Homework for Tuesday 12/2

1. On the assignment sheet for Writing Project 2 it says that we have a second draft due of the Proposal essay on Thursday, 12/4. I am going to keep this deadline, so, plan to have a revised draft for that day. (again, please bring 2 copies)

2. Over the break, I am asking you to read Andrea Lunsford and Karen Lunsford's article "'Mistakes are a Fact of Life': A National Comparative Study" (the authors are mother/daughter). This is another long article--23 pages or so. Again, I would NOT wait until the last minute to begin reading it. I would advise you to take a look at the article ahead of time and find a way to break it up into 4-5 parts or sections that you can tackle one at a time. 

A few words on the article itself: it's about errors in student writing. Particularly, it's about mechanical or grammatical errors. We have not talked a great deal about grammar this semester, so this article should give us an opportunity to explore the topic. In this study, the mother/daughter team of Lunsford/Lunsford review a study that was done back in the 1980s on the issue of errors in student papers. They then decide to replicate or "re-do" the study for 2008, to see what is still true about the way college students make errors in their writing and also what has changed since the time of the original study (which was conducted by Lunsford/Connors). Please read the article carefully and expect a quiz. 

3. Blog Entry 19: 

a) What interested you or surprised you in the Lunsford/Lunsford article? 

b) What errors do you make in your writing? Why?

c) What connections can you make, if any, with their study? How does it speak to you and your own experience with writing and errors?

250-300 Words

4. I am looking for (1) volunteer from each of my classes who would be willing to have his/her Proposal Essay critiqued in class on Tuesday. If you are willing, please get in touch ASAP!

Homework for Tuesday, 11/25

The only homework for Tuesday is to bring in (2) copies of your proposal essay. We will workshop these drafts in peer-groups in class and examine one student essay in detail together.

Have a nice weekend.

Homework for Thursday 11/20

1. Return to the Sommers/Saltz article, "The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshmen Year." For blog #17, write five (5) True/False or multiple choice questions that could (and may) be used for a quiz on the article. Additionally, please:

• Make sure that each of your five questions comes from a separate section of the article. (I count 8 "sections" if you include the introductory section).
  
• Make sure you supply the correct answer to each question. So, your questions might look like this (please do NOT use this question):

In their article, "The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshmen Year," Linda Sommers and Laura Saltz argue that students who make the greatest gains in college:

a. accept their role as novices
b. see in writing a larger purpose than fulfilling an assignment
c. seek out the help of professors during office hours
d. are those who come into college as already strong writers
e. Both A and B

(Correct Answer: E)

2. For Blog #18, please write a draft of the first paragraph of your proposal for Writing Project #2. Please bring a hard-copy of this paragraph to class to share with your peers. At some point in this paragraph, you should include the following sentence (fill in the blanks with the appropriate information from your argument):

In this essay, I will argue that in order to address the problem of _________________ we need to _______________ . 

Homework, Tuesday 11/18

1. I'd like you to get started drafting your proposal on how the teaching of writing at your old high school could be improved. Keep in mind that your task here is two-fold:

a. Make an argument for what needs to be done/changed/added.
b. Support your argument with reasons and evidence drawn from sources (again, you can use any of the articles we have read in class and/or your data on your own composing process from Writing Project #2.

For Tuesday, plan to bring in 1-2 pages of writing in which you begin to lay out your project. This could be a draft of the first 1-2 pages of your paper. Or, this could be extensive notes/plans on what you'd like to argue and how you will work to support this argument. Plan to have an actual draft of your paper due the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (not graded, just a draft). I will ask you to share this work with your peers. Please post this writing as Blog #15 and also bring a hard copy to class!

2. Please read (3) students blog entries from this past week. Look at what your classmates wrote for Blog #14 (about the Sommers/Saltz article). Write blog #16, in which you comment on what you learned from these other student's blog entries. What did you find interesting about what your peers wrote? What surprised you? What did they say that you hadn't thought of? What did they say that you gave you a new way to think about the article and/or Sommers/Saltz's work? Be sure to quote from your classmates blogs (and include their names, of course) as you write your blog entry.

3. Please read, in Axelrod and Cooper's _Concise Guide To Writing_ pgs. 238 (from "Analyzing and Defining the Problem") through 249. Just read these pages, don't do any of the activities (like on p. 242 where it says "Researching Alternate Solutions: an online Activity"). In reading these pages, you're just trying to get a general overview of what the genre of the proposal entails.

Homework for Thursday 11/13

1. Reminder: NO CLASSES ON TUESDAY 11/11.
2. Blog Entry #13: generate a list of no fewer than (5) ideas for how the teaching of writing can be improved at your old high school. Once you've completed this list, for each item, think about how you can connect your proposal with the research we have read this semester on composing processes.
3. Please go to our Google Groups site and download the article called "The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year" by Nancy Sommers and Laura Saltz (Sommers.Saltz.pdf). This is a LONG article--26 pages. DO NOT TRY TO READ IT IN ONE SITTING!!! I am assigning this longer piece because we are not meeting for a full week (again, no class on Tuesday). Thus, I think of this article as, essentially, two readings in one (even though it's just one article). Please divide the article into manageable chunks. I think that you will find that the writing, itself, is accessible (in the way that the earlier article we read by Sommers was accessible), but I would recommend that you take a look at the article before you begin reading and figure out how to break it up into 3-4 parts or sections which you will read one at a time, over the course of several sittings.
4. Blog Entry #14: What did you find interesting or surprising about the Sommers/Saltz article and why? (please quote from the article at least 3-4 times as you explain your answer). Your post should run 250-300 words or so.

Homework for Thursday 11/6

1. Please read pages 209-212 and 233-235 in Axelrod and Cooper's Concise Guide to Writing.
2. Please bring copies of the following articles to class: Rose, Perl, Sommers, Flower/Hayes, Berkenkotter/Murray.

That is all. Any questions/comments/concerns, get in touch.

See you Thursday.

mm

Homework for Tuesday, 11/4

For the most part, we went over the homework in class last Thursday (for this Tuesday). But, just in case:

1. Download and print out two documents off of our google groups page:

a. Chapter5.pdf
b. Boxes.pdf

2. Read the one call Chapter5.pdf (the title, when you open the document, reads: “Understanding Academic Scenes and Writing Courses” (187-199))

3. Post your responses to the two Writing Activities (WA), 5.3 and 5.4 to your blog. There should be one blog entry per WA (these should be Blog 11 and 12). WA 5.3 is on page 191/192 and WA 5.4 is on page 199.

4. In order to complete WA 5.3, you'll need to take a look at Box 1.2 which is in the document called Boxes.pdf (this is why I said, above, that you need to download and print out that box).

5. WARNING: WA 5.3 is going to take a bit of time, you'll want to look at that one immediately, to figure out how you are going to get it done in time for Tuesday's class.

Good luck. If you have any problems/questions, don't hesitate to get in touch.

mm