Essay Writing
2018.01.08
Monday was a workshop day for students to consult on their final papers from Chapter 4.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we will have supplementary writing workshop sessions in our classroom to give you a few ideas about Konglish and other problems and how to improve your writing. Attendance is optional for these useful, low stress sessions.
Please print, read and bring with you a copy of the essay linked below to Tuesday's class.
JBH
"How to Say Nothing in 500 Words" by Paul Henry Roberts
2018.01.04
We started class off Thursday by taking stock of where where we were on the schedule. Details of the rest of our class schedule are posted below starting with "Looking ahead."
After reorganizing our schedule, we took a look at Reading Six, a vivid visual essay by a Japanese student about a beautiful French chapel decorated by Henri Matisse, discussed some questions about it, and freewrote about a place in our lives that had changed us in some way.
We wrapped up our class session by looking at a writing exercise on using memories of places in our past (pages 108-110) and at some editing practice exercises on remembering to use plurals in English (pages 115-118).
Looking ahead, we agreed to wrap up Chapter 4 with Thursday's class and take our Essay Test on Friday.
The test is not something you can study for, but it is a chance to use your timed writing skills to write about your opinion on a topic using general knowledge. I will not give you a question that requires advance preparation for this test.
In addition, the first draft of our Chapter 4 essay is due in the Canvas discussion area before 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5th. Please take some time Friday night and Saturday to make comments on two classmates' drafts based on the feedback questions on pages 120 and 121 of the text. Detailed instructions and examples on how to provide feedback are on pages 112 through 115.
You should have provided helpful, thorough feedback to two classmates by midnight Saturday, Jan. 6th. Monday is a workshop day for you to finish up your final draft of the Chapter 4 paper. I will be available in the classroom on a first-come, first-served basis during our regular class time.
Please deposit a hard copy of your final draft of the Chapter 4 essay in my mailbox in room 106 of the Main Building before 5 p.m. Monday. You are not required to meet with me Monday, but you are welcome to do so.
The paper you turn in Monday will be the final graded assignment for this class. We will have supplementary writing sessions in our classroom Tuesday and Wednesday to help give you ideas about common problems and how to improve your writing. I will post a short article Monday on this site that you should read and print out to be ready for Tuesday's class. Watch for it.
Let me know if I can help you with anything in the future, and thanks for being a great (but quick) class.
JBH
2018.01.03
First, we looked over writing about a place using all of our senses except sight, and commented on a few on the screen. Then, we talked about reading three in the chapter and the discussion questions. We also did some freewriting.
For tonight, take a break from the writing, but feel free to get started on your Chapter 4 first draft if you want to. I'll be assigning it after we do a little more bookwork in class. We will talk about your final paper and the final exam in class on Thursday.
Enjoy!
JBH
2018.01.02
새해 복 많이 받으세요!
We started the first session of 2018 with a talk about grades. I will rank the class for quality on the writing I have collected so far and should be able to give you an idea where you stand in the class by Thursday. Then, the final paper from Chapter 4 and the final exam on Monday will be scored to give you a raw score for quality points. That is 50 percent of your grade. Another 40 percent comes from how you’ve kept up with homework (posting and replying in the Canvas discussion area and completing other assignments. The remaining 10 percent is for attendance and participation. I will give everyone the highest grade I can based on their performance.
We moved on to read and discuss Readings One and Two in chapter 4, by students from the Dominican Republic and Turkey.
Then, we did 10 minutes of freewriting on the journaling questions from those readings to get us thinking about places.
After that we previewed the chapter 4 essay assignment and did Task 4.1 on page 107 and 108, which deal with writing about places using all the senses EXCEPT vision. For tonight, please do task 4.2 on page 108 and post your writeup to the blog. We will talk about those writeups and look at a few more readings and exercises. Feel free to get started on the Chapter 4 first draft ASAP, because it will be assigned Wednesday with a final draft due on Monday.
See you Wednesday!
JBH
2017.12.28
In class, we continued reading, thinking, and talking about writing about people. First we looked at a reading about a Middle Eastern student’s father, and then at one by an American ESL teacher giving us a look at her life and her students from Cambodia.
All the readings in this chapter focus not only on individual people, but give us insights into different cultures. Remember in your writing to make things clear so that someone from a culture other than your own will follow your meaning and be interested in it.
We also did some freewriting about the person in our life who has had the greatest influence on us. Remember, these freewriting sessions can be useful to get your mind moving on a topic. Take a look at this freewrite and the others from this chapter to help you get started on a topic for the chapter essay.
We moved on to experiment a little with metaphors on page 75 and 76 and finished our session with reading 6 on pages 70-72.
Friday, we will not have regular class. Instead, I will be meeting you for 20 minute each in one-on-one sessions to talk about your writing. Please bring your best draft of the essay from Chapter 3 and any improvements you may have for Chapter 2, which I should already have. Also, please bring questions about your writing that I may be able to help with. I will make some preliminary comments and suggestions on your writing when we meet. (Sign-up list is posted below)
In addition, please post the first draft of your Chapter 3 essay to the Canvas discussion area Friday (before 4 p.m.). You may want to make improvements to your first draft after we meet and get feedback on your improved version from classmates. Help two classmates out by commenting on their Chapter 3 drafts on Canvas using the peer review form on pages 90 and 91. Please do that before 4 p.m. Saturday.
Submit the final draft of your Chapter 3 essay as the last comment to your post by class time Tuesday and bring a hard copy for me. Also bring a hard copy of your Chapter 3 final draft for me to score. We will be getting started on Chapter 4 Tuesday.
Have a Happy New Year!
JBH
2017.12.27
We started off writing class by comparing notes on our writing about people from Tuesday. While we may not have perfect grammar, many of us saw interesting glimpses of interesting characters. The instructor rudely put a few students’ writing on display before the rest of the class and everyone got to talk about what worked and what might be improved.
Next, we moved on to EQuIP – Pinning It Down.
Dracula’s diary. Remember, ideas are only the start of what writing should be. What makes it interesting and believable are specific details, examples, metaphors, and quotations that bring things to life.
For Thursday, please write an entry in the Canvas discussion area about a teacher you really liked or disliked (Details pasted below). Also, look ahead and start thinking about writing your first draft of the Chapter 3 essay assignment. You will need to have a draft complete by Friday when we meet the instructor in conferences. In class Thursday, we will look at a couple more readings from the chapter and do the exercise on metaphors. We will also sign up for our Friday one-on-one sessions.
Thanks!
JBH
Please post the following writing to the Canvas discussion area. You may write about a teacher you really liked or one you really disliked:
—Here is a paragraph that is boring. Revise it with examples, quotations, illustrations or particular details (EQuIP) to make it more interesting and informative.
Teachers
We meet a lot of teachers in our life. Some are good and some are bad. One teacher I really liked . He taught us well and helped us learn other things too. I am glad he was my teacher.
——Your final version should be about 150 words…
2017.12.26
We began our after-Xmas session by getting going in Chapter 3, reading and discussing student writing about a grandmother and a mother. After a few minutes of reading and discussing questions about the readings, we took a few minutes to freewrite some ideas about the topics. Then we moved on to look at some exercises about people-watching.
This afternoon or evening, please complete the Practice 3.2 item on page 74. You need to go out someplace to do this activity. You CANNOT do it in your room or your home. Please type up the results and post them to the class discussion area under the subject "People Watching" and bring a hard copy to class with you Wednesday to talk about with classmates.
We will continue in the chapter and get started working on the essay assignment on pages 77, 78, and 79 Wednesday.
See you in class!
JBH
2017.12.22
Students started off by reading their writing and giving each other feedback using the peer response guidelines on pages 52, 53, and 54.
Then we moved on to pages 54 through 58 to look at proofreading. The authors of our text pointed out a very good resource for writing in English that you may want to use again, the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University. You can always find it in the future by Googling "owl and purdue." I highly recommend it. There are lots of great tips there for second language English writers like you.
Yes, I'm talking to YOU!
Remember, don’t rush into proofreading until you are sure you like the ideas in what you are writing first. Cleaning up the grammar and spelling should always come last. Before you proofread, please use the oral peer response questions on page 53 to give thorough, helpful peer response to two classmates whose writing you haven't read yet in the class Canvas discussion area. This should be done in the next 24 hours (before 3 p.m. Saturday).
See you Tuesday, when we will talk about readings one and two in Chapter Three along with some writing and language exercises in the chapter. Before we meet, please copy the revised and proofread final draft of your Chapter 2 essay and paste it in the class discussion area as the last comment to your first draft post. Also bring a hard copy of your final draft for my day after Christmas present.
Enjoy your long weekend! (but get your writing done too.)
Ho ho ho,
JBH
2017.12.21
Students got on Canvas. Looks solid.
We got back into our groups, and talked about the readings we discussed yesterday with the whole class. Then we started going through some writing and grammar exercises in Chapter 2 (Memory Chain, Time Chunks).
Please think about your memory chain and time chunks, take another close look at the essay assignment and writing tips on pages 50 and 51, and add anything you like to improve your draft tonight. Bring two hard copies of your draft Friday to share with a classmate for one-on-one feedback. We will talk about more of the Chapter 2 exercises and keep working on our writing. We will be wrapping our essays up this weekend and moving on to the next unit starting Tuesday.
See you in class!
JBH
2017.12.19
In class, we got started looking at the text with some exercises aimed at helping us to begin thinking of ourselves as writers (at least for this class) involving getting acquainted and freewriting. There are many more useful ideas in Chapter 1 that may be helpful for you in this class and elsewhere. It’s a chapter that you may find useful to refer back to later. We cannot cover everything in class, so feel free to look for more on your own. We also handed in our Chapter 1 surveys about our goals for the course.
Moving quickly so we can get writing soon, we moved on to Chapter 2 and looked at the first reading, “Learning How to Cook” and got ready to talk about it with partners/groups. Please continue reading and discussing in this chapter when you meet Wednesday in class. I’d like you to go over Reading 1, Reading 3 on page 34 and reading 5 on page 38 in this chapter and talk about the discussion questions thoroughly with a partner or small group when you meet Wednesday. I would also like you to start writing a first draft of the essay assigned on page 50.
Please have that draft posted in the class discussion area on Canvas before class time Thursday. I will meet with you then and we will go over some more writing exercises before you work on your final draft for my Christmas present.
Have fun!
JBH
2017.12.18
Hello!
This class is going to move fast and there is no time to waste getting ready. It is a writing class, and you can expect to be writing something every day. The first class session consisted of introductions and a brief class outline.
The textbook for this course will be In Our Own Words: Student Writers at Work, 3rd Ed., by Rebecca Mlynarczyk and Steven Haber, Cambridge University Press. It is available in the HUFS bookstore.
Please pre-read and give some thought to all questions in the book in Part I, Starting Out, as soon as possible. Please be ready to discuss the interview questions in class on pages 4 and 5 and bring your typed answers to the survey on pages 24 and 25 when we meet again tomorrow.
We will be talking about Unit 1 and how to write and share our work with classmates online Tuesday.
Thanks, and see you in class!
JBH
