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{Tuesday, May 20, 2003}

 
i now have a lesson plan/handout/overhead transparency for the link below, if anyone is interested. the workshop was a complete success. at the end of the class they were so happy about having a start on their papers that they had forgotten the fact that i chewed them out in the beginning of class for (1) being tardy and (2) talking while i am giving instructions. i finally learn how to give good instructions for in-class activities and they don't listen. they are so DISTRACTED this quarter. but hell, so am i.
posted by betsy 10:24 PM


{Sunday, May 18, 2003}

 
thought some of you might appreciate this link. the best part about it is the class brainstorming technique...sort of like musical chairs. i'm going to use it on tuesday (they got the prompt for their 3rd essay last friday and their essays are due this friday) and then have them do the freewriting and Looping excercise. hoping it will reduce the amount of 1) animosity over the "hard essay prompts" and 2) confusion over essay topics/indecision on topics which breeds procrastination, so that 2) fewer of them start to write their essay on thursday night. i'll let you know what happens. do any of the rest of you give them in-class time for brainstorming on their essays? i've never done it before. also thinking that it gives them additional time to have one-on-one conferences of thesis statements, which is OH SO HELPFUL for all involved.
posted by betsy 11:28 PM
 
could someone refresh my memory on what to do with a student who has 5 absences? do you just file their grade as an "E" right now, or is there some kind of paperwork to do in the office? i can't 'member.
posted by betsy 2:52 PM


{Thursday, May 08, 2003}

 
mmmm...I don't think it is a contractual issue at all. I don't think there should be...it's too slippery. "I didn't get it" or "But I SENT you my paper on time in e-mail" I don't buy it. I don't mind it for last-minute questions or concerns, but I don't trust technology enough to make it a contractual issue. We are required to be in class during class time, and to hold regular office hours, that is a student-teacher time contract. Everything else is extra as far as I am concerned. And I am perfectly willing to go there, but they can't use it against me. ie: an e-mail at 3a.m. from a student claiming to not be able to find the online article for the next day doesn't fall into the category of reasonable contact expectations.

Elizabeth~ Thanks for the peer-mentor plug, girl. I really appreciate it. However, I'm thinking now that it is not something I am interested in after all. We can chit-chat about it in detail if you want to, because I am still waffling after the interview.
posted by betsy 6:49 PM


{Wednesday, May 07, 2003}

 
I have to say that at first I didn't agree with y'all on this topic. It seems that these darling 110 students grew up in a time when e-mail (and IM) was really introduced as casual correspondence (something akin to our passing intricately folded notes in grade school) so it didn't really bother me. Actually I found it kind of refreshing. Then yesterday I received a barrage of horrible e-mails. One of them actually bitching at ME about the lack of fellow student participation in peer groups. She didn't even sign the e-mail. Another asking to be excused this friday to go to HIS GIRLFRIEND'S PROM, and then a few hours later telling me I "could" let him out of peer groups a half hour early for some reason or another. There were others...I won't bore you with more details. But, I didn't respond to any of them. And it felt damn good. And it was fine, because we discussed those issues today face-to-face. So, that relieves my paranoia about those evals, Elizabeth. So, perhaps that is the best way to deal? "Yes, I did get your e-mail, here is what we can do...etc...and by the way, I didn't appreciate your tone." Anyhow, thanks for this conversation, y'all. ;)
posted by betsy 11:32 PM


{Monday, May 05, 2003}

 
hi Elizabeth--like bill...I've realized this quarter that rude emails don't get responses, even though the student may be unaware of her/his tone. I think some students just feel way too comfortable with email. And I don't respond to questions about something they should know or can find on the syllabus or a worksheet. I've ignored many an email this quarter and no one has ever asked me about it in class...maybe they know they're being ridiculous. But silly questions don't come up as often since I put everything--syllabus, peer groups, assignments--on a website. in the last 2 quarters, i got more than one email with students telling me to do something--for instance, listing their phone number, telling me to call them asap...and even voice messages on my cell phone. those pissed me off so much that of course I ignored them and had to explain to them what an emergency is and that i will make an exception only when there is a frantic tone of trauma (not related to en110) in their voices.
posted by Kelly 4:41 PM


{Friday, May 02, 2003}

 
i don't know if this is helpful to anyone--here are the directions I hand to my students about leading class discussion--i emphasize the "don't be boring" part--discussions so far have been really successful (knock on wood).

LEADING GROUP DISCUSSION

Your facilitation of class discussion will be graded. Grading is based on preparedness, creativity & success. Class discussion should be fun and not a drag, so please don’t bore us. You can bring in props, other material, make hand-outs, etc. In the past, students have designed class discussion like games, including a rendition of "Hollywood Squares."

You can refer to the "Questions" & "Making Connections" sections for each essay in Fields of Reading, and you can make up discussion questions of your own. Although I certainly want you to address the material discussed in each essay, it is necessary that you address the author’s writing technique, strategy, etc. What works in the essay and what isn’t? What contributes to our understanding of the text and what makes it confusing? How does one author compare to another in terms of her/his style, topic and technique? What are we learning about writing, ourselves and the world from this essay? Make sure your questions are not yes/no questions! In other words, do not start questions "Do you think..." Use "What/Why/How" etc. to begin your questions.

Prepare a discussion to last approximately 25 minutes (i.e. 20-30 minute range).

posted by Kelly 2:38 PM


{Wednesday, April 09, 2003}

 
kelly~ that show-dont't-tell handout rocks, sista. good find. also~ show-don't-tell works really well with "Cathedral" for obvious reasons. they "get" it every time when they read that story.
posted by betsy 4:23 PM
 
Personal Narrative. Show-Don't-Tell.
http://www.uwec.edu/jerzdg/orr/handouts/Style/showing.htm
posted by Kelly 12:31 AM


{Monday, April 07, 2003}

 
btw--haven't used Fight Club to teach--I had some students last quarter write about it. I might use an excerpt of the movie this quarter although I haven't thought exactly of how yet.
posted by Kelly 4:07 PM
 
Memorable Prose. Exercise. Personal Narrative.

So yesterday I realized with horror that it was Sunday and I actually had to concoct a lesson plan so I spend hours drawing up a lesson about "memorable prose"--using strong verbs & nouns--and introductions, titles and sentence length. I pulled some good stuff out of books and well, they are basically plagiarized worksheets but whatever. The students went around the room and read the worksheets out loud, then (thanks to Betty! this is her idea) I passed out film reviews (from the Drexel web page, The New Yorker & The New York Times) and each person had to determine whether the film reviewer had mastered memorable prose. The students underlined the strong verbs & nouns and if they found a word that could be improved, they had to improve it. They also had to say whether the introduction hooked them and how sentence variety was impacting the prose. After writing down the answers to these questions, they met with a partner and the two people discussed their findings. ANYWAYS i feel like i spent forever drawing this assignment up so i am more than happy to send anyone copies of the worksheets & film reviews, if you want to use them. the entire exercise & discussion takes about 25 minutes.
posted by Kelly 4:05 PM
 
Readings. Personal Narrative.

not to brag or anything...okay, yes to brag but also to share my discoveries...i had a good class today and they really liked the following essays: Alice Walker's "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self" and Lucy Grealy's "Mirrors." They are in Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing which is the reader I'm using (which I have blabbered about to most people) & anyone can borrow to peek: just say the word. It's Bedford/St. Martin's so you can go to the website & snag a free copy (i also snagged some fiction & poetry hehehhe). anyways...the group that led discussion for these essays was awesome. they passed out slips of paper with "disabilities" listed (i.e. constantly interrupting other people, stamping your foot incessantly, keeping head down) and each person had to have a discussion with two other people, "enacting" these "disabilities." after about five minutes everyone went around the room and had a very intelligent, very insightful discussion about communication and perception of disabilities, etc. and we had some brave souls who themselves experience "real" disabilities on a day-to-day basis share their experiences. then they spoke about how these women wrote similarily & differently & why...oh goodness. i was just so pleased with the way it went--when such a subject could, potentially, go very wrong.
posted by Kelly 3:56 PM


{Sunday, April 06, 2003}

 
stina~ yup. i'll put it in your mailbox when i get it.
posted by betsy 11:39 PM


{Friday, April 04, 2003}

 
re: Fight Club, I'm using it this quarter to talk about tendencies and expectations in gender roles, and as a sort of follow-up on consumerism. We are going to watch a clip, and they will read an article called "IKEA boy and the Politics of Male Bonding" (en-route from an old professor of mine, you can take a look at it when it arrives if you like) along with another article in the reader Kelly and I are using (Fields of Reading) called "Nonverbal Courtship Patterns in Women." I used FC last quarter just as a wrap-up to our Public Discourse unit, but they just watched it and we talked about it, nothing elaborate. But that first 1/2 hour of the film is perfect for the topic of consumerism. "the stuff you own starts to own you."
posted by betsy 2:10 PM


{Thursday, April 03, 2003}

 
Elizabeth--re: cultural materialism--Fight Club!
posted by Kelly 11:17 AM


{Wednesday, April 02, 2003}

 
and just a quick note on this whole "don't talk about the war in the classroom" B.S....to completely ban this conversation from the classroom is totally ridiculous. i think it all comes down to fear in the academy, the same fear that Edmundson talks about in his essay on liberal education: the administration puts fear the instructors, fear of losing their jobs or getting bad evaluations because they "offended" one of their students. i surveyed my students last quarter as to whether they felt cheated or sensored by what the general rule for "acceptable" topics of class discussion were. the choir sang "yes, we do!"
posted by betsy 6:03 PM
 
thinking about looking for a more updated version of "how t.v. covers war" in WL?...ask and you shall receive! in the newest new yorker (the one with the many saddams on it) there is an article by Nancy Franklin called "News Under Fire" and i think it is pretty good. she focuses on the weird and twisted rhetorical strategies and the varying "types" of text that tv news uses to portray a very one-sided argument. i can make copies for people.
posted by betsy 5:55 PM


{Sunday, March 30, 2003}

 
i came across this site on the writing process by accident. some good recources for in-class writing workshops.
posted by betsy 9:01 PM


{Friday, March 28, 2003}

 
Healy & Fowler --- wonderful, wonderful idea here. i bow to you.

Participation. Matthew---i like your "on-call" idea a lot. i had an awful time first quarter getting them to particpate so the second day of winter quarter, everyone signed up to lead class discussion one day (betty's idea!). it was SO MUCH better, i can't even begin to explain. the only reason why i am going to have them sign up, instead of calling on them randomly, is because when they sign up, they end up being paired with another person (students who aren't necessarily friends have to work together to prepare discussion) and because they came up with really creative, well-prepared discussions. they made up games to lead discussions, etc. if it was obvious someone didn't read, the leaders usually (were annoyed because they had spent time to prepare the discussion & so) made fun of the nonreaders. it seemed that the threat of being chastised generally encouraged everyone to read. was wonderful. another thing that i started doing halfway through the quarter was i stood in the corner and made notes like i was writing down who was speaking, although it was just for show. two or three of the silent kids started talking. and yet another fun thing: pop quizzes!
posted by Kelly 6:10 PM

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