Solo #2 During Class

1. Ch. 2 and Solo #2. Do you write in books?

2. What's a thesis statement? What was yours for Solo #1? Copy into your daybook.

Thesis Statements and Summary/ Response

3. Write Solo #2  during class.

Crowd sourcing examples? mPING, from Scientific American.

We watch this video....then look at the OED. Punk, anyone? See etymology? That ties to the history of English.

OED worksheet handed out.


Homework: 

1. Finish Solo #2. Be ready to hand it in on Tuesday with the rubric.

2. Use the OED to define two words from Staples' article. Copy into your daybook. (Choose one of the definitions and a quote to match it, with the date.)

3. Complete the OED worksheet for Tuesday.

Kickstarter Due/ New Genre

Turn in your Kickstarter on Paper.
Turn in Language Use in Kickstarter. ... Analogies?

New genre -- summary/response. Pat Bourne questions? You do some writing....

Subjective vs. objective?

Now you read an example essay that is doing summary/ response (download from Moodle, do "Save As"  and add YOUR LAST NAME to the file name).

Then colorize YOUR copy of the essay, using these directions:

1. Make the first and last sentences in the paper red. The first should be a hook. The last is a “clincher.”

2. Italicize the title and author of the article I'm writing about.

3. Make the thesis orange.

4. Make the summary yellow.   

5. Make any response to the content of the article pale blue. 

6. Underline any quotes. These are places that used the exact words of the article.

7. Make BOLD any time I used “the writer”  or "the author" or "the article"– these are called author tags (and would have used a name if there was one on this article).

When you are done, go to Moodle to upload your colorized version in the forum there. Be sure to follow the instructions so that you answer the required questions as you post.

Now you have to do some close reading and note-taking of an article. See handout.

Homework:

1. Read and take a page of notes on "Black Men in Public Space" by Brent Staples.

2. Prepare to write an summary/ response of the article during class on Thursday.

3. Daybook check on Thursday.

Draft of Kickstarter on Paper and English Spelling

I return Solo #1.

Sec 23 in Everyday Writer -- do Ex. 23.9. We discuss.

Why is English so hard to spell?

I hand out a sheet. Read it over and complete anything on it you can.

Here is the link to today's lecture on "Why Is English So Hard to Spell?

Fill your handout in as we go.

Tuck the handout in your daybook for the daybook check (Monday).

Now you read drafts and give feedback.

Homework:

 1. Give the final polish to your Kickstarter on Paper. The final version is due Tuesday. If you want feedback from me, you can attach your draft to an email, or stop by my office, 156A.

2. Read Bedford Ch. 2 p. 17-34.

3. Read the tan handout and answer the questions in your daybook.

Solo #1 Due/ Kickstarter Draft Due

Return of Lego paper. Keep the final version which is stapled to the grading rubric (on the top of your stack). The final version with grading rubric must be saved for your portfolio and the final page count.

We make a Works Cited page for Solo #1.

You need one copy of your Solo Paper #1 AND the grading rubric/ assignment sheet to hand in.

THINKWRITE: Please look back at the graphic on page 9 of Bedford. Think about the process you went through to write THIS paper. Describe the process you went through. What was helpful, and what you would like to do differently for the next assignment?

We shift gears to the Kickstarter on Paper.  I hand out a blue assignment sheet.

You get into groups and come up with a list of the Key Elements or sections that you think the Kickstarters On Paper should have. Note these down in your daybook.

We combine your input into a CLASS LIST OF KEY ELEMENTS/SECTIONS. Everyone will copy this onto their blue sheet.

 Peer review.

Homework:

1. Please create Draft #1 of your Kickstarter on Paper, using the assignment sheet and our list of Key Sections. Bring a hard copy Thursday.

2. Do the Language Use in Kickstarter worksheet (in our class in Moodle), either on paper or electronically. This is due in a week.

Thinking About Kickstarter Campaigns

1. Key Elements of an essay.

 2. http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/12/05/tip-of-the-iceberg-how-the-illusion-of-products-can-mislead-customers-about-the-realities-of-business/

This caused me to follow the link about the T-shirt. Which brought me back to Kickstarter.

Thinkwrite : What can we look for in a Kickstarter's campaign to help decide whether a Kickstarter project has the ability to actually produce its product?

3. Now on to the topic of writing/ language use. Open The Everyday Writer to Section 23a-d. This section is FULL of nomenclature relating to writing. Take notes in your daybook over these sections. Write down each green heading and then explain it in your own words. (homework)

45 minutes to type an essay 

Homework:

1. Finish Solo #1 to hand in on Tuesday.

2. Finish taking notes in your daybook on Everyday Writer Sec. 23a-d.

3. Prepare Draft #1 of you Kickstarter on paper ( Project with Feedback #2). Due Tuesday also.

Lego Project Due, On to Kickstarter

Rhetorical Analysis Again --

I. Get out the green assignment sheet for the Lego project. Compare the front and back of the page with the builder pictured on it. The information content is very similar between the two.

Thinkwrite A: 1. What differences in style and content between the two sides do you see? 2. Which is more effective?

II. Organize your Legos to be ready to hand in. (See white board.)

Nomenclature: context is key to communication. What does that mean?

How about assumptions? We watch Derek Sievers on assumptions.

Thinkwrite B: How did the Lego project go for you? Did you make any assumptions you were not aware of? How did you handle the nomenclature problem?

I show you the set of directions that taught me the key elements in this genre of writing (assembly directions with no pictures). I did not instruct you to do these; I was hoping you would discover them by trial and error. Key elements: ______.

Thinkwrite C: Assess the directions you created. Which of the key elements did you come up with on your own? Explain.

When you are done, please hand in your Lego Project. Only leave the parts in the bag if you think I might need to build it.


III. I hand out the Kickstarter newsletter. Read. Discuss.

Now I hand out the assignment sheet for Solo Paper #1.

What two Kickstarters will you write about? We discuss.

How will you write a rhetorical analysis essay? We go to Moodle to look at the example paper there. Read and colorize.

Hand in daybooks at the end of class.

Homework:

1.Finish the "colorizing" of the example essay.

2. Thursday during class you'll have 45 minutes to write a draft of Solo Paper #1. Do some prewriting/outlining/brainstorming/listing to prepare for typing that draft during class.



 

Legos Day Two

Take time now to revise your Lego directions and print two fresh copies.

When all are ready:

Open up The Bedford Guide to page 26. Look at the graphic at the bottom of the page, which is one version of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Thinkwrite :

Bloom's Taxonomy is a way of classifying or naming the ways we think. Copy these down in your daybook:

Reading the directions-
Assembling the parts-
Writing/reacting on the directions-
Filling out the feedback green sheet-

How many ways can you think at once? Next to each activity you copied down, describe HOW you think as you do it, using the terms listed in Bloom's Taxonomy.

You build two again.

Rhetorical Analysis review:  Let's look at our textbooks.

Now we look at Kickstarter.com. Some projects I've found....#1 and #2 and #3 and #4.

Homework:

1. Be sure to do the homework under "Day One" below.

2. Prepare the final revision of your Lego directions. Bring all green sheets and sets of directions, with one copy of the final version to hand in on Tuesday.

3. Go to Kickstarter.com . Look around and find the answers to the following questions (write the answers in your daybook):

1. What kinds of projects can be put up on Kickstarter?

2. Who sets the money goal and deadline?

3. What happens if the money goal is NOT pledged before the deadline?

4. What’s the MOST a project has ever been pledged?

5. How many total projects have been funded at Kickstarter?

6. How do you see projects that have expired/failed (this may take clicking around)?

 Figure out how to use the search tool. You can put in a term that interests you and see what happens (“tractor,” “hockey,” “tool”).

7. Find 5 projects that interest you. List their A) title, B) the money goal, C) closing date, and D) the pledge amount and reward that you would choose.

8. Now go deeper. Pick 2 projects. Find one that was a success, and one that failed to meet its goal. You’ll do a rhetorical analysis of each. This means making a chart of audience/ purpose/ genre/ style/ content for each. You should spend at least a half page on each for the style/content discussion. Simply describe what you see each project doing in those areas. Pay special attention to differences between the two.

Legos Day One

Meeting Thursday April 7:

I.  Today we start with a video.

Audience + Purpose + Genre = Style (how it looks) and Content (what it says)

Apply this to p. 14 Bedford?


II. Now we look at your examples.

In your daybook, create a chart for each of the terms in the "equation" and your direction examples that you brought to class, like this:

MP3 Player:
Audience-
Purpose-
Genre-
Style-
Content-
Effectiveness:

After filling in your chart, think about the effectiveness of each of your examples. What specific choices in style and content work or do not work?

Audience, purpose, genre, content and style for the Lego project?

III. Build #1  Get out your TWO sets of directions and parts and answer key picture.

To get in the mood:
  Legos  we   love .  Indeed. And professional builder #1. Professional builder #2. Lego artist #3.

Homework:
 1.  Fill at least one page (one side) in your daybook describing a situation where you experienced written communication (any genre) that was a rhetorical fail. This piece of writing failed to achieve its purpose. As you describe what happened, try to analyze what the specific problems were, based on today's discussions -- audience/purpose/genre/content/style.

2. Revise your typed directions. Put them into MLA style if they are not. Brainstorm possible changes on the green "revisions" handout, and then make whichever changes will help builders. Even if they built your object perfectly, there are probably ways to improve. 

2 A. You must begin with a "General Description" of the object, describing in enough detail that builders have some image in their heads before they build.

3. Read "Lego Nomenclature Reading with Questions" link found in our class in Moodle. There are a lot of pictures with the reading, but look for the questions at the end for you to answer in your daybook.