Syllabus: Daily Writing

Teacher

Mr. Doug DeGroot

Course Title

Write Right (one semester, elective)

Requirements

Junior or senior

Course Description

This course is an elective and is one semester long. Write Right teaches reflective, expository, persuasive, and business writing, as well as grammar and critical evaluation of information. The course focuses on the writing traits of ideas, organization, conventions, and presentation. Students do extensive writing.

Sample assignments include grammar, spelling, letter writing, resume writing, job applications, formatting, note taking, personal journaling, and public communications, public service announcements, letter to an editor, and research reports. Students write multiple versions of a persuasive essay; each version is edited for a different audience. Among the reports students write is one that requires students to write from both sides of an issue: one report is for the issue, the other report is against the issue; students pick the topic that they argue for and against.

Class Topics

Grammar

• Parts of speech
• Usage, syntax, mechanics
• Phrases and clauses
• Sentence Structures: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
• Sentence Functions: declarative, imperative, exclamatory, interrogative
• Punctuation
• Daily Oral Language

The Writing Process

• Modes of Writing: poetry, prose, drama
• Purpose of Writing: know audience; friendly, hostile, apathetic, indifferent; demographics
• Stages of Writing: prewrite and outline, write, revise, edit, publish
• Traits of Writing: ideas, organization, word choice, sentences, voice, conventions, form
• The paragraph: Thirty types of sentences that can be added to any paragraph

Expository Writing

• Thesis Selection: topic vs thesis, narrow topic, usable topic, debatable topic, fair topic
• Research Report: Documentation, fair use of facts, proper use of facts, statistics
• Persuasive Reports: statement of reasons, comparative advantage, negative report, criteria-satisfaction method, problem-solution method, motivated-sequence report, values in conflict report, opposition paper
• Personal Essay: reflection, letter to editor, remembrance

Narrative Writing

• Plot structure, character, conflict, setting, motive, theme, mood
• Narrative Stories: Mini Epic, The Western, The Hero Quest, Documentary Drama, Melodrama, Farce, Science Fiction

Vocabulary

• Commonly Confused Words
• Analogies: type of, part of, degree of intensity, antonym, cause/effect, product/function
• Root words, prefixes, suffixes
• College-bound vocabulary
• Literary terms

Poetry

• Rhyme: sight rhyme, on rhyme, off rhyme, slant rhyme, audible rhyme, bad rhyme
• Rhythm: versification of meter: iambic, trochaic, anapestic, dactylic
• Poetic Form: troilet, limerick, cinquain, haiku, sonnet, ballad, free verse, concrete

Critical Thinking

• Evaluate Sources of Information
• Propaganda and Faulty Logic
• Miller’s Analogies Test

Classroom Expectations

Other people will respond to you in the same way that they see you treating others. If you are nice to people, then others will be kind to you. If you allow others to talk, then they will listen to you when you want to be heard. If you say mean things (even if joking), they will remember and will do it to you.

Try: Learning takes effort. You can't be passive. Everything about school has something that can benefit you.

Cooperate: We are here together. There is much that you can both learn and teach.

Keep these in mind:

• I will respect others--including myself
• I will respect property--including my own
• I will not bully, hurt, or mock
• I will not use “joking” or “friendship” as an excuse
• I have a right to learn
• I have a right to to be heard
• I am not the only student
• I will respect other students’ right to learn
• I will respect other students’ right to be heard

High School Expectations

• Phones are allowed during lunch, not during class. Your phone will go to the office if you are caught using it.
• Food and drinks are allowed during lunch, not during class. Either will be taken away until lunch or after school.
• Stay in the room: bathroom breaks and trips to the locker are allowed during lunch and between classes.

Grading

Students are graded on daily work, worksheets, essays, quizzes, tests, and speeches. This list is not definitive and other assessments exist.

Grading Scale

A 93-100

A- 90-92

B+ 87-88

B 83-86

B- 80-82

C+ 77-79

C 73-76

C- 70-72

D+ 67-69

D 63-66

D- 60-62

F 0-59

Daily Writing, Overview of Content

Quarter 1: The qualities and mechanics of writing.

• Identifying the characteristics of excellent, average, and poor writing.
• Understanding punctuation and formatting.

Quarter 2: The syntax and usage of writing.

• Use writing explain objectively different points of view
• Use writing to simplify complex ideas

Quarter 1, first half: Traits of Writing

Week 1 What is daily writing

• What is daily writing
• What are course expectations and rules
• What are class policies and grading systems
• Who is the instructor, who are the students
• What is/are journaling, the traits of writing, expository writing, business writing, persuasive writing
• Students write in a journal everyday

Week 2 Traits of writing IDEAS

• Introduce, define, and explain the rubric for the writing trait of ideas
• Practice using, identifying, and evaluating this writing trait using four worksheets
• Those four items take two to three days to complete
• Formative assessment at the end to identify student understanding
• One day to introduce the topic, two to three days to learn the topic, one day to demonstrate mastery of the topic
• Read The Turning Point, Sleep, Memo on Vacations, Email to Ms. Moore from Pat Croft

Week 3 Traits of writing ORGANIZATION

• Introduce, define, and explain the rubric for the writing trait of organization
• Practice using, identifying, and evaluating this writing trait using four worksheets
• Those four items take two to three days to complete
• Formative assessment at the end to identify student understanding
• One day to introduce the topic, two to three days to learn the topic, one day to demonstrate mastery of the topic
• Read The Choice, New Member of the Family, Zoos: Destined for Extinction!, Zoos of the Future: Worth Preserving

Week 4 Traits of writing WORD CHOICE

• Introduce, define, and explain the rubric for the writing trait of word choice
• Practice using, identifying, and evaluating this writing trait using four worksheets
• Those four items take two to three days to complete
• Formative assessment at the end to identify student understanding
• One day to introduce the topic, two to three days to learn the topic, one day to demonstrate mastery of the topic
• Read Riding the Rapids, Pushing Yourself, Editors Inc. to the Rescue!, Editors Inc.--Helping You Write Better

Week 5 Traits of writing SENTENCE FLUENCY

• Introduce, define, and explain the rubric for the writing trait of sentence fluency
• Practice using, identifying, and evaluating this writing trait using four worksheets
• Those four items take two to three days to complete
• Formative assessment at the end to identify student understanding
• One day to introduce the topic, two to three days to learn the topic, one day to demonstrate mastery of the topic
• Read Baseball: The Universal Sport, For the Love of Chocolate, Visitors, Trading Places

Quarter 1, second half: Expository Writing and Punctuation

Week 6 Writing for an Audience and Peer Review

• Understand the need to know one’s audience and to write for that audience
• Understand the need to know one’s purpose in the message that one is writing; is that purpose to inform, to entertain, or to persuade
• Write a report on a topic that is familiar to a student, a topic in which the student would be an expert in if compared to his or her peers
• Students describe what that item, hobby, or skill is and explain why someone else should join having or doing that item, hobby, or skill
• Peer review: students will evaluate another student’s report--this is not a grade, it is feedback; the report itself is graded and graded by the instructor alone; the peer evaluation is done by students for students and those evaluations themselves can be examined for accuracy; it is a way for students to decide if a report is something that needs more work, something that’s done and ready to turn in but is not special, or something that really stands out and is clearly better than most other reports
• each student will score another student’s report in accordance with the rubrics for the traits of writing; this score is not a grade, it is feedback from one student to another student
• The report is revised for a new audience, upper elementary students; key to this revision is the writing trait of word choice
• The upper elementary report is again evaluated per the rubrics that students have

Week 7 Writing for a Purpose and Peer Review

• Students revise their first report
• This revision results in three new reports
• The first report is targeted to an audience of peers who open to the idea of learning your hobby or join your sport but are unsure if doing so is their best choice
• The second report is for an audience of apathetic peers, those who are not interested in doing your idea; they have nothing against your idea, they’d just rather do something else
• The last report is written to peers who are against your idea; they think your idea is wrong and should itself be ended
• Each of these reports is read by another student; each student reads the report of another student and gives comments to that student

Week 8 Punctuation

• Do’s and Don’ts for using punctuation and symbols
• How to correctly use all of those symbols on a keyboard
• Correct use of the semicolon, colon, comma, apostrophes, quotation marks, parentheses, brackets, dash, and hyphen
• When to use symbols and when to use words

Week 9 Traits of writing CONVENTIONS

• Introduce, define, and explain the rubric for the writing trait of sentence fluency
• Practice using, identifying, and evaluating this writing trait using four worksheets
• Those four items take two to three days to complete
• Formative assessment at the end to identify student understanding
• One day to introduce the topic, two to three days to learn the topic, one day to demonstrate mastery of the topic
• Read Who Needs Violence?, The Greatest Danger, Christopher P. Oswald Resume, Jan Marlo Resume

Quarter 2, first half:

• grammar, usage, and mechanics
• spelling
• business writing
• resumes
• logistical writing: envelopes, symbols, signs

Quarter 2, second half:

• paraphrasing and transcribing
• responding to issues: identifying and writing multiple points of view objectively
• Writing messages on behalf of someone else (your company, your team)

Last

Grades that are As and Fs are both earned. Many tests and many assignments and many questions are easy. Anyone can pass with a little effort. Getting a D or C or B is common. Some classwork is NOT easy. Some questions are hard.

How to Earn an A: Do all parts of all assignments. Be thorough in your work. Keep track of details in factual information. Ask yourself, Do I know 92 or 93 percent of this information? That is one difference between an A- and an A.

How to Earn an F: Do NOT turn in assignments. That is about the most common reason that students do not pass a class, missing assignments. Always turn in something.

Iowa Common Core Writing Standard

Standard 1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Expository Writing, Critical Thinking

Standard 2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. Expository Writing, Critical Thinking, Vocabulary

Standard 3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. Narrative Writing, Critical Thinking, Vocabulary

Standard 4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. The Writing Process Grammar, Poetry

Standard 5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. The Writing Process, Grammar, Poetry

Standard 6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information. The Writing Process

Standard 7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. Critical Thinking, Expository Writing

Standard 8: Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation. Critical Thinking, Expository Writing

Standard 9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Expository Writing

Standard 10: Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes. Writing