Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

In-Class Activites: May 1

• Small Group Activity: Three Quarter Course_Evaluations What does this feedback mean?
• TeamWork

Team 1: Unit Four Essay writers. All the World is a Text is the Writing Program's conception of this assignment: "...writing is a series of choices that primarily depend on audience and context. The influences we bring to our position and who we explicate that position to are paramount in the outcome of our work. How we write what we write and who we write it to determines what it is that we write."

point-counterpoint activity

a) freewrite - which of the Unit Four options best suits you? Why?

• The in-class conversations are collected under the Learning and Teaching header on our Course Homepage and include pedagogy (how to teach, how to learn: this includes all the anonymous feedback, summaries, my responses, etc); issues, thoughts, and concerns raised by de Zengotita on The Numbing of the American Mind; our recent readings and discussion about school violence as a cost of masculinity; and the use of the wiki in terms of when and whether student writing should be private and when it is legitimate or even necessary for student writing to be public: captured in all those quizzes we did at the beginning of the semester.
• Writing a This I Believe essay is also an option. Two "This I Believe" essays were included in last fall's class magazine ("Shit Happens" and "Risky Living"). You can find seven more examples from the Section 68 wiki. The kernel that gave me the idea for "Risky Living" appeared in a blogpost about a month ahead of actual writing. Spike churned "Shit Happens" out on the spur of the moment, with one serious revision. Depending upon what you know about yourself and the time it takes for you to gain a clear idea, you may prefer to chose one of our in-class conversations (since, I am assuming, it has been floating around in your brain for awhile). If you've been struck by inspiration, then "This I Believe" is probably a good choice. Want more info? Here are some concrete tips. Start trying to identify the beliefs expressed in whatever you are reading. What do [I mean]? Here are the [details] of Steph's writing process last fall.

Here are some do nots for This I Believe:

1. Do not argue against, argue for. Do make positive assertions, not negative complaints.
2. Do not make recommendations to somebody else. Instead, do write about a practice/behavior/action that you yourself actually do.
3. Do not say what's missing or wrong. Do write about what's present and right.
4. Do not tell the story of how you came to believe. Instead, do tell us what happens when you DO what you say you believe.
5. Do not describe what you wish others had given you. Instead, do describe what happens when you give/do this belief to others.

b) Talk it out

Find a partner who has selected the same option as yourself. Debate with them about what you want to say. Brainstorm first - try to name as many pros & cons, strengths & weaknesses, different viewpoints in support of and against, that you can imagine. Second, see if you can help each other write down THE MAIN POINT that you want to convey in ONE SENTENCE. In other words, help each other FOCUS and EXPRESS your point in the most plain and direct language possible. Take notes!

c) Explain it to the rest of us

Present a two-minute summary to the whole class. Which option? What topic? Your point? And - if you have made it this far - a sense of the outline (paragraph-by-paragraph; idea-by-idea) and which rhetorical strategies you will use to make each sub-point (the key idea in each discrete paragraph that builds support and gives evidence toward the whole main point).

Who's Doing What?! for Unit Four

This I Believe = David; Dan, Andy, Adam,

Team 2: Magazina Teama

Revisit schedule, timeline, what you have, what you need, and do editing and design

Team 3: Wiki Team

Establish timeline for implementation. I'm surprised not to have seen more action yet. :-/ In addition to posting the changes you have already designed, there will be more Reflection Letters, the Unit Three essays, and - bearing down on us! - Unit Four essays. I'm wondering about the status of the creative introductions to each section that Anna was going to research? And I want an explicit breakdown of WHO is doing WHAT, WHEN.

• Individual "Reports" (Unit Four Essay Writers)
• Return Unit Three Papers
• Collect rewrites

Homework: due May 3

All Penguin Points posted including the new reference section for in-text citations and bibliography.

Five pages of freewrite for UNIT FOUR. Follow your Peer's advice: "You can make it useful by writing anything down without thinking [or] stopping for an amount of time..." When you come to class we will ask you to "read [some portion] out loud to hear how funny and stupid it is."

Coming up: Reflection Letters on Unit Three will be due next Tuesday, May 8, as will a full draft of UNIT FOUR - bring two copies for in-class Peer Review. There will probably be no chance for rewrites on Unit Four papers!

Rewrites on Unit Three (and any other rewrites that are "still alive") will be due next Tuesday, May 8. This is the deadline for rewrites.