Writing+Activites

Writing Activities

Expository: 1. Once the slaves have been freed many stayed and sharecropped. Do you think sharecropping is fair? Why or why not? 2. What is the difference between a simple, compound sentence? What makes a complex sentence? What makes up a complex-compound sentence? Do you see a pattern with the sentence types? Provide examples to support your reasoning. 3. Using your Venn Diagram Chart compare and contrast the similarities and differences of simple, compound, and complex. Then in the space provided below answer the following questions: (1.) What makes up a complex-compound sentence? (2.) Write a sentence circle the part that makes it complex and underline the part that makes it compound. (3.) Give an example of a functional fragment.

Persuasive: 1. Pretend you are a retired southern general who is denied the right to vote under new Georgia law. Write a letter to the new governor of Georgia persuading him to let you vote. Make sure to include at least one interrogative, declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentence. 2. Develop a brief conversation between a pro-slavery and an anti-slavery person. Using dialogue write a friendly yet informative argument between the two fictional, “made up,” characters. 3. Pretend you are an African American child who will attend school for the very first time. You have never been taught to read, write, solve math problems, know your history, and basic scientific information. Some people believe you should nto go to school. Write a letter conviencing them why African Americans should attend school. Make sure to answer: What do you want to learn and why? Do you think having a separate school from the “white” children will help you learn more? Do you think it is fair? Explain your answer.

Narrative: 1. You are the constitution and congress has just written 3 more amendments: 13, 14, and 15. What are these amendments? How does that change the way people live? Is this change good, bad, or both? Explain your reasoning. Make sure you include simple and a compound sentence. Underline the conjunctions in your sentences. 2. You are newly freed slaves, but you still have to abide by the black codes which were designed to “help” African Americans control their new freedoms. These codes tell you where you can and can’t go, how late you can stay out, if you are allowed to leave your job, and etc. Write an argument supporting the black codes (do you think these laws help you) or refuting these codes (do you think these laws do not help you). Make sure to underline all prepositions and prepositional phrases. 3. Pretend you are a southern that had to stay home to tend the farm, feed your family, and make war supplies for the soldiers at war. Once the war was over Sherman’s army burned your farm down, stole all your food and resources, and you haven’t heard from your loved ones who went to war. Write a letter to a friend answering the following questions: What is life like me after the war? Is there an organization created after the war to help refugees, like you, to get back to daily normal life? What would they do to help? Every time you use a coma circle it.