Writing in the Rain!

WE CAME TO CLASS IN A RAINSTORM!

In spite of the wind, rain and cold, we had a great class today. We went over the fill-in story homework, and then went straight to work on cover letters. For those of you who missed class, the basic format is below: You should write one and email it to me at efalconer@rtc.edu this week. If you have a resume, you should bring it to the next class; if not, then we will be writing your resume in class.

ALL STUDENTS:

1) check your email: I have sent you a response with an attachment. Please open the attachment and tell me what it was in class. (LILEANA and MARIA: Please send your cover letter email to me again: I did NOT receive them! Double-check the email address!)

2) Do last week's "Quia" assignment

3) Write about your blood type and if it matches your personality or not. (So far, only one student has done this.)

4) Do the next fill-in story about the ant and the grasshopper. Start to think about how this story applies to your life. (Hint: is writing a cover letter like preparing for winter?)

For students who missed class, email me a cover letter; you can view the cover letter information at the COVER LETTERS link

(under "Writing" on the right --->)

From Phlebotomy to the White House....

A class with no break! (Although we did have some great cookies in the Phlebotomy class....)



The RTC Phlebotomy class blogs is at: http://rtcphlebotomy.blogspot.com/

HOMEWORK THIS WEEK :

1. EVERYONE: Do the first "fill-in" story on the handout.

IF YOU HAVE TIME, DO ALL OR SOME OF THE FOLLOWING:

Do the next Quia grammar activities

Intermediate writers: Work on typing and spelling

Advanced writers (Martha, Sergio, Javier, Cain, Lily, Donna, Arturo): Please write more in your blogs: Do you think your blood type matches your personality?(See below) Why or why not? (Note: if you don't know your blood type, choose the one that you *think* you must be.)

Good luck.

DOES YOUR PERSONALITY MATCH YOUR BLOOD TYPE? (source: bellaonline.com)
Type O:
Type O's are outgoing, and very social. They are initiators, although they don't always finish what they start. Creative and popular, they love to be the center of attention and appear very self confident.

Type A:
While outwardly calm, they have such high standards (perfectionists) that they tend to be balls of nerves on the inside. Type A's are the most artistic of the blood groups. They can be shy, are conscientious, trustworthy, and sensitive.

Type B:
Goal oriented and strong minded, type B's will start a task and continue it until completed, and completed well. Type B's are the individualists of the blood group categories and find their own way in life.

Type AB:
Type AB's are the split personalities of the blood groups. They can be both outgoing and shy, confident and timid. While responsible, too much responsibility will cause a problem. They are trustworthy and like to help others.

Compatability by Blood Groups:
A is most compatible with A and AB

B is most compatible with B and AB

AB is most compatible with AB, B, A and O

O is most compatible with O, and AB

Later that same day:

Immigration Reform

We will follow up from our immigration discussion last week, which stemmed from Javier's essay.
Today, we will be writing letters to our leaders regarding immigation reform. You will be using sentences from the handout to create your own letter.
To listen to a radio broadcast about yesterday's protest in Seattle:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1653080/KPLU.Local.News/Immigration.Reform.Rally.Incites.Passions..Not.Arrests">


Please write to at least one person from this list:
To write President Obama:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact"
To contact Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire:
http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/"
To write Senator Patty Murray:
http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactMe"
To write Senator Maria Cantwell:
http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/"

Then, to celebrate, you can put your photo from the slideshow on your blog!
1) Click on the slideshow. 2) Find the photo you want. 3) Click "download photo" 4) Save it to the desktop.
Then, at your blog, make a new post. Click the photo icon. Click "browse" and select the photo from the desktop. Click "upload". Click "done" and publish your post.

Immigration reform, Doing WIthout, and more....

GOOD JOB TODAY. Everyone is getting more relaxed and confident in their writing. I will be making comments on your blogs this weekend for you to read and respond to during the week. If you would like to upload your photo from the above slideshow onto your own blog let me know and we can do it next week. You can see all the photos by clicking on the slideshow.


Arturo and Cain: PLEASE POST your three topics with at least 3 sentences each (our in-class activity.)
THERE IS A NEW QUIA GRAMMAR ACTIVITY. Everyone do that this week. Don't forget to do your take-home page on comparisons, and also to find an example of different types of writing in the blogs.


Email me with questions or problems. Have a great week!

Control - C, Control V....

Good class today, from Lada Gaga to a little Mexican boy in Disneyland to The Official History of Ice Cream! Keep writing, writers!
IMPORTANT SHORTCUTS FOR WRITERS!

To move text around:

1. Select the text.

2. Hold down control with left hand, click the "c" with right hand. (C is for COPY.)

3. Go to the place you want to move it to.

4. Hold down control and click "V".(V is for VIEW) Your text should magically appear!

ALSO: If you want to delete a section of writing, you select it, and do Control-X. That takes it away. Whoops! I didn't want to delete that! Then hit Control-Z to bring it back!

PRACTICE it and see how it goes.

This week, write a short essay or paragraph. I will put some new grammar exercises up on Quia for you to practice as well.

Good luck.

Week Four

Here is the first paragraph we were arranging in class:

How to Write a Paragraph

Writing a paragraph starts with introducing a topic. Your topic can be anything, but it should be personally interesting to you, yet general enough that anyone can relate to it. For example, “Why I Hate Shopping” might be better than “Shopping.” Then you need to support the paragraph with supporting sentences and examples. Make sure that your support doesn’t stray too far from the main idea, and try to think of interesting examples. (You might feel stuck at this point. But keep opening and closing drawers in your mind until you find something to say.) Finally you need to think of a conclusion. The conclusion will often restate your topic, but it can also show your topic in a new light, leaving the reader with a refreshing thought.
For you, that last sentence is really a beginning; the beginning of proofreading what you have just written.

This week's assignment:
1)Everone: Do the written grammar assignment (paper) that I gave you at the end of class, and bring it to the next class.

2) Anatoliy, Vladimir, and Helene: Do the Quia assignment and practice typing. Please write 5 sentences on your blogs about what you like to do. (For example, "I like to go to the mall with my family. I like to watch movies.") Please practice typing as much as you can.

3) Lileana, Juventino, Javier: Please read my comments on your blogs from last week and make the changes. (Go to "Edit Post" to make the changes.) Let me know if you have problems doing this. Also do the essay assignment, below.

Everyone else: Please work on writing a short essay! Write about a topic of your choice (look at our list of topics. If you want to expand on a topic you used before, that is OK) Each paragraph should have at least 3 sentences.
First paragraph: Introduction, with the topic sentence at the bottom.
Paragraphs 2, 3, and 4: Examples and supporting ideas for the topic.
Paragraph 5: The conclusion
HELPFUL HINT: Make an outline first:
Main idea:
First support/examples:
Second support/examples:
Third support/examples:
Conclusion

Remember to open and close the drawers in your mind if you get stuck. And email me if you have questions or problems.