ACT Prep & College Writing: ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 28)

Thursday, January 28, 2021

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 28)

Greetings!

We had a full class today as we worked through Chapters 5 & 6 of Cracking the ACT book.

We started class with a Quick Write in which I asked the students to think and write about two prompts -- 1) What makes you unique? What makes you "you?" and 2) What factors do people consider when making decisions for the futures? I appreciated their comments about themselves and about their futures.

As I mentioned, we worked through Chapters 5 & 6, which are about the English Test. This is the first test of the ACT, and it's mostly about grammar, mechanics, and word usage. I have slides that I use to present the information; they are also posted on Google Classroom.) We discussed basic steps for approaching the questions:

Step 1: Identify the Topic (see p. 35)
Step 2: Use POE
Step 3: Use the context
Step 4: Trust your ear, but verify
Step 5: Don’t fix what isn’t broken

Each week I will go through 1 - 3 chapters from the book Cracking the ACT, and for homework, students will read that those chapters and do practice exercises or drills. For this week, they are to do the English Drill 1 (here are instructions for how to do the Drills on Google Classroom.)

One thing that I've noticed is that, due to the masks, it's harder to have discussions in part because it takes a lot more energy to respond and talk. That said, the class has done a great job at answering questions and taking part in discussions.

Have a great weekend!

Blessings!

Mrs. Prichard

Homework for Next Week

Read through Chapters 5 & 6 -- Be an active reader

Especially read the practice/example questions and the explanations
Review the Summary

English Drill 1 on p. 54 - 56 (Answers in Chapter 25, p. 384)
Bring to class questions about troublesome sections or topics
Review the following topics as needed:

Verbs: Subject-verb agreement, Verb tenses, Irregular verbs, participles
Pronouns: Agreement, antecedents, cases
Modifiers: Adjectives, adverbs, comparison, superlative
End (Stop) punctuation: period, question mark, exclamation point, semicolon
Go punctuation: comma, colon, dash

Links for This Week

Class Notes

ACT Syllabus

ACT Assignments Checklist

Spring ACT Prep Google Drive folder

Instructions for Drills and Practice Tests

ACT Week 2 (Ch. 5 & 6) Slides

Where Will I Go? (due 1/28)

ACT Videos (Supplemental)

3 Must Know Tips for English Test

4 Major Rules for Commas for the ACT

Number 1 Tip for the English Test