Carnegie Notes from Oct. 10^th through Oct. 14^th

This week in class we finished verbs (consistent verb tense), worked on the first day of spelling, and wrote a paper (Paper #3).

The consistent verb tense slide was rather simple but was just right for a one-day lesson, and given the work they need in other areas more, I think it was effective in raising their awareness of the danger of shifting tenses. The spelling went well, though even with PowerPoint slides, it’s not the most exciting subject. I believe that next semester I’ll cut out the repetition of practice of some words (on PowerPoint) since they will get SO much practice on WebCT (in other words, in class, they’ll get exposure and a little practice and can drill on their own time). In all, I ended up spending three classes on spelling, and I think two would have sufficed. Paper #3 went fairly well. They wrote on tattoos, and many of them are getting better at details and are fairly strong (many of them) on organization, but they have numerous run-ons (but we haven’t covered those yet). Important as the spelling is, I believe next semester I’ll put that off until after midterm and start on run-ons sooner. The students continue to stay engaged by the PowerPoint slides, though being in a room with computers is becoming a distraction to them. It’s not that they are e-mailing buddies or playing games ~ they’re actually trying to do their quizzes AND listen to me at the same time; at least it’s all about English for them while they’re in there!