ACT Prep & College Essay Writing Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 29)

Greetings!

We had a good class today.  We've gotten to the end of our chapters on the various aspects of the English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing tests.  

As we near the end of the semester, many of the approaches, and steps, and strategies that we cover are repeats of those from other tests.  For all of the tests, we use the answer choices themselves to answer the question.  We rely heavily on process of elimination and our personal order of difficulty.  

The last test, with the exception of the essay portion, is the Science Test.  It's a 35 minute test with 45 questions.  There are three sections of this test:  Charts & Graphs, Experiments, and Fighting Scientists.  This week we worked through Chapter 22:  The Basic Approach to learn 3 steps for working through the Charts & Graphs section.

• Step 1:  Work the Figures (charts, tables, graphs)
• Step 2:  Work the Answers
• Step 3:  Work the Questions

Today we walked through the last section of the Science test, "the Fighting Scientists."  The Science test has one section in which the perspectives of 2 or more scientists are presented, and students will answer questions about each of the perspectives and will compare and contrast the perspectives.  Here are the steps for the Fighting Scientists passages:

• Step 1:  Preview & map the questions
• Step 2:  Do one step at a time
• Step 3:  Do the other side
• Step 4:  Compare & Contrast

For our final 2 weeks of class, we'll take time in class doing practice tests.  For next week, May 6, Students should come to class ready to take a test from their books, and I suggested that they choose the test that they think they will have the hardest time taking.  For May 13, I suggest they come prepared to take a test that will be the easiest for them to take.  

We did not talk about the College Application essays. Next week we will do some peer reviews of our essays.  (Note:  Note everyone has both essays in, so that would should get done.)

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Chapter 23 -- Fighting Scientists

-- Fighting Scientists Drills 1, 2, and 3

     -- Note:  Drill 1 was done in class

-- Finish College Application #1 and College Application #2

We're nearing the end of the school year, so I hope you can all find the energy to stay engaged in school until we're done.

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 15)

 Greetings!

We covered a lot of ground in class today.  In fact, we've covered a lot this semester.  We are now in the 4th section of the ACT Test -- the Science test.

Like the English and Reading tests, the Science test is passage-based.  It's 35 minutes long, and the students will answer 45 questions for the 6 - 7 passages.  We talked for a lot about how and what they learn in science classes and how this Science test is different.  Students don't need to have loads of information memorized, but they do need to know how to read charts, graphs, and tables.  They also need to be able to draw conclusions from data given in those tables and charts.

Today I introduced the test and gave an overview.  Next week we will walk through the basic approach to handling the test questions.

The first college application essay is due this week, and I've assigned a second essay.  When they finish this this class, they will have 2 potential essays that they can use for college applications.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments

• Read Chapters 20 & 21 (p. 299 – 322)

• Read Summary on p. 307

• Read Summary on p. 322

• College Application Essay #2 (due 4/29)

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Quick Write (4/15)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 10 (April 1)

 Greetings!

For our class this week, we finished going over strategies and types of questions for the Reading test.  With these strategies, the students should complete the drills in Chapters 17 - 19, practice the Sample Dual Passage, and finally, take the Practice ACT Reading Test.  For this, they should use the first practice test in the book.  When they've finished the test, they should correct it, using the answers included in the test.

Here are some more hints for getting ready to take the Reading test:

-- Stretch your reading ability.  Find challenging articles and literature and read them.  Spending time with more complex writing styles and content is good preparation for the test.

-- Practice picking up the speed of reading passages.  Use a pencil to underline the text to help you to read more quickly and to keep you from going back to words already read.

-- Take more practice tests.  This will help you determine if you want to order the passages any differently than they are given.

We are working on college application essays.  For this week we read some sample essays and discussed their strengths and weaknesses as application essays.

Have a wonderful Easter Weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Week 11 (April 15)

• Read Chapter 19 (p. 273 – 285)

• Complete the Sample Dual Passage on p. 282 – 283 

• Read Chapter 19, p. 286 – 296

• Read Summary on p. 296

• Reading Drill 2 on p. 294- 295 (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 397 - 398)

• Practice ACT Reading Test (35 minutes) p. 450 - 459

• Correct your test and read explanations for missed test questions (p. 511 – 518)

• College Application Essay  #1

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Sample College Application Essays

ACT Prep Ch. 19 Slides

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 25)

 Greetings!

We had a productive time in class today.  We started with a Quick Write for which I asked the students to think about what they might write about for their college application essay.  They were to start with 3 and then choose 1 to expand upon.  

We've finished the Math section of the ACT Prep and are now onto the Reading section of the test.  The Reading test is passage-based with 40 questions and is 35 minutes long.  The 4 passages are prose fiction, social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences.  The first strategy is to decide the personal order of the passages and then to work the passages and the questions.  We covered basics this week and will go over some of the more challenging types of questions.  

Students will write 2 rough drafts of College Application Essays.  These will be potential essays that they could use for their own college applications.   I have some sample essays that we'll be reading for the next few weeks.  The one we read today had 3 versions, each one with improvements.  It's helpful to look at samples to get a more clear idea about what a good essay looks like.  

At the beginning of the class I checked in with the students about their homework and cleared up some missing work.  

Have a blessed weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

• Read Chapters 17 & 18

• Take notes, highlight, underline, and flag sections

• Read Summary for Chapter 17 on p. 244

• Work Sample passage (p. 261 – 263)  (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 394 - 395)

• Reading Drill 1 on p. 269 – 271 (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 395 - 396)

• Start on College Application Essay (Not due until April 15)

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Sample "Ellie"  Essay

ACT Prep Slides -- Ch. 17 & 18

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 18)

Greetings!

We are officially over half way through the Spring semester.  I don't know about you, but once we hit daylight savings time and the days get longer, the days also seem to fly by more quickly!

We have finished the Math section of the Princeton Review's Cracking the ACT.  For students who are currently taking a math class, it might feel a little unfair to be doing so much more math.  I use the sample questions in the book that especially highlight one of the strategies to keep it from being to overwhelming.  This week I covered graphing and coordinate geometry.  I also gave a short nod to the advanced topics.  In the list of links below are some videos that will help students practice the strategies and to review the math skills.  (Note:  The speaker in the video is talking pretty quickly.  Go to the setting icon and slow the playback speed.)

We have shifted from practice writing the ACT Essay Exam to writing some college application essays.  For this unit, we'll explore personal interests, brainstorm topics, read some sample essays, and write essays that can be used for applications.

Assignments for Next Week:

• Read Chapters 14, 15, and 16  (Remember to be active!)

• Flag or write questions about topics that need further review

• Review graphing calculator functions

• Graphing and Coordinate Geometry Drill on p. 203 (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 391 - 392)

• Read Summary on p. 204

• OPT. Trigonometry Drill on p. 217 (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 392 - 393)

• Read Summary on p. 218

• OPT. Advanced Math Drill on p. 227 (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 393)

• Practice ACT Math Test (60 minutes) p. 430 - 449

• Correct your test and read explanations for missed test questions (p. 495 – 511)

• Finding Your Hook packet

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Practice Math Exam Breakdown

(this video works through all of the problems on a practice test)

The 52 Math Skills in the ACT (Part 1, 18 Skills)

The 52 Math Skills in the ACT (Part 2, 14 Skills)

The 52 Math Skills in the ACT (Part 3, 12 Skills)

The 52 Math Skills in the ACT (Part 4, 8 Skills)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature 

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 7 (March 11)

 Greetings!

Just a quick note about this week's online class.  For beginners, I made the class more challenging by accidentally turning OFF the ability for students to unmute themselves, to turn their cameras on, and to make comments in the CHAT. Thankfully, with the help of the students, I realized the problem, fixed it, and then could go on with the class.

For the ACT Prep section of the class, we are still in the Math section of the test.  I give this section more time so that students can figure out what they need to review before taking the test.  I also feel that having more time to practice the strategies helps be more prepared for those Math topics about which they are not as knowledgeable.  Next week we will cover coordinate geometry and then be done with the Math section.

For the College Writing section of the test, I reminded students to do the second Practice ACT Essay Exam, and then I talked about why the College Application Essay is important.  My hope is that doing a practice application essay in this class will either give the students something they can use in a college application or give the students a springboard for an even better essay.

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy our spring weather!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Read through Chapter 13

• Be an active reader and highlight important tips and/or information

• Flag or write questions about topics that need further review

• Word Problems Drill on p. 187 (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 390)

• Read the Summary on 188

• Practice ACT Essay Exam #2

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

ACT Prep & College Writing Class Notes -- Week 6 (March 4)

 Greetings!

This week, as with every week, we covered a lot of ground.  We started with a Quick Write in which I asked the students to list the strategies that we had learned so far. It's important to continually review these so that they are at the students' "fingertips" when they take the test.

During the ACT Prep portion of today's class we continued to review for the Math portion of the test.  We reviewed basic strategies to be used for this test:  ballparking, POE (process of elimination), Plugging In, and Plugging in the Answers (PITA).  For each Math test question, students should follow the same Basic Approach:  1) Know the question; 2) Let the answers help; and 3) Break the problem into bite-sized pieces.  A challenge with a number of test questions is two-fold:  geometry questions combine algebraic reasoning, and many questions have so much information that they become word problems.  I added to Google Classroom a post with a number of helpful Math videos.  

Our College Essays topic this week included an review of the ACT Essay Test.  This test is structured differently than the SAT, but both of the tests are designed with the types of writing required in college in mind.  Rather than analyzing and evaluating the persuasive writing of a passage, students are given a topic that elicits multiple perspectives.  They are to develop their own perspective and then compare it with 3 other perspectives.  In the course of their writing, they are to support their viewpoints with details, logical arguments, and persuasive elements.  A basic outline for this essay would look like this:

I.  Introduction -- state the idea presented in the passage and give your perspective as a thesis statement

II.  Explain your perspective and back it up with  details, logical arguments, and persuasive elements

III.  Compare your perspective with the perspective that you mostly agree with.  Unpack that perspective to explain its strengths and weaknesses.

IV.   Compare your perspective with the perspective that you kind of agree with.  Unpack that perspective to explain its strengths and weaknesses.

V.   Compare your perspective with the perspective that you mostly disagree with.  Unpack that perspective to explain its strengths and weaknesses.

VI,  Conclusion -- Summarize the main points of the body and reassert your perspective.

This type of writing can be really challenging, so lots of practice is important.  The students have a take-home ACT test for next week, and we will continue to brainstorm and talk through multiple tests.

Have a great weekend!  The weather looks to be marvelous, so get some fresh air!!!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

• Read through Chapter 12

• Be an active reader and highlight important tips and/or information

• Flag or write questions about topics that need further review

• Read through the “Fun Facts” on p. 156 - 159

• Review the formulas on p. 160 - 161

• Review the vocabulary on p. 162

• Geometry Drill on p. 163 (Answers in Ch. 25 on p. 390)

• Read the Summary on 164 – 165

• Practice ACT Essay Exam #1 (I handed out Practice Exam #2, but it is not due)

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature