Intermediate English Writing (2) Winter Break Session
2013.01.14 & 15
This last week of class, we worked Monday on refining the first drafts of our Oral History essay, aiming at a Wednesday midnight deadline. Students gave each other feedback one-on-one and we looked over a few selected papers on the class blog together.
On Tuesday, students helped the instructor out by completing a questionnaire related to writing during the first part of the session, The latter part was devoted to more feedback on the Chapter 5 paper and handing back the Chapter 3 paper as well as explaining scores and comments.
In class Wednesday we will look over and discuss a few of the readings from Chapter 6 -- Families in Transition. Please pre-read and be ready to discuss questions on readings 1, 2 and 4. Also, remember, Wednesay at midnight your Chapter 5 final draft is due on the blog. Please bring a hard copy of your essay to class Thursday. Place the final draft on top, your self-evaluation notes in the middle, and your first draft on the bottom, all stapled together. REPEAT -- Final draft on top, please.
Thursday is also our final exam. I will give you a choice of topics and ask you to write a short (250-word) essay in class.
See you in class!
JBH
2013.01.09, 10 & 11
Wednesday and Thursday we handed in our final drafts from the Chapter 3 (People) assignment and started looking ahead to our final major project, the Oral History Assignment from Chapter 5. This is our most important project of the semester, so please give it your best efforts.
We continued to look over readings and tasks from Chapter 5 as well as common writing problems from other classes when we met Friday, and got going working on our Oral History writing over the weekend.
Your Oral History first draft should be posted to the blog by midnight Saturday night. Also, please follow the guidelines on pages 162 and 163 and give feedback to at least two classmates on their first drafts. Please try to help your classmates improve their papers. Feedback needs to be done by the time we meet at 11 a.m. Monday.
Have fun and do great work!
As we finish up the class next week, our tentative schedule will be:
Monday (1-14) Feedback on Chapter 5 paper, including self-reflection (page 165), any questions
Tuesday (1-15) Feedback (if necessary -- research -- wrap-up)
Wednesday (1-16) Complete final draft by midnight Wednesday
Thursday (1-17) Final Exam (Write an in-class timed essay)
See you in class!
JBH
2013.01.07 & 08
In the Monday session, session 8, the midpoint of our winter class, we shared feedback about the first drafts of our second essays. The first part of the class was focused on face-to-face peer reviews in small groups, and in the second part of the session we looked at a few drafts on the class blog together.
Remember, final drafts are due by midnight Wednesday.
When we meet Tuesday, we will look at any remaining readings in Chapters 3 along with selected readings and tasks from Chapter 4.
Please read ahead in Chapter 4 and 5 for our class conversations later in the week. As soon as possible, you should be reading and working in Chapter 5 (pages 146-156) to get your oral history planning done. Many of the activities in this chapter are very important for understanding how to learn about someone's story and write it in an interesting way. Please be sure to give it as much time and effort as you can, as soon as you are finished with your second essay.
We have one week of class left, with a final exam scheduled for Jan. 17.
See you in class!
JBH
2013.01.04
In class, we looked at the first readings in Chapter 3 and some of the early tasks. Monday, we will continue looking at Chapter 3 along with giving feedback to each other on our writing.
This weekend is for writing. The first draft of your Chapter 3 essay (writing about a person -- pages 77-79) should be posted to the blog by midnight Saturday.
Use the peer response guideline on pages 90 and 91 to give thorough, positive feedback to at least two classmates on their Chapter 3 writing by class time Monday. Answer all the questions as thoroughly as possible to be helpful to your classmates. We will also be doing some peer reviewing in class Monday, so bring hard copies of your essays to class with you for group peer response activities from Chapter 3. Final drafts will be due by midnight Wednesday. Please bring hard copies of your first and final drafts to class on Wednesday.
NOTE: You may also choose to write your second essay following the Chapter 4 assignment (writing about a place) on pages 111 and 112. If you do take this option, be sure to remind your feedbackers in the comments after your blog posting to use the chapter 4 peer response guidelines (pages120-121) when giving you feedback.
We will also continue looking over selected readings and tasks in Chapters 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday.
2013.01.03
Today the class totally ignored the instructor's predicted schedule, instead moving ahead by looking at some material on "Pinning It Down." It was a very productive interruption.
2013.01.02
새해 복 많이 받으세요!
First, we wrapped up any needed feedback, individual or otherwise.
Second, we moved on to finish the readings and look over the tasks in Chapter 2 that were useful at this point toward working on final drafts.
Thursday we will move on to Chapter 3. Please pre-read the first three readings and first few tasks in the chapter, along with submitting your Chapter 2 final draft to the blog. Post the final draft as a comment to the first draft you emailed earlier. If your final draft is too long to post as a comment, please copy and paste it in two (or more) comments.
Also, bring hard copies of your Chapter 2 first and final drafts to class with you Thursday to hand in.
Thanks!
JBH
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2012.12.31
In our Monday session, we spent time going over the first few days of class procedures. Then we moved on to taking a look at the blog together and giving some suggestions and feedback to a few lucky members of class.
It was pretty much an "all-review session, because we spent time the second part of the session looking over our first drafts on paper and giving suggestions and ideas.
Wednesday, we will finish off any 1st draft peer review suggestions (if needed), take a last look at the readings and tasks in Chapter 2, and move on to Chapter 3. Please Be sure to read ahead EVERY day so we don't have to spend time in class reading the book.
Expect class feedback/review sessions to continue, both one-on-one with papers you bring to class, and on the screen, as well as on the blog outside of class.
Remember: Final drafts are due by midnight Wednesday. Also, please bring hard copies of your first and final drafts to class on Thursday.
JBH
2012.12.28
In class, we looked at the first readings in Chapter 2 and some of the early tasks. Monday, we will continue looking at Chapter 2 along with giving feedback to each other on our writing.
This weekend is for writing. The first draft of your Chapter 2 writing (page 50) should be posted to the blog by midnight Saturday.
Use the peer response guideline below to give thorough, positive feedback to at least two classmates on their Chapter 2 writing by class time Monday. Answer all the questions as thoroughly as possible to be helpful to your classmates. We will also be doing some peer reviewing in class Monday, so bring hard copies of your essays to class with you for group peer response activities from Chapter 2. Final drafts will be due by midnight Wednesday. Please bring hard copies of your first and final drafts to class on Thursday.
This weekend is for writing. The first draft of your Chapter 2 writing (page 50) should be posted to the blog by midnight Saturday.
Use the peer response guideline below to give thorough, positive feedback to at least two classmates on their Chapter 2 writing by class time Monday. Answer all the questions as thoroughly as possible to be helpful to your classmates. We will also be doing some peer reviewing in class Monday, so bring hard copies of your essays to class with you for group peer response activities from Chapter 2. Final drafts will be due by midnight Wednesday. Please bring hard copies of your first and final drafts to class on Thursday.
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2012.12.27
On our first day with the textbook, we started thinking, talking and writing about ourselves as writers. The instructor collected the first writing assignment (pages 24 and 25) from everyone who had them (some people still need to get those answers typed and handed in).
There was time for classmates to get acquainted by talking and writing answers to some icebreaker exercises from the first part of chapter 1, and we went through some of the introductory highlights of the chapter together. Students are encouraged to look at the rest on your own time, because there is a lot of useful info in the first chapter. We may come back to some of it later if we have time.
We did a 10-minute freewriting exercise on our attitudes about writing, and shared the results with classmates one-on-one and in small groups.
We also learned how to post and comment on the class blog. The first blog assignment was to post your typed answers from pages 24 and 25 to the class blog (post by email) AND comment on two classmates postings. For this first blog assignment aimed at getting you familiar with the posting and commenting process, feel free to say (almost) anything.
For Friday's class, students were asked to pre-read and pre-answer (think about) the questions in at least the first three readings and look at some of the tasks in Chapter 2, and be thinking ahead about the writing assignment on page 50. The first draft should be posted to the blog by midnight Saturday.
Use the peer response guideline below to give thorough, positive feedback to at least two classmates on their Chapter 2 writing by class time Monday. Answer all the questions as thoroughly as possible to be helpful to your classmates. We will also be doing some peer reviewing in class Monday, so bring hard copies of your essays to class with your for group peer response activities from Chapter 2. Final drafts will be due by midnight Wednesday. Please bring hard copies of your first and final drafts to class on Thursday.
There was time for classmates to get acquainted by talking and writing answers to some icebreaker exercises from the first part of chapter 1, and we went through some of the introductory highlights of the chapter together. Students are encouraged to look at the rest on your own time, because there is a lot of useful info in the first chapter. We may come back to some of it later if we have time.
We did a 10-minute freewriting exercise on our attitudes about writing, and shared the results with classmates one-on-one and in small groups.
We also learned how to post and comment on the class blog. The first blog assignment was to post your typed answers from pages 24 and 25 to the class blog (post by email) AND comment on two classmates postings. For this first blog assignment aimed at getting you familiar with the posting and commenting process, feel free to say (almost) anything.
For Friday's class, students were asked to pre-read and pre-answer (think about) the questions in at least the first three readings and look at some of the tasks in Chapter 2, and be thinking ahead about the writing assignment on page 50. The first draft should be posted to the blog by midnight Saturday.
Use the peer response guideline below to give thorough, positive feedback to at least two classmates on their Chapter 2 writing by class time Monday. Answer all the questions as thoroughly as possible to be helpful to your classmates. We will also be doing some peer reviewing in class Monday, so bring hard copies of your essays to class with your for group peer response activities from Chapter 2. Final drafts will be due by midnight Wednesday. Please bring hard copies of your first and final drafts to class on Thursday.
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Commenting on the Blog ...
You need to select an identity under "comment as." You can choose "anonymous,"
but don't forget to include your name in the comment itself.
After you have written your comment in the comment box, there are two buttons, one to "publish," and one to "preview." If you want to preview it, go ahead. Either way, please make sure your comment is okay before publishing.
When you are ready to publish, select the "publish" button and enter the numbers and letters it asks you for to prove you are a person and not a computer trying to spam someone. It usually gives you 7 or 8 letters and a couple numbers. Separate the letters from the numbers with a space.
You may want to try to comment on my first post under my two comments to test the system before you comment on a classmate's paper while you are figuring out the steps.
Have fun, and let me know if there are problems.
JBH
Class Blog
2012.12.26
The first day's session consisted of introductions, a brief class outline, and a "getting acquainted" session.
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 buy it now if you don't already have it.
My notes:
1. Go over syllabus
2. Go over website
3. Brief intro - profile, family, etc.
4. This fast class will be tough. It is a writing class. We will be writing. Three weeks – three papers, 1st and 2nd drafts feedback due Saturday midnight, feedback due by class time Monday, final drafts due Tuesday midnight. Multi-tasking, 1st drafts, feedback, final drafts, looking ahead to final chapter assignment.
5. Evaluation – 21 people. You know what that means.
Even when there are less than 20 people, I am not the easiest grader at this university. I do not give As unless people deserve them. I do give Cs when people deserve them. But if you show up for class, do all the assignments, and do a pretty good job of writing, you are probably looking at a B or B+.
But if you put in the effort, and make lots of mistakes, you just might learn something about writing. Have a little fun and stretch yourself. You might as well. You’re going to be here anyway.
JBH
For tomorrow and the future, get ready for Unit 2 assignment -- first major assignment -- and look ahead to get ready for Unit 5 -- our last major assignment-- page .153 The second major writing assignment will be decided next week.
Please pre-read and answer all questions in the book in Part I, Starting Out, as soon as possible. Please bring your typed answers to the interview questions we dealt with in class (pages 4 and 5) and to survey on pages 24 and 25 typed when we meet again next week. We will be talking more about Unit 1 and how to write and share our work with classmates online.
Thanks, and see you in class!
JBH