I have sent grade sheets to everyone who completed a portfolio. Unless you contact me and we come to some different agreement, the grade on the gradesheet is what I will post to Keanwise on Tuesday. Be in touch if you have questions.
Thanks for your great work this term, and have a wonderful summer!
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
5.13 Last class and final grades
You gave your final presentations today (good work!) and as we agreed in class you have until midnight this Friday to post any revisions to your work.
Reviewing your grade:
I will begin reviewing your portfolios on Saturday, May 16, and will email you a gradesheet with your final grade as soon as I finish reviewing work for the whole class. I will post here on the blog when I have sent out the gradesheets. If it says on the blog that I have sent out the gradesheets, and you have not recieved your tally - let me know (send me an email) so we can figure out what happened.
Take a look at this gradesheet and make sure you agree with the numbers. If you see any mistakes or confusions - be in touch. If you are good with the grade - then we are done.
I will post your grades to Keanwise 48 hours after I have sent you your gradesheet. If I do not hear from you before this, and if we do not work something out, then you will receive the grade on the gradesheet, and any further review will need to be done through a grade appeal.
Grade sheet/scoring:
Reviewing your grade:
I will begin reviewing your portfolios on Saturday, May 16, and will email you a gradesheet with your final grade as soon as I finish reviewing work for the whole class. I will post here on the blog when I have sent out the gradesheets. If it says on the blog that I have sent out the gradesheets, and you have not recieved your tally - let me know (send me an email) so we can figure out what happened.
Take a look at this gradesheet and make sure you agree with the numbers. If you see any mistakes or confusions - be in touch. If you are good with the grade - then we are done.
I will post your grades to Keanwise 48 hours after I have sent you your gradesheet. If I do not hear from you before this, and if we do not work something out, then you will receive the grade on the gradesheet, and any further review will need to be done through a grade appeal.
Grade sheet/scoring:
Participation: /150
Literacy narrative: /100
Process Narrative: /150
Group work (peer review)+presentations: /100
Portfolio: /500
- 150 reflective introduction
- 100 resumes
- 50 cover letter
- 100 personal statement
- 20 for each short sample
- 30 for each long sample
Thanks for your participation, and best to you in your future adventures as writers!
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
5.6 Portfolio presentations
Jo-Sette, Maria, Celena, Brittany, and Julia presented their portoflios today (thank you!) and we will hear from:
Alleli, Eve, Heloiza, Ally, and Brittany next class.
Have a great week!
Alleli, Eve, Heloiza, Ally, and Brittany next class.
Have a great week!
Monday, May 4, 2015
4.29 Resumes, scoring portfolios, and plan for Presentations
Schedule for portfolio presentations:
May 6: Celena; Maria; Julia; Jo-sette; *Ivelouse - if there is time; *Alleli - if there is time.
May 13: Anyone left from May 6 + Heloiza; Britany P, Ally, and anyone not signed up.
If you were not in class, and would prefer to present on May 6 - be in touch.
Points for the portfolio
At the beginning of class we reviewed what to include in the portfolio, and decided how to distribute the 500 points credit allocated to the portfolio. We came up with the following scale.
150 reflective introduction
100 resumes
50 cover letter
100 personal statment
20 for each short sample
30 for each long sample
Criteria for the resume, cover letter, personal statement and writing samples will be derived from the rhetorical contexts you describe in your reflective introduction. Criteria for the reflective introduction are stated on the assignment sheet. If you have additional questions - bring them to the attention of the class (somebody else probably wants to know, too!) or send me an email.
Resumes
We spent most of the class analyzing/providing feedback for resumes. You had a lot to say to one another and you did a great job. We gave feedback both in terms of visual design, and a contextual analysis of what your potential employers would be most interested in reading.
As we talked I noticed that sometimes we gave presenters conflicting feedback - and - sorry to say - that is just the way it is. In the end, you will need to think carefully about the audience and purpose for your resume, and then you will need to make decisions about focus, organization and content that best serve that audience and purpose. Remember that you are making visual decisions to take your reader's eye to the most important information, and that the most important information is "what your audience is looking for.
Criteria for portfolio presenations (see assignment sheet posted to the right).
For next class.
Come to class prepared to provide feedback to classmates on portolios. While this can feel like a lot of "down time" - keep in mind that it won't be that long before you use materials very much like what you have developed for this portfolio to represent your abilities and accomplishments to a potential employer. Evaluating other applicants' portfolios and reflecting on your own materials can give you an edge.
May 6: Celena; Maria; Julia; Jo-sette; *Ivelouse - if there is time; *Alleli - if there is time.
May 13: Anyone left from May 6 + Heloiza; Britany P, Ally, and anyone not signed up.
If you were not in class, and would prefer to present on May 6 - be in touch.
Points for the portfolio
At the beginning of class we reviewed what to include in the portfolio, and decided how to distribute the 500 points credit allocated to the portfolio. We came up with the following scale.
150 reflective introduction
100 resumes
50 cover letter
100 personal statment
20 for each short sample
30 for each long sample
Criteria for the resume, cover letter, personal statement and writing samples will be derived from the rhetorical contexts you describe in your reflective introduction. Criteria for the reflective introduction are stated on the assignment sheet. If you have additional questions - bring them to the attention of the class (somebody else probably wants to know, too!) or send me an email.
Resumes
We spent most of the class analyzing/providing feedback for resumes. You had a lot to say to one another and you did a great job. We gave feedback both in terms of visual design, and a contextual analysis of what your potential employers would be most interested in reading.
As we talked I noticed that sometimes we gave presenters conflicting feedback - and - sorry to say - that is just the way it is. In the end, you will need to think carefully about the audience and purpose for your resume, and then you will need to make decisions about focus, organization and content that best serve that audience and purpose. Remember that you are making visual decisions to take your reader's eye to the most important information, and that the most important information is "what your audience is looking for.
Criteria for portfolio presenations (see assignment sheet posted to the right).
For next class.
Come to class prepared to provide feedback to classmates on portolios. While this can feel like a lot of "down time" - keep in mind that it won't be that long before you use materials very much like what you have developed for this portfolio to represent your abilities and accomplishments to a potential employer. Evaluating other applicants' portfolios and reflecting on your own materials can give you an edge.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
4.22 Presentations on cover letters and personal statements
Resumes. At the beginning of class we looked at some resumes - to get a feel for how visual presentation can get the attention of the reader. We noted the importance of (subtle) use of color, of identifying sections with headings that are in contrast to the information beneath them - through the use of bold, font size, lines etc, - and how breaking the information under each heading into "bites" of information with bullets or some other succinct statement that won't lose the reader in too much text. We then talked about how tesumes that have been posted so far could make better use of these visual elements.
Cover letters+ personal statements. During the rest of the class you presented and gave feedback on cover letters and personal statements. I gave lots of comments - take what is useful and disregard what is not. You are the best judge of your audience, and there are lots of successful approaches to creating these documents. At the same time, it is essential to think about who your readers are and how they will receive your documents. In light of this:
For next class:
Come to class prepared to give a presentations on your resumes + the gap paragraph. In your presentation you will cover the following.
1. Describe the career you intend to enter.
2. Present your current resume and state how you would use it (=> give a specific description of its audience + purpose) - and ask the class for feedback on any issues you are struggling with
3. Present the dream resume , state how you expect to use it, and ask for any feedback you think might help strengthen this document
4. Discuss your plan for moving from the current to the dream resumes (gap paragraph).
For the last part of class, will also work on developing a rubric for evaluating the portfolios
Cover letters+ personal statements. During the rest of the class you presented and gave feedback on cover letters and personal statements. I gave lots of comments - take what is useful and disregard what is not. You are the best judge of your audience, and there are lots of successful approaches to creating these documents. At the same time, it is essential to think about who your readers are and how they will receive your documents. In light of this:
- write your cover letter so that it appeals to the interests of your specfic audience
- make sure your personal statement represents who you are AND is a good match for your employer's expectations
For next class:
Come to class prepared to give a presentations on your resumes + the gap paragraph. In your presentation you will cover the following.
1. Describe the career you intend to enter.
2. Present your current resume and state how you would use it (=> give a specific description of its audience + purpose) - and ask the class for feedback on any issues you are struggling with
3. Present the dream resume , state how you expect to use it, and ask for any feedback you think might help strengthen this document
4. Discuss your plan for moving from the current to the dream resumes (gap paragraph).
For the last part of class, will also work on developing a rubric for evaluating the portfolios
Thursday, April 16, 2015
4.15 Resume workshop + introduction to cover letters and personal statements
We have arrived at the point in the semester where most of class will be spent as either a workshop or a presentation on some part of your portfolio.
Resumes.
During the first part of class, you worked on your resumes. We reviewed both the elements of rhetorical analysis and design analysis as a way to assess how the resume was working (see last post). Audience issues are key for resumes; the resume is your effort to get the attention of your potential employer. Design choices for your resume (like the idea to feature the shark on the sample resume) could make the difference between an interview and being passed over. As discussed in class, when you write your actual resume to submit for a particular job - you may want to start with a template (where you have all your information listed) and revise (create a specific resume) for each particular job.
While you worked on your resumes, I had one-on-one conferences with each of you to talk through your choice of career and the materials you plan to use for writing samples in your portfolio. So far, so good.
I will provide you with general comments on any resumes which are posted by next week.
Cover letters and personal statements.
I fixed the links to the readings on cover letters and personal statements - so they should all work now.
The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself, direct the attention of the reader to any information on the resume or enclosed documents that you feel is particular important to his/her assessment of you; provide any information or rhetorical moves which did not fit into the materials the letter introduces - and which you feel will help your chances for selection.
The readings on personal statements available at the links are general; the form and content of your personal statement will depend on your particular career. In general, personal statements position your beliefs, values and abilities with respect to the field you hope to enter. Personal statements for graduate school applications sound slightly different from personal statements (often teaching philosophies) for teaching postions. Cruise the internet for samples of the "genre" for your profession.
For next class:
Come to class prepared to give a presentation on your cover letter and personal statement. Also, come to class prepared to give your classmates feedback on their cover letters and personal statements.
For your presentation, begin by giving the class detailed information about your chosen profession, and the particular employer to whom this letter is directed (you will want to include a link to the employer's web site, and to be able to talk a little bit about what this site shows about your possible employer's values, beliefs, and preferences regarding its employees skills, behaviors + identities). To this end, at the top of the cover letter posted to your portfolio, include tsome writing to answer the following questions.
Resumes.
During the first part of class, you worked on your resumes. We reviewed both the elements of rhetorical analysis and design analysis as a way to assess how the resume was working (see last post). Audience issues are key for resumes; the resume is your effort to get the attention of your potential employer. Design choices for your resume (like the idea to feature the shark on the sample resume) could make the difference between an interview and being passed over. As discussed in class, when you write your actual resume to submit for a particular job - you may want to start with a template (where you have all your information listed) and revise (create a specific resume) for each particular job.
While you worked on your resumes, I had one-on-one conferences with each of you to talk through your choice of career and the materials you plan to use for writing samples in your portfolio. So far, so good.
I will provide you with general comments on any resumes which are posted by next week.
Cover letters and personal statements.
I fixed the links to the readings on cover letters and personal statements - so they should all work now.
The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself, direct the attention of the reader to any information on the resume or enclosed documents that you feel is particular important to his/her assessment of you; provide any information or rhetorical moves which did not fit into the materials the letter introduces - and which you feel will help your chances for selection.
The readings on personal statements available at the links are general; the form and content of your personal statement will depend on your particular career. In general, personal statements position your beliefs, values and abilities with respect to the field you hope to enter. Personal statements for graduate school applications sound slightly different from personal statements (often teaching philosophies) for teaching postions. Cruise the internet for samples of the "genre" for your profession.
For next class:
Come to class prepared to give a presentation on your cover letter and personal statement. Also, come to class prepared to give your classmates feedback on their cover letters and personal statements.
For your presentation, begin by giving the class detailed information about your chosen profession, and the particular employer to whom this letter is directed (you will want to include a link to the employer's web site, and to be able to talk a little bit about what this site shows about your possible employer's values, beliefs, and preferences regarding its employees skills, behaviors + identities). To this end, at the top of the cover letter posted to your portfolio, include tsome writing to answer the following questions.
- who is my audience (include a link to the potential employer's web site)
- what are the audience's values (as evidenced by what you have read about them & the way they represent their business/institution?)
- how an I a match for this employer?
- what will be the context for where my materials are read? portal? print document? interview? web site? . . .?)
- what do I want to emphasize in order to be a top choice by this employer?
Also - get started on your writing samples, and if you have questions let me know.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
4.8 Multimodal composing, rhetorical analysis and creating a writing portfolio
I will be reading our process narratives and should have them back to you next week.
Today's class marks our move to the last unit for the course: the creation of your writing portfolios for an "imagined" future vocation. We spent the first part of class talking about multimodality and its relevance to the composing processes you will do as you work on this portfolio, and the second part of class was devoted to the introduction of this final assignment.
What is multimodality
multimodality: the ways we communication through multiple modes
modes (as categorized by the New London Group): linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, gestural
As we discussed this classification of modes, we noted that some of the categories overlap (in some ways linguistic modes seem like they are inherently multimodal!), but we recognized that this classification does allow us to think about the different ways different modes convey meanings. The features of a mode which allow it to convey meanings (listed under each mode in Arola et al's text) are that modes affordances.
We also pointed out that modes are different from media. Modes are the ways we communicate, and media are what we use or the vehicles for communication.
Rhetoric and multimodality
elements for rhetoricl anlaysis (p. 21): audience, purpose, context, author, genre (form)
elements for design choices (p. 31): emphasis, contrast, organization, alignment, and proximity
After a very brief consideration of the features of rhetorical and design analysis, you applied these approaches to three sample teaching portfolios. As you did your anlysis, you responded to the following questions:
How does each portfolio make respond to/make use of:
the rhetorical elements?
multiple modes?
design elements?
Rank the portfolios in terms of what you see as their effectiveness + state your reasons for the ranking
Presentation on Portfolio project (see assignment sheet posted to the right)
We talked through the assignment sheet, and then you did some writing to identify - as specifically as you could - the job you would be applying for and the writing samples to include in your portfolio that would help you get that job
We then spent the rest of the class talking about resumes.
Some useful links:
Introductions + expectations for resumes: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/719/1/
Discussion of sample resumes (see links to right)
For next class:
Write: identify the focus for portfolio + genres for writing samples
resumes (general, "dream" + gap statement)
Today's class marks our move to the last unit for the course: the creation of your writing portfolios for an "imagined" future vocation. We spent the first part of class talking about multimodality and its relevance to the composing processes you will do as you work on this portfolio, and the second part of class was devoted to the introduction of this final assignment.
What is multimodality
multimodality: the ways we communication through multiple modes
modes (as categorized by the New London Group): linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, gestural
As we discussed this classification of modes, we noted that some of the categories overlap (in some ways linguistic modes seem like they are inherently multimodal!), but we recognized that this classification does allow us to think about the different ways different modes convey meanings. The features of a mode which allow it to convey meanings (listed under each mode in Arola et al's text) are that modes affordances.
We also pointed out that modes are different from media. Modes are the ways we communicate, and media are what we use or the vehicles for communication.
Rhetoric and multimodality
elements for rhetoricl anlaysis (p. 21): audience, purpose, context, author, genre (form)
elements for design choices (p. 31): emphasis, contrast, organization, alignment, and proximity
After a very brief consideration of the features of rhetorical and design analysis, you applied these approaches to three sample teaching portfolios. As you did your anlysis, you responded to the following questions:
How does each portfolio make respond to/make use of:
the rhetorical elements?
multiple modes?
design elements?
Rank the portfolios in terms of what you see as their effectiveness + state your reasons for the ranking
Presentation on Portfolio project (see assignment sheet posted to the right)
We talked through the assignment sheet, and then you did some writing to identify - as specifically as you could - the job you would be applying for and the writing samples to include in your portfolio that would help you get that job
We then spent the rest of the class talking about resumes.
Some useful links:
Introductions + expectations for resumes: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/719/1/
Discussion of sample resumes (see links to right)
For next class:
Read: Cover Letters (Youtube video from Purdue OWL) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSLGa2bRU-g
Personal Statements (UNC-CH Writing Center) http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/application-essays/
Examples of Successful Statements (Purdue OWL) https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/02/
and Personal Statements: Top Ten Risks and Pitfalls (Purdue OWL)
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/04/
Personal Statements (UNC-CH Writing Center) http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/application-essays/
Examples of Successful Statements (Purdue OWL) https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/02/
and Personal Statements: Top Ten Risks and Pitfalls (Purdue OWL)
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/04/
Write: identify the focus for portfolio + genres for writing samples
resumes (general, "dream" + gap statement)
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
4.1 Rigid rules-inflexible plans, and workshop on process narrative
Guidelines for feedback to process narrative (based on assignment sheet):
1. What focus is set up in the introduction? Does this focus accurately forecast the "findings" with some specificity?
2. Where /how does the essay meet each criteiron on the assignment sheet?
3. What makes the findings non-trivial? (richness contributed by the personal experience; specific observations coupled with logical explanations/interpretations for what those specific observations mean)
4. How/where does the essay use detailed particular expereinces? Where would it benefit from more development?
5. What do the experiences illustrate with respect to the focus?
In your groups, you took turns reading your essays to each other. Then you discussed the above to ensure that the draft essay met the requirements for the assignment.
Discussion of Rose:
Introduction is a model for an academic research essay! introduces the problem, states (clearly and with some particularity) what his essay adds to the discussion.
Focus of essay: Stated at the end of the third paragraph.
Terms to define:
Rules, algorithms, heuristics, plans, set
Overview of findings:
Algorithms rather than heuristics
Questionable heuristics made algorithmic
Set
The plan that is not a plan
Feedback
Too many rules resulting in conceptual conflict
Write: do you have any - conscious or not so conscious- rules or plans in your writing process? How do they work for you?
For next week:
Read: Selections from Arola, Sheppard and Ball: Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects
Write: Post the revised (final) Process Narrative, your summary of the peer review from your group for your essay (the comments from your group); and all assignments for the unit to your portfolio
What is due for the process narrative:
1. What focus is set up in the introduction? Does this focus accurately forecast the "findings" with some specificity?
2. Where /how does the essay meet each criteiron on the assignment sheet?
3. What makes the findings non-trivial? (richness contributed by the personal experience; specific observations coupled with logical explanations/interpretations for what those specific observations mean)
4. How/where does the essay use detailed particular expereinces? Where would it benefit from more development?
5. What do the experiences illustrate with respect to the focus?
In your groups, you took turns reading your essays to each other. Then you discussed the above to ensure that the draft essay met the requirements for the assignment.
Discussion of Rose:
Introduction is a model for an academic research essay! introduces the problem, states (clearly and with some particularity) what his essay adds to the discussion.
Focus of essay: Stated at the end of the third paragraph.
Terms to define:
Rules, algorithms, heuristics, plans, set
Overview of findings:
Algorithms rather than heuristics
Questionable heuristics made algorithmic
Set
The plan that is not a plan
Feedback
Too many rules resulting in conceptual conflict
Write: do you have any - conscious or not so conscious- rules or plans in your writing process? How do they work for you?
For next week:
Read: Selections from Arola, Sheppard and Ball: Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects
Write: Post the revised (final) Process Narrative, your summary of the peer review from your group for your essay (the comments from your group); and all assignments for the unit to your portfolio
What is due for the process narrative:
writing on invention 1,28
writing on drafting 2.11
writing on revision 2.25
draft process narrative 3.24
peer comments 4.8
due with final draft 4.8Sample first paragraph
It was after moving to the USA and studying English as second language that I started to notice my writing process. I used to think of writing as something that flows naturally, more naturally for some people then to others. Before learning a second language, I thought the things I am used to do before and while I am writing were just habits and not a process that I have developed throughout the years as my writing faced different environments, audiences and purposes. Learning a second language forced me to pay more attention to these “habits” in order to improve my writing skill. Writing in English then became a huge challenge of recognizing my writing process, something that I never thought about it before. Therefore, I noticed that a few aspects like the environment I feel comfortable writing, the technologies I use and my invention process did not altered as I faced the task of writing in a second language. However, other aspects involving drafting, revising and control changed as I was adapting to write in English.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
3.25 James Gee and Workshop
Main points from Gee
Language is a social process
Discourse embodies a group's ways of doing, being, believing, and valuing = an "identity toolkit"
Discourse is learned through an "apprenticeship" (socialization => learning through doing) rather than "out of a book"
Discourses overlap, influence one another and are always changing
Our home/Primary discourse is the discourse of our home community (family)
All other discourses are secondary discourses
Dominant discourses enforce their values/ways of being on Nondominant discourses
Discourses are used for gatekeeping => excluding outsiders
tensions between values in different discourses can cause problems in terms of moving from one discourse to another successfully
Discourses require complete mastery to be counted an insider
Primary discourses can never be lieratory discoures
All writing and reading is embedded in some Discourse
Definition of discourse (in our own words)
Discourses belong to a group and shap the intentions and behaviors of the group. They embody unconscious ways of thinking, related to a setting, and giving "rules" for how to act. Discourses are cultural, and include beliefs and values that are embedded in ways of talking and being.
List of discursive features (what Discourse affects/shapes)
1. patterns for asserting or responding to authority
2. language choices and forms (story forms) => what and how we say things
3. body language, personal space, body position
4. who has the right to speak
5. expectations about who "others" and "other places" are (stereotypes)
6. how to behave + what to believe and think within a given profession, career, nationality, ethnicity, etc.
7. where and when we can say certain things (context)
8. expectations about tone of voice, volume, pitch, how fast we talk and so on
9. attitudes
So it sounds to me like you've got a good hand on this. As we discussed in class, an awareness of how discourses (our home discourses and the secondary discourses we have acquired through experience) function as "gatekeepers" can empower us. If we learn to watch and work more consciously with the "discourses of power" - (despite what Gee says?) we can perhaps, communicate in ways which are more suited to our purposes. Thinking about Discourse will be particularly important to you as you compose your portfolio of writing for your future profession. We will talk about particular ways to apply ideas from Gee as we get closer to the portfolio assignment.
Focus:
Language is a social process
Discourse embodies a group's ways of doing, being, believing, and valuing = an "identity toolkit"
Discourse is learned through an "apprenticeship" (socialization => learning through doing) rather than "out of a book"
Discourses overlap, influence one another and are always changing
Our home/Primary discourse is the discourse of our home community (family)
All other discourses are secondary discourses
Dominant discourses enforce their values/ways of being on Nondominant discourses
Discourses are used for gatekeeping => excluding outsiders
tensions between values in different discourses can cause problems in terms of moving from one discourse to another successfully
Discourses require complete mastery to be counted an insider
Primary discourses can never be lieratory discoures
All writing and reading is embedded in some Discourse
Definition of discourse (in our own words)
Discourses belong to a group and shap the intentions and behaviors of the group. They embody unconscious ways of thinking, related to a setting, and giving "rules" for how to act. Discourses are cultural, and include beliefs and values that are embedded in ways of talking and being.
List of discursive features (what Discourse affects/shapes)
1. patterns for asserting or responding to authority
2. language choices and forms (story forms) => what and how we say things
3. body language, personal space, body position
4. who has the right to speak
5. expectations about who "others" and "other places" are (stereotypes)
6. how to behave + what to believe and think within a given profession, career, nationality, ethnicity, etc.
7. where and when we can say certain things (context)
8. expectations about tone of voice, volume, pitch, how fast we talk and so on
9. attitudes
So it sounds to me like you've got a good hand on this. As we discussed in class, an awareness of how discourses (our home discourses and the secondary discourses we have acquired through experience) function as "gatekeepers" can empower us. If we learn to watch and work more consciously with the "discourses of power" - (despite what Gee says?) we can perhaps, communicate in ways which are more suited to our purposes. Thinking about Discourse will be particularly important to you as you compose your portfolio of writing for your future profession. We will talk about particular ways to apply ideas from Gee as we get closer to the portfolio assignment.
Focus:
What is the focus of your process narrative? How does that focus reply to/expand on the demands for the focus of the assignment? Describe how & whether the ideas and breadth of your focus are a good match for the assignment.
List the points you make to develop your focus. Describe how/whether these points are sufficient to develop your focus? Any points off focus? Any points you need to add?
How does each paragraph connect to/develop the focus?
Organization:
Overall organization: What is the overall “narrative line” of your essay? (chronological description of one or more processes? Discussion of the parts of the writing practice, in order? a story of your growth? a comparison of your writing practices for different kinds of writing? . . .?)
Do you have more than one narrative line? If so, describe how you connect them.
Considering the overall narrative thread of your essay = what is the best organization for the presentation of your points to develop your focus?
What transitions/connections do you make among the different points to develop your focus?
Internal organization of paragraphs:
Do paragraphs lead in with a statement to set up the overall focus of the paragraph and the connection of that focus to a main point or the overall focus?
Does the developing material include analysis, illustration, example, rich description etc to “prove” the idea at the center of the paragraph (or does it simply re-state the overall point)?
Does each paragraph develop a single idea related to the overall focus?
Does each paragraph conclude with (include) a statement to tie the development to the overall point?
Development
Which points are most important to your overall focus? What examples/illustrations from your “data” on your writing process have you used to support those points?
Have you included rich descriptions of your process from a particular composing experience (rather than only general statments about “how you write” for a particular genre)? If you have no descriptions of composing a particular text, what do you need to add?
Which points have the most development? Which points have the least? Are the points with the most development the most central to your overall discussion?
What points need more development?
For next week:
Read: Mike Rose's "Rigid Rules, INflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writer's Block"
Write: Plan for revising process narrative (post to portfolio)
If you send me your draft process narrative as an attachment to the course email, I will write comments which you can take into consideration as you work on revising your essay.
For next week:
Read: Mike Rose's "Rigid Rules, INflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writer's Block"
Write: Plan for revising process narrative (post to portfolio)
If you send me your draft process narrative as an attachment to the course email, I will write comments which you can take into consideration as you work on revising your essay.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
3.11 Using a design model to plan/revise writing projects
We started class with a discussion of the readingby Wysoki & Lynch. They present a design approach to composing, and as we noted in our conversation, this approach is particularly useful (necessary) for considering projects which use more and different media or modes different from print. Their piece is fairly straightforward, and in sum, the set forward the steps indeveloping a communication project as follows.
1. purpose
2. audience expectations
3. larger context
4. communication strategies
5. choice of medium
6. order/arrangement
7. testing your work on a sample audience
After talking through what each of these steps entails, we read through a sample process narrative (posted in the second unit within the course readings, linked to the right). We then assessed this project using the three methods for reflecting on writing which we have covered so far: using a writing rubric based on the requirements for the assignment; using the kind of writerly response suggested by Elbow; and using the "design" principles suggested by Wysoki & Lynch. Each of these approaches considers the writing from a different perspective.
The assignment sheet-based assessment looked at writing as a product = a "thing" which either has or does not have the required features.
Elbow's approach looks at writing as an interactive communication - which evokes (or not) particular responses from its various audiences.
Wysoki and Lynch's list of design principles looks at composing as a process, and engages writers in reflecting on whether and how they have successfully engaged different considerations within that process.
Reviewing your work in light of these different perspectives can help you decide uponwhat and how to revise a work in process.
This review took all but about 5 minutes of the class, so you didn't really have much time to work on your draft process narrative. Hopefully, what we did do - reading/evaluating the sample process narrative - gave you some ideas for thinking the form and content for your narrative.
For next class:
Read:"Origins & Forms of Writing" Denise Schmandt-Besserat and Michael Erard; <= (We won't be reading this first one.) Introduction to Sociolinguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourse, James Gee
AND
the sample process narratives.
Write: Draft process narrative - send as an attachment to the course email + post to the portfolio.
Make sure you have done the pre-writing (writing to the various prompts on your writing process which are posted on the blog) and posted it to your portfolio before you do the draft. As stated in the assignment sheet, this essay should document (describe in detail from observation) and analyze your writing process, and to do the analysis you need observations.
For the draft - don't worry about editing/spelling/perfect (or even complete) sentences. Focus on getting all your observations and ideas onto the page. IF the focus is not quite clear to you - that is OK, too. We will work on in in the peer review on 4.4.
What we will do in class. After discussing the readings, we will review + evaluate the sample process narratives.
Have a great break, and see you in two weeks!
1. purpose
2. audience expectations
3. larger context
4. communication strategies
5. choice of medium
6. order/arrangement
7. testing your work on a sample audience
After talking through what each of these steps entails, we read through a sample process narrative (posted in the second unit within the course readings, linked to the right). We then assessed this project using the three methods for reflecting on writing which we have covered so far: using a writing rubric based on the requirements for the assignment; using the kind of writerly response suggested by Elbow; and using the "design" principles suggested by Wysoki & Lynch. Each of these approaches considers the writing from a different perspective.
The assignment sheet-based assessment looked at writing as a product = a "thing" which either has or does not have the required features.
Elbow's approach looks at writing as an interactive communication - which evokes (or not) particular responses from its various audiences.
Wysoki and Lynch's list of design principles looks at composing as a process, and engages writers in reflecting on whether and how they have successfully engaged different considerations within that process.
Reviewing your work in light of these different perspectives can help you decide uponwhat and how to revise a work in process.
This review took all but about 5 minutes of the class, so you didn't really have much time to work on your draft process narrative. Hopefully, what we did do - reading/evaluating the sample process narrative - gave you some ideas for thinking the form and content for your narrative.
For next class:
Read:
AND
the sample process narratives.
Write: Draft process narrative - send as an attachment to the course email + post to the portfolio.
Make sure you have done the pre-writing (writing to the various prompts on your writing process which are posted on the blog) and posted it to your portfolio before you do the draft. As stated in the assignment sheet, this essay should document (describe in detail from observation) and analyze your writing process, and to do the analysis you need observations.
For the draft - don't worry about editing/spelling/perfect (or even complete) sentences. Focus on getting all your observations and ideas onto the page. IF the focus is not quite clear to you - that is OK, too. We will work on in in the peer review on 4.4.
What we will do in class. After discussing the readings, we will review + evaluate the sample process narratives.
Have a great break, and see you in two weeks!
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
3.4 Cooking = more writing for the process narrative
Grades for literacy narrative: Each of you should have recieved an email with the scoring for your literacy narrative. If you have missing documents and you want to receive full credit for your work - all revised/make up work for the literacy narrative is due by 3.11 = next week. No work for the literacy narrative will be accepted after that time.
Also - I added up the points wrong (gave scores out of 100 points when it should have been out of 125). I don't think this error will change anyone's letter grade, and I will give you corrected scores with the next unit.
Cooking!
Cooking is the where we get the energy for our ideas - the "OH! I want to write this. . .! " feeling that propels us forward and takes us deeper into our understanding of our material as well as our facility in putting that material into words.
Elbow said that when he started thinking about cooking, he understood it to be simply writing freely = freewriting. As he pursued this idea he realized that it is not JUST the open access to ideas such as freewriting allows - but the "interaction between contrasting or conflicting material." See the top of p. 49 for a more detaileddiscussion. We started with reviewing your ideas + freewriting to set you up for the cooking exercises.
1. Read through the writing you have done so far for the process narrative. This includes all of the writing you have done to document your writing process for the literacy narrative, plus the writing you did for homework last week to document any other process which you might want to focus on for the process narrrative. I also invited you to note or add any other information you thought would be important to include for the process narrative.
2. Freewriting. The next step in our overview of the cooking process was to do a freewrite.
3. After freewriting, you did some "looping": noting patterns/repetitions in the freewrite and then doing a second freewrite to develop those ideas. Some patterns you might look for include: associations to feelings (which parts were positive/which parts were negative? what are the connections between these feelings and the content?); repetitions of words or ideas; overall themes.
Looping is one way to move from the immersion of freewriting - into the particularity+ self-consciousness of analysis and then back to immersion (in the next freewrite). As Elbow points out the contrast/conflict between these ways of thinking can help generate the energy/ideas that can move you forward in your writing.
4. Our next move was to write a list of metaphors for your writing process. Then step back and look at the features of the metaphors you chose. What does each metaphor say about your writing process? Do the metaphors present a common theme about your process? The idea here is that a metaphors pose features which you might not have named by themselves, but which you will see as present in the metaphor.
5. Finally - we crossed modes by desribing your writing process as an image, a song, a dance or some other "non-languaged" system for representation.
After we finished "cooking"using a range of Elbow's approaches, you talked in groups to pull together the ideas you gained through the various processes we worked through. The protocol for these conversations is as follows.
1. Characterize/discuss your writing process in terms of the different prompots we worked through for cooking: Freewriting, looping (moving between words + ideas, immersion and stepping back); listing-analyzing metaphors; moving among modes.
2. Describe what you think you might use as a focus for your proces narrative in light of these cooking exercises.
3. Discuss what additional observations you might need to gather/use to develop this focus for your essay.
4. Discuss which exercises worked best for you.
For next class:
Read: Ann Wysoki and Dennis Lynch: "A Rhetorical Process for Designing Compositions"
Write: Post today's class writing to your process page as "cooking" and develop any additional observations you will need to write the process essay with the focus you have decided on.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
2.25 Talking about Elbow + work on the process narrative
Below are the questions we used to frame the discussion of Elbow.
How did Elbow use his writing diary?
What does he mean by writing that growing writing is not just producing words and throwing some away? (p. 32)
What was hardest for Elbow about his writing process? What's hardest for you?
What are some of the realizations Elbow arrived at from watching his writing process? (p. 36)
What does he mean by thinking about writing in terms of a developmental model? Do you believe in this idea? (p.44)
What are your "stages" for writing a "long" assignment?
We focused on the chapter about growing your writing, the chapter on the drafting process. Elbow takes a developmental approach to writing, thinks of the writing process as organic, emphasizes that writing is a place where you discover what you have to say, and points out that although there is some chaos (discomfort) in writing when you don't know what you have to say - that is they way writing often works.
Although process theory can make writing seem like it is linear - starting with invention, moving through invention, and then proceeding through revision and editing - Elbow's discussion points out that for many if not most of us it is much messier. Still, even though they are much more mixed up, it remains useful to talk about writing process in terms of figuring out ideas (finding what we have to say) = invention; drafting (getting what we have to say into some approximation of the form we want to use to say it); and revision (refining, sharpening and in some cases completely changing the form and content of what we have written through adding, deleting, substituting and rearranging our draft).
Elbow's chapter put us in a good position to talk about the process narrative (see assignment sheet posted to the right) which is what we spent the rest of class working on. First we did some writing on the revision process for the literacy narrative (so you have some evidence of your process for revising). The prompts we used are listed below.
Writing about revision
What was your overall stragetgy for revising?
(respond to feedback from Chandler? from peers? check whether you met the requirements on the assignment sheet? correct/errors? read for the overall "flow" of the essay? some combination of these?) Write as much as you can about how you acted on that strategy, step by step.
Did you use one strategy at a time, or everything at once? For example, did you revise for focus, then for organization, and then for development, and then proofread? Or everything at once?
What role did finding your focus play in the revision process (did your draft still leave you in the "chaos" phase described by Elbow - or did you already have a strong focus from the draft and just work on sharpening that focus)?
How did you handle the invention that you needed to do in your revising process?
If you needed to draft additional sections, how did you manage going back and forth between re-reading what you'd already written and writing additional sections?
What were the most important changes you made? What was the most frequent "kind" of revision you made: addition, deletion, substitution, reorganization
How did you feel as you revised?
After a short discussion, we took a look at the assignment sheet, and noted that one of the requirements was to reflect on how your writing process was changing, and to think about how you might want to further change it in the future. Rather than have you reflect in a general way on how your process has changes, you did some writing about your process from HS and college. The prompts are listed below.
How is your writing process changing/growing?
how did you write in high school? for English papers? for research paper?
How did you write when you came to college (college english)? Were the changes you made successful? Any changes you feel you might need to make?
Describe your writing process for writing a long paper. Were you successful? Was it stressful? What might you need to change?
After you wrote to these prompts, we listed some words to describe your process for HS, and for college, and noted how these practices correlated with the audience (teacher) expectations, the purpose for your writing (for the grade, to complete the assignment) and the form.
below is a sampling of notes from this discussion:
HS
step-by-step
teacher centered (for the grade)
follow teacher's directions (formulaic)
very conscious of what the teacher expected
stream of consciousness
one-shot through
teacher centered
notes=> cheat sheet
invent conclusion
aural/participation (rather than from written directions)
write question
College
longer, fewere sources=> more original thought
brainstorm
find idea
switch writing around (revision)
more organic rather than formulaic
We used these descriptions as a way to notice some general changes as students moved from HS to college: students took more ownership of their writing, meaning they wrote more for themselves than for the teacher; they were writing for a different, often more demanding audience, and they were writing in new (unfamiliar sometimes) genres => these changes in audience, purpose + form for the writing caused students to spend more time on finding their meanings (because they were their meanings), to spend more time revising. What the particular changes are will be different for different writers, but in general, as the demands and contexts for writing change, so does the process.
We didn't get a chance to go through the last exercise I had planned for today, which was to do some naming (categorizing) of what is going on in the processes you have been describing in the writing posted to your process page. Below I have posted a list of moves to make to do some of that categorizing. You will work through some version of this process in class, next week, both working on your own writing, and working in groups.
Identifying some categories for your process essay
Look at what you have written about the different parts of your writing process: invention, drafting, revising, editing.
Pay attention both to the content of what you have written + the feeling.
As we did with the writing you did for the prompts about how your writing has changed, list some words to characterize your writing for each part of the process
Are there any words, ideas, feelings that come up over and over in your writing about any part of the writing process, or in your writing about the writing process as a whole?
What are the most "important" words to characterize what you do in each part of the process?
Then, make some notes about what you did and how the audience, purpose and genre (form) of the writing influenced the kind of writing you did for each part of the process.
For next class:
Read: Elbow, Chapter 3
Write: any additional descriptions of writing process you will need for your process essay
What should be posted for the process page so far:
1.28 writing for the 3 questions on the Literacy narrative (invention) Title the post: 1.28Name_Technologies
2.11 writing on process for drafting the literacy narrative
2. 18 observations about your writing process (the kind of reflective observations we worked on in class last week - but for writing projects/processes other than the literacy narrative
2. 25 writing on process for revising literacy narrative
2.25 writing on how writing process is changing
How did Elbow use his writing diary?
What does he mean by writing that growing writing is not just producing words and throwing some away? (p. 32)
What was hardest for Elbow about his writing process? What's hardest for you?
What are some of the realizations Elbow arrived at from watching his writing process? (p. 36)
What does he mean by thinking about writing in terms of a developmental model? Do you believe in this idea? (p.44)
What are your "stages" for writing a "long" assignment?
We focused on the chapter about growing your writing, the chapter on the drafting process. Elbow takes a developmental approach to writing, thinks of the writing process as organic, emphasizes that writing is a place where you discover what you have to say, and points out that although there is some chaos (discomfort) in writing when you don't know what you have to say - that is they way writing often works.
Although process theory can make writing seem like it is linear - starting with invention, moving through invention, and then proceeding through revision and editing - Elbow's discussion points out that for many if not most of us it is much messier. Still, even though they are much more mixed up, it remains useful to talk about writing process in terms of figuring out ideas (finding what we have to say) = invention; drafting (getting what we have to say into some approximation of the form we want to use to say it); and revision (refining, sharpening and in some cases completely changing the form and content of what we have written through adding, deleting, substituting and rearranging our draft).
Elbow's chapter put us in a good position to talk about the process narrative (see assignment sheet posted to the right) which is what we spent the rest of class working on. First we did some writing on the revision process for the literacy narrative (so you have some evidence of your process for revising). The prompts we used are listed below.
Writing about revision
What was your overall stragetgy for revising?
(respond to feedback from Chandler? from peers? check whether you met the requirements on the assignment sheet? correct/errors? read for the overall "flow" of the essay? some combination of these?) Write as much as you can about how you acted on that strategy, step by step.
Did you use one strategy at a time, or everything at once? For example, did you revise for focus, then for organization, and then for development, and then proofread? Or everything at once?
What role did finding your focus play in the revision process (did your draft still leave you in the "chaos" phase described by Elbow - or did you already have a strong focus from the draft and just work on sharpening that focus)?
How did you handle the invention that you needed to do in your revising process?
If you needed to draft additional sections, how did you manage going back and forth between re-reading what you'd already written and writing additional sections?
What were the most important changes you made? What was the most frequent "kind" of revision you made: addition, deletion, substitution, reorganization
How did you feel as you revised?
After a short discussion, we took a look at the assignment sheet, and noted that one of the requirements was to reflect on how your writing process was changing, and to think about how you might want to further change it in the future. Rather than have you reflect in a general way on how your process has changes, you did some writing about your process from HS and college. The prompts are listed below.
How is your writing process changing/growing?
how did you write in high school? for English papers? for research paper?
How did you write when you came to college (college english)? Were the changes you made successful? Any changes you feel you might need to make?
Describe your writing process for writing a long paper. Were you successful? Was it stressful? What might you need to change?
After you wrote to these prompts, we listed some words to describe your process for HS, and for college, and noted how these practices correlated with the audience (teacher) expectations, the purpose for your writing (for the grade, to complete the assignment) and the form.
below is a sampling of notes from this discussion:
HS
step-by-step
teacher centered (for the grade)
follow teacher's directions (formulaic)
very conscious of what the teacher expected
stream of consciousness
one-shot through
teacher centered
notes=> cheat sheet
invent conclusion
aural/participation (rather than from written directions)
write question
College
longer, fewere sources=> more original thought
brainstorm
find idea
switch writing around (revision)
more organic rather than formulaic
We used these descriptions as a way to notice some general changes as students moved from HS to college: students took more ownership of their writing, meaning they wrote more for themselves than for the teacher; they were writing for a different, often more demanding audience, and they were writing in new (unfamiliar sometimes) genres => these changes in audience, purpose + form for the writing caused students to spend more time on finding their meanings (because they were their meanings), to spend more time revising. What the particular changes are will be different for different writers, but in general, as the demands and contexts for writing change, so does the process.
We didn't get a chance to go through the last exercise I had planned for today, which was to do some naming (categorizing) of what is going on in the processes you have been describing in the writing posted to your process page. Below I have posted a list of moves to make to do some of that categorizing. You will work through some version of this process in class, next week, both working on your own writing, and working in groups.
Identifying some categories for your process essay
Look at what you have written about the different parts of your writing process: invention, drafting, revising, editing.
Pay attention both to the content of what you have written + the feeling.
As we did with the writing you did for the prompts about how your writing has changed, list some words to characterize your writing for each part of the process
Are there any words, ideas, feelings that come up over and over in your writing about any part of the writing process, or in your writing about the writing process as a whole?
What are the most "important" words to characterize what you do in each part of the process?
Then, make some notes about what you did and how the audience, purpose and genre (form) of the writing influenced the kind of writing you did for each part of the process.
For next class:
Read: Elbow, Chapter 3
Write: any additional descriptions of writing process you will need for your process essay
What should be posted for the process page so far:
1.28 writing for the 3 questions on the Literacy narrative (invention) Title the post: 1.28Name_Technologies
2.11 writing on process for drafting the literacy narrative
2. 18 observations about your writing process (the kind of reflective observations we worked on in class last week - but for writing projects/processes other than the literacy narrative
2. 25 writing on process for revising literacy narrative
2.25 writing on how writing process is changing
2.25 Scoring for Literacy Narrative Unit
Today you turned in your literacy narratives. I hope to look them over and have them back to you by next class. Below is how the work will be scored. Note that this is different than the scoring posted on 2.4.
What will be taken into account for the grade for this unit:
in-class writing 1.21 (10 points)
in-class writing 1.28 (10 points)
stories (details to help find a focus) (10 points)
rough draft (for workshop) + final draft (70)
peer comments for classmates (25)
Total: (125 points)
What will be taken into account for the grade for this unit:
in-class writing 1.21 (10 points)
in-class writing 1.28 (10 points)
stories (details to help find a focus) (10 points)
rough draft (for workshop) + final draft (70)
peer comments for classmates (25)
Total: (125 points)
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
2.18 Workshop on literacy narrative
Noticing the difference between "Elbow feedback" and traditional teacher comments
Each of you should have received an email with feedback notes for your draft literacy narratives. At the beginning of class I asked you to take about 10 minutes to read through this feedback, and to post two kinds of observations about it.
The first kinds of observations were about the form of the feedback. What stance to the comments take? What kind of tone or voice are they written in? What was the focus of the kinds of comments it offered? how did you feel about it?
The second kinds of observations were about what that feedback did, and how it "helped" you think about revising your essay.
Features of Elbow-style feedback.
In our discussion in class, you noted that the tone was "personal," like a not or a conversation, where you, the author, were addressed as a person. The comments were observations, statements of the reader's feelings and ideas - rather than judgments of the author's (your) work. You said you were "not being attacked or judged" => which is what teacher's comments often feel like. You noted that many of the comments asked questions or gave you something to think about (expanded on something you wrote), and that these comments pointed to particular places in the text. As best I could, I meant these comments to model Elbow's pointing, summarizing, and telling (I didn't do much of the showing, but some of my more abstract discussions might have approached that).
What you saw the comments on your literacy narratives as accomplishing
The importance of getting in the habit of giving respectful, positive feedback. Before we got into a discussion of these comments, we talked about why bother learning to write feedback in this form. In your literacy narratives, one common theme was that school writing felt bad, and often the reason was connected to the relentless "suggestions" to make your writing more "correct" or better. Whether we mean to or not, many of us adopt the judgmental, faultfinding stance of our teachers when we work on revising our writing. This can make going back over a draft painful and unproductive.
By adopting the stance described by Elbow in Chapter 4, writers can talk to themselves about revising their writing in less harsh terms. We can question what is happening, wonder about how we respond and why, point to particularly effective or confusing places and be curious about what to do, and we can do this using a positive rather than a negative voice. This habit of seeing our work as something in progress that we are going to respond to in terms of what it does, rather than in terms of what is "wrong" with it - can make our relationships to writing more comfortable and positive.
After talking through the features of Elbow-style feedback, you spent the rest of class writing feedback for group-member's drafts.
Turning in + evaluation of peer feedback
We agreed that each of you would post a page (Titled "LNFeedback) to the Literacy narrative page. On that page you would write your Elbow-style feedback for each of the writers in your group. You will circulate feedback to the writers in your group through the approaches you decided on last week.
You will get credit/feedback on your comments to your classmate based on the form (needs to have the features listed in your book and above) and the content (needs to speak to the particular writing needs of the author you are writing to).
As you make your final revisions to your literacy narratives. . .
be sure to go back to the assignment sheet and re-read the criteria for the grade. In general as I reviewed your literacy narratives, I noticed that almost every writer had an overall focus (attention to how in particular they grew as a writer) but in most cases this focus needed 1) to be stated more directly, and 2) to be tied more closely to the stories used to develop it.
My notes on what to say to the class as a whole on how to work on their literacy narratives were:
3. Make more direct, explicit connections between the stories and your overall focus = more reflections on what the stories show with respect to the focus=> to state how the story develops/connects to the overall focus (what point does it make).
Thank you for writing such fabulous drafts! They were a pleasure to read!
For next class:
Read: Introduction, Chapters 1 Elbow review; read Chapter 2
Write: 1) Post to your site the final literacy narrative, along with the rough draft & "Elbow-style" comments for your group.
2) observations about your writing process (the kind of reflective observations we worked on in class last week - but for writing projects/processes other than the literacy narrative) => you need enough material so that you can do the practice analysis in class on 2.25
Each of you should have received an email with feedback notes for your draft literacy narratives. At the beginning of class I asked you to take about 10 minutes to read through this feedback, and to post two kinds of observations about it.
The first kinds of observations were about the form of the feedback. What stance to the comments take? What kind of tone or voice are they written in? What was the focus of the kinds of comments it offered? how did you feel about it?
The second kinds of observations were about what that feedback did, and how it "helped" you think about revising your essay.
Features of Elbow-style feedback.
In our discussion in class, you noted that the tone was "personal," like a not or a conversation, where you, the author, were addressed as a person. The comments were observations, statements of the reader's feelings and ideas - rather than judgments of the author's (your) work. You said you were "not being attacked or judged" => which is what teacher's comments often feel like. You noted that many of the comments asked questions or gave you something to think about (expanded on something you wrote), and that these comments pointed to particular places in the text. As best I could, I meant these comments to model Elbow's pointing, summarizing, and telling (I didn't do much of the showing, but some of my more abstract discussions might have approached that).
What you saw the comments on your literacy narratives as accomplishing
- pointing out the need for development (through asking questions, pointing to places of confusion)
- observing/suggesting patterns in your writing (summarizing what I got out of your writing/pointing to places I got it, telling what I thought it meant/showed)
- flippping or questioning conclusions (through telling about feelings + ideas in me as a reader)
- validation of your ideas for what you need to work on (through noticing that my response was similar to yours => so you have a good ground to move forward with your revising
The importance of getting in the habit of giving respectful, positive feedback. Before we got into a discussion of these comments, we talked about why bother learning to write feedback in this form. In your literacy narratives, one common theme was that school writing felt bad, and often the reason was connected to the relentless "suggestions" to make your writing more "correct" or better. Whether we mean to or not, many of us adopt the judgmental, faultfinding stance of our teachers when we work on revising our writing. This can make going back over a draft painful and unproductive.
By adopting the stance described by Elbow in Chapter 4, writers can talk to themselves about revising their writing in less harsh terms. We can question what is happening, wonder about how we respond and why, point to particularly effective or confusing places and be curious about what to do, and we can do this using a positive rather than a negative voice. This habit of seeing our work as something in progress that we are going to respond to in terms of what it does, rather than in terms of what is "wrong" with it - can make our relationships to writing more comfortable and positive.
After talking through the features of Elbow-style feedback, you spent the rest of class writing feedback for group-member's drafts.
Turning in + evaluation of peer feedback
We agreed that each of you would post a page (Titled "LNFeedback) to the Literacy narrative page. On that page you would write your Elbow-style feedback for each of the writers in your group. You will circulate feedback to the writers in your group through the approaches you decided on last week.
You will get credit/feedback on your comments to your classmate based on the form (needs to have the features listed in your book and above) and the content (needs to speak to the particular writing needs of the author you are writing to).
As you make your final revisions to your literacy narratives. . .
be sure to go back to the assignment sheet and re-read the criteria for the grade. In general as I reviewed your literacy narratives, I noticed that almost every writer had an overall focus (attention to how in particular they grew as a writer) but in most cases this focus needed 1) to be stated more directly, and 2) to be tied more closely to the stories used to develop it.
My notes on what to say to the class as a whole on how to work on their literacy narratives were:
1. work on the introduction => more direct statement of what you are going to say to the reader about your development as a writer. This should not be just a general statement; it should include some indication of what the stories show about how the supporting points fit within this overall generalization.
2. Keep working on illustrating/showing your points =>more stories
3. Make more direct, explicit connections between the stories and your overall focus = more reflections on what the stories show with respect to the focus=> to state how the story develops/connects to the overall focus (what point does it make).
Thank you for writing such fabulous drafts! They were a pleasure to read!
For next class:
Read: Introduction, Chapters 1 Elbow review; read Chapter 2
Write: 1) Post to your site the final literacy narrative, along with the rough draft & "Elbow-style" comments for your group.
2) observations about your writing process (the kind of reflective observations we worked on in class last week - but for writing projects/processes other than the literacy narrative) => you need enough material so that you can do the practice analysis in class on 2.25
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
2.11 Brainstorming for process narrative + Peer groups/feedback
At the beginning of class I called your attention to the post for last week where I listed the point allocation for process/product turned in for the literacy narrative. 40% is for in-class invention, 60% is for the drafts + final narrative.
We started work today by having you do some in-class writing for the process narrative. (The prompt is pasted in at the end of this post). As you wrote we had an on-going conversation regarding your observations of and reflections on patterns in your writing process and what they might suggest about how you write.
During the second half of class we discussed Peter Elbow's suggestions for a teacherless classroom, and how to make new use of writing groups. As we talked through the points in Elbow's chapter, you got into groups, worked through the planning steps, and then began some peer work using his method.
The main idea behind Elbow's suggestions is that writers "don't need advice about changes to make" or "theories of what is good or bad writing" (p.77). What they need, according to Elbow, is for readers to say back/provide information about how their writing affects them. To this end he suggests that writers work in committed, long-term groups of about 7 people, to provide one another with exactly that kind of feedback.
In particular, he indicates that the kind of feedback writers need is about pointing, summarizing, telling, and showing (see the headings in Chapter 4). That is, readers provide writers information about: 1) what gets their attention and drew them in (and what doesn't makes sense or connect) by pointing to particular words and phrases; 2) what they hear their writing as saying (summarizing what the "get" as a whole, and by parts); 3) by telling the writer how they felt, what when through their head, what they thought as they read the piece; 4) and by "showing" responses to writing (see p. 90 for showing, which is a little harder to grasp than the first three kinds of feedback
Our class now has 3 writers groups.
Maria, Heloiza, Ally, Brittany P, and Elena
Jo-Sette, Julia, Brittany T, Celena, and Aaron
Melissa, Alleli, Eve, Mody and Meghan
I will be forwarding a group email, with everyone in each group cc'd, so you can all be in touch.
Each group decided on role (facilitator, timekeeper, and reporter), and worked out a protocol for sharing their work so that group members have access to each other's writing. We then spent the rest of class "practicing" providing feedback to what you have written so far for the literacy narrative.
In the (very quick) say-back after this practice using Elbow's method, I noticed that some of you seem to want the regular kind of feedback on your literacy narratives (what to work on suggestions). That is OK if you want to do that, but remember, that the primary charge of your group is to provide one another feedback which consists of pointing, summarizing, telling and showing => feedback that gives the author a detailed idea of what readers heard in her/his writing, how they felt about it, what struck them and what was confusing, etc. Your primary role as a peer is NOT to provide suggestions (leave that to the author) but to tell the reader your response.
For next class:
Read: Elbow Introduction + Chapter 1
Write:
1) Post the process writing for composing your literacy narrative draft.
2) Post some observations about your writing process for another assignment or kind of writing that write back to the prompts (or something similar) that we wrote to in class (in this blog post)
3) Write a plan for revising your literacy narrative based on feedback from our group. If you didn't get feedback today, you may post this after class next week.
Did you cut/paste - move any sections of text from another document?
We started work today by having you do some in-class writing for the process narrative. (The prompt is pasted in at the end of this post). As you wrote we had an on-going conversation regarding your observations of and reflections on patterns in your writing process and what they might suggest about how you write.
During the second half of class we discussed Peter Elbow's suggestions for a teacherless classroom, and how to make new use of writing groups. As we talked through the points in Elbow's chapter, you got into groups, worked through the planning steps, and then began some peer work using his method.
The main idea behind Elbow's suggestions is that writers "don't need advice about changes to make" or "theories of what is good or bad writing" (p.77). What they need, according to Elbow, is for readers to say back/provide information about how their writing affects them. To this end he suggests that writers work in committed, long-term groups of about 7 people, to provide one another with exactly that kind of feedback.
In particular, he indicates that the kind of feedback writers need is about pointing, summarizing, telling, and showing (see the headings in Chapter 4). That is, readers provide writers information about: 1) what gets their attention and drew them in (and what doesn't makes sense or connect) by pointing to particular words and phrases; 2) what they hear their writing as saying (summarizing what the "get" as a whole, and by parts); 3) by telling the writer how they felt, what when through their head, what they thought as they read the piece; 4) and by "showing" responses to writing (see p. 90 for showing, which is a little harder to grasp than the first three kinds of feedback
Our class now has 3 writers groups.
Maria, Heloiza, Ally, Brittany P, and Elena
Jo-Sette, Julia, Brittany T, Celena, and Aaron
Melissa, Alleli, Eve, Mody and Meghan
I will be forwarding a group email, with everyone in each group cc'd, so you can all be in touch.
Each group decided on role (facilitator, timekeeper, and reporter), and worked out a protocol for sharing their work so that group members have access to each other's writing. We then spent the rest of class "practicing" providing feedback to what you have written so far for the literacy narrative.
In the (very quick) say-back after this practice using Elbow's method, I noticed that some of you seem to want the regular kind of feedback on your literacy narratives (what to work on suggestions). That is OK if you want to do that, but remember, that the primary charge of your group is to provide one another feedback which consists of pointing, summarizing, telling and showing => feedback that gives the author a detailed idea of what readers heard in her/his writing, how they felt about it, what struck them and what was confusing, etc. Your primary role as a peer is NOT to provide suggestions (leave that to the author) but to tell the reader your response.
For next class:
Read: Elbow Introduction + Chapter 1
Write:
1) Post the process writing for composing your literacy narrative draft.
2) Post some observations about your writing process for another assignment or kind of writing that write back to the prompts (or something similar) that we wrote to in class (in this blog post)
3) Write a plan for revising your literacy narrative based on feedback from our group. If you didn't get feedback today, you may post this after class next week.
Did you compose this draft in more than one sitting? Describe each “session” (in so far as you can) in terms of:
Where were you when you wrote? Describe the setting.
What technologies did you use to write?
Did you use information/ideas from a previous session? Where did they come from? How did you access them as you work writing this time (for example: from memory, re-read note, worked on same text/draft. ..)
Describe your process - from beginning to end, in as much detail as you can remember it.
For the invention process
For the drafting process:
What did you expect to do in this session?
What did you end up accomplishing?
Which sections came most easily? Describe the writing process for these.
What did you end up accomplishing?
Which sections came most easily? Describe the writing process for these.
Which sections were hardest? Describe the writing process for these?
What parts did you write first?
What parts did you write last?
Are there any sections of this draft that you deleted? Rearranged? Changed the wording for in a major way: Describe.
Did you write rapidly in some places and sit and “think” for others? Describe places that came easily + places that were “hard”?
In what places did you spend the most time?
Did you take time to “brainstorm” or think about what to add for any section in this document? More than one? Describe.
Were there interruptions? (talking to friends, selecting playlists, phone calls, etc) => how did they affect the flow of your writing?
Did you cut/paste - move any sections of text from another document?
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
2.4 Writing and culture, and more work on literacy narratives
Brainstorming/invention for Literacy narrative. You each should have received some comments/feedback for the writing you have posted so far at your portfolio for the literacy narrative, and for the process narrative. Writing to the prompts is part of the assignment (you get credit for them); they engage a process for writing which may be new to you, and which it is one goal of this course to teach. If you are behind in these posts, you have time to catch up and receive credit, though I may not get a chance to give feedback. The literacy narrative will be graded as follows:
in-class writing 1.21 (10 points)
in-class writing 1.28 (10 points)
stories (details to help find a focus) (20 points)
rough draft (for workshop) + final draft (with substantive revisions; you must turn in both drafts) (60 points)
Total: 100 points
Identifying what makes a "good" literacy narrative.
We spent the first part (most of) class reviewing the sample literacy narratives in light of the guidelines we developed from the assignment sheet. (see below)
Guide for thinking about what to work on/how to give feedback for literacy narratives
1. Audience/genre features (15%)
Should be in first person, set up a focus in the intro + come back to that focus in the conclusion: present a series of stories to make a point; make reflective generalizations based on the stories that create a focus.
2. Focus (25%) : clear statement at the outset, stories/examples should reflect that focus; each "point" /paragraph should connect to the focus in a different way;
3. Development (25%): includes detailed, particular stories or examples that "show" how the points related to the focus work; stories /examples should be relevant to the focus and there should be a range of stories so that each story develops the focus in a different way.
4. Organization (25%) : should reflect the focus and its components
should move between specific examples/stories and general, reflective statements which connect back to the focus. May be chronological but does not have to be
introduction (set up focus); body (develop focus through a series of points; and a conclusion which relates back to the focus, draws the paper together and brings it to a conclusion.
Internal organization of paragraphs: set up, development, transition to next point/reflection on focus.
5. Correctness (10%): not so many grammatical/spelling errors as to confuse meaning or distract from reading.
After we talked through the rubric/guidelines, you worked in groups to identify the strengths & weaknesses of the sample literacy narratives, and to make suggestions for what the authors should work on. You did a great job on these!
Cultural assumptions, values and beliefs (about writing) McCool.
During the last half hour of class we did a very rushed job talking through the McCool essays. He categorizes the different cultural assumptions associated with tolerance and intolerance for uncertainty. We reviewed the reading by looking at the "charts" where he sums up how tolerance for uncertaintly v intolerance for uncertainty cultures dealt with social relations (p.23); communication (p. 30); rules (p. 34); and time (p. 40). In general, he used United States (Western) culture's preferences for individualism, equality, particular (rather than theoretical) legal systems and so on as an example of a tolerance for uncertainty (diversity + difference) culture, and Eastern and some European cultures as examples of more socially centered value systems, less "literal" relationships fo language, and more theoretical relationships to laws. As we talked through these different postions, I asked you to think about where you placed yourself within these value systems.
We didn't really get a chance to talk through the section about language and culture, but rather I suggested that you think about your language values through reflecting on the following questions posed by McCool's discussion.
1. Do you believe words "mean what they say"? Are words "accurate" or metaphoric? Can words say all that we mean?
2. How much does context influence meaning?
3. What is your idea of "good" writing: writing that is simple, direct, and concise? or writing that is ambiguous, round-about, and an expression of a meaning that implies more than what is on the page?
4. What role do you feel emotion plays in writing?
5. How "positive" is your writing? Do you generally express ideas in terms of positive language constructions (This essay needs stronger organization) or negative constructions (This essay is badly organized).
Your answers to these questions suggest something about the (often unconscious) assumptions, values, and beliefs that will shape the way you communicate. It is important to reflect on these predispositions, both so that you can "hear" what others might say with out immediately (unconsciously) judging it as wrong; and so that you can present your ideas in language that individuals different from you will understand & relate to.
For next class:
Read: Elbow, Chapter 4, (this is the chapter on working in groups on writing)
Write: 1) post any pre-writing you want to add to your literacy narrative page; 2) post any observations/detailed descriptions of your writing process you want to add as "data" to the process narrative page; 3) post your draft literacy narrative.
The draft literacy narrative does NOT need to be perfect. Don't spend a lot of time crafting the sentences. You work here is to work on setting up a focus, using the right kind of "stories" to develop that focus, and thinking about the overall organization.
Thanks for the good discussion in class and I'm looking forward to reading your literacy narratives!
in-class writing 1.21 (10 points)
in-class writing 1.28 (10 points)
stories (details to help find a focus) (20 points)
rough draft (for workshop) + final draft (with substantive revisions; you must turn in both drafts) (60 points)
Total: 100 points
Identifying what makes a "good" literacy narrative.
We spent the first part (most of) class reviewing the sample literacy narratives in light of the guidelines we developed from the assignment sheet. (see below)
Guide for thinking about what to work on/how to give feedback for literacy narratives
1. Audience/genre features (15%)
Should be in first person, set up a focus in the intro + come back to that focus in the conclusion: present a series of stories to make a point; make reflective generalizations based on the stories that create a focus.
2. Focus (25%) : clear statement at the outset, stories/examples should reflect that focus; each "point" /paragraph should connect to the focus in a different way;
3. Development (25%): includes detailed, particular stories or examples that "show" how the points related to the focus work; stories /examples should be relevant to the focus and there should be a range of stories so that each story develops the focus in a different way.
4. Organization (25%) : should reflect the focus and its components
should move between specific examples/stories and general, reflective statements which connect back to the focus. May be chronological but does not have to be
introduction (set up focus); body (develop focus through a series of points; and a conclusion which relates back to the focus, draws the paper together and brings it to a conclusion.
Internal organization of paragraphs: set up, development, transition to next point/reflection on focus.
5. Correctness (10%): not so many grammatical/spelling errors as to confuse meaning or distract from reading.
After we talked through the rubric/guidelines, you worked in groups to identify the strengths & weaknesses of the sample literacy narratives, and to make suggestions for what the authors should work on. You did a great job on these!
Cultural assumptions, values and beliefs (about writing) McCool.
During the last half hour of class we did a very rushed job talking through the McCool essays. He categorizes the different cultural assumptions associated with tolerance and intolerance for uncertainty. We reviewed the reading by looking at the "charts" where he sums up how tolerance for uncertaintly v intolerance for uncertainty cultures dealt with social relations (p.23); communication (p. 30); rules (p. 34); and time (p. 40). In general, he used United States (Western) culture's preferences for individualism, equality, particular (rather than theoretical) legal systems and so on as an example of a tolerance for uncertainty (diversity + difference) culture, and Eastern and some European cultures as examples of more socially centered value systems, less "literal" relationships fo language, and more theoretical relationships to laws. As we talked through these different postions, I asked you to think about where you placed yourself within these value systems.
We didn't really get a chance to talk through the section about language and culture, but rather I suggested that you think about your language values through reflecting on the following questions posed by McCool's discussion.
1. Do you believe words "mean what they say"? Are words "accurate" or metaphoric? Can words say all that we mean?
2. How much does context influence meaning?
3. What is your idea of "good" writing: writing that is simple, direct, and concise? or writing that is ambiguous, round-about, and an expression of a meaning that implies more than what is on the page?
4. What role do you feel emotion plays in writing?
5. How "positive" is your writing? Do you generally express ideas in terms of positive language constructions (This essay needs stronger organization) or negative constructions (This essay is badly organized).
Your answers to these questions suggest something about the (often unconscious) assumptions, values, and beliefs that will shape the way you communicate. It is important to reflect on these predispositions, both so that you can "hear" what others might say with out immediately (unconsciously) judging it as wrong; and so that you can present your ideas in language that individuals different from you will understand & relate to.
For next class:
Read: Elbow, Chapter 4, (this is the chapter on working in groups on writing)
Write: 1) post any pre-writing you want to add to your literacy narrative page; 2) post any observations/detailed descriptions of your writing process you want to add as "data" to the process narrative page; 3) post your draft literacy narrative.
The draft literacy narrative does NOT need to be perfect. Don't spend a lot of time crafting the sentences. You work here is to work on setting up a focus, using the right kind of "stories" to develop that focus, and thinking about the overall organization.
Thanks for the good discussion in class and I'm looking forward to reading your literacy narratives!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
1.28 Characterization of technologies + literacies
We started class by reviewing how to use the blog, making sure everyone had access to the Course readings, and commenting on using the homework to work on the major assignments for the course. Sounds like you are all getting on track, and from checking through your portfolio posts, this looks like are going to have lots of interesting stories to read.
"Pencils to Pixels"
We then spent some time talking about "From Pencils to Pixels, " Baron's essay on technologies + literacies.
First we talked a little about what Baron means by technology. If technology means the use of tools, analytic/applied knowledge to DO something => then Baron uses the term technology to refer to the inventions/systems/ applied ideas we use to communicate.
In a nutshell, Baron's main points are that:
1. new communication technologies are "accepted" in terms of a general pattern which has repeated itself over the course of the development of many communication technologies, from writing to the Internet;
2. and technology choices shape the processes and products in our communications.
You then worked in groups to sum up, Section by section, how Baron develops his argument.
Overview of group reports on Baron by sections.
Introduction: computers are the next new thing - but really it's just a new technology - and the same concept as writing with a pencil = just with pixels. New communication technologies go through predictable patterns - whether or not it catches on depends on accessibility, function and authentification.
Stages of literacy technology
limited accessiblity = high cost + lack of information how to use it
introduced to public => get used to familiar functions connected to earlier technologies=> evenutally prices go down
once a reaction spreads, new technology has to be accessible + trustworthy
Humanists & technologies
writers are often looked at as individuals who are against technology = but communication technologies are central to humanist's work (talks about this through the example of the pencil)
Technology of writing
first writing technology was writing itself=>extended human development as a whole, but drawbacks were feared (weaken memory)
printing press, electric power, radio + television
development of writing itself demonstrates the paradigm (model) for the spread of writing technologies
What writing does differently
you don't know tonal
new technology has to prove itslef cues => allows languages to grow and change, ultimately affects how spoken language is used
Pencil as technology
pencil as example of patterns surrounding communication technologies=> were not designed for the purpose they eventually served
Thoreau + Telephone
same idea - people don't at first know how, where to use it = particular example of Baron's paradigm
Computers+ Conclusions
computers weren't for writing when they started out
asd evolution of technology expanded - so did fraud
became more impersonal
computer technologies brought their own set of authenticity problems
[You did a great job on this, groups!]
Characterization of literacy technologies
After discussing Baron's essay, we made a list of some of the different technologies you used for writing, and spent a little time characterizing their "features". By features, we meant descriptions of how they work, feel, & interact with others as you use them.
We spent the most time talking about talking, pencil and paper writing, word processing, and writing on the web.
We talked about each of these in terms of how they connect you to your audience, what kind of a network they put you inconnection with and how interactive that network was, the level of anonymity, the ease of authenticating communications, the "modes" the communication technology allowed you to use (writing, images, sound, motion or any combination), how you interact with/produce text using this system (the interface = keyboard-screen, camera-screen, microphone -screen-speaker, keyboard-textpage, keyboard (small)screenpage, etc). For each technology - the features are different.
At the conclusion of this discussion, you did some writing about your self by answering the following three questions:
Three questions
1. What technologies do you use/prefer to communicate with?
2. What features of the technologies influence your choices?
Features include:
1. Did you make a list, do some freewriting or make some associations (or do any kind of brainstorming which used writing) before you began to write? Describe. If you didn't use writing, describe (as near as you can) what went on inside your head as you gathered ideas.
2. As you wrote, describe the flow of your writing. Did you get stuck at any point? What did you get stuck on? What factors do you think contributed to you getting stuck? How did you get "unstuck"?
3. What kind of editing/correcting did you engage in as you wrote? Was it a disruption to the "flow" of your writing? Did some of your "edits" stop you from putting ideas on the page because they "weren't good enough" or because you werent sure about an idea or how to spell a word?
Also read Selections from Matthew McCool’s Writing Around the World: Guide to Writing Across Cultures - posted at course readings.
Write:
1) Post the writing you did for the 3 questions on the Literacy narrative page. Title the post: 1.28Name_Technologies
2) Post the writing you did for the Prompts for documenting your writing process to the Process narrative page. Title the post/document: 1.28Name_Invention
3) Throughout the week, post 3-5 short observations about the way you write using different technologies. These posts should note:
4) Continue to think about your experiences with writing. As they come to your mind, write 1-3 (depending how long and detailed they are) "stories" about experiences you had with writing. An examples of what I mean by stories are short descriptive "scenes" like in Sample Literacy Narrative1 where the writer describes herself sitting in the library, realizing that she loved reading all the books that were there and that meant someone actually wanted to write them, or when she is shown her brother's map for the book he said he would write. You don't have to know why the particular story you tell about yourself and writing is important - just go with your gut and put it out there.
Thanks for the great class today! I will check in on your posts some time before next class, just to be in touch and see how you are doing. Have a great week, and see you next Wednesday.
"Pencils to Pixels"
We then spent some time talking about "From Pencils to Pixels, " Baron's essay on technologies + literacies.
First we talked a little about what Baron means by technology. If technology means the use of tools, analytic/applied knowledge to DO something => then Baron uses the term technology to refer to the inventions/systems/ applied ideas we use to communicate.
In a nutshell, Baron's main points are that:
1. new communication technologies are "accepted" in terms of a general pattern which has repeated itself over the course of the development of many communication technologies, from writing to the Internet;
2. and technology choices shape the processes and products in our communications.
You then worked in groups to sum up, Section by section, how Baron develops his argument.
Overview of group reports on Baron by sections.
Introduction: computers are the next new thing - but really it's just a new technology - and the same concept as writing with a pencil = just with pixels. New communication technologies go through predictable patterns - whether or not it catches on depends on accessibility, function and authentification.
Stages of literacy technology
limited accessiblity = high cost + lack of information how to use it
introduced to public => get used to familiar functions connected to earlier technologies=> evenutally prices go down
once a reaction spreads, new technology has to be accessible + trustworthy
Humanists & technologies
writers are often looked at as individuals who are against technology = but communication technologies are central to humanist's work (talks about this through the example of the pencil)
Technology of writing
first writing technology was writing itself=>extended human development as a whole, but drawbacks were feared (weaken memory)
printing press, electric power, radio + television
development of writing itself demonstrates the paradigm (model) for the spread of writing technologies
What writing does differently
you don't know tonal
new technology has to prove itslef cues => allows languages to grow and change, ultimately affects how spoken language is used
Pencil as technology
pencil as example of patterns surrounding communication technologies=> were not designed for the purpose they eventually served
Thoreau + Telephone
same idea - people don't at first know how, where to use it = particular example of Baron's paradigm
Computers+ Conclusions
computers weren't for writing when they started out
asd evolution of technology expanded - so did fraud
became more impersonal
computer technologies brought their own set of authenticity problems
[You did a great job on this, groups!]
Characterization of literacy technologies
After discussing Baron's essay, we made a list of some of the different technologies you used for writing, and spent a little time characterizing their "features". By features, we meant descriptions of how they work, feel, & interact with others as you use them.
We spent the most time talking about talking, pencil and paper writing, word processing, and writing on the web.
We talked about each of these in terms of how they connect you to your audience, what kind of a network they put you inconnection with and how interactive that network was, the level of anonymity, the ease of authenticating communications, the "modes" the communication technology allowed you to use (writing, images, sound, motion or any combination), how you interact with/produce text using this system (the interface = keyboard-screen, camera-screen, microphone -screen-speaker, keyboard-textpage, keyboard (small)screenpage, etc). For each technology - the features are different.
At the conclusion of this discussion, you did some writing about your self by answering the following three questions:
Three questions
1. What technologies do you use/prefer to communicate with?
2. What features of the technologies influence your choices?
Features include:
- relationship to audience (present, dispersed, unknown, etc);
- modes for representation (images, sounds, text, motion);
- distribution: (immediate and with everyone - like participating on forums, slow and only with a particular audience - like snailmail; immediate with defined audience (but easy to copy/forward) - like email; intimate + immediate - like texting)
- interactivity
- level of anonymity
- interface features
3. Which technologies do you use for what purposes? Why? (these answers might connect to the features of the technologies).
Process narrative
During the last part of class, I introduced the process narrative (the assignment sheet is posted to the right) by asking you to do some writing to "document" your "habits" for brainstorming. You did this documentation by writing down some observations about how you did the writing for the 3 questions above. Using the prompts listed below, you noted whether you wrote in paragraphs, in a list, or in random comments; how (or whether) you "organized" your writing, whether (and why) you chose to "freewrite"; how the writing flowed; whether (and when) you stopped to proofread or re-organize, and so on. From your comments in class - it sounded like you were all writing down exactly the right kinds of observations - and they were very interesting! It is always so amazing to me how we all think and write so differently!
Prompts for documenting your writing process.
Describe what you did the in-class writing for the literacy narrative assignment.1. Did you make a list, do some freewriting or make some associations (or do any kind of brainstorming which used writing) before you began to write? Describe. If you didn't use writing, describe (as near as you can) what went on inside your head as you gathered ideas.
2. As you wrote, describe the flow of your writing. Did you get stuck at any point? What did you get stuck on? What factors do you think contributed to you getting stuck? How did you get "unstuck"?
3. What kind of editing/correcting did you engage in as you wrote? Was it a disruption to the "flow" of your writing? Did some of your "edits" stop you from putting ideas on the page because they "weren't good enough" or because you werent sure about an idea or how to spell a word?
After you did this "documentation" - we took a quick look at the process narrative assignment sheet, just so you would have an idea of the purpose for this assignment, as well as "the big picture" for what you will be doing. If it felt a little overwhelming, that's OK, we will be coming back to the assignment sheet lots of times, so hopefully the idea will become more and more clear as we continue to work on it.
For next class
Read: We didn't get to the sample literacy narratives, so review them for next week. We will be reading Sample Literacy Narratives 1, 2 & 4. These are essays written for the same assignment you will be writing. We will examine them both as "models" for how to write this assignment, and for practice thinking about how to revise/write a stronger assignment.Also read Selections from Matthew McCool’s Writing Around the World: Guide to Writing Across Cultures - posted at course readings.
Write:
1) Post the writing you did for the 3 questions on the Literacy narrative page. Title the post: 1.28Name_Technologies
2) Post the writing you did for the Prompts for documenting your writing process to the Process narrative page. Title the post/document: 1.28Name_Invention
3) Throughout the week, post 3-5 short observations about the way you write using different technologies. These posts should note:
- when/why you are writing,
- what technology you are using,
- the purpose of your writing,
- and HOW you write.
4) Continue to think about your experiences with writing. As they come to your mind, write 1-3 (depending how long and detailed they are) "stories" about experiences you had with writing. An examples of what I mean by stories are short descriptive "scenes" like in Sample Literacy Narrative1 where the writer describes herself sitting in the library, realizing that she loved reading all the books that were there and that meant someone actually wanted to write them, or when she is shown her brother's map for the book he said he would write. You don't have to know why the particular story you tell about yourself and writing is important - just go with your gut and put it out there.
Thanks for the great class today! I will check in on your posts some time before next class, just to be in touch and see how you are doing. Have a great week, and see you next Wednesday.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
1.21 Overview of ENG 2020 and Literacy Narrative
NOTE: I havesent the permissions for the 2020 Reading List. If you can not access the readings at the link to the right, send me an email and I will see what I can do.
Today we mostly focused on introductions - to course content, to the course infrastructure, and to each other.
Attendance: Your attendance is recorded in the sign-in book, on the desk at the front of the class. Be sure to sign in every day when you come in. I will help with reminders for the first couple of weeks - but it is your responsibility to sign in.
Syllabus & Calendar. We went over the syllabus (up through the discussion of grades). I did not cover the course practices or the general information about Kean. The syllabus is regarded as a contract, so it is important for you to read these sections and make sure you understand and are willing to go along with them. Also, I gave a general indication of the overall sequence of the course set forward on the calendar. One more thing about the calendar. Sometimes the way it is written confuses students so I am going to go over it here. Below is entry for today. The text in red is what we will do IN CLASS on the day beneath the date. E.G. => today we did introductions, you looked at the LN assignment, created your portfolio, and did some writing for the LN assignment.
Posted next to Read and Writing homework is what I planned to assign for the assignmnets for next class (that is, it is the homework assigned on Jan 21, due on Jan 28). These assignments are not always what you end up being assigned. You need to check this blog for the ACTUAL assignment.
We pointed out that thinking about discourse and discourse communities is about 'belonging' - about "acting like/talking like" someone from a particular region ( New Yorkers, Midwesterners, Southerners), generation (teens, profession (musicians, hs teachers, athletes, etc), and so on. It is important to be careful not to lapse into stereotyping - or simplistic thinking that assumes EVERYONE from a particular group is the same, still, it is useful to notice that different groups DO have different assumptions, values and beliefs which affect the way they relate to reading and writing.
Today we mostly focused on introductions - to course content, to the course infrastructure, and to each other.
Attendance: Your attendance is recorded in the sign-in book, on the desk at the front of the class. Be sure to sign in every day when you come in. I will help with reminders for the first couple of weeks - but it is your responsibility to sign in.
Syllabus & Calendar. We went over the syllabus (up through the discussion of grades). I did not cover the course practices or the general information about Kean. The syllabus is regarded as a contract, so it is important for you to read these sections and make sure you understand and are willing to go along with them. Also, I gave a general indication of the overall sequence of the course set forward on the calendar. One more thing about the calendar. Sometimes the way it is written confuses students so I am going to go over it here. Below is entry for today. The text in red is what we will do IN CLASS on the day beneath the date. E.G. => today we did introductions, you looked at the LN assignment, created your portfolio, and did some writing for the LN assignment.
Posted next to Read and Writing homework is what I planned to assign for the assignmnets for next class (that is, it is the homework assigned on Jan 21, due on Jan 28). These assignments are not always what you end up being assigned. You need to check this blog for the ACTUAL assignment.
W Jan 21
Introductions: course site, syllabus + calendar
Journal prompt: who are you as a writer?
Presentation on Literacy narrative + paying attention to writing process
Journal prompt: your earliest experiences with writing
Create portfolio
Journal prompt: who are you as a writer?
Presentation on Literacy narrative + paying attention to writing process
Journal prompt: your earliest experiences with writing
Create portfolio
Read: literacy narrative samples, Dennis Baron, “From Pencils to Pixels” http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/pencils.htm
Writing homework: observe your writing process for the literacy narrative paper - write your observations in your writing journal; describe where you write, other "parallel" activites (listening to music? - does it interrupt you? how often? does it help you focus? how?)
Portfolio. You did a great job creating your portfolios. I have a working link for a site for everyone in class (well done!) The portfolio is where you will post most of your work for the course. You will not be turning in any writing on paper for this course.
Literacy narrative assignment. We talked through the purpose, description, and criteria for the Literacy Narrative. We spent some time talking about cultural discourses which shape or contribute to our relationship to writing, and we talked about discourse communities as the groups of people who share the cultural discourses which affect our assumptions, values, and beliefs about writing and just about everything else. If you didn't get the definition of "discourse" and "discourse community" down from that introduction, that's OK => we will be defining/re-defining/talking about what cultural discourses are and how they works for the rest of the term. Meanwhile, if you are interested, some places to read a little more, the Wikipedia entry for discourse community, and for refers to some of the major writing studies and linguistic scholars who write about discourse communities, and Matthew McCool’s Writing Around the World: Guide to Writing Across Cultures, the homework reading assignment that you will be assigned on January 28 (though it doesn't mention discourse communities per se) refers to many of the ideas we were talking about today when we described how discourse communities could be identified by the way the talked, acted, their belief systems, even sometimes the way they dressed.
We pointed out that thinking about discourse and discourse communities is about 'belonging' - about "acting like/talking like" someone from a particular region ( New Yorkers, Midwesterners, Southerners), generation (teens, profession (musicians, hs teachers, athletes, etc), and so on. It is important to be careful not to lapse into stereotyping - or simplistic thinking that assumes EVERYONE from a particular group is the same, still, it is useful to notice that different groups DO have different assumptions, values and beliefs which affect the way they relate to reading and writing.
After we read through the assignment, you did some writing to a series of "big categories - how you feel about writing" prompts. I asked you to write about how you felt about:
- writing for school,
- early experiences learning to write at school,
- early experiences writing with your family,
- experiences writing with friends when you were little,
- writing with friends (especially around middle school) - as you started to establish your own identity
- writing for your self, and about
- writing for your work/vocation.
I think that is approximately the order & focus of the prompts, more or less. You posted this writing to the literacy narrative page of your portfolio - either pasted in to the page, or as an attachment. Either way, you labeled it with the date and marked it as in-class or brainstorming writing.
For next class:
Read: literacy narrative samples 1, 2 & 4 (posted at course library)
Dennis Baron, “From Pencils to Pixels” http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/pencils.htm
Write: Do some writing that will provide you with material to work with for your literacy narrative. You can do this by writing to your choice of prompts listed on the first page of the assignment sheet, or you can expand on writing you did in class (where you wrote quick responses for the categories listed above).
Which ever approach you take, you should quickly (not worrying about complete sentences or making a completely coherent story) - with as many details as you can remember about the experience you are describing. Length: about a page or two - enought to have some "examples" to work with in class. Post the writing on the portfolio page for your literacy narrative, either by pasting it in, or attaching it. If you have questions, let me know.
Again - this is NOT polished writing. Do not waste time making it perfect. You are looking for ideas/patterns/details that you have forgotten and you are using writing to help you remember and organize what you can remember about past experiences with writing.
Good class today! Thank you for your patience with the technology glitches.
1.21 First day of class
This is the course blog. It is the place to check on and keep track of what we do in class. It is also a "file cabinet" for documents (assignment sheets, readings, protocols, the syllabus and calendar) - and a clearinghouse for links to useful sites.
As you can see - this blog takes up where my last ENG 2020 course left off. There have been some revisions since the last time I thaught this course - but browsing back through posts will give you a feel for what we will do.
ENG 2020 is the introduction to the writing major, and it is standardized - which means that all sections of the course cover the same material.
I'm looking forward to getting to know you, and to reading your writing!
As you can see - this blog takes up where my last ENG 2020 course left off. There have been some revisions since the last time I thaught this course - but browsing back through posts will give you a feel for what we will do.
ENG 2020 is the introduction to the writing major, and it is standardized - which means that all sections of the course cover the same material.
I'm looking forward to getting to know you, and to reading your writing!
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