I have no problem with accepting assignment late, so you still have time to complete any you have missed. All the assignments for class can be found on this blog. I don't care when you learn the lessons of the class, that is, as long as you do.
Having said the above, be aware: the end of the semester is quickly approaching, and you should schedule the time necessary to get caught up on all your assignments, so you earn the high grade I want to be able to give each of you.
Steve
Monday, March 31, 2008
Re: Portfolio: Don't Panic...AAlso, assignment...
A couple of folks have written in response to my recent posts on the blog concerning the Portfolio. Let me make clear, the portfolio isn't due this week. It will be due the final day of class of this semester. I posted the overview of the assignment, because: 1) it does make up so much of your grade (60%); and, 2) I wanted you to begin thinking about and working on it now rather than later. Remember, your portfolio is a collection of work which creates the basis of an argument for your final grade.
What is due this week: a draft cover letter in which you evaluate your performance in this class to date, the major lessons you have learned, and make a provisional argument for your grade. This cover letter will be a tentative draft of the one you will write at the end of the semester for your portfolio. Make it no shorter than four pages, double spaced, one inch margins, twelve point type. Address the cover letter to me, as in "Dear Steve." Keep your tone informal, and use the opportunity to explain what you've learned, what you still have to do for the class, and what grade you're working toward and expect to receive.
In this letter, make sure to backup each claim you make with evidence from the work you've done in class or writing/communication from daily life.
One last piece of advice, namely, research how cover letters are normally written for job interviews. The letter you will write for this class is longer than the typical cover letter, but it shares much in common in terms of tone and the kinds of arguments you can use.
What is due this week: a draft cover letter in which you evaluate your performance in this class to date, the major lessons you have learned, and make a provisional argument for your grade. This cover letter will be a tentative draft of the one you will write at the end of the semester for your portfolio. Make it no shorter than four pages, double spaced, one inch margins, twelve point type. Address the cover letter to me, as in "Dear Steve." Keep your tone informal, and use the opportunity to explain what you've learned, what you still have to do for the class, and what grade you're working toward and expect to receive.
In this letter, make sure to backup each claim you make with evidence from the work you've done in class or writing/communication from daily life.
One last piece of advice, namely, research how cover letters are normally written for job interviews. The letter you will write for this class is longer than the typical cover letter, but it shares much in common in terms of tone and the kinds of arguments you can use.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
How it really happened...
I thought you might find this amusing. Warning: it's a video file, so if you're not on broadband, you might want to skip it.
The Portfolio...
Below, you'll find a lot of advice about your portfolio. Read it. Your portfolio will count 60% of your final grade, with the other 40% being determined by different factors of your class participation, that is, if you've turned work in one time, how engaged you've been with the process of learning, what you've done to add to the class discussion (both online and in class), if you come to class on time or come to class at all. All these factors add up to a measure of your ethos as a student, and what it boils down to is the evidence you've given me that you've been an engaged, active, caring student.
Your portfolio, on the other hand, is a collection of three elements: 1) a long evidence section which contains the evidence you'll use to support the claims you'll make in the other two sections; 2) your writing inventory, where you'll demonstrate, using examples from your evidence section and your other communication, that you understand the learning outcomes of the course; 3) a cover letter where you will argue for your grade and discuss the most important elements of what you've learned this semester. In many respects, the cover letter and writing inventory function as a job application cover letter and resume; so, you might want to research the genre of the job cover letter and what a resume does for their reader.
Your portfolio will be due the day you would normally take your exam for this class. Your portfolio will function as that final exam. You will turn your portfolio into me at my office, and--at the same time--you'll fill out a class evaluation.
In between now and then, we'll be doing several workshops to prepare you to be able to put your best face forward in your portfolio. As the due date approaches, there will be drafts do, and you'll get reminded repeatedly about the time and place to turn in the portfolio. For right now, read the various posts on the portfolio, and begin thinking about the argument you'll construct with your portfolio.
Your portfolio, on the other hand, is a collection of three elements: 1) a long evidence section which contains the evidence you'll use to support the claims you'll make in the other two sections; 2) your writing inventory, where you'll demonstrate, using examples from your evidence section and your other communication, that you understand the learning outcomes of the course; 3) a cover letter where you will argue for your grade and discuss the most important elements of what you've learned this semester. In many respects, the cover letter and writing inventory function as a job application cover letter and resume; so, you might want to research the genre of the job cover letter and what a resume does for their reader.
Your portfolio will be due the day you would normally take your exam for this class. Your portfolio will function as that final exam. You will turn your portfolio into me at my office, and--at the same time--you'll fill out a class evaluation.
In between now and then, we'll be doing several workshops to prepare you to be able to put your best face forward in your portfolio. As the due date approaches, there will be drafts do, and you'll get reminded repeatedly about the time and place to turn in the portfolio. For right now, read the various posts on the portfolio, and begin thinking about the argument you'll construct with your portfolio.
My expectations of you at this point in your writing career.
I wanted to pull the last point I made in the "Portfolio, FAQ" post out and develop it more. I also wanted you to take special notice of what I say here. It has to do with my expectations of you as a writer at this point in your life as a writer. Here's a more developed statement, and I hope it eases some of your worry about what I expect of you and, more importantly, what you should expect of yourselves:
"You need to remember: you are at the end of your freshman level writing classes. I don't expect you to do everything perfectly or be able to produce fluent, fully effective prose with ease. If you could produce such with ease, you wouldn't need the remainder of what you will learn about writing in other classes."
At this point in your development as a writer, I don't expect you to fully understand or to be able to implement and use every outcome or to write stunning prose. You should still be struggling, pushing your personal envelop, experimenting, and working on writing good, solid sentences and paragraphs. You should be experimenting with learning how to research and write different kinds of documents and figuring out a repertoire of moves which will serve you well in later writing. One of the joys of early learning is the freedom you have to experiment, screw up, and learn from experimentation, all with less costly consequence than the same mistake will have in later life.
Few people do well the first time they try something, and most are struggling the twentieth. They should be. Few things which are worthwhile can be conquered in a semester or a year. You know I believe in a crafts' approach to writing, one where you are always in the process of acquiring new skills as your needs and desires change and mature. I'm still working on writing better sentences, paragraphs, and documents. This continued struggle is part of the fun of being a writer.
I do expect evidence of:
1) substantial work toward producing better, more successful writing,
2) that you've learned the basic linkage between opinion and support,
3) that you understand and have begun to use process writing, and,
4) that you have a budding knowledge of rhetoric.
Most importantly, I expect you to have learned some useful techniques and a process through which you can make yourself a better writer."
"You need to remember: you are at the end of your freshman level writing classes. I don't expect you to do everything perfectly or be able to produce fluent, fully effective prose with ease. If you could produce such with ease, you wouldn't need the remainder of what you will learn about writing in other classes."
At this point in your development as a writer, I don't expect you to fully understand or to be able to implement and use every outcome or to write stunning prose. You should still be struggling, pushing your personal envelop, experimenting, and working on writing good, solid sentences and paragraphs. You should be experimenting with learning how to research and write different kinds of documents and figuring out a repertoire of moves which will serve you well in later writing. One of the joys of early learning is the freedom you have to experiment, screw up, and learn from experimentation, all with less costly consequence than the same mistake will have in later life.
Few people do well the first time they try something, and most are struggling the twentieth. They should be. Few things which are worthwhile can be conquered in a semester or a year. You know I believe in a crafts' approach to writing, one where you are always in the process of acquiring new skills as your needs and desires change and mature. I'm still working on writing better sentences, paragraphs, and documents. This continued struggle is part of the fun of being a writer.
I do expect evidence of:
1) substantial work toward producing better, more successful writing,
2) that you've learned the basic linkage between opinion and support,
3) that you understand and have begun to use process writing, and,
4) that you have a budding knowledge of rhetoric.
Most importantly, I expect you to have learned some useful techniques and a process through which you can make yourself a better writer."
Researching a Genre: The Portfolio
Anytime you encounter a genre new to you, like the portfolio, research it online. There are numerous sites which deal with the Freshman English portfolio, and a few minutes spent doing some research on these sites can provide some valuable ideas for your own. You'll also be learning to research genres, not an inconsiderable skill. You also might want to look at the "reflective cover letter" or "reflective learning."
It's funny how many folks will research the right stereo or computer to buy, but it never occurs to them that they can research how to write better and things like genre or how to conquer sentence fragments.
Write with questions.
Steve
It's funny how many folks will research the right stereo or computer to buy, but it never occurs to them that they can research how to write better and things like genre or how to conquer sentence fragments.
Write with questions.
Steve
Portfolio, FAQ
1. How do you want me to submit the portfolio?
Create one long document in which the major sections are separated by page breaks, and then add me as a collaborator to it. Since everyone now knows how to use Google Docs, use this program. As always, feel free to get collaborative help on the document. One of the things you're learning is to use others in your writing process.
Following this plan, you'll get to see your grade earlier, as I can leave it in the comments. Make sure you *want* everyone on your viewer/collaborative list to see your grade; so, edit your share list accordingly. If it's all right to leave your grade at the beginning of the document, leave me a note at the beginning of the document telling me it's all right to post your grade in the document. At the least, having one long document separated by page breaks will allow me to have every thing you want to say and use in one place, and I can search the document with some ease. This shared format meets the rule of making things as easy as possible for both reader and author to fulfill their goals/needs. Within the portfolio feel free to connect via links to other documents or work you want me to see and think about.
If this format doesn't work for you, we can negotiate other options; so, feel free to ask. I can think of web pages which would work here.
2. What's the overall format for the documents I include?
a. Cover Letter
b. Inventory
c. Evidence supporting the claims made in the cover letter and inventory
3. What should I put in the cover letter?
Your cover letter is the place where you make a claim as to the grade you have earned and convince me to believe your claim. You can use this space to address what you anticipate to be my concerns about your performance, tell me the lessons you've found most valuable from the class, make claims about the effort you've put into the class, show me in action what you have learned, explain why you didn't do an assignment or turned it in late, etc. In specific, I will be looking to see if you've picked up what the major lessons of the class are and if you're: 1) able to speak about them in the context of your learning; and, 2) if you put these lessons into practice in your letter. Frankly, I'm also hoping to learn how to make the class more effective for students like you in the future.
4. How will you grade the cover letter?
I will be looking at the quality of your claims and the quality of the support you put together to help me believe your various claims. In terms of claims, I will judge them by how they are made and on their plausibility. In terms of support, I will look for sufficient support and a good deal of evidence, epically examples and clarification. The evidence should be plausible, detailed and--in most cases--specific. I will look at your ability to speak knowledgeably about the work you include in the evidence section and about your own writing. I will look at your tone, voice, and style and judge its appropriateness to the writing situation. Since this is a letter written to an English professor about your learning in his class, I will look at issues of usage and grammar. Finally, I will look for evidence that you've used process writing to construct the document.
5. How will you grade the inventory?
Again, I will look for specific claims about what you know/learned about the outcomes and how you use the skills and knowledge they describe in your writing and/or other aspects of your communication. I'm looking to see if you've come to be able to speak knowledgeably about yourself as a writer and speaker. If you remember my post about metadiscourse, I'm looking for evidence to see if you've gained and/or started a useful metadiscourse about your writing and yourself as a writer. I'll look at how you use examples from the evidence section to support your claims.
6. What can I include in the evidence section?
Any writing or other work you've done as a communicator.
7. What should I include in the evidence section?
Since we both share the work you've done as an author in this class, this work should become the basis of your portfolio. You shouldn't try to include it all. When I say work, I mean pre-writing, notes, emails, comments on papers on which you've helped, proofreading exercises, posts, etc. All this is fair game.
You may also include or point to work you've done else where, in your daily life, for a job, or in school. This includes creative writing, games, photos, etc.
You can also include excerpts from longer pieces or let a single piece of evidence do multiple duty.
If you haven't done all the work for the class, support the arguments you make in the cover letter and the inventory with work from outside the class, and address the fact you didn't do all the work in the cover letter, explaining why. Since I'm training you to make a good argument and to use rhetoric, here's a high stakes place to implement your skills. I'm looking for evidence you've learned, not that you've toed the line; and, I don't really care when you learn, that is, as long as you do and can use the knowledge.
8. What should I not do in the evidence section?
Don't just do a core dump. Pick and choose your evidence. Part of what I'm looking at is your ability to pick evidence which supports your arguments well. Portfolios are meant to showcase your work in such a way that they support the purpose for which you put them together. In this case, you're trying to get a handle on your self as a writer, your work in this course, and what you've learned in the course. (Oh, and I assume you hope to garner a high grade for the course.) I'm trying to do the same and to use the material to make a fair judgment of the grade your work in the course had earned.
Don't hand me the kitchen sink. Think of your audience here. Just like students, professors are *very* busy folks at the end of term. We've got lots of reading and thinking about students and their work to do. We're meeting and working with worried students, and we're taking care of the business of the university knowing that folks will not be very available over the holidays to help. The upshot is we appreciate students who help us do the best job we can.
Don't make the mistake of not having some sort of organization for your evidence section. Don't go overboard here, but I need to be able to find the work you speak about in your cover letter and in your inventory. Assume your reader is tired, has been reading and grading for a day, has had too much caffeine, and needs to take a break. Imagine how pleased this reader is when he is able to find the information he needs to make an informed, fair decision with relative ease.
9. What are your expectations as an audience concerning the work I've done?
You need to remember: you are at the end of your freshman level writing classes. I don't expect you to do everything perfectly or be able to produce fluent, fully effective prose with ease. If you could produce such with ease, you wouldn't need the remainder of what you will learn about writing in other classes. I don't expect you to fully understand or to be able to implement and use every outcome. Heck, you know I believe in a crafts' approach to writing, one where you are always in the process of acquiring new skills as your needs and desires change. I do expect evidence of substantial work, that you've learned the basic linkage between opinion and support, that you know and have begun to use process writing, and that you have a budding knowledge of rhetoric. Most importantly, I expect you to have learned some useful techniques and a process through which you can make yourself a better writer.
Create one long document in which the major sections are separated by page breaks, and then add me as a collaborator to it. Since everyone now knows how to use Google Docs, use this program. As always, feel free to get collaborative help on the document. One of the things you're learning is to use others in your writing process.
Following this plan, you'll get to see your grade earlier, as I can leave it in the comments. Make sure you *want* everyone on your viewer/collaborative list to see your grade; so, edit your share list accordingly. If it's all right to leave your grade at the beginning of the document, leave me a note at the beginning of the document telling me it's all right to post your grade in the document. At the least, having one long document separated by page breaks will allow me to have every thing you want to say and use in one place, and I can search the document with some ease. This shared format meets the rule of making things as easy as possible for both reader and author to fulfill their goals/needs. Within the portfolio feel free to connect via links to other documents or work you want me to see and think about.
If this format doesn't work for you, we can negotiate other options; so, feel free to ask. I can think of web pages which would work here.
2. What's the overall format for the documents I include?
a. Cover Letter
b. Inventory
c. Evidence supporting the claims made in the cover letter and inventory
3. What should I put in the cover letter?
Your cover letter is the place where you make a claim as to the grade you have earned and convince me to believe your claim. You can use this space to address what you anticipate to be my concerns about your performance, tell me the lessons you've found most valuable from the class, make claims about the effort you've put into the class, show me in action what you have learned, explain why you didn't do an assignment or turned it in late, etc. In specific, I will be looking to see if you've picked up what the major lessons of the class are and if you're: 1) able to speak about them in the context of your learning; and, 2) if you put these lessons into practice in your letter. Frankly, I'm also hoping to learn how to make the class more effective for students like you in the future.
4. How will you grade the cover letter?
I will be looking at the quality of your claims and the quality of the support you put together to help me believe your various claims. In terms of claims, I will judge them by how they are made and on their plausibility. In terms of support, I will look for sufficient support and a good deal of evidence, epically examples and clarification. The evidence should be plausible, detailed and--in most cases--specific. I will look at your ability to speak knowledgeably about the work you include in the evidence section and about your own writing. I will look at your tone, voice, and style and judge its appropriateness to the writing situation. Since this is a letter written to an English professor about your learning in his class, I will look at issues of usage and grammar. Finally, I will look for evidence that you've used process writing to construct the document.
5. How will you grade the inventory?
Again, I will look for specific claims about what you know/learned about the outcomes and how you use the skills and knowledge they describe in your writing and/or other aspects of your communication. I'm looking to see if you've come to be able to speak knowledgeably about yourself as a writer and speaker. If you remember my post about metadiscourse, I'm looking for evidence to see if you've gained and/or started a useful metadiscourse about your writing and yourself as a writer. I'll look at how you use examples from the evidence section to support your claims.
6. What can I include in the evidence section?
Any writing or other work you've done as a communicator.
7. What should I include in the evidence section?
Since we both share the work you've done as an author in this class, this work should become the basis of your portfolio. You shouldn't try to include it all. When I say work, I mean pre-writing, notes, emails, comments on papers on which you've helped, proofreading exercises, posts, etc. All this is fair game.
You may also include or point to work you've done else where, in your daily life, for a job, or in school. This includes creative writing, games, photos, etc.
You can also include excerpts from longer pieces or let a single piece of evidence do multiple duty.
If you haven't done all the work for the class, support the arguments you make in the cover letter and the inventory with work from outside the class, and address the fact you didn't do all the work in the cover letter, explaining why. Since I'm training you to make a good argument and to use rhetoric, here's a high stakes place to implement your skills. I'm looking for evidence you've learned, not that you've toed the line; and, I don't really care when you learn, that is, as long as you do and can use the knowledge.
8. What should I not do in the evidence section?
Don't just do a core dump. Pick and choose your evidence. Part of what I'm looking at is your ability to pick evidence which supports your arguments well. Portfolios are meant to showcase your work in such a way that they support the purpose for which you put them together. In this case, you're trying to get a handle on your self as a writer, your work in this course, and what you've learned in the course. (Oh, and I assume you hope to garner a high grade for the course.) I'm trying to do the same and to use the material to make a fair judgment of the grade your work in the course had earned.
Don't hand me the kitchen sink. Think of your audience here. Just like students, professors are *very* busy folks at the end of term. We've got lots of reading and thinking about students and their work to do. We're meeting and working with worried students, and we're taking care of the business of the university knowing that folks will not be very available over the holidays to help. The upshot is we appreciate students who help us do the best job we can.
Don't make the mistake of not having some sort of organization for your evidence section. Don't go overboard here, but I need to be able to find the work you speak about in your cover letter and in your inventory. Assume your reader is tired, has been reading and grading for a day, has had too much caffeine, and needs to take a break. Imagine how pleased this reader is when he is able to find the information he needs to make an informed, fair decision with relative ease.
9. What are your expectations as an audience concerning the work I've done?
You need to remember: you are at the end of your freshman level writing classes. I don't expect you to do everything perfectly or be able to produce fluent, fully effective prose with ease. If you could produce such with ease, you wouldn't need the remainder of what you will learn about writing in other classes. I don't expect you to fully understand or to be able to implement and use every outcome. Heck, you know I believe in a crafts' approach to writing, one where you are always in the process of acquiring new skills as your needs and desires change. I do expect evidence of substantial work, that you've learned the basic linkage between opinion and support, that you know and have begun to use process writing, and that you have a budding knowledge of rhetoric. Most importantly, I expect you to have learned some useful techniques and a process through which you can make yourself a better writer.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
History of the tea ritual and etiquette
Here's some information on the afternoon tea as a ritual in English and American culture. There is also information here on tea etiquette
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HighTeaHistory.htm
http://www.panix.com/~kendra/tea/afternoon_tea.html
Here's a time line which describes the history of tea:
http://www.2basnob.com/tea-history-timeline.html
Here's a link to directions for the Chinese Tea ritual (and, for Robbie, a link to the Imperial Tea Court. One of the best tea sources in America.):
http://www.imperialtea.com/classroom/GongfuPrep.asp
Here's a site which discusses chado--the Japanese Way of Tea, or as it is called in the west, the Japanese Tea Ceremony:
http://www.kato3.org/chanoyu/frame.html
What I hope you are seeing is that even something as simple as drinking tea has a rhetoric, different discourses, different discourse communities, and different ways to build ethos and use the act to create meaning.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HighTeaHistory.htm
http://www.panix.com/~kendra/tea/afternoon_tea.html
Here's a time line which describes the history of tea:
http://www.2basnob.com/tea-history-timeline.html
Here's a link to directions for the Chinese Tea ritual (and, for Robbie, a link to the Imperial Tea Court. One of the best tea sources in America.):
http://www.imperialtea.com/classroom/GongfuPrep.asp
Here's a site which discusses chado--the Japanese Way of Tea, or as it is called in the west, the Japanese Tea Ceremony:
http://www.kato3.org/chanoyu/frame.html
What I hope you are seeing is that even something as simple as drinking tea has a rhetoric, different discourses, different discourse communities, and different ways to build ethos and use the act to create meaning.
Directions to Museum of the Confederacy
For those who are driving the the Museum of the Confederacy, here are the directions from off their web site. Make sure you arrive at the museum no later than 8:45, Friday, 28 March. The program there will start at 9:00, so plan to arrive early. Remember, if you drive yourself, you can leave from the museum after the program, but you'll have to find parking downtown; so, plan accordingly.
For all others, we will be leaving the Parham Road campus at 8:25. Plan to meet up at 8:00 AM in front of Jena's and my office, that's 322 Georgiadis. We will them move to the parking lot below the bookstore to load the van.
Finally, remember you will be doing assignments based on the field trip; so, be there if at all possible. If you haven't signed and returned your waver, you need to do so before boarding the van or participating in the program.
For all others, we will be leaving the Parham Road campus at 8:25. Plan to meet up at 8:00 AM in front of Jena's and my office, that's 322 Georgiadis. We will them move to the parking lot below the bookstore to load the van.
Finally, remember you will be doing assignments based on the field trip; so, be there if at all possible. If you haven't signed and returned your waver, you need to do so before boarding the van or participating in the program.
Thank you for your interest in visiting the Museum of the Confederacy. If you have questions that are not answered below, please email us at info@moc.org or call our Visitor Services Desk at 
804-649-1861
. We hope to see you soon! For additional detailed directions to our location, please visit mapquest.com.
1201 E. Clay Street
Richmond, VA 23219
The Museum and White House of the Confederacy is located at 12th and Clay streets in Richmond's historic Court End neighborhood, about two blocks from the historic State Capitol and Capitol Square. From I-95 take exit 74C to Route 250 West (Broad Street). At 11th Street turn right and go two blocks to Clay Street. Turn right on Clay. Due to construction, the parking deck is currently using the 12th Street entrance. So follow the blinking signs for parking in the parking deck. The Museum and White House are on the corner of 12th and Clay Streets.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Writing Inventory: Bringing It All Together...
To date, much of the work you've done on the writing inventories has been gathering information. Now, I'd like you to do something different with these responses, and in the process begin to evaluate your writing and the skills and knowledge you use to produce it.
As I've discussed before, one of the main features of how the college educated speak and write and one of the main reasons folks listen to them is that they have developed the habit of not just offering an opinion, but backing that opinion up with examples, illustrations, and good reasons which help their audience believe the opinion and to trust its writer/speaker.
Your writing inventory is a good place to practice these skills; so, here's what I'd like you to do:
Keep the notes you've taken for each bulleted item. Below these notes develop a different kind of response with this specific form:
1. Claim as to how *you* use/understand the knowledge/skills described by the learning outcome in your writing.
2. Clarification/definition of what you take the learning outcome to describe. Here you might define terms, talk about your writing in terms of the outcome, etc.
Support: Illustrate how you use the learning outcome in the writing you've done for this or other classes and the difference (or not) the work you've done for this class has made. Here's the most important part: Use two specific examples from your writing.
Here's an example of what I'm looking for:
Outcome: Control such surface level features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Example response:
I've lost track of the number of times teachers have docked my grade for grammar and spelling mistakes. In this class, I've learned there is a difference between these surface issues and the content of what I write. I've also learned that different audiences have different expectations as to what level of grammar and spelling I need to use. When I write a paper for teachers or my boss, my grammar and spelling matter a lot. When I write an email or text to my friends, grammar in spelling matter hardly at all. For instance, when I text my friends, they expect everything but correct spelling. In text messaging, my friends expect me to shorten and truncate words. However, when it matters, this class has taught me a couple of proofreading techniques which help me catch grammar and spelling errors. Prior to this class, I rarely let someone else proofread my writing. Now my girlfriend, who is majoring in English, reads anything that really matters. I also print my final draft out and read it aloud. Between these changes to how I proofread and using the grammar and spell checker in Word, I'm learning to catch most of the errors which got me in trouble before.
Why this is a good response: This response garnered its writer an "A" on the Knowledge of Conventions portion of his writing inventory. Look at everything I learned about his writing by reading the response. I learned he understood how audiences and genres form what he writes. I learned he'd learned to control his writing by varying how or even if he proofreads. I see him backing up opinion with supporting examples. Most important, I learned he knew how to talk about his writing in terms of process and rhetoric. Finally, I got a glimpse into the difference my class had made in his writing and into how his writing process had changed because or it.
Write with questions.
Steve
As I've discussed before, one of the main features of how the college educated speak and write and one of the main reasons folks listen to them is that they have developed the habit of not just offering an opinion, but backing that opinion up with examples, illustrations, and good reasons which help their audience believe the opinion and to trust its writer/speaker.
Your writing inventory is a good place to practice these skills; so, here's what I'd like you to do:
Keep the notes you've taken for each bulleted item. Below these notes develop a different kind of response with this specific form:
1. Claim as to how *you* use/understand the knowledge/skills described by the learning outcome in your writing.
2. Clarification/definition of what you take the learning outcome to describe. Here you might define terms, talk about your writing in terms of the outcome, etc.
Support: Illustrate how you use the learning outcome in the writing you've done for this or other classes and the difference (or not) the work you've done for this class has made. Here's the most important part: Use two specific examples from your writing.
Here's an example of what I'm looking for:
Outcome: Control such surface level features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Example response:
I've lost track of the number of times teachers have docked my grade for grammar and spelling mistakes. In this class, I've learned there is a difference between these surface issues and the content of what I write. I've also learned that different audiences have different expectations as to what level of grammar and spelling I need to use. When I write a paper for teachers or my boss, my grammar and spelling matter a lot. When I write an email or text to my friends, grammar in spelling matter hardly at all. For instance, when I text my friends, they expect everything but correct spelling. In text messaging, my friends expect me to shorten and truncate words. However, when it matters, this class has taught me a couple of proofreading techniques which help me catch grammar and spelling errors. Prior to this class, I rarely let someone else proofread my writing. Now my girlfriend, who is majoring in English, reads anything that really matters. I also print my final draft out and read it aloud. Between these changes to how I proofread and using the grammar and spell checker in Word, I'm learning to catch most of the errors which got me in trouble before.
Why this is a good response: This response garnered its writer an "A" on the Knowledge of Conventions portion of his writing inventory. Look at everything I learned about his writing by reading the response. I learned he understood how audiences and genres form what he writes. I learned he'd learned to control his writing by varying how or even if he proofreads. I see him backing up opinion with supporting examples. Most important, I learned he knew how to talk about his writing in terms of process and rhetoric. Finally, I got a glimpse into the difference my class had made in his writing and into how his writing process had changed because or it.
Write with questions.
Steve
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Motivation
In the discussion online, I've been surprised by how often what you want to work on boils down to motivation; so, I did some research. Here's an article by one of my favorite writers on actions you can take to motivate yourself:
http://zenhabits.net/2007/02/top-20-motivation-hacks-overview/
http://zenhabits.net/2007/02/top-20-motivation-hacks-overview/
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Assignment:s 17-23 March
I hope you all had a restful break. I hope, if you needed it, you had a chance to get caught up, and you return ready for a productive second half. To get us back in the routine of writing and reading for 111, here's your assignment for this week:
1. Read chapter six, "Writing to Inform."
2. Writing assignment: Scenario 1, page 193-4. This writing scenario has you taking a topic about which your are curious and writing about it for an academic audience. Academic audiences are fairly formal audiences. They expect a high degree of analysis and critical thinking. In other words, they look for an your ability to take a subject and look at it from several different angles. As in most of life, in most academic situations, one assumes your audience knows less about your subject than you do, and one of the reasons they're reading you is to learn about your subject from you.
This writing scenario also has you doing active research, that is, using outside resources to discover the different viewpoints on your subject about which you'll write. Students tend to panic when they hear the word research. You shouldn't. You do research all the time. Every time you go to others to try to figure out what they know on a topic, you are doing research. Reading _Consumer Reports_ and talking to friends about what to look for in a car or in a TV is doing research. In short, research is just learning about and taking advantage of other people's knowledge on a subject which concerns you.
One thing you should remember about academic audiences is that they expect from you what you expect from every research source, that is, full and unbiased information. They expect you to be objective and informative. As you write this short paper, which you will send to the class listserv, eng241spring2008reynolds@googlegroups.com, try to be informative.
Remember, you aren't trying to solve the topic about which you write, you are trying to: 1) describe it in detail, and 2) inform your reader about your topic as fully as possible. The reading your do in chapter six will help you better understand how to accomplish these goals.
Limit your paper to under 500 words.
3. Update your writing inventory with the information you learn while reading and writing this week, and send me a new invitation to read/share your updated writing inventory.
4. Write a short, two page cover letter in which you inform me about your performance in this class to date. Make special note of areas in which you can improve. Remember the class is all about improvement.
1. Read chapter six, "Writing to Inform."
2. Writing assignment: Scenario 1, page 193-4. This writing scenario has you taking a topic about which your are curious and writing about it for an academic audience. Academic audiences are fairly formal audiences. They expect a high degree of analysis and critical thinking. In other words, they look for an your ability to take a subject and look at it from several different angles. As in most of life, in most academic situations, one assumes your audience knows less about your subject than you do, and one of the reasons they're reading you is to learn about your subject from you.
This writing scenario also has you doing active research, that is, using outside resources to discover the different viewpoints on your subject about which you'll write. Students tend to panic when they hear the word research. You shouldn't. You do research all the time. Every time you go to others to try to figure out what they know on a topic, you are doing research. Reading _Consumer Reports_ and talking to friends about what to look for in a car or in a TV is doing research. In short, research is just learning about and taking advantage of other people's knowledge on a subject which concerns you.
One thing you should remember about academic audiences is that they expect from you what you expect from every research source, that is, full and unbiased information. They expect you to be objective and informative. As you write this short paper, which you will send to the class listserv, eng241spring2008reynolds@googlegroups.com, try to be informative.
Remember, you aren't trying to solve the topic about which you write, you are trying to: 1) describe it in detail, and 2) inform your reader about your topic as fully as possible. The reading your do in chapter six will help you better understand how to accomplish these goals.
Limit your paper to under 500 words.
3. Update your writing inventory with the information you learn while reading and writing this week, and send me a new invitation to read/share your updated writing inventory.
4. Write a short, two page cover letter in which you inform me about your performance in this class to date. Make special note of areas in which you can improve. Remember the class is all about improvement.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Ethos, the Role of Courtesy, and George Washington
The essential question in rhetoric is how to get others to listen to you and your ideas. We've talked about ethos--how one establishes credibility with an audience and gets them to identify with you. George Washington's lifelong obsession with showing courtesy played no small part in his ability to lead a new country that itself had little respect:
"A set of precepts that meant much to Washington and that has drawn the attention of historians, though perhaps not enough, was one that he had copied out by hand at sixteen, 'The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and in Conversation'--one hundred and ten in all--which were based on a set composed by French Jesuits in 1595. ...
"The focus of the set was established in the very first rule. 'Every action done in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to those that are present.' The 'Rules of Civility' are 'virtues of humanity'-- guidelines for dealing with others, based on attending to their situations and sensibilities. ... 'When you see a crime punished, you may be inwardly pleased; but show pity to the offending sufferer' (rule #23). '... treat artificers and persons of low degree with affability and courtesy, without arrogance' (rule #36). 'When a man does all he can, though it succeed not well, blame not him that did it' (rule #44). ... Washington also bought books of politeness as an adult, and instances of his courtesy, or comments on it, are legion. ...
"[Today] we worry about our authenticity--about whether our presentation reflects who we 'really' are. Eighteenth-century Americans attended more to the outside story and were less avid to drive putty knives between the outer and inner man. 'Character' ... was a role one played until one became it. ...
"Courtesy and reputation--the medium and stimulus of Washington's morality--operate on and through other people. Courtesy is how you treat them, reputation is what they think of you. ... Courtesy and reputation made it possible for Washington to say to his countrymen, we, and to command a response."
Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father, Free Press, Copyright 1996 by Richard Brookhiser, pp. 127-132,136.
"A set of precepts that meant much to Washington and that has drawn the attention of historians, though perhaps not enough, was one that he had copied out by hand at sixteen, 'The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and in Conversation'--one hundred and ten in all--which were based on a set composed by French Jesuits in 1595. ...
"The focus of the set was established in the very first rule. 'Every action done in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to those that are present.' The 'Rules of Civility' are 'virtues of humanity'-- guidelines for dealing with others, based on attending to their situations and sensibilities. ... 'When you see a crime punished, you may be inwardly pleased; but show pity to the offending sufferer' (rule #23). '... treat artificers and persons of low degree with affability and courtesy, without arrogance' (rule #36). 'When a man does all he can, though it succeed not well, blame not him that did it' (rule #44). ... Washington also bought books of politeness as an adult, and instances of his courtesy, or comments on it, are legion. ...
"[Today] we worry about our authenticity--about whether our presentation reflects who we 'really' are. Eighteenth-century Americans attended more to the outside story and were less avid to drive putty knives between the outer and inner man. 'Character' ... was a role one played until one became it. ...
"Courtesy and reputation--the medium and stimulus of Washington's morality--operate on and through other people. Courtesy is how you treat them, reputation is what they think of you. ... Courtesy and reputation made it possible for Washington to say to his countrymen, we, and to command a response."
Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father, Free Press, Copyright 1996 by Richard Brookhiser, pp. 127-132,136.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Academic Word List: Learn These Words
How and what words people in a discourse community use are also part of the conventions which govern usage. Academic writing is a good example. When you read college writing, a basic set of words appear again and again. College researchers will study anything, and several years ago a professor in New Zealand, Averil Coxhead, used statistics to figure out a list of words which appear most frequently in academic writing but which are not on the list of the most frequently used words in English. . I am assigning you the job of learning the vocabulary in this list you don't already know.
Why? Because it will help you in several key ways. Studies subsequent to Coxhead's have shown that students who learn this set of words understand academic writing, like that found in college texts, around ten percent better than students who have never studied the vocabulary. Ten percent better understanding may not sound like much, but think of it this way: if you understand the reading and discussion ten percent better in every class, that's a full letter grade difference; so, if you're used to getting a "C," just by learning this vocabulary, studies show you'll be getting a "B" instead. In terms of long term GPA, this means the difference between a 2.0 and a 3.0 GPA. Second, if you want your writing to be recognized as "academic," then you have to use the words good academic writers use.
So, here's the list of the sixty most frequent words in academic writing:
analyze
approach
area
assess
assume
authority
available
benefit
concept
consist
constitute
context
contract
create
data
define
derive
distribute
economy
environment
establish
estimate
evident
export
factor
finance
formula
function
identify
income
indicate
individual
interpret
involve
issue
labor
legal
legislate
major
method
occur
percent
period
policy
principle
proceed
process
require
research
respond
role
section
sector
significant
similar
source
specific
structure
theory
vary
Why? Because it will help you in several key ways. Studies subsequent to Coxhead's have shown that students who learn this set of words understand academic writing, like that found in college texts, around ten percent better than students who have never studied the vocabulary. Ten percent better understanding may not sound like much, but think of it this way: if you understand the reading and discussion ten percent better in every class, that's a full letter grade difference; so, if you're used to getting a "C," just by learning this vocabulary, studies show you'll be getting a "B" instead. In terms of long term GPA, this means the difference between a 2.0 and a 3.0 GPA. Second, if you want your writing to be recognized as "academic," then you have to use the words good academic writers use.
So, here's the list of the sixty most frequent words in academic writing:
analyze
approach
area
assess
assume
authority
available
benefit
concept
consist
constitute
context
contract
create
data
define
derive
distribute
economy
environment
establish
estimate
evident
export
factor
finance
formula
function
identify
income
indicate
individual
interpret
involve
issue
labor
legal
legislate
major
method
occur
percent
period
policy
principle
proceed
process
require
research
respond
role
section
sector
significant
similar
source
specific
structure
theory
vary
| analyze | constitute | establish | indicate | occur | role |
| approach | context | estimate | individual | percent | section |
| area | contract | evident | interpret | period | sector |
| assess | create | export | involve | policy | significant |
| assume | data | factor | issue | principle | similar |
| authority | define | finance | labour | proceed | source |
| available | derive | formula | legal | process | specific |
| benefit | distribute | function | legislate | require | structure |
| concept | economy | identify | major | research | theory |
| consist | environment | income | method | respond | vary |
Monday, March 3, 2008
Knowledge of Conventions: Conventions Change
As you can see from your writing inventory, what you are learning about writing is divided into four major areas: knowledge of process, knowledge or rhetoric, knowledge of conventions, and knowledge of critical thinking. Today, I'd like to give you some information you can use to develop the section of your writing inventory devoted to knowledge of conventions.
As the excerpt below, from David Crystal's discussion of the history of punctuation, shows, even conventions of writing as seemingly stable as punctuation change over time. Read the excerpt; as you do, think about the concept of discourse community. Realize that discourse communities, like the discourse community of speakers of English, change their conventions over time. As these conventions change, to stay a member of the community--to be recognized and given ethos or credibility when you speak--you have to change your practices to meet the new, changed expectations.
Comments on punctuation from David Crystal, author, co-author, or editor of over 100 books, including the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language:
"Early English manuscripts had no punctuation. They often didn't even have spaces between words. The earliest conventions were introduced as a guide to phrasing when reading aloud became an important activity. ... There was a great deal of experiment. Over thirty marks can be found in medieval manuscripts--various combinations of dots, curls, and dashes. Most of them disappeared after the arrival of printing. Some of them look like modern marks, but their function was not the same: a point, for example, represented a pause, rather than a sentence ending, and the height of a point could vary to express degrees of pause.
"Printers had to make decisions about punctuation and capitalization as well as about spelling. The earliest European printers generally followed the marks they found in the manuscripts, the actual shapes depending on the typeface used. Most recognized three kinds of pause, represented by a point, a virgule (/), and a mark of interrogation. [William] Caxton chiefly used a virgule and a point (.), occasionally a colon (:) and a paragraph mark. Word-breaks at the end of a line were shown by a double-virgule (//). The comma began to replace the virgule in the 1520s. ... Towards the end of the fifteenth century, semicircular parentheses, the question mark, and the semicolon, as well as the comma, were introduced in Europe, but it took some time for them all to appear in England. ...
"There was a great deal of inconsistency of usage, especially when several people worked on the same book. ... Even in modern editions a comparison of two editions (e.g. of Shakespeare's Sonnets) will bring to light a remarkable range of [differences]. ... Uncertainty always surrounds a new punctuation mark. In the sixteenth century there was a great confusion among compositors over the use of the apostrophe. At first they only used it as a marker of an omitted letter; its use as a marker of possession came much later, in the eighteenth century. ... It took a long time for the use of these marks to achieve some sort of stability. In fact, of course, they never did totally stabilize. ... Publishers compile [guidelines] to ensure consistency. No two publishers have the same list. I know, because I have published with many firms. ...
"The history of punctuation shows that the complexity does not disappear. Rather, it changes as time goes by. And it is continuing to change. The biggest punctuation changes since the Renaissance are about to hit us, because of the Internet."
David Crystal, The Fight for English, Oxford, Copyright 2006 by David Crystal, pp. 139- 142.
As the excerpt below, from David Crystal's discussion of the history of punctuation, shows, even conventions of writing as seemingly stable as punctuation change over time. Read the excerpt; as you do, think about the concept of discourse community. Realize that discourse communities, like the discourse community of speakers of English, change their conventions over time. As these conventions change, to stay a member of the community--to be recognized and given ethos or credibility when you speak--you have to change your practices to meet the new, changed expectations.
Comments on punctuation from David Crystal, author, co-author, or editor of over 100 books, including the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language:
"Early English manuscripts had no punctuation. They often didn't even have spaces between words. The earliest conventions were introduced as a guide to phrasing when reading aloud became an important activity. ... There was a great deal of experiment. Over thirty marks can be found in medieval manuscripts--various combinations of dots, curls, and dashes. Most of them disappeared after the arrival of printing. Some of them look like modern marks, but their function was not the same: a point, for example, represented a pause, rather than a sentence ending, and the height of a point could vary to express degrees of pause.
"Printers had to make decisions about punctuation and capitalization as well as about spelling. The earliest European printers generally followed the marks they found in the manuscripts, the actual shapes depending on the typeface used. Most recognized three kinds of pause, represented by a point, a virgule (/), and a mark of interrogation. [William] Caxton chiefly used a virgule and a point (.), occasionally a colon (:) and a paragraph mark. Word-breaks at the end of a line were shown by a double-virgule (//). The comma began to replace the virgule in the 1520s. ... Towards the end of the fifteenth century, semicircular parentheses, the question mark, and the semicolon, as well as the comma, were introduced in Europe, but it took some time for them all to appear in England. ...
"There was a great deal of inconsistency of usage, especially when several people worked on the same book. ... Even in modern editions a comparison of two editions (e.g. of Shakespeare's Sonnets) will bring to light a remarkable range of [differences]. ... Uncertainty always surrounds a new punctuation mark. In the sixteenth century there was a great confusion among compositors over the use of the apostrophe. At first they only used it as a marker of an omitted letter; its use as a marker of possession came much later, in the eighteenth century. ... It took a long time for the use of these marks to achieve some sort of stability. In fact, of course, they never did totally stabilize. ... Publishers compile [guidelines] to ensure consistency. No two publishers have the same list. I know, because I have published with many firms. ...
"The history of punctuation shows that the complexity does not disappear. Rather, it changes as time goes by. And it is continuing to change. The biggest punctuation changes since the Renaissance are about to hit us, because of the Internet."
David Crystal, The Fight for English, Oxford, Copyright 2006 by David Crystal, pp. 139- 142.
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