Warm-up number 3 (on notebook paper, no full sentences required).

In addition, don't forget that your future narrative essay for this course can double as a college application essay. You are more than welcome to bring in a prompt that you will use on your application.