DAY 14: Assembly line editing

Tooday, we covered words 11-15 in Unit 2 of the vocabulary book and lesson 3 in the Sentence Diagramming workbook. Lesson three focused on Predicate Nominatives, which are nouns that:

1. Come after a form of the verb "be" (is, am, are, were, will be, had been, etc.) or "become" (had become, becoming, will become, etc.), and;
2. Rename the subject (e.g. in the sentence "We are neighbors," "we" is the subject and "neighbors is the predicate nominative.

So, do a quick review and see what you can identify and explain. If you can't explain it or quickly think of how to diagram it, GO REVIEW! Here is what you should know so far:

• Subjects
• Verbs
• Helping Verbs
• Modal Auxiliaries
• Definite Article
• Indefinite Articles
• Predicate Nominatives

After we finished with vocabulary and diagramming, I had everyone place his or her homework from last night (the 12-sentence paragraph about "New African") in a manila folder, and write his or her name on the tab. Then, everyone was assigned a job on the Editing Assembly Line.

• 2 people reviewed central claims (thesis statements). This handout can be found on the wikispace.
• 3 people reviewed sandwich #1. This handout can be found on the wikispace.
• 3 people reviewed sandwich #2. This handout can be found on the wikispace.
• 3 people reviewed sandwich #3. This handout can be found on the wikispace.
• 2 people reviewed style and mechanics. The handout they used can be found on the wikispace.
• 3 people gave a holistic, overall "gut-check" review. The handout they used can be found on the wikispace.

At the end of the period, you had about ten assessments of your paper. Even better, you got to read ten sample paragraphs of differing qualities, which allowed you to draw some new conclusions about the qualityof your own.

YOUR HOMEWORK FOR WEDNESDAY:

1. Write 5 new sentences on the wikispace
2. Read and annotate (using a system that works for you) "Sponono" in Junior Great Books.
3. Revise the paragraph that we worked on today, using the feedback you received and the MLA handout which I put in your mailbox, and which you may also download from the wikispace.