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Contents 1 In-Class Activities: Day 16, October 30 2 Homework due 1 November 2.1 Blogging about Feedback 2.2 Deepening the Conversation about Feedback 3 Class Activities: Day 17, November 1 4 Homework due 6 November

In-Class Activities: Day 16, October 30

• Quiz: 10 applied questions from The Reading of "Reading" by Mortimer Adler.
• Return and discuss civic letters; transition to research paper topics.

Homework due 1 November

1. Blog (in your own Wordpress Weblog) about the feedback on your civic letter (details below, but write this first, please, before moving on to #2).
2. Read Reading proportionately. See below for the link and instructions on how to write your reply.
3. Bring notes/research materials for the next paper to the WikiLab on Thursday.

Blogging about Feedback

• Read carefully and think about the task before writing your actual post. Please use your own judgment about how much you want to reveal about the actual letter grade on your civic letter. You certainly may say what grade you earned and debate, disagree with, or justify the grade itself as a qualitative measure of your writing skill (keep in mind there are criteria), just keep in mind that the teacher cannot engage in a public discussion with you (or anyone else) about your (or anyone else') grade. However, since the blogs are anonymous, you can certainly take advantage of this forum to share your perceptions, opinions, reactions, critiques, suggested criteria, and/or anything else relevant with other students. Without censoring your viewpoint, imagine how you want to represent yourself (author) to your audience (classmates, teacher, whosoever else...imagine parents, administrators, other teachers, other students, friends observing and thinking about the issues raised. Do you want your writing to effect them? Imagine the reaction/response you hope readers of your post will experience. Do you want to make them laugh, cry, become angry, petition for a change? What rhetorical strategy/ies is/are best suited to induce your audience to the outcome you desire?
• As always, write this in a word processing document first, save it, then copy and paste into your Weblog.

1) Characterize the positive features of the particular feedback on this specific assignment (civic letter). Take as your starting point the benefits and privileges of being an average writer.

2) Instead of listing and/or venting about feedback that suggests areas for improvement, discuss how the feedback you have received can be translated directly into strategies for the next paper involving research on a topic of your choice. Be as specific and explicit as possible with the

a) details of what you already know about your chosen topic,

b) what you realize you do not know in relation to your chosen topic, and the

c) practical guidance offered by the entirety of feedback.

d) Last, make a public (albeit anonymous) commitment to yourself concerning your intentions to improve your writing.

3) Login to your Wordpress Weblog and paste your essay into a new entry. Give it a unique title, and create a new category: Creating a Conversation

4) Publish it.

Deepening the Conversation about Feedback

Read Reading proportionately.

Add a Reply (please be sure you are logged in through your own Weblog first):

• Integrate what you've just read in "Reading proportionately" and what you just wrote in your own Weblog.
• Provide some context so that a reader coming upon your comment has an idea what & why you are writing this particular content.
• Be aware that you do, in fact, have an audience. What function (effect or outcome) do you want your writing - in this context, with your content - to have?
• Be sure you include a link back to your specific blogpost (not your weblog's homepage, but the permanent URL to the actual blogpost that you just wrote and published).

Class Activities: Day 17, November 1

A WikiDay - remember that we meet in our alternate location.

• Return "Adler" quizzes from Tuesday. Discuss.
• Note comments may have been added by Steph in various parts of your civic letter portfolio.
• Handout Highlights from the "Adler" Quiz
• Detail: posting your letter to an Honors student...many of you wrote it (according to portfolios) but have not yet posted. Please do so now.
• Guided tour of the library's databases.

Homework due 6 November

1. (optional) Civil Letter Rewrites
2. Grammar Matters for baseline points.
3. Ten new sources on your topic. We'll be writing annotated bibliographies (eventually), for now, make sure you have all the citation information you'll need, and write a brief statement about what each particular article (note: different formats of media require different citation forms - the course curriculum specifies APA - the rules from the American Psychological Association).

I suggest you compile this assignment on your Wiki UserPage! You can include links to the articles and - as long as you are working from a UMass computer - return to your articles/resources at any time.

1. Keep thinking about this:

How are you going to identify which questions are the right questions to ask of your cultural text?