Week 1/Day 2—Wednesday, August 27
Homework Due:
· Purchase your Joining the Conversation (JtC) textbook and read the following:
o pgs 4-11 the “Why Think of Writing as a Conversation?” section, and be ready to answer the question.
o pgs 50-66 the sections: “How Can I Read Critically,” “What Strategies Can I use to Read Actively?,” and “How Can I Take Notes.” You will use this information to critically read Driscoll’s piece (see next bullet).
· Purchase your Ethics in Higher Education: A Reader for Writers (EHE). Read and annotate the following:
o pgs 1-4 the Introduction: As you read, try to get a sense of the course theme.
o pgs 51- 54 “Higher Education Trends to Watch for in 2013” by Emily Driscoll. (Really practice your critical reading strategies from the JTC pgs 50-66 while reading this piece. Be ready to discuss which strategy you used and why it worked for you).
**We’ll be discussing texts from the reader almost every day, particularly during the first part of the semester, so bring your books to class every day even if no readings were assigned.
· Use instructions to log on to create a Writing Studio account at http://writing.colostate.edu. Once there, review the class syllabus to remind yourself of course policies and expectations. E-mail me with any questions or concerns.
· Compose your first forum entry. DUE ____(ex: Friday at 9:00pm )______. Prompt is listed as Forum #1: My Writing Identity and Expectations for CO150.
Lesson Objectives
· Introduce students to the course theme: Ethics in Higher Education
· Develop effective annotation and close reading strategies, specifically summary skills
· Introduction to the rhetorical situation and critical reading
Connection to Course Goals
Today’s class introduces students to the course theme, and helps students see how vast this theme truly is. It also establishes a sense for how writing is like a conversation, with many points of intersection AND many points of controversy, which allows us to find many ways in which to enter these conversations. Today’s lesson emphasizes skills necessary for close reading (summary skills and effective annotation practices). It also introduces students to the rhetorical situation and critical reading skills (which will be expounded upon in upcoming lessons—today’s is a brief introduction).
Prep
· Review the assigned homework pages from the JTC (about Writing as conversation and annotation/close reading skills)
· Carefully read (and make notes about, including a key point summary [one can be accessed in the appendix, but it would be good practice to do your own]) Emily Driscoll’s “Higher Education Trends to Watch for in 2013”
· Carefully read and understand Gerald Graff’s “An Argument Worth Having” (link found in the appendix)—understand how the short article fits with the idea of writing as a conversation.
· Carefully review all your notes
· Write your own version of the day’s lesson plan (as it makes most sense to you)
· Preview the first forum post about writing identities and expectations for CO150—it may not be due yet, but you can start to get a sense of who your students are. Also, make plans for how you will assign points for forum posts.
· ASK QUESTIONS of the Composition Faculty—we’re here to help you!!!!
Materials
· Notes about Course Theme
· Copies of Gerald Graff’s “An Argument Worth Having” (available in the appendix)—or, if you want to save copies, just put this up as an overhead document.
· EHE (to walk through the organization of the text with students)
· Notes about active reading (annotating) AND notes about writing effective summaries
· Notes about the Rhetorical Situation
· Overheads:
o Conversation Model
o WTL overhead (to guide discussion of Driscoll AND of course theme in general)
o Summary Outline (blank OR one for Graff)
o Your version of Driscoll’s Summary Outline (one is done in the appendix, but using your own is better practice)
o Rhetorical Situation overhead (or, you can draw this on the board)
Lead-in
For today’s class, some students have thought about their identities as writers and expressed their expectations of CO150, which will be beneficial to them at the end of the semester as they rhetorically analyze each other’s journey through the course. It’s not uncommon to have a few students come to class the second day without having done the homework, or for new students to show up who won’t have contacted you about what work they should do before appearing. Unprepared students will be able to catch up without too much floundering, but dissuade them from trying to do so at the beginning of class. Have them come to your office hours (or, reserve a few moments after class if time allows). Arrange a way to help students with any problems (couldn’t get Writing Studio up and running, bought the wrong textbook, etc…) It’s wise to plan a Write-to-Learn (WTL) or have some other means of holding students accountable for the reading assignments. For this class, you might want to explain the way students WILL be held accountable and, even, begin developing this habit for learning. Remind students of the upcoming limited add/drop policy deadlines. Refer them to the yellow sheet you handed out on the first day.
Note: The following may be used as an overhead/explanation for when introducing WTLs later in the less: “Write-to-Learn (WTL) is a short writing exercise intended to help you collect your thoughts, start a discussion, or reflect on an assignment. The intention of WTLs is to hold you accountable for assigned reading, but they also allow for more reflective thinking about concepts from class.”
ACTIVITIES:
Before Class (5 minutes)
If you arrive to class a few minutes early, write the “agenda” on the board. A brief list of today’s activities could go something like:
· Conversation Model and Graff
· Discussion of Driscoll
· Intro to course theme
· Annotation/Close Reading Strategies
· Rhetorical Situation/Critical Reading
Tip: An agenda on the board may at first seem too structured to allow for flexibility in the classroom, but they are incredibly beneficial for your students. Giving students a clear view of what they are to cover in the day’s class helps them sustain focus and make the kind of class-to-class connections we want them to make. If you keep your agenda broad, there will still be plenty of room for flexibility.
Tip: Some instructors put the homework due on the board (either in addition to an agenda or sometimes as a replacement). Any way to help students maintain focus on the course is a good strategy—just be sure to make whatever you adopt a reliable, consistent routine.
Welcome Back and Attendance (2 minutes)
Take care of any remaining registrations issues (such as new students or students absent on the first day—in order to save time, inform students of an appropriate time/place to take care of these issues). Be sure to note which students are absent. You might take attendance by asking each student to describe one thing he or she remembers about a classmate from the getting-to-know-you activity last time.
Tip: It can be really engaging to “call roll” with an activity (such as recall something from last time). Just be sure that the activity has some connection to the course goals or the day’s lesson. For example, don’t do something like “name your favorite Disney movie” unless you happen to be focusing upon Disney movies in the day’s lesson.
Transition: On Monday we were introduced to the course, and we emphasized writing as a conversation. We can also see that this idea isn’t unique to our classroom—it’s actually a wide-spread idea. This can further explain why a class like this matters.
Read Gerald Graff’s “An Argument Worth Having” (5 minutes)
This article is a good piece to briefly discuss with first-year students. Not only does it offer some tangible ways for students to succeed in academia, it also somewhat mimics what CO150 is all about. In particular, emphasize the following points in the article, tying it to our CO150 goals and to the idea that Writing is like a Conversation:
· “Summarize what others are saying”
o This is what we do in CO150 when we ask students to read CLOSELY and to “LISTEN” to the conversation. Put the graphic representation of the conversation model overhead up on the board at this time and point it out graphically.
· “As you summarize, look not only for the thesis of an argument, but for who or what provoked it — the points of controversy”
o This is what we do in CO150 when we ask our students to read CRITICALLY, to identify the rhetorical situation in which the text exists. It is the second “step” in the conversation model graphic. Emphasize the part about the “points of controversy” and how identifying these will help to better understand how to become part of the conversation.
· “Use summaries to motivate what you say and indicate why it needs saying”
o This is what the conversation model refers to as “contributing to the conversation.” This is a perfect opportunity to explain to students that the writing they do for class will also be rhetorically situated—they WILL be asked to join in ongoing conversations, which means they will need to know WHAT is being said, WHO is saying it, HOW it is being said, WHY it is being said, and then they get to contribute WHAT ELSE needs to be said to an audience who is already invested in the conversation.
Review Conversation Model in conjunction with Graff (5 minutes):
Ask students to recall how writing is like a conversation. Many of them may pull information from the JTC reading they did for homework (pages 4-11). Others may recall the graphic of the Conversation Model you showed on the first day. There will be several “right” ways of answering this question. Give them time to think through their responses, and be encouraging about even minor suggestions. Perhaps record their responses on the board. Once you have their responses, synthesize them and put them back into the graphic representation with the following categories:
ü Listen closely to Conversation (know and understand WHAT is being said)
ü Expand the Conversation (by applying critical thinking skills, questioning, understanding who is saying these things and why they are saying them, searching for points of controversy, disagreement, uncertainty, concern, or curiosity that would allow us a way “in”)
ü Join the Conversation (offer a new contribution to the conversation that builds upon what has already been shared)
Transition: So, the first part of our Conversation Model is to LISTEN CLOSELY. While you were “listening closely” to Emily Driscoll in her article “Higher Education Trends to Watch for in 2013,” what did you hear?
Discussion of Emily Driscoll’s “Higher Education Trends to Watch For in 2013” and Introduction to Course Theme (15 minutes)
If students are reluctant to answer the question of “what did you ‘hear’ when reading this (see the transition above), you may want to contextualize it a bit more for them. Here is a possible WTL prompt that pulls in reading from the JTC, Gerald Graff’s article, and Driscoll.
WTL: In the reading out of the JTC you did for homework, it says, “Through critical reading, you can quickly recognize the questions—points of disagreement, uncertainty, concern, or curiosity—that are under discussion in a written conversation” (Palmquist 50). This connects very closely with what Graff was saying about the importance of writing a summary when he says, “As you summarize, look not only for the thesis of an argument, but for who or what provoked it—the points of controversy.” Granted, we’re still at the stage where we’re reading with the attitude of “understanding” (see the spectrum on page 50 of JTC), but given what you know about trends in Higher Education from your own experiences, where might those “points of disagreement, uncertainty, concern” arise in Driscoll’s piece? Any ideas about the potential ethical conflicts with these rising trends? What other potentially controversial things go on in Higher Education that you are aware of?
The goal of this discussion is two-fold.
ü One, it is meant to open up a discussion about the possible topics within our course theme—hence, an introduction to our course theme
ü Two, it is meant to recount WHAT was said in the article, which allows us a way to begin discussing close reading skills, in particular, summary.
The WTL will open up a variety of ways to discuss Driscoll’s text. You will want to try to categorize students’ responses: a list of WHAT happened/WHAT was said in the article, AND a list of potential ethical conflicts that arise in these rising trends. Both lists will be used during the duration of this discussion, so don’t erase either list.
In an effort to meet the first goal of the discussion (an introduction to our course theme), you will want to find a natural place in the discussion to direct students’ attention toward the course theme. For example, if the responses to the WTL are helping to create a list of “potential ethical conflicts,” you may want to be recording these ideas down on the board. After students have stopped adding to this list, step back and say something like, “what we have here is a fantastic list of topics that fall under our course theme—Ethics in Higher Education.” Then steer the discussion toward a more general discussion of the course theme. This may look like the following: