Thursday, September 30, 2004
No Blog Assignment This Week
I meant to say this in class but I forgot. As you may have noticed, there is no blog assignment this week; just concentrate on completing the thesis battle assignment as soon as possible and putting together your Unit 1 portfolio and there will be another set of prompts posted on Tuesday, October 5.
I meant to say this in class but I forgot. As you may have noticed, there is no blog assignment this week; just concentrate on completing the thesis battle assignment as soon as possible and putting together your Unit 1 portfolio and there will be another set of prompts posted on Tuesday, October 5.
The Paramedic Method
1. Circle the prepositions.
2. Circle the “is” forms.
3. Ask “where is the action?” “who’s kicking who?”
4. Put this “kicking” action into a simple (not compound) active verb.
5. Start fast – no slow windups
6. Write out each sentence on a blank sheet of paper and mark off its basic rhythmic unit with a “/”.
7. Mark off sentence length in the passage with a big “/” between sentences.
8. Read the passage aloud with emphasis and feeling.
1. Circle the prepositions.
2. Circle the “is” forms.
3. Ask “where is the action?” “who’s kicking who?”
4. Put this “kicking” action into a simple (not compound) active verb.
5. Start fast – no slow windups
6. Write out each sentence on a blank sheet of paper and mark off its basic rhythmic unit with a “/”.
7. Mark off sentence length in the passage with a big “/” between sentences.
8. Read the passage aloud with emphasis and feeling.
Draft Workshops
One of the nice things about conducting our draft workshops online is that these exchanges become public documents that everyone can benefit from. So, I thought I would note a few posts by members of your class that you should look at as model draft workshop forms.
Richard and Tom had a particularly good exchange with their feeder one assignments. Look at this post and note Richard's example to the second question. While he might have just given the one-word answer "yes" (which wouldn't have scored him any points on the third bullet point of the unit one grading rubric), instead he explained the reasoning behind his opinion that Tom's paper does, indeed, have an unbiased tone. Remember, it's often just as important to specifically point out what a paper does well as it is to criticize it.
You'll also want to note this post, in particular Tom's answer to question three. Note how Tom has actually pulled phrases from the paper that he believes contribute to the inappropriate level of bias. Now Richard can go back to his paper and evaluate these specific phrases rather than having to guess about which parts Tom thought were biased.
In addition, I encourage you to use your blogs' comment features. If you want some clarification on any of your workshop partner's posts or if you disagree with some of his or her opinions then post a comment. As those of you who have visited the Writing Center and come in to my office for appointments probably realize, a dialogue is almost always more constructive and fruitful than a monologue.
One of the nice things about conducting our draft workshops online is that these exchanges become public documents that everyone can benefit from. So, I thought I would note a few posts by members of your class that you should look at as model draft workshop forms.
Richard and Tom had a particularly good exchange with their feeder one assignments. Look at this post and note Richard's example to the second question. While he might have just given the one-word answer "yes" (which wouldn't have scored him any points on the third bullet point of the unit one grading rubric), instead he explained the reasoning behind his opinion that Tom's paper does, indeed, have an unbiased tone. Remember, it's often just as important to specifically point out what a paper does well as it is to criticize it.
You'll also want to note this post, in particular Tom's answer to question three. Note how Tom has actually pulled phrases from the paper that he believes contribute to the inappropriate level of bias. Now Richard can go back to his paper and evaluate these specific phrases rather than having to guess about which parts Tom thought were biased.
In addition, I encourage you to use your blogs' comment features. If you want some clarification on any of your workshop partner's posts or if you disagree with some of his or her opinions then post a comment. As those of you who have visited the Writing Center and come in to my office for appointments probably realize, a dialogue is almost always more constructive and fruitful than a monologue.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Editing Workshop Thursday
Just a reminder, on Thursday instead of having a regular draft workshop we will have an editing workshop. So, instead of bringing one of your unit 2 papers, please bring the unit 1 paper (either the unit project or on of the two feeders) that you feel is closest to being done. The workshop we will do Thursday will be about putting a final polish on the paper's language, so try to bring a paper (or at least a chunk of a paper) that you feel is not going to need any more substantial revision.
Also, I need a volunteer whose paper we can model in class. So, if you would like to have the input of 19 people in editing your paper rather than just 1, please email me a copy of the paper you feel is ready for editing.
Just a reminder, on Thursday instead of having a regular draft workshop we will have an editing workshop. So, instead of bringing one of your unit 2 papers, please bring the unit 1 paper (either the unit project or on of the two feeders) that you feel is closest to being done. The workshop we will do Thursday will be about putting a final polish on the paper's language, so try to bring a paper (or at least a chunk of a paper) that you feel is not going to need any more substantial revision.
Also, I need a volunteer whose paper we can model in class. So, if you would like to have the input of 19 people in editing your paper rather than just 1, please email me a copy of the paper you feel is ready for editing.
