Writing Solo #2

Get out the Everyday Writer and the handout about Subordination and Coordination.

Put the normal heading on a paper, and write up a summary/ response essay about the article you read.

Key Elements from the tan sheet:

1. Make up your own title.
2. Have a hook.
3. Later in your introduction, mention the title AND author of the article.
4. At the end of your intro, state your own point about the reading. (Thesis statement.)
5. Spend one paragraph summarizing the article objectively. Use author tags. (According to Staples...)
6. Spend a couple paragraphs explaining your opinion or reaction to the article. Use short quotes to support your reaction.
7. Finish your essay with a concluding paragraph. Revisit your hook? Point us in a new direction?

At the end of class, you will submit what you have written into a forum.

Homework:

1. Polish and or rewrite Solo #2. The hard copy with rubric is due on Monday.

2. TWFTD: your choice from Staples' article, using the OED.

What's Your Point?

What's a thesis statement? What was yours for Solo #1? Copy into your daybook.

Thesis Statements and Summary/ Response

Now, read and take notes (objective/subjective)  over the Staples article. During class on Thursday you will type or Solo #2, a summary/response essay about Staples' article. (Bring earbuds, if you wish.)

Homework:

1. Look at the assignment sheet to help you know how to write this essay. Decide on a point you wish to make about the article.

2. TWFTD: your choice from "Black Men," using the OED. Find the definition that matches how the word is used in your article.

Kickstarter Due, New Genre

New genre -- summary/response. Pat Bourne questions? You do some writing....

Subjective vs. objective?

Now you read an example essay that is doing summary/ response (download from Moodle, do "Save As"  and add YOUR LAST NAME to the file name).

Then colorize YOUR copy of the essay, using these directions:

1. Make the first and last sentences in the paper red. The first should be a hook. The last is a “clincher.”

2. Italicize the title and author of the article I'm writing about.

3. Make the thesis orange.

4. Make the summary yellow.   

5. Make any response to the content of the article pale blue. 

6. Underline any quotes. These are places that used the exact words of the article.

7. Make BOLD any time I used “the writer”  or "the author" or "the article"– these are called author tags (and would have used a name if there was one on this article).

When you are done, go to Moodle to upload your colorized version in the forum there. Be sure to follow the instructions so that you answer the required questions as you post.

See handout. There will be time tomorrow during class to take notes over the article.

Homework:

1. Read the assignment sheet carefully for Solo #2.

2. Read "Black Men and Public Space" once before class tomorrow.

Language Use in Kickstarter Due

Citing pictures in YOUR Kickstarter? Use EasyBib...If there is NO citation, we assume you created the picture yourself. I demonstrate -- you have one more day to do this correctly, turn the paper in tomorrow.

Hand in the Language Use in Kickstarter worksheet.  Citation and analogies:
 Why English Teachers Die Young. Note that snopes.com is one place to find out the truth of some internet oddities.

Take the handout and copy down your two favorite "lame analogies" in your daybook. BE SURE TO CREDIT THE SOURCE --THE PERSON WHO MADE IT UP.

We cite the source because of this: Joe was frustrated, like a man who thought his claim to fame was occasional appearances in a weekly humor contest, but in fact is known to millions as a stupid high school student who writes unintentionally humorous bad analogies. (Joseph Romm, Washington)

I return your essays, Solo #1.

Record number of errors: cs   ro    frag    sp     coord       sub   

I'm going to focus on these errors through the quarter.  We'll start here:  Coord/ Sub. Prezi .

Handout illustrates the comma rules connected with using these conjunctions.

Open The Everyday Writer to page 400.

Ex. 39.1 and Ex. 39.2.

 Last 10 minutes -- one more handout. Read and answer the questions at the end in your daybook.

Homework:

1. Finish reading and answering the questions about Pat Bourne in your daybook for tomorrow.

2. Final Version Kickstarter on Paper is due tomorrow. Bring ALL drafts and comment sheets (purple) to hand in with your final printed copy.

3. Daybook Check #2 tomorrow. Have it ready to hand in at the end of class.

4. TWFTD: mastectomy

The OED and Draft #2

A. Crowd sourcing examples? mPING, from Scientific American.  We watch this video....then look at the OED. Punk, anyone?

From now on, I may tell you that your TWFTD info must come from the OED. When I do that, you first choose ONE of the quotes, copy it down, give its year, and then the definition that matches that quote. Please do look over ALL the definitions when I send you to the OED. ( If you pick the first definition, it will be the oldest, and possibly very different from any way you would use the word NOW).See the link on the left side of this post for the OED. If you are at home, the password info is there as well.

B. You read drafts and give feedback.

C. Language Use in Kickstarter worksheet. Get the worksheet in Moodle; fill it out on paper OR as an efile, using copy/paste and hyperlinks. It is also due Monday.

Homework:

1. Do the final polish on your Kickstarter on Paper. The printed copy is due Monday, 4/25.

2. Complete the Language Use in Kickstarter worksheet, using Kickstarter and your notes over Sec. 23a-d.

3. TWFTD: punk from the OED.

Why Is English So Hard To Spell?

Correct the homework.

Why is English so hard to spell?

I hand out a sheet. Read it over and complete anything on it you can.

Here is the link to today's lecture on "Why Is English So Hard to Spell?

Fill your handout in as we go.

Tuck the handout in your daybook for the daybook check (Monday).


Homework:

1. Draft #2 Kickstarter on Paper is due tomorrow, Thursday. Have one hard copy and the Writer's Page from Tuesday.

2. TWFTD: punk

3. If the history of English interests you, watch this video, a "lighthearted" history of English in 10 minutes.  Of course, this is a topic that could provide a lifetime of study....

Draft #1 Kickstarter on Paper Due

Thinkwrite: This draft is for a special kind of sales pitch. Please think about what works to persuade you to part with your money. What turns you off? Discuss what makes an effective sales pitch for you.

Today is about giving feedback. YOU are the audience, so you need to communicate to each other what YOU find effective. Politely. Also, remember to focus on the CAMPAIGN, not the idea. How can the presentation be more persuasive?

Note: the blue comment sheets earn YOU points. Be detailed and thoughtful.

ALSO, you may write ON the draft you read with your reactions. This is a rough draft, so DO NOT PROOFREAD or edit -- just provide reactions/ input/ ideas.

Useful comments on a draft:    

What colors? How much? When will I get it? Why...? What does x mean? More info needed here...How does x work? I want THIS reward! Don't you need money for x?

As  you wait for a draft, or when you finish commenting on TWO drafts, (or if you did not bring a draft), please do Ex. 23.9 on page 272 in The Everyday Writer. Put a number in each blank, and write the correct word next to that number IN YOUR DAYBOOK. (There are 13 blanks.) Use the "Glossary of Usage" starting on page 274 if you need help on the tough ones.
 

Homework:

1. Use today's feedback and get your paper ready for Thursday, when DRAFT 2 is due. Have Draft 2 be as close to perfect as possible, so people can help with editing and proofreading, as well as organization.

2. Finish Ex. 23.9 on page 272 of The Everyday Writer.

3. If you want MY feedback, send me an email (kloden@southeast.edu) with your draft attached.

4. TWFTD: novice

Solo #1 Due

Return of Lego paper. Keep the final version which is stapled to the grading rubric (on the top of your stack). The final version with grading rubric must be saved for your portfolio and the final page count.

We make a Works Cited page for Solo #1.

You need one copy of your Solo Paper #1 AND the grading rubric/ assignment sheet to hand in.

THINKWRITE: Please look back at the graphic on page 9 of Bedford. Think about the process you went through to write Solo #1. Describe the process you went through. What was helpful, and what you would like to do differently for the next assignment?

We shift gears to the Kickstarter on Paper.  I hand out a blue assignment sheet.

You get into groups and come up with a list of the Key Elements or sections that you think the Kickstarters On Paper should have. Note these down in your daybook.

We combine your input into a CLASS LIST OF KEY ELEMENTS/SECTIONS. Everyone will copy this onto their blue sheet.

Time to brainstorm.  Doodle over a page in your daybook.

[Next daybook check is April 25.]

Homework:

1. Write up a rough draft of a Kickstarter on paper. You may format it however you like. This is NOT an essay. You're trying to make a persuasive "pitch" for the idea, using the Kickstarter genre. Be creative! Have a hard copy of Draft #1 for tomorrow.


2. TWFTD: analogy

Drafting Solo #1

1. We correct Ex. 45.1.

2. Do Ex. 45.2 -- written in your daybook.

3. We discuss Solo #1. Write.

4. At the end of 45 minutes, post what you have written to the forum in our class in Moodle.

Homework:

1. Complete, revise, and polish the paper to hand in on Monday. One copy, printed, at the beginning of class.

2. TWFTD: fluctuate

Thinking About Kickstarter Campaigns

1. Review: What are the key elements of an essay? get out the assignment sheet...

Thinkwrite:    Two columns...

2. http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/12/05/tip-of-the-iceberg-how-the-illusion-of-products-can-mislead-customers-about-the-realities-of-business/

This caused me to follow the link about the T-shirt. Which brought me back to Kickstarter.

Thinkwrite: What can we look for in a Kickstarter's campaign to help decide whether a Kickstarter project has the ability to actually produce its product?

Now on to the topic of writing/ language use.

3. Open The Everyday Writer to Section 23a-d. This section is FULL of nomenclature relating to writing. Take notes in your daybook over these sections. Write down each green heading and then explain it in your own words. Tomorrow there will be an assignment using this information.


Homework:

1. Complete taking notes on Section 23a-d in Everyday Writer.

2. TWFTD: your choice from Section 23 in Everyday Writer.

3. Tomorrow you will have 45 minutes during class to type up Solo paper #1. You will turn in that effort using a moodle forum; then you have the weekend to revise and finish it to turn in a hard copy on Monday.

Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse   

An Example Essay for Solo #1

Let's look at the assignment sheet for Solo #1 -- your first essay.

We go to Moodle to download the Example Analysis paper there.

Then open the forum in the same Moodle section, and follow the directions there.

When you finish, upload the colorized document into the forum in Moodle.

If you finish before the others, use the time to be working on your notes for your Solo #1 paper.

Remember Kickstarter vs. kickstarters.  Read Sec. 45 in Everyday Writer.   Do Ex. 45.1 page 441 by writing down ONLY the capitalized words in each sentence.

Also at the end of class, you will turn in your daybook. Make sure your name is visible on it.

Homework:

1. Begin prewriting for Solo #1. Make lists or outline or freewrite about what makes an effective Kickstarter campaign, and how your examples demonstrate this.

Kickstarter Rhetorical Analysis

What are we doing with Kickstarter?

I hand out the assignment sheets.

Narrowing your focus: find two kickstarters that are useful examples for explaining Kickstarter.

Audience/ Purpose/ Genre/ Style / Content for two kickstarters....

Homework:

1. Fill at least two pages of your daybook with notes about the two kickstarters you have chosen for Solo #1.

2. Be ready to hand in your daybooks tomorrow.

3. TWFTD:  your choice from a Kickstarter.

Lego Project Due/ New Genre

Organize your Legos to be ready to hand in. (See white board.)

Nomenclature: context is key to communication. What does that mean?

How about assumptions? We watch Derek Sievers on assumptions.

Thinkwrite I: How did the Lego project go for you? Did you make any assumptions you were not aware of? How did you handle the nomenclature problem? Was it hard to give feedback AS you were building?

I show you the set of directions that taught me the key elements in this genre of writing (assembly directions with no pictures). I did not instruct you to do these; I was hoping you would discover them by trial and error. Key elements: ______.

Thinkwrite II: Assess the directions you created. Which of the key elements did you come up with on your own? Explain.

When you are done, please hand in your Lego Project. Only leave the parts in the bag if you think I might need to build it.

To keep you thinking about the relationship between the key elements of a genre and effective writing (rhetoric in action), our next two writing projects involve another genre that none of us has written before.

Look at Kickstarter.com.

Some projects I've found....#1 and #2 and #3 and #4.

Homework:

1. Go to Kickstarter.com . Look around and find the answers to the following questions (write the answers in your daybook):

1. What kinds of projects can be put up on Kickstarter?

2. Who sets the money goal and deadline?

3. What happens if the money goal is NOT pledged before the deadline?

4. What’s the MOST a project has ever been pledged?

5. How many total projects have been funded at Kickstarter?

6. How do you see projects that have expired/failed (this may take clicking around)?

 Figure out how to use the search tool. You can put in a term that interests you and see what happens (“tractor,” “hockey,” “tool”).

7. Find 5 projects that interest you. List their A) title, B) the money goal, C) closing date, and D) the pledge amount and reward that you would choose.

2. TWFTD: crowdsourcing

Lego Build #2

Open up The Bedford Guide to page 26. Look at the graphic at the bottom of the page, which is one version of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Thinkwrite :

Bloom's Taxonomy is a way of classifying or naming the ways we think. Copy these down in your daybook:

Reading the directions-
Assembling the parts-
Writing/reacting on the directions-
Filling out the feedback green sheet-

How many ways can you think at once? Next to each activity you copied down, describe HOW you think as you do it, using the terms listed in Bloom's Taxonomy.

Again, I pass out a green scoring sheet, and you build, give feedback, and score/comment.

After you have built two, your project and all papers should come back to you.
   
Homework:

1. Read the input from your builders. If there were still problems, make further revisions, and discuss further revisions on the green "Revision Brainstorming" sheet given out yesterday.

2. Print out a single FINAL version of your directions to hand in tomorrow. 

3. Bring ALL former versions to hand in, with ALL green score sheets, and the legos.

4. Be ready to discuss the Lego Nomenclature reading tomorrow. The questions at the end of the reading were answered in your daybook.

6. TWFTD: taxonomy

Lego Build #1

"Time given to thought is the greatest time saver of all." -

Norman Cousins

I give you a green comment sheet. You put your parts (taken apart) and the answer picture (well-folded) in your bag, to pass around with the directions (both copies) and green comment sheet.

1. As a builder, you put your name on the green comment sheet AND one set of directions. Have a pencil in your hand. You SHOULD write on the directions with comments and questions that you have as you are building. Be specific about what confuses you; watch for inconsistent orientations or unclear spatial directions. Make positive comments when it is going well.

2. Then when the build is complete, you must score it and write about it on the green scoring sheet. Remember, thorough comments earn you points.

3. Everyone builds two.

When all are done, your parts with comment sheets come back to you. You can see how others did with your directions. You will have some ideas for ways to improve your own.

I will pass out a green Revision sheet at the end. Even if people easily built your directions, I want you to look for ways to improve what you have; write ideas down on the green sheet, and make actual changes to your directions.

Note: Everyone MUST now include a "General Description" at the beginning.

Homework:

1. Brainstorm ideas for changes to your directions on the green brainstorming sheet. Come up with as many ideas for change -- even "silly" ones -- as possible.

2. Make typed changes to your directions and print the new version before class tomorrow (2 copies). You do NOT have to make all the changes that you brainstormed, but you MUST now have a "general description" at the beginning.  Show that you are thinking. Have 2 copies of the revised directions tomorrow.

3. Be sure to read and answer the questions on the Lego Nomenclature reading in our Moodle class.

4. TWFTD: superfluous

Rhetoric and Legos

I.  Today we start with a video.

Audience + Purpose + Genre = Style (how it looks) and Content (what it says)

Apply this to p. 14 Bedford?


II. Now we look at your examples.

In your daybook, create a chart for each of the terms in the "equation" and your direction examples that you brought to class, like this:

MP3 Player:
Audience-
Purpose-
Genre-
Style-
Content-
Effectiveness:

After filling in your chart, think about the effectiveness of each of your examples. What specific choices in style and content work or do not work?


III. Get out the green sheets you were to have read for homework. Compare the front and back of the page with the builder pictured on it. The information content is very similar between the two.

Thinkwrite: 1. What differences in style and content between the two sides do you see? 2. Which is more effective?

Audience, purpose, genre, content and style for the Lego project?

We look at MLA style page layout: pages A-2 and A-3 in Bedford.

You make the heading, insert page number top right with your last name, and the rest is up to you.


To get in the mood:
  Legos  we   love .  Indeed. And professional builder #1. Professional builder #2. Lego artist #3.

Homework:

1. Tomorrow bring:

• A. TWO copies of your directions printed
• B. An answer key picture (either drawing or photo)
• C. Your legos.

2. Go to our class in Moodle. In the light blue highlighted section, click on the Lego nomenclature reading. Read it. There are questions at the end that should be answered in your daybook.

3. TWFTD: nomenclature. Use the reading in Moodle for your quote, please.

4. No typo that I know of.