Extra-Curricular Activities

Activity		Grade Level					Hours/Week	Weeks/Year	Positions held, honors
		9	10	11	12	PS

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 8 (Oct. 10)

Greetings!

This week we covered a lot of ground.  I began the class with 3 unusual Words of the Day (Gluggavedur, tidsoptimist, and dysania) and had the students make up definitions using clues from the roots and/or sounds of the words.  From this, we had a brief discussion about how to decode words in a text that are unfamiliar and how to prepare for the kind of reading that is required on the ACT.  After Fall Break we will start work on the Reading portion of the test where familiarity with a large vocabulary and speed in reading will be important.

For the ACT portion of the class, we covered Chapters 14, 15, and 16, which were the final chapters of the Math Test.  I've intentionally taken a longer time on the portion because my experience is that students struggle if they need to speed through the review of the math concepts.  Because my goal is to review and to practice strategies for working through the tests, I did not spend long on Chapters 15 and 16 where students would be learning new information.  One of the strategies for ACT is to review and work on areas of strength to make them stronger and to not try to learn something new just for the test.  We have the "Letter of the Day" strategy for those "Never" problems.  

If there is an a topic on the Math test that a student would like to learn, Khan Academy has some excellent videos.  They are to take a practice ACT Math Test before the next class.

For the ACT Essay portion, I showed a short video from SuperTutorTV about Dos and Don'ts of the ACT Essay.  We discussed the video and reviewed organizational options for the essay.  Students are to take one more ACT Practice Essay test before the next class.  That will conclude our SAT and ACT essay portion of the class, and we will start working on college application essays.

Assignments for Oct. 24

-- Read Ch. 14, 15, and 16

-- Complete and correct the Trigonometry Drill

-- Complete and correct the Advanced Math Drill

-- Complete and correct the Practice Math Test from the first practice test in the book.  Find a quiet place and set the timer for 60 minutes.  Good luck!!

-- Finish the Take Home ACT test.  Set a timer for 40 minutes.  Again, Good luck.

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Words of the Day:  (Gluggavedur, tidsoptimist, and dysania)

Dos and Don'ts of the ACT Essay.  

Have a great Fall Break!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 7 (Oct. 3)

Greetings!

We continued to work on the Math portion of the ACT this week.  I'm intentionally going more slowly through this  part of the test because many students find that they need more time to review math-related concepts.  This week's chapter included percentages, averages, weighted averages, and probability.  We only got partway through the chapter, so I expect students to work through the whole chapter, including the practice questions and explanations.  The explanations are especially helpful because they will help the students to think like the test writers and to develop some short cuts in working through the problems.  Working a lot of problems is a key strategy to preparing for the test.

A note about homework:  I mentioned to the students this week that not doing  the homework and not reading the chapters only disadvantages themselves.  Sometimes students have a hard time seeing the importance of homework and feel that they are doing worksheets and assignments for the teachers' sake.  This is one class that I can guarantee that they will benefit themselves by doing the homework.  

For the ACT Essay portion of the class we turned to the sample our Cracking the ACT book.  We discussed a basic approach to answering the questions and a strategy for organizing the essay.  I've included the notes from this part of the discussion on a separate blog post; it includes a good summary of who to brainstorm and how to organize the ACT Essay.

Assignments for Next Week: 

-- Read Chapter 13 -- flag problems or explanations that need further explanation or review

-- Word Problems Drill (p.187)  Remember to correct your drill and read the explanations

-- Summary (p. 188)

-- Practice brainstorming the ACT Essay using the prompt on p. 376

-- Read Ch. 24 (Writing) p. 358 - 375

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Basic Approach to Writing the ACT Essay

Practicing Percentages on the ACT

How to Solve Percent Problems

How to Solve Difficult Average Problems

ACT Math:  Permutations and Combinations

ACT Math:  How to do Permutations

ACT Math:  How to find Combinations

Dos and Don'ts of the ACT Essay

3 Steps to a Perfect ACT Writing Score

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Basic Approach to Writing the ACT Essay

Basic Approach:

• Read the Prompt
• Form your own perspective
• Read Perspectives 1, 2,  and 3
• Determine the points in which you agree or disagree
• Brainstorm specific points to write about that include the following
• 1 - 2 sentences that explain the main point of the passage
• 1 sentence the states your opinion
• Brainstorm your argument (i.e. explain why you are right)
• Think of details and explanations to support your argument and perspective
• Explain how your perspective interacts with the 3 perspectives given:
• Work from the one you agree with the most to the one you agree with the least
• Brainstorm concluding remarks
• Organize your essay before writing:

I.  Introduction -- make sure you state the focus of the passage

II.  Explain your perspective 

A.  Clearly state your perspective

B.  Give a clear argument regarding how your perspective is the right one

C,  Include specific details to support your argument 

1.  Make up or give actual statistics/data if you need

2.  Make up or give actual stories if you need

III.  Address the perspective you most agree with

A.  Compare similarities and differences

B.  Include specific details to support your comparisons, if necessary

1.  Make up or give actual statistics/data if you need

2.  Make up or give actual stories if you need

III.  Address the perspective you kind of agree with and kind of disagree with

A.  Compare similarities and differences
B.  Include specific details to support your comparisons, if necessary

1.  Make up or give actual statistics/data if you need

2.  Make up or give actual stories if you need

III.  Address the perspective you most disagree with

A.  Compare similarities and differences

B.  Include specific details to support your comparisons, if necessary

1.  Make up or give actual statistics/data if you need

2.  Make up or give actual stories if you need

IV.  Conclusion

A.  Restate the focus of the passage

B.  Restate your thesis (i.e. your perspective)

C.  Summarize the issues with Perspectives 1, 2, and 3

D.  Leave concluding thoughts that solidify your viewpoint.

• START WRITING!!