August 9, 2019
Hello Dialectic Parents and Students!
You have already received all the basic info you need for your Dialectic Writing class this year, such as materials to bring and a few ideas of what we will be covering. But I would like to tell you a couple more things, mainly about the homework, that will be steady through the year and helpful to know up front!
First of all, every week from August 22 Co-op #1 on, students will have 4 “SAT Test Prep” Vocabulary Words to work on as homework. They will use their composition notebook to write out the definition, part of speech, synonym, antonym, and will use the word in one sentence. I will show them an example in class of what the structure will look like!
Secondly, they will need to write a short paragraph about what they studied at home that week in Grammar. This also will be written in their comp notebook and I’ll take a glance at it weekly. This “GramSum” will help them review the hard work you all have done at home!
The third part of every homework assignment will be the writing assignment itself! We will go over a different genre each week, and in class we will practice an example of what I’m asking for in their assigned piece. It’ll begin with just one paragraph essays. Sometimes I will assign two separate one paragraph essays. Not too far into the class, we’ll move onto three paragraphs to work on continuity between paragraphs, but don’t worry—poetry for will give us a break and turn us in a different direction for a while.
One more little bit about the writing assignments: Your student needs to self-edit. They need to check for punctuation, capitalization, run-on sentences, and paragraphs sticking to the topic. Then you will need to do a little editing for their final draft to be turned in. They can be typed or handwritten, double spaced, with name, date, and co-op #, as well as the title centered and underlined. No cover page necessary.
The fourth and last part of the homework is, truthfully, up to the parent. IF I have any edits to make on their assignment, it is up to you whether or not you want them to give that piece of writing any more attention! If you do, they can turn it in again the next co-op and feel super proud of their perseverance at getting a truly final draft. But, on the other hand, sometimes when you’re done, you’re done!
These are the Grammar topics we will cover briefly in class, and I am using Rod and Staff Grade 5 as a resource. You don’t need to do anything with this info—just making you aware!
Co-op #
1 Parts of Speech/Basics pg. 16-17
2 Subject and Predicate pg. 18-22
3 Diagramming pg. 40-44
4 Exact Words pg. 45-48
5 Nouns pg. 98-103
6 Verbs pg. 132-140, 224-237
7 Adjective/Adverb pg. 305-308, 333-335
8 Review Games of all of the above
9 Pronouns pg. 252-263
10 Run-ons pg. 76-79
11 Punctuation pg. 378-385
12 Apostrophes pg. 397-399
13 Capitalizing pg. 484-488
14 Quotes pg. 401-407
15 Senses pg. 489-492
16 Review Games
These are the genres of writing we will cover, and the pages mentioned are from Writing Aids. I do not know if these page numbers will correspond with your Writing Aids; I borrowed someone else’s to do this list. Then when I got my own copy of Writing Aids, the page numbers were not the same. But I’m not changing them because they will be correct for some of you. Obviously, you can find these topics in the Index if you are in the unlucky bunch, like me!
Co-op #
1 The Writing Process pg. 162-163
2 Sentence Structures pg. 149-151
3 Paragraph Construction/4 Basic Paragraph Genres pg. 95-100
4 Paragraph Improvements pg. 97, 171-173
5 Poetry pg. 27, 125-134, 185-189
6 Poetry pg. 128-129
7 Poetry pg. 127 and Bible
8 Process Report/Essay pg. 192 and 200
9 Outlining pg. 55 and 65
10 Research Report pg. 139-140, 184, 197, 201
11 Research Report
12 Persuasive Essay pg. 113-115, 204-205
13 Fictional Story pg. 187, 192, 202; Rod and Staff Grade 5 also pg. 428
14 Newspaper pg. 90-92, 192, 194
15 Playwriting pg. 120-124
16 Review/Games/Awards/We’ll see!
Detailed homework assignments will be both on the forum and explained in class, but I won’t be sending home printed out homework assignment sheets. Students will be expected to take notes.
Please let me know if I have made any weird mistakes, which is so very possible, and if you have any questions along the way!
Lyndsay Taylor
270-307-8409
lyndsaytaylor@mac.com
“I love the perfection of Your presence
the redemption on Your face
Your heart’s forever for me
even if I look away
You still call my name, You call my name-
Could You be this good? Could You be this good?
The way that You forgive me, the way that You hold onto me,
Could You be, could You be this good?”
-Kristene DiMarco
Dialectic Writing: Please read by Co-op #1 :)
Re: Dialectic Writing: Please read by Co-op #1 :)
Thanks so much, Lyndsay, for all of your hard work and time...and willingness to teach D writing this year. This post is super informative and I'm very excited to see all that Sophie will be learning.
Blessings,
Phyllis
Blessings,
Phyllis