Class Notes

January 25

We started off class by answering the question "What does your mentor text say about where the speaker is from?" on the front of our notecard. On the back of our notecard, we drew a self-portrait of ourselves teaching an old dog a new trick for two minutes.

Then we watched a video on subordinating conjunctions. (A dependent clause followed by an independent clause). Mat had us write down an acronym for subordinating conjunctions which is AAAWWUBBIS: After, Although, As, When, While, Until, Because, Before, If, Since. Next, we further edited the sentence that we chose from last class by adding a subordinating clause into it. We also talked about conjunctive adverbs (words like moreover, additionally, for example, etc.) but we didn't go in depth about them during this class.

After that, we discussed the mentor texts, which prompted us to write down a simple question that we had as a child. We also wrote down a time when we thought we were close to death. We then reviewed "Making a Fist" and "Homegoing," which lead us to working on sensory detail in our writing. The five senses are smell, touch, sight, hearing, and taste. We then incorporated these sensory details into our scar moment and formed a sentence with it. There is no official homework but we could read the other mentor texts if we found time.

February 17

- Answered questions about a mentor text

1. These texts all are about people who feel like they don't belong or are maybe oppressed.

Communities: Afro-Latina and woman

2. Where Chris is now, is not necessarily where she wants to be in her life. -- and that's ok.

3. My text was conveyed through a different media, rather than a text, it was a ted talk. This was valuable because it makes her own narrative more unique because you can hear the way she speaks in her own voice, the voice of an Afro-Latina.

- Composition can be inspiring.

- Put your readers into your shoes.

- Doesn't have to be in chronological order, meaning we can talk about where we are before we talk about where we're from.

March 1

Rhetorical Conventions: the way we do things, the way we write

Text Talk Advice: let the content make the argument