April 24

Today, we talked about grades in place of doing a writing into the day.  We spent the rest of class working on things for class, such as the final reflection, meeting with panel groups, revising, etc.  Megan also met with panel groups four, five and six.  In the last 20 minutes, we filled out instructor evals.
Homework:

• Post your final drafts and your final reflection to your blog before class on Monday.
• Panel groups one and two will present on Monday.

April 17

Today, we graded ourselves on participation.  We spent the rest of class working on things for class, such as the final reflection, meeting with panel groups, revising, etc.  Megan also met with panel groups one, two and three.

No Homework.

*Note: No class on Monday, April 22

Freedom Writers

Dangerous Minds

Gilmore Girls

Dawson's Creek

Boy Meets World

Dead Poet Society

April 15

For writing into the day, we responded to the question: In relation to an English class, what do you think of when you hear the word "reflection"?

The class responded with the following:

• Sharing thoughts and/or opinions
• Looking back on what you're thinking
• Talking about how you have improved, what you have learned and how you will use it in the future
• Write in first person
• Should be honest
• Can be a conversation or individual writing.

Megan then gave the following a working definition for this class:

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines reflection as: “(1) the action of bending or folding back [and] (2) consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose¹.” Reflecting in a writing classroom combines these two definitions.

“Reflection is thinking for an extended period by linking recent experiences to earlier ones…The thinking involves looking for commonalities, differences, and interrelations beyond their superficial elements.²” “The act of reflection, therefore, becomes crucial to [students’] education. It serves as the bridge between experiences and learning.^3”

“Meaningful reflection considers three questions:

1. What—what happened?
2. So what—what does it mean? 
3. Now what—what is the next step?⁴” 

We talked about the Final Reflection assignment.  On the last day of class, you will need to put the on your blog:

• In one post, you will imbed the final drafts of the major assignments (see the document "Using Scribd to Post to Your Blog" on Moodle for how you should do this)
• In another post, you will write the final reflection letter

Finally, we used Megan's SI Reflection (http://megansreflection.blogspot.com) as a model for the final reflection and discussed it.

What types of things might you link to or use as examples in your final reflection?

• Blog posts
• Daybook entries
• Drafts
• Pictures - Writing into the Day comics, research, screen shots
• Writing into the Day
• Quotes
• Multimodal project
• TedTalks videos
• Movie clips from the Pop Culture Representations of School discussions
• Syllabus
• Reflections of workshops, instructor comments and conferences

What kinds of things might you talk about in your reflection?

• How I developed throughout the course (like a timeline)
• Show my progress
• Show how my writing or my topic of inquiry has changed throughout the course

Homework:

• Bring in your letter to the elementary school student and the original letter from the student
• Post the letter to your blog.

Note: If you want to conference with Megan individually, follow the link on Moodle.
Note: All drafts for extra feedback must be email to Megan by midnight tonight.

April 10

Today, we started class by talking about the letters we will be writing back to elementary school students (due Wednesday).  Then, we wrote into the day about our writing processes for the Joining the Conversation Part #2 (Academic).  Finally, we got into our inquiry groups and workshopped our papers.  If there were four people, the paper was discussed for 15 minutes.  If there were five people, the paper was discussed for 12 minutes.  

 

Homework:

• On your blog, answer the questions on the "Workshop Reflection for Your Blog" handout.
• On your blog, answer the questions on the "Self Assessment Reflection" about Part #3.
• Post Part #3 on your blog and on Moodle.

Note: On Monday, bring your laptop.  We will be talking about reflection and will do a model activity using computers.

Note: The last time to email Megan drafts for extra feedback is Monday by midnight.

April 8

Today, we wrote into the day by answering these two questions:

1. Why shouldn't you use second person (you, yours) in academic writing?
2. Why should you write formally in academic writing?

Then, we got into our inquiry groups and discussed specifics of how to turn the dialogue into an academic piece.  We came up with the following:

• Add more factual information.
• Use direct quotes.
• Get rid of slang.
• Take out play features (cast, setting, etc.).
• Change to academic format (indent, punctuation, etc.).
• Add citations (MLA, APA or Chicago).
• Take out second person.
• Introduce the topic/situation.
• Define important terms.
• Organize your paper based on your topic/purpose.

Finally, in our inquiry groups, we read the Swales piece, talked about how to introduce our academic pieces and had individual work time.  In the last ten minutes of class, Megan handed out and explained the current grades.

Homework:

• On your blog, respond to the four questions in your email about Megan's comments on your Annotated Bibliography.
• Post your first draft of Part 2 to your blog.
• Bring hard copies of Part 2 for your inquiry group to workshop on Wednesday.

April 3

Today, we wrote into the day about our writing processes for the Joining the Conversation Part #1 (Dialogue).  Then, we got into our inquiry groups and workshopped our papers.  If there were three people in the group, the paper was discussed for 20 minutes.  If there were four people, the paper was discussed for 15 minutes.  If there were five people, the paper was discussed for 12 minutes.  

 

Homework:

• On your blog, answer the questions on the "Workshop Reflection for Your Blog" handout before class on Monday.
• Bring the Swales reading (on Moodle) to class on Monday.

Note: On Monday, bring your Annotated Bibliography, your dialogue and your sources on an electronic device.  We will talk about how to start your academic piece and spend time drafting in class.

April 1

For writing into the day, we responded to the quote (in italics) that is at the beginning of the Multimodal Piece assignment description in the syllabus.  Then, we discussed the Mulitmodal and Panel assignments.  The panel descipriton is as follows:

• Groups of 3-4 people grouped by topic of inquiry
• Show (and explain, if necessary) your multimodal project
• Explain why you chose that form
•  Discussion 

• Entire panel time: 30-35 minutes
• 10 minute (minimum) discussion
• Start out by asking if the class has questions (if so, discuss)
• Prepare 3-4 questions about your panel’s topic to discuss with the class if you have extra time

Finally, as a class, we designated panels. I emailed this list to the class. 

 

Homework:

• Post the first draft of your Joining the Conversation dialogue on your blog.
• Bring hardcopies of your draft for your inquiry group to class on Wednesday.

* You are no longer required to post comments on the blog.
* The last day to revise a draft for additional feedback from Megan is April 15.