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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Document preview page 1

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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition

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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 1 preview imageInstructor’s Resource ManualForThe Reid Guide for College WritersTwelfth EditionStephen P. Reid,Colorado State UniversityDominic DelliCarpini,York College of PennsylvaniaPrepared byDominic DelliCarpini, York College of Pennsylvania
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 2 preview image
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 3 preview imageiiiCONTENTSAuthor’s NotesvPART I: Teaching GuideTeaching Resources, Objectives, and Guidelines1Objectives for First-Year Composition2Rhetorical Knowledge2Critical Thinking, Reading, and Composing2Processes3Knowledge of Conventions3Basic Guidelines for Teaching Writing4Course Syllabi, Policy Statements, Lesson Plans6Administrative Matters and Policy Statements6Policy Statement7Writing Lesson Plans9Classroom Management Strategies15Collaborative Learning and Writing Activities16Sample Workshop Questions21Sample Workshop Sheets23Collaborative Writing Groups34Collaborative Learning Groups34Critical Reading and Writing35Write-to-Learn Activities38Designing Writing Assignments40Responding to and Evaluating Student Writing44Responding to Student Writing44Responding During Class45Responding During Conferences45Responding to Written Drafts51Evaluating Student Writing52Grading Criteria53Marginal and Summary Comments on Essays60
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 4 preview imageivPART II: Chapter Commentary, Teaching Tips, and Answers to Discussion QuestionsChapter1:Forming a Writer’s Habits of Mind62Chapter2:Situations,Purposes,andProcessesforWriting64Chapter3:Reading as a Writer69Chapter4:AnalyzingandComposingMultimediaTexts75Chapter5:ObservingandRemembering79Chapter6:Investigating83Chapter7:Explaining88Chapter8:Evaluating94Chapter9:Arguing99Chapter10:ProblemSolving103Chapter11:RespondingtoLiterature109Chapter12:ResearchingandChapter13:ResearchWriting113HandbookAnswerstoExercises117PART III: A Select Bibliography for Writing TeachersWriting Process124Rhetorical Backgrounds124Reading/Writing Connections125Collaborative Learning and Writing125Revising125Responding to Writing125Conferencing with Students126
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 5 preview image5Author’sNotesThanksThe authors are grateful for the contributions of the composition faculty and students at Colorado StateUniversity and York College of Pennsylvania. We are also in the debt of scores of researchers in WritingStudies, whose work has contributed to the knowledge base and teaching practices of our field.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 6 preview image6PART I: TeachingGuideTeaching Resources, Objectives, and GuidelinesMost beginning teachers of composition are no longer handed a textbook, pointed toward a classroom,and given a wave of the hand and a cheery “Good luck!” Now teachers often enroll in a class in theteaching of composition, take seminars on teaching, and have the support of composition faculty whoteachcomposition themselves andknowhowto helpbeginning teachers. Evenwitha supportgroup,however, beginning teachers should take advantage of the wealth of published information about teachingcomposition.First, there is an abundance of material related to teaching composition available online. The Council ofWriting Program Administrators, at wpacouncil.org, has several important position statements, includingtheir “WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition,” “The Framework for Success in PostsecondaryWriting” and their especially helpful statement on plagiarism, “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPAStatement on Best Practices.” In addition, online writing centers such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab, atowl.english.purdue.edu, and Colorado State University’s Online Writing Center, at writing.colostate.edu,are valuable resources. At the CSU site you can access the Teaching Exchange at the WAC Clearinghouse,which has information on teaching resources, sample class syllabi, class activities, and reading suggestions.Finally, most schools have their own syllabi, lesson plans, and teaching ideas online at sites easily foundthrough search engines such as Google.Next, many books on teaching writing are wonderful resources for both new and experienced teachers.In Part 3 of this Instructor’s Manual is a brief bibliography of a few of the more popular introductory bookson teaching writing. Most of these give helpful advice on subjects such as teaching critical reading, designingassignments, evaluating writing, using portfolios, conducting effective conferences, designing peer groupworkshops, or responding to ELL (English Language Learning) students.Finally, becoming a member of NCTE and its Conference on College Composition and Communicationand/or the Council of Writing Program Administrators and attending one of the many regional or nationalconferences and workshops will continuethe dialogue established in the teachingseminar on problemsand questions about contemporary issues in composition teaching.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 7 preview image7Objectives for First-Year CompositionThe following guidelines for composition courses appear in the “WPA Outcomes Statement for First-YearComposition” (Version 3.0, approved 17 July 2014).The Reid Guideis designed to help students and teachersmeet all of these outcomes.Rhetorical KnowledgeRhetorical knowledgeis the ability to analyze contexts and audiences and then to act on that analysis incomprehending and creating texts. Rhetorical knowledge is the basis of composing. Writers develop rhetoricalknowledge by negotiating purpose, audience, context, and conventions as they compose a variety of texts fordifferent situations.By the end of first-year composition, students should•Learn and use key rhetorical concepts through analyzing and composing a variety of texts•Gain experience reading and composing in several genres to understand how genre conventionsshape and are shaped by readers’ and writers’ practices and purposes•Develop facility in responding to a variety of situations and contexts calling for purposeful shiftsin voice, tone, level of formality, design, medium, and/or structure•Understand and use a variety of technologies to address a range of audiences•Match the capacities of different environments (e.g., print and electronic) to varying rhetoricalsituationsFaculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn•The expectations of readers in their fields•The main features of genres in their fields•The main purposes of composing in their fieldsCritical Thinking, Reading, and ComposingCritical thinkingis the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate ideas, information, situations,and texts. When writers think critically about the materials they use—whether print texts, photographs,data sets, videos, or other materials—they separate assertion from evidence, evaluate sources and evidence,recognize and evaluate underlying assumptions, read across texts for connections and patterns, identify andevaluate chains of reasoning, and compose appropriately qualified and developed claims and generalizations.These practices are foundational for advanced academic writing.By the end of first-year composition, students should•Use composing and reading for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and communicating in variousrhetorical contexts•Read a diverse range of texts, attending especially to relationships between assertion and evidence, topatterns of organization, to the interplay between verbal and nonverbal elements, and to how thesefeatures function for different audiences and situations•Locate and evaluate (for credibility, sufficiency, accuracy, timeliness, bias and so on) primary andsecondaryresearchmaterials,includingjournalarticlesandessays,books,scholarlyandprofessionally established and maintained databases or archives, and informal electronic networksand internet sources•Use strategies—such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique, and design/redesign—to composetexts that integrate the writer’s ideas with those from appropriate sourcesFaculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 8 preview image8•The kinds of critical thinking important in their disciplines•The kinds of questions, problems, and evidence that define their disciplines•Strategies for reading a range of texts in their fieldsProcessesWriters use multiple strategies, orcomposing processesto conceptualize, develop, and finalize projects.Composing processes are seldom linear: a writer may research a topic before drafting, then conduct additionalresearch while revising or after consulting a colleague. Composing processes are also flexible: successfulwriters can adapt their composing processes to different contexts and occasions.By the end of first-year composition, students should•Develop a writing project through multiple drafts•Develop flexible strategies for reading, drafting, reviewing, collaborating, revising, rewriting,rereading, and editing•Use composing processes and tools as a means to discover and reconsider ideas•Experience the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes•Learn to give and to act on productive feedback to works in progress•Adapt composing processes for a variety of technologies and modalities•Reflect on the development of composing practices and how those practices influence their workFaculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn•To employ the methods and technologies commonly used for research and communication withintheir fields•To develop projects using the characteristic processes of their fields•To review work-in-progress for the purpose of developing ideas before surface-level editing•To participate effectively in collaborative processes typical of their fieldKnowledge of ConventionsConventionsare the formal rules and informal guidelines that define genres, and in so doing, shape readers’and writers’ perceptions of correctness or appropriateness. Most obviously, conventions govern such thingsas mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation practices. But they also influence content, style, organization,graphics, and document design.Conventions arise from a history of use and facilitate reading by invoking common expectations betweenwriters and readers. These expectations are not universal; they vary by genre (conventions for lab notebooksand discussion-board exchanges differ), by discipline (conventional moves in literature reviews in Psychologydiffer from those in English), and by occasion (meeting minutes and executive summaries use differentregisters).Awriter’sgraspofconventions inonecontextdoesnotmeana firmgraspin another.Successful writersunderstand, analyze,andnegotiate conventions forpurpose, audience, and genre,understanding that genres evolve in response to changes in material conditions and composing technologiesand attending carefully to emergent conventions.By the end of first-year composition, students should•Develop knowledge of linguistic structures, including grammar, punctuation, and spelling, throughpractice in composing and revising•Understand why genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics vary•Gain experience negotiating variations in genre conventions•Learn common formats and/or design features for different kinds of texts
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 9 preview image9•Explore the concepts of intellectual property (such as fair use and copyright) that motivatedocumentation conventions•Practice applying citation conventions systematically in their own workFaculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn•The reasons behind conventions of usage, specialized vocabulary, format, and citation systems intheir fields or disciplines•Strategies for controlling conventions in their fields or disciplines•Factors that influence the ways work is designed, documented, and disseminated in their fields•Ways to make informed decisions about intellectual property issues connected to common genresand modalities in their fields.Basic Guidelines for Teaching WritingIf you are new to teaching composition, these guidelines will make more sense as you gain experienceand confidence in the classroom, so read these before you begin teaching and againafteryou have taughtfor a few weeks. The following sections of this guide develop each of these ideas with specific strategiesand handouts for your class.On Your Role as Teacher!In the classroom, be absolutely honest about what you know or don’t know. To be a good writingteacher, you don’t necessarily have to assume the role of the expert or writing guru. Students already knowquite a bit about the language. Let them teach you—and the rest of the class—what they alreadyknow (or need to know). And this includes multimodal composing, in which students might well havemore experience than us—but less critical distance from it than we can supply.!Resist the temptation totransmit ways to write by lecturing. To be a good writing teacher, you don’thave to lecture about the aesthetics of nonfiction prose or the intricacies of passive voice, parallelism,or topic sentences. Students learn to write better by writing and through feedback. To teach writingeffectively, you do need tolistento your students and carefullyreadwhat they are writing.!Writing teachers should be coaches. A writing teacher helps other writers communicate their ideas. Awriting teacher gradually makes himself or herself dispensable by teaching writers to recognize andsolve the problems they confront during the writing process.!Writing teachers should write. They should model for their students not just their completed essays orproducts but their own processes for writing—however halting, recursive, or stumbling those processesmay be. Writing teachers should be part of the community of writers that they guide; you might evencomplete the assignments you give students to see what it feels like—and perhaps even share that writing(and the related struggles) with them.On the Structure of Your Class!A writing class should be a laboratoryor workshop. Simply transforming a class into a workshop,however, does not make it easy to plan and run. Start with learning outcomes, and then spend yourpreparation time designing sequences of writing, reading, discussion, or workshop activities that willenable students to achieve those outcomes.!Be sure to connect any “lesson” or material to be covered to students’ own writing. If you are discussingpieces written by professionals, focus not only on the content, but on the writer’s strategies and choices in
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 10 preview image10relation to students’ drafts .T h e ny o uc a nask students to apply what they learned to their owndrafts. If you are reviewing punctuation or usage, cover a few rules and then ask students to look forthose usage issues as they edit their own—and others’—writing.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 11 preview image11!Writing improvement is achieved by both individual practice and collaborative writing and learning.Use collaborative groups to balance (but not eliminate) writing performed by a single person.!Use writing-to-learn as one of your teaching strategies. Before discussing an essay, for example, askstudents to describe, in their journals, their own experiences with or knowledge of its topic. At the endof a discussion session, ask students to write one question they still have. When students read eachother’s papers, ask them to write a short summary of the paper before offering feedback to the writers.!Remember that individual students have different learning styles. Some learn quickly by reading, somethrough discussion, some by hands-on experience, some by drawing or diagramming, some by readingaloud or listening, some by a combination of styles. Draw on a variety of these styles as you plan yourclasses, and help the class members become a kind of writer’s group.On Your Role as Audience and Evaluator•Establish clear standards and criteria for your evaluation of writing. (Students can help generateand articulate these criteria.) Encourage students to use these criteria as they revise their own andother students’ writing. There should be no “hidden agendas” in the evaluation of writing. And besure that your comments focus on the criteria that you set.•Give your most careful written responses to mid-process drafts, when students can test and apply yoursuggestions and comments. Your intervention during the writing and revising process should, alongwith peer responses, receive more emphasis than comments on final drafts.•Let your responses to drafts and final products be guided by the writer’s sense of purpose, audience,context, and genre/mode. Your evaluation should begin by estimating how successfully the writerhas achieved his or her purpose for that particular audience and context.•Although you may feel torn between your “enabling” role as a coach and your “judgmental” roleas evaluator, the roles are not really in conflict. As a coach, you encourage students during thewriting process by offering advice, pointing out weak areas, and suggesting revision strategies.As an evaluator of a written product, you praise strengths and note weaknesses. You work just ashard communicating your high standards for writing as you do encouraging students to do theirbest. Excellence is a single standard.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 12 preview image12Course Syllabi, Policy Statements, Lesson PlansAdministrative Matters and Policy StatementsAnyexperiencedteacherwilltellyounot everything will turn out precisely as you planned.Essayassignmentsmay not work; studentsmay disappearand show up a month later; collaborativegroupprojects may fizzle or explode in your face; and students may challenge your authority. It is also likely thatstudents will seem obsessed in general about grades and in particular about their grade on the last assignmentor their grade in the course. An explicit policy statement is the best protection against grade complaints bystudents. In many cases, the program within which you are teaching will have suggested or require policystatement language. If that is not the case, or if you have some room for customizing, what follows can beuseful.Athorough policy statement shows that you have carefully planned your course, determined whichactivities or essays are most important, and carefully communicated your learning outcomes and standards toyour students. Think of your policy statement as a contract between you and your students. It spells out thecommitments agreed upon by both teacher and student.As you write your own policy statement, pay attention to your tone and attitude. Remember thatyour policy statement should not be just a legal document describing w h a t m i g h t s e e m l i k e a prisonsentence for your students. Be sure to includeyourside of the contract: How you will grade, how muchassignments are worth, and when you will return papers. Also, be positive about the value of the course andyour willingness to help. Let students know that you are eager to help them improve their writing.Perhaps the most important element of the policy statement, and the piece of writing that will bemost generative for you as a writing teacher, is the course description. This will give you the opportunityto tell your students your expectations for your class. Be sure to also include course learning outcomes.They may be provided by your program or WPA, or you may need to construct them yourself; but ineither case, they should reflect your own voice as a teacher. The Learning Objectives for each of the chaptersof this edition are listed both in the parent text and in each chapter of Part 2 of this manual.Use the following sample policy statement as a guide. Revise as necessary for your particularcourse and students.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 13 preview image13Policy StatementEnglish 101 Sec. 19Spring 2013Instructor: Ms. NorrisOffice: 345 Aylesworth HallOffice Hours: 2–4 MWF & by appt.Office Ph: 221-6723Writing Center: 6 Eddy Bldg.English Office Ph: 221-6420Computer Lab: 300 Eddy Bldg.Course DescriptionEnglish 101 is a workshop class in essay writing designed to prepare you for the college academic community.It will improve your critical reading skills and teach you processes and strategies for writing expository andargumentative prose in a rhetorical situation. You will learn to develop and support a main idea or claim foran audience. You will practice strategies for selecting and focusing on a topic, collecting ideas, shaping andorganizing your thoughts, supporting your ideas with evidence, and revising and editing to strengthen yourwriting and clarify your style.Required Texts and Materials•The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12/e (Pearson), Reid and DelliCarpini(Bring this text to every class.)•A college dictionary•[As appropriate for your institution] Access to word-processing software and connections to ourCourse-Management site OR pocket folder for submission of papersPrerequisitesTo enroll in English 101, you must have taken the English Placement Examination and been placed in E101. If you have not yet taken the placement examination, go to the English Department, 359 Eddy Bldg.Course PoliciesAttendance:In this course, you are expected to help others with their writing as well as revise your ownwriting. You must, therefore, attend all class sessions. Missing class on a day when an essay draft is duewill reduce your essay grade by a full letter. More thanthreeabsences will lower your final course grade.Excessive absence will result in failure of the course. If you miss a class, you are responsible for gettingthe assignment from another member of the class. If you know you will miss class because of illness oranother commitment, please call me and leave a messagebeforeyou miss class. Please do not arrive lateto class.Late Papers:In order to treat all students fairly, late paperscannot be accepted. The grade will be zeroand the paper is not revisable. In case of a legitimate problem, contact me at least one daybeforethe duedate.Submitting Essays:On assigned due dates, remember to submit all required materials in apocket folder[OR through our Course-Managementsystem]: final draft (typed and double spaced), postscript, roughdraft(s), workshop sheets, revision plans, photocopies of sources, collecting notes, and relevant journal entries.Returning Graded Essays:I will return your graded essays within 7 to 10 days after you hand them in.Usually, I will ask you to respond, in your journals, to the comments made on your papers.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 14 preview image14Workshops:All essays will be workshopped in class. Essays without workshop response will drop onefull grade.Conferences:Several conferences are required during the term. Please sign up and bring your text andfolder containing all your notes and drafts. Missinga conference appointment is the same as missingclass.Plagiarism:You are expected to give and receive help in this class, but all written work must be yourown. Read the sections on plagiarism in thePHG. If you plagiarize, in whole or part, from library or fieldsources or from other students’ essays, or if you fail to document properly,the minimum penalty is an Ffor the essay. You might also be placed on probation or expelled from the university. If you have any questionsabout plagiarism, ask before you act.Writing Center:The Writing Center is located in 106 Eddy Bldg. The hours of the center are posted onmy office door. Please do not hesitate to use the tutor’s assistance. Remember to bring a copy of yourassignment and your drafts to any Writing Center conference.Computer Lab:English 101 is a computer-assisted course. If you are not using your own computer, signup for computer times at the lab in 300 Eddy. If you cannot use a computer, please check with me at thebeginning of the course.Course Grading:Your grade in this course will be based on the following:Remembering Essay100 pts./10%Rhetorical Analysis50 pts./5%Analyzing a Visual50 pts./5%Explaining Essay100 pts./15%Evaluating Essay150 pts./15%Problem Solving/Arguing Essay150 pts./15%Major Revision100 pts./10%Reading Quizzes50 pts./5%Online Blog or Journal100 pts./10%Class Attendance & Participation100 pts./10%Final Examination (In-Class Essay)50 pts./5%Total pts. = 1,000A Final Note:I want you to use your time and effort in this class as positively as possible, to read andwrite about topics relevant to your personal and academic interests. Most of the members of this class arenot English majors,so I amnot expecting that you become literarycritics.Wherever possible, I willencourage you to learn and write about all the other subjects you are taking. If at any time you have aquestion about your writing, please talk to me after class or at my office.Writing Lesson PlansSome departments provide a general syllabus outlining the number and kinds of essays, required reading,due dates, and class topics. You may even have a detailed, day-by-day schedule to guide your own class.Be sure that these plans are based on the course’s (and the individual day’s) learning outcomes. It is often agood habit to write those objectives on the board at the beginning of class and review them at the end. As thesemester progresses, however, you will need to adjust your syllabus to meet the needs of your own students.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 15 preview image15Perhaps you need to stop and review or clarify an assignment. Perhaps students need more time collectingor researching. Perhaps they need an additional day for revision. Inevitably, you will have to modify yourclass plans, speed up, slow down, or change directions. When that happens, you’ll need to be flexibleenough to make changes.Writing your own lesson plans requires choosing from a variety of possible activities—those mostlikely to help your students at that particular time. Focus not on transmitting concepts, but on creating asequence of activities that give students the opportunity to practice the kinds of writing that will help themachieve your learning outcomes (and those in this textbook).To illustrate how to put a class plan together, first look at thepossible class activities. Then thinkabout asequencefor those activities that makes sense for your students. Finally, put the sequenced activitiestogether in alesson planthat is appropriate for your class.Possible Class Activities!Giving awriting assignment, explaining the assignment, and doing some prewriting!Reviewing and discussingfeatures of rhetoric: purpose, audience, writing situation, context, genre,shaping strategies, revision, or editing!Working with the use of appropriate software for multi-modal composing!Discussing ways that research and writing concepts can be transferred to work in othercourses!Reading and/or discussinga professional or student essay from the text,focusing on the moves the writer made or re-engineering the planning andresearch that led to its creation!Modelingfor students how to annotate professional or student essays, how to do collaborative annotations,or how to give good advice during a peer workshop!Conductingcollaborative workshopson some phase of students’ writing process!Asking students to do awrite-to-learnentry in their journals about some topic under discussion!Allowing students time in class towrite plansfor planning research!Giving students time to write a “zero” or discovery draft in class,then providing opportunities for peer feedback!Having students give a shortpresentationon their work in progress,allowing them the chance to gather feedback!Conferencingwith students in class about topic selection, research possibilities that fit that topic,and/or revising their plans and their drafts to reinforce the iterative nature of the writing process!Reviewinghandbookitems on grammar, punctuation, or conventions of mechanics and usage
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 16 preview image16Sequences for Class ActivitiesAs you select the activities most appropriate for your class, you need to think aboutsequencingthem orordering them so that the class is coherent and effective. You should choose a logical sequence within anindividual class as well as a sequence for successive class sessions. Three logical patterns of movementfollow.1.The writing process sequenceWriting processes for individual students are not linear or lockstep, but usually students will need helpwith invention and prewriting during the early stages, help with shaping, organizing, and cueing the audience(as well as additional collecting) in the middle stages, and help with revision and editing strategies toward thelater stages. Have your classroom activities follow (or anticipate) the progress of your students’ writing.2.The concept/application sequenceFollowing a concept with an application is a time-honored learning strategy. In a writing class, improvingstudents’ writing is the ultimate goal, so all discussions, readings, and small-group activities should berelated to students’ own writing. Every class should ask students to apply what they are learning to theirown essays, by taking out their notes or drafts and revising based on what they’ve learned from the classdiscussion or group activity.3.The individual/social sequenceExperienced writing teachers alternate individual activities (reading essays, writing in journals, drafting)with social group activities (annotationof texts, peer revision workshops,whole-classdiscussionandsynthesis). For example, a class may begin with a short teacher-centered presentation. Then the teachermay ask students to write about a topic or ask small groups to do some activity. Then the class as a wholesynthesizes and discusses the ideas. Finally, the teacher asks students to work by themselves again, applyingideas learned from the group as a whole. The individual-social-individual alternating pattern draws on thestrengths of both individual and social strategies for learning and writing.On the next few pages are lesson plans from a Monday-Wednesday-Friday composition class asone assignment is being completed and a new one is being introduced. . These detailed instructions illustratehow to build a logical progression of classes as well as how to sequence activities within an individual class.Remember that estimated times for workshop activities will vary considerably from one activity to thenext, or from one instructor to the next. Be prepared with additional activities should you run short oftime. More frequently, however, beginning instructorsunderestimatethe length of time required for workshopsessions. Revise the activities and times in these models to fit your own class. (For specific advice aboutconducting workshop sessions, see the Collaborative Learning and Writing Activities section in this instructor’smanual.) It can also be useful to make notes on the effectiveness of each individual activity right after class;this can help you to revise and innovate techniques for future classes.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 17 preview image17Class #8Learning Outcomes of This ClassUse reflection strategies to review your own writing.Understand strategies to choose a topic for evaluation.Activity Sequence(1) Preview;(2) Giveassignment;(3) Writepostscript;(4) Doeditingand collectessays; (5)Introduce Evaluating Essay; (6) Do prewriting and discussion; (7) Make plans and notesClass Activities1.Briefly,previewfor students the purpose and activities for today’s class. Link the idea of evaluation tothe process of reviewing their own work.2.Review the assignment for the next class meeting:Students continue prewriting, selecting a topic for the evaluating essay.Reading assignment:Chapter 8, “Evaluating.”Assign two of the suggested journalentries, and give time for students to consider and ask questions about their purpose.3.Ask students to exchange their finished papers, and have peer reviewer write a brief comment tothe writer. Ask them to include a statement of what they saw as the main idea or thesis, and parts thatseem most effective in supporting that thesis, followed by a statement beginning with “I wish” to offersuggestions as to what they, as a reader, wanted to hear more about. If time permits, ask students to describetheir reactions to the writer.4.Conduct a short (10 minutes) editing workshop on the final drafts. Divide students into pairs. Askthem to concentrate on one aspect of editing (grammar, punctuation, usage, spelling) that you discussedduring theprevious classperiod. Students should make editing marks (inpencil, using editingmarksillustrated in the Handbook section and the inside back cover ofThe Reid Guide, or if electronic, usingthe review function on the final drafts. After 10 minutes, students should confer with the writer. If thewriter or the editor has any questions, they should raise their hands so the instructor can answer individualquestions. During this session, the instructor should be answering students’ editing questions, askingstudents to write sentences with typical problems at the board, and referring students to appropriate sectionsin the handbook.Ask students to hand in or upload their essays to your course management system. .5.Introduce the evaluating essay (10 minutes). Hand out a sheet with the assignment, schedule of importantactivities and due dates, and criteria for your grading of the essay. (Remember:the class shoulddiscuss and, as necessary, revise these criteria during the next week or so. Note: see Applying WhatYou Have Learned section of chapter.) Below is an example of the ways that you might plan a class onthe day that you will be introducing a new assignment.Assignment: write an evaluation of a campus or community service or organization. The purpose ofthis assignment is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the organization or service. Possibleaudiences for this essay include a prospective member of this organization or user of this service, anadministrator of the service, or a funding agency for the organization. First, you must use (or haveused) the service. In addition, you must do some research for this essay. You must observe the organizationor service in operation, and you must interview at least one representative from this organization and atleast one user of the service. You may also use a survey to collect responses from other members orusers, and you may use any written sources, including pamphlets and library sources. Be sure to cite your
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 18 preview image18sources accurately in the text of your essay and on a Works Cited page. Copies of interviews, surveyresults, written sources, and pamphletsmustbe turned in with your final
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 19 preview image19draft. Essay length is approximately three pages. Final draft should be typed and double spaced. Essay isdue at Class #14. Consider possible multi-media enhancements for the project.6.Discuss and explain this assignment. Do prewriting and discussion (20 minutes). Hand out copies ofyour list of local and campus agencies and organizations. Ask students to write in their journals (writeto learn) for 5 to 7 minutes about a campus or community service or organization they have used orparticipated in. They should jot down basicwho,what,when, andwhereinformation and describesome strengths or weaknesses they’ve experienced. You may wish to have volunteers read from theirjournals and/or have two or three volunteers put their notes on the chalkboard or overhead so the classas a whole can discuss them. Choose one or two of the organizations and ask students to tell you howthey might write their essay, using this service. You (or a student) can act as the recorder at the board.Be sure you cover the following for each possible topic: purpose, audience, purpose of the organization orservice, description of the service, examples illustrating strengths and weaknesses, and possible criteriafor evaluation. Be sure to have students explain to you several possible audiences for their essay andhow choosing a different audience will change their evaluation.7.Have students make notes for themselves about what organizations or services they might evaluate (2minutes).Class #9Learning Outcomes of This Class PeriodUse techniques for developing a topic that requires explanatory writing.Activity Sequence(1) Preview; (2) Assignment; (3) Journal or advertisement activity; (4) Annotation of essay; (5) Peerworkshops; (6) Individual work on plans/answer questionsClass Activities1.Briefly,previewfor students the purpose and activities for today’s class.2.Give the assignment for the next class meeting:Review collecting and shaping strategies from Chapter 8.Assign Chapter 6, sections on interviews, surveys, and written sources.Select a possible organization or service. Begin to gather basic information about the service. Set upinterviews.Hand out sample essay on the Career Services Center; ask students to annotate it as they will practicetoday in class.3.Discuss and share journal entries (10 minutes). Ask student volunteers to read from their journal entries.Ask the rest of the students to take notes as they listen for key features of evaluating: purpose, audience,description of thing being evaluated, possible criteria, and evidence. After volunteers read, ask otherstudents to read their notes. Record at the board. Discuss the process of evaluation.4.Individual and group annotation of selected essays (20 minutes). Choose one of the assigned essaysfrom the chapter and model for students how to annotate the essay for key features of evaluating:purpose, audience, description, overall claim, criteria, judgments, and data. (The Ariel Rose essay,“World Grills,” already has some model marginal annotations.) Then select another essay and askstudents to make individual annotations for 10 minutes. Next, divide the class into groups of three andask students to collate their annotations on one student’s essay or (preferably) on a photocopy of the essayyou provide each group. (Give specific directions and set time limits, appoint a recorder.) Following
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 20 preview image20the group activity, have recorders report to the class and synthesize results at the board. (Anothereffective strategy is to form new groups that each contain one member of each of the former groups.The new groups synthesize the findings of each of their former groups and report their findings to theclass.)5.Have students work by themselves or in groups of two or three on their own tentative topics (15minutes). Give students specific instructions. For each student’s tentative topic, students should discuss orselect the specific topic, audience, material needed for description,tentative criteria, and possiblesupporting evidence they might find or have found. Specifyexactlywhat you want them to do beforeyou divide into groups.6.Have students write out plans (5 minutes or remaining time): when they will visit the organization,whom they might interview, what they might find at the library, and what personal experience of theirown they might use. Answer questions that students have about the assignment or their topic.Class #10Learning Outcomes of This ClassUse collecting strategies to gather reliable information.Learn to write interview questions that will enrich their evaluation of the organization they are studying.Activity Sequence(1) Preview; (2) Assignment; (3) Conference sign-up; (4) Workshop annotating student essay; (5) Three-column log; (6) Individual work/answer questionsClass Activities1.Briefly,previewfor students the purpose and activities for today’s class.2.Give the assignment for the next class meeting:Continue to collect information; conduct at least one interview. Write out at least one page of a “zero”or discovery draft for their essay.For Class #12, following the conference, rough draft of essay is due.3. Conference sign-up. Next class will be a conference over their evaluating essay. Announce that the regularlyscheduled class willnotmeet. Students should sign up for a 15-minute conference. (Hand out sign-upsheet and conference sheet that asks students to write out their tentative topic, audience, what evidencethey have found so far; what interviews they have conducted or scheduled; and what questions orproblems they have. They should bring their notes and their “zero” draft.)4.Writing Interview Questions:Ask students individually to develop possible questions for the interviewthey will conduct in the coming week.Have them do some initial internet research on the organization,make note of the organization’s key mission and activities (as a collection strategy) and using that research,create appropriate questions.5.Collaborative Workshop: Ask students to exchange and talk through the interview questions. Partnersshould make suggestions for follow-up or additional questions that will lead to a deeper, more empathicunderstanding.6.Remind students that good interviewers are flexible and follow interviews where they lead. They shouldbe conversational. If time permits, ask students to try out interviewing strategies with each other.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 21 preview image21Class #11Learning Outcomes of This ClassTo use conferences to create developed topics, focus, criteria, evidence, and judgments.To address problems with drafting.Activity SequenceGive assignment; individual conferencesClass Activities1.Give the assignment for the next class meeting:Remind students that the rough drafts are due the next class meeting.2.During your conferences, remember that students should do most of the talking. Ask them to explainwhat they have done and intend to do. Review what they have written on the sheet. Ask students howthey intend to solve problems they are encountering. Give students suggestions, but don’t appropriatetheir essays.Class #12Purpose of This ClassTo conduct a workshop on students’ drafts of the evaluating essay.To review grading criteria for the evaluating essay.Activity Sequence(1)Preview;(2)Assignment;(3)Evidenceandshapingstrategiesdiscussion/modeling;(4) Collaborative workshop; (5) Review and revise grading criteria; (6) Individual workClass Activities1.Briefly,previewfor students the purpose and activities for today’s class.2.Give the assignment for the next class meeting:Revised draft due next class meeting, along with notes and list of criteria for an effective organization.Revise introduction and overall claim.Review paragraph transitions and hooks from Chapter 7.3.Shaping strategies and evidence discussion (15 minutes). In class discussion, review possible shapingstrategies. (Use a write-to-learn journal entry about text’s discussion of shaping, if appropriate.) Askvolunteers to describe their purpose and approach, and at the board, outline possible methods for shapingthe evaluating essay (asking other class members to make suggestions). Next, review kinds of evidencethat are necessary or appropriate for each claim. Discuss how much description of the organization orservice is necessary. Hand out the workshop sheet you will use in the next activity, along with a copyof your draft (or the draft of a student writer not in the class) of the evaluating essay. Make sure yourdraft is rough and has obvious problems. Ask students to use the workshop sheet to give you feedbackon your essay. (See sample collaborative workshop sheets.) Explain what kind of advice is helpfulfor you. Show students how to givespecificsuggestions about organization or evidence.4.Collaborative workshop on organization and evidence (20 minutes). Following your modeling of theworkshop sheet, divide students into groups of two or three to exchange drafts and write responses.Give specific instructionsbeforedividing into groups. At the end of the workshop, synthesize their
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 22 preview image22findings. What are the most common problems? How do they intend to solve these problems?5. Review and revise grading criteria (10 minutes). Hand out the grading criteria for this essay. (See EvaluatingStudent Writing section in this instructor’s manual.) If the criteria are on the assignment sheet (as issuggested), have students review the criteria. What does each criterion mean? Which criteria are mostimportant? What suggestions for revising these criteria do students have? Record definitions of criteria atthe board. Jot down students’ suggestions for revising. Explain that you will revise the criteria later,based on their suggestions. (Don’t change the criteria on the spot, but do revise the grading criterialater, if necessary.) These activities can help students to see that your evaluation, like the one that they arewriting, is based on specific criteria.6.Individual work on drafts (5 minutes or remaining time). Have students review their notes from class,the grading criteria, and their workshop responses. Based on that information, students should writeout a plan for revising their drafts: What additional evidence is needed? How do they intend to reorganizethe essay? Go around the class and answer students’ questions about their drafts and their revisionplans.Classroom Management StrategiesIn addition to having a clear and purposeful class plan, teachers need to develop their repertoires ofmanagementstrategiestohandleeverydayactivitiesaswellasthoseoccasionalcrises.Eveninexperienced teachers can learn these tricks of the trade.!Dolearn your students’ namesand use them in class. Do whatever it takes to learn students’ namesearlyintheterm.Keepaseatingchart.If available on your Course Management system, reviewphotographs of students or print them out to have with you in class. Have students interview each otherand report on what they learned so you have a personality to attach to a face. Have a conferenceduring the second or third week. Learning and using your students’ names is crucial to a successfulclass.!Doorganizeyour class and assignments as clearly as possible. State your expectations clearly. Youdon’t have to be a tyrant or an ogre, but you must be firm, steady, and clear.!Do work on developing acommunityin your classroom. Knowing your students’ names is a start.Helping students to know each other through interviews, in-class and out-of-class group work, and forumson your class website works to build community.Acknowledge personalities and special needs and abilities in class. The clearer sense that students have ofeach other and the personality of the class, the more productive they will be in class.!Make students do the work—and the learning. Students will continually pressure you for the answers.Whenever possible, ask students to givetheiranswers. The more pressure you feel to perform, themore you need to deflect questions back to students. In class, think of yourself primarily as an askerof questions, a recorder at the board, a designer of group activities, a consensus maker, or a problemsolver.!Get regular feedbackfrom your class about what they are learning. When you hear yourself say,“Who has any questions about that?” and you face a stony silence, ask your students to do a write-to- learnentry in their journalexplainingthe main point of the precedingdiscussion or to articulate theirunderstanding of it. When you hand back essays, invite your students to respond to your marginal andsummary comments. Assign regular journal entries asking your studentsto respond to what theyunderstand about the class and what they find confusing or frustrating. Don’t wait until the end of the
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 23 preview image23class to get student feedback; at that point, it’s too late to adjust an assignment or change strategies.!Always plan for thatextra activityin case you finish early. Every teacher has a story about finishinghis or her lesson plan after only 25 minutes of class and then, in a moment of panic, dismissing theclass for the day. Reflective writing about their insights from that class period is an excellent go-to activitythat encourages metacognition.!Don’t use the class for your soapbox. Even though you may believe strongly in certain social, political, ordiversityissues,your classroomshouldbe anopen forumthat respectsmultiplepoints of view.Otherwise, half your students will “write what you want” while the other half will believe that they getlow grades because you don’t “like” what they think.!Don’t be afraid to say, “That’s a good question. I don’t know, but I will find out for you.” Honesty isalways preferable to making up a phony answer that your students will see through—and modeling theneed to be a lifelong learner is a positive approach. You can also ask the class for input: “What do you[indicating the class] think about that?” Or, “That’s a good question. What do the rest of you think?”This creates a model of collaborative learning.!Avoidhidden agendasin grading. Regularly and openly, discuss the criteria for grading. Encouragestudents to give their input to these criteria. Make students use these criteria as they give each otherfeedback in workshops.!When the pressure builds,don’t retreat into lecturing. A little silence is fine. Just say, “I’ll give you aminute to think it through.”Collaborative Learning and Writing ActivitiesUsing collaborative groups in the classroom for reading, writing, responding, problem solving, learning,revising, and editing activities has been the single most influential composition teaching strategy for thepast two decades. Collaborative groups give studentsownershipin their ideas and their writing; they helpstudentslearn by teachingeach other; and they create smalldiscourse communitieswithin the classroom—and thus imitate realaudiencesand realresponsefor student and professional writing.Collaborative groups in the composition classroom are generally of three types. The first andmost common is thecollaborative workshopor peer review group that focuses on some phase of thewriting and revision process. Small groups of students give each other feedback on ideas for topics, drafts,and revising and editing. A second type is thecollaborative writinggroup: a few students work togetheractually writing an essay. They select a topic, apportion collecting duties, pool their prewriting materials,and draft and revise a single essay. The third type is thecollaborative learninggroup. In this third case,the group is not working on any particular essay, but they use the social, collaborative environment to study,describe, review, explain, evaluate, or argue course ideas or concepts. This third type employs write-to-learn strategies but with the added advantage of social interaction as students write, discuss, interview,reach consensus, and report their findings and decisions.Keep in mind that these three types overlap in the composition classroom. Collaborative groupsoften use collaborative writing in the process of giving feedback. Reaching consensus and agreeing on acollaboratively written draft also require collaborative learning. Usually, however, each type of group has adifferentfinal purpose.Thecollaborativeworkshopsassistin the writingandrevisionprocess;thecollaborative writing groups produce a single written document; and the collaborative learning groups usesocial interaction and consensus to help students teach each other or agree on key ideas or class policies.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 24 preview image24Collaborative WorkshopsCollaborative workshops have real advantages over the traditional lecture and discussion method. Theybring the all-important social dimension into the writing classroom. They encourage critical reading ofdrafts and positive peer response for effective passages, and they also break the stereotype of writing beinga solitary activity. Theygivestudents practice inresponding to multiple readers and reactions. Theydemonstrate the reason behind revision: the text is simply not communicating to the intended audience.Although many teachers use collaborativelearning and writing strategies, there are some realdisadvantagesto collaborativepeer groups.Somestudentsdo not learnefficientlyin small groups;uncooperative students often derail small-group activities; and students in small groups can give misleading,wrong, and counterproductive advice. Simply adopting the methodology of collaborative learning does notguarantee good writing.Teachers should use collaborative techniques but should design them carefully, sequence themlogically, and supplement collaborative workshops with other learning strategies: some lecture and discussion,some individual writing, some one-on-oneconferencing.Following the general guidelines and sampleworkshop questions presented here will make your workshop class more effective.General Guidelines for Workshops1.Collaborative group work, by definition, is not just any small group of people working together but agroup held together by mutual purpose and benefit. It assumes thatnegotiationandconsensus buildingareimportant; it usually relies on the combined efforts of people withdifferentpoints of view or areasof expertise; and it focuses on somecommon goalor shared objective.2.Small groups must respect minority opinions. Groups should agree about their suggestions, or agree todisagree.Recordersor group facilitatorsshould make sure that minorityviews are recorded andrepresented to the writer or the class as a whole.3.As a rule of thumb, use collaborative activities only when they provide some benefitnot possibleoreffectively achieved through lecture, discussion, or individual work. They should not be used unlessstudents can see some real benefit (response from a reader, tips on collecting or shaping, help onediting, and so forth).4.Don’t limit peer response groups only to editing activities. They can promote critical reading andinterpretation of texts. (See the collaborative learning activities suggested on the following pages.)They can help readers read with a writer’s eye. They can be effective at the invention or prewritingstage of an essay. They can help students plan global revisions on drafts. They can help teachersrevise and articulate evaluation criteria and grading sheets.5.Collaborative groups work well when they are part of an overallsequencethat has some individualwriting, reading, or thinking, some small-group collaboration, some synthesis with the class as a whole,and some application to the student’s reading or writing. One possible revision sequence: four studentsin a group each read one essay draft, noting responses to key parts; then the small group reachesagreement (or agrees to disagree) on key features; the group reports to the class about key featuresof the essay; finally, following class discussion, students individually revise or plan their revisions.6. Collaborative activities should promote some realistic goal: discovering ideas for writing, getting feedbackon development or organization, or helping each other edit and proofread. Roles should also be clear:one group member may be the writer, another the recorder or person who reports to the class, a
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 25 preview image25third a facilitator who keeps the discussion on track, and so forth.7.For effective collaborative activities, the teacher is not an instructor but a planner, a writer of clearinstructions, a coach or facilitator, a resource provider, and class recorder and synthesizer. Carefulplanning is crucial. Carefully define thetasksfor collaborative groups. Except when the purpose ofthe group is to decide how to proceed, focus onone partof the writing process, set alimitednumberof questions or tasks, specify acertain length of time, and indicate what happensafterthe groupactivity. You should not rely on verbal instructions for workshops, such as “OK, now, everybody getinto groups and edit each other’s essays!” Instead, write instructions on the board or, better yet, handout workshop sheets (see following pages).8.Early in the course,modelfor the class how peer workshops should operate. One effective method isas follows. First hand out a sheet explaining guidelines for group workshops (see following pages).Then distribute a workshop sheet for that particular day and take the class as a whole through theresponse tothedraft.(Note: ifpossible, model withyourown draft.) Askonestudent tobetherecorder and write suggestions from the class on the board. Be sure to show students how to becritical yet constructive.9.Collaborative groups of two to four are most effective, but larger groups of five to six can be effectivefor invention, group brainstorming, or testing pros and cons of argumentative claims. You can choosegroups at random, by common essay topics or interests, or by group diversity (a verbal student whomay not be a good writer, a quiet but good writer, and a struggling writer).10.Use avarietyof collaborative activities. Not all workshops should be driven by consensus making.For example, you may wish to have each person in the group look at a different element in eachessay. Person #1 might look just at the introduction or thesis; person #2 might look just at supportingevidence in one main paragraph; person #3 might look at paragraph hooks and transitions; and person#4 might concentrate on clarity of the sentences. Similarly, not all workshops need to have the writerof the essay in the group. Sometimes students are more comfortable writing honest and constructiveresponses if the writers of the essays are working in a different group. Finally, collaborative groupsneed not be restricted to the classroom. Some of the most productive sessions occur when students seta meeting time and place outside of class or via electronic communication.On the following pages are one instructor’s guidelines for effective groups and another instructor’s adviceto students about workshopping. You are welcome to use or modify these handouts for your own class.Hints for Successful Group Activities—Courtesy of Kate Barnes1.Write instructions on the board or a handout.Written instructions will help you avoid answering questions about your instructions 10 times,and students can refer to the instructions if you are busy with another group.2.Tell students what they’ll be doing, why they are doing it, and how long it should take.Once students start moving, the thundering noise will prevent any additional messages from gettingthrough, so describe the activity from start to finish before you put them into groups.3.Instruct students to elect a recorder and a spokesperson before they begin the activity.4.Lie about the time they have for an activity.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 26 preview image26If you have planned 10 minutes for an activity, tell students they have 5 minutes. This will elicitgroans, whines, and accusing looks, but it will keep them working because they have so little time to doall this stuff. Meanwhile, you can stand by with a knowing smile, comforted by the thought that, withluck, you may get done in time.5.Once students have divided into groups, gentle but firm reminders like “You all should be reading atthis point” will prompt them to stop visiting and to start working.Gentle but firm reminders early on will help you to resist the temptation to scream later. Also,staring at your wristwatch intently and remarking, “Gee, there are only 2 minutes left,” can be helpful.(Of course, if you applied hint #4 above, there will actually be 4 minutes left.)6.Have your students write the results of the activity on a piece of paper to hand in.Even though the activity may not be graded, students will often pay more attention to the activity ifthey know you’ll be looking at their work. You may also create a grading policy that not only includes“attendance’ but “attendance and active participation.” Remind students of criteria for making those judgments,and address them in individual conference.7.In addition to the main activity, plan for additional “If you have time” tasks.This will help prevent groups who have finished their work quickly from sitting (and talking) idlyby while other groups are still working.8.If you ask students to present their group’s work to the class, have the class applaud after eachpresentation.Applause not only helps to ease the discomfort, but it also promotes enthusiasm, and it preventsyou from having to give well-meant but lame comments in the awkward silence following a presentation.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 27 preview image27Some Words on Workshopping—Courtesy of Dave King**Approach every editing job as if you were a reader encountering the work for thefirsttime. Ifyou become confused as a reader, you need to tell the writer about it. When the reader doesn’t understand,the writer hasn’t done his or her job.**When you edit, don’t just mark what is wrong—focus on how to help the writersolve the problem. Ifsomething looks or sounds wrong, and you really do not know what the problem is, seek a second opinion.Raise your hand and ask me for help. Between us, we should come up with some helpful advice. If I’m notimmediately available, write in the margin, “I think you should see Mr. King about this.” Otherwise, givespecificadvice on how the writer can improve the section of writing.**“I don’t want to hurt the writer’s feelings” syndrome.Remember, if you say it’s good when it isn’t,you will hurt this writer’s feelings even more when he or she is surprised by a low grade on the essay. Heor she will remember that you weren’t honest or competent enough as a reader to help him or her revisethe draft adequately. Butbe honest, not cruel.**How can I criticize without being cruel?First, explain how you understood the passage and comparethat with the writer’s explanation. Next, ask questions: “I’m not sure if you mean X or Y at this point.Could you clarify this for me?” “You seem to be saying . . . here. How does this fit in with your main ideaor claim? Make that connection clearer.” Finally, give specific advice about problems: “Look again at theessay in the text on p. 148. Why not try that approach for a lead-in?”**What if I think the essay is great?No essay is perfect (ask any professional writer!). You should stillbe able to offer some advice to strengthen the piece. Where the essay is strong, be sure to point that out;writers learn by recognizing their strengths. But be sure to finish your worksheet by explaining carefullyhow and why certain parts are strong and how and where they could be even stronger.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 28 preview image28Sample Workshop QuestionsThe following worksheets c a n b e used to accompanyThe Reid Guide.As you design your own workshopsheets, you might select among these types of questions as you write questions appropriate for your particularassignment and your own students’ problems. (For samples of specific Peer Response workshop questions,see Chapters 7–10.)Writer’s Questions.Often the writer knows where the problems are and can ask for a reader’s reactions.Workshop sheets should provide room for writers to ask one or two questions and readers to respond.Writer: What one question would you like your reader to answer?[Writer writes out his or her question here.]Reader: Answer the question the writer asks.[Provide a place on the workshop sheet for the reader to answer the writer’s question.]Reader-Response Questions.These questions simply ask peer reviewers of an essay to react honestly, as areader, to the writing. Sample questions are as follows:The best part of this paper was.When I finished the essay, I wanted to ask you one question: ___________________.One place I disagreed was where you said _______.One experience or idea I had that was similar to this was.When you said _______, I thought about _______.At the beginning of the essay, I thought you were going to discuss _______, but after I got to theend, I realized that you were discussing.Descriptive Prompts.These questions encourage readers to describe or summarize the passage. Evaluation isnever wholly absent from any response, but the purpose of these prompts is primarily to hold a mirrorup to the piece of writing. Some possibilities are as follows:The intended audience for this paper is __________.The social or cultural context of this paper is _________.The main ideas of this paper, in order, are ___________.This essay hasparagraphs.This essay is written from the point of view of a person who is _________.(Profile the narrator.)Identification or Labeling Questions.Students in a group often give conflicting advice because they donot recognize or properly name a rhetorical feature, strategy, or error. Identification questions encouragestudents to simply label or name featuresbeforethey judge the effectiveness of the passage.Write “Lead-in” in the margin next to the writer’s lead.Write “audience” next to sentences that identify and appeal to the intended audience.Put ** in the margin next to sentence(s) that contain the writer’s main idea, thesis, or claim.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 29 preview image29Write “hook” next to hooks and transitions used at the beginning of body paragraphs.Find a passage containing definition and write “Def” in the margin.Write “C/C” next to a comparison or contrast that the writer makes.Write “Fragment” next to one sentence fragment.Evaluative Prompts.The responses to these prompts or questions should, ideally, indicate specificallywhat the reader is reacting to, refer to some stated or implied criteria (“Essays for this audience should/shouldnot have a catchy lead-in”), and suggest a revision. The responses may take the form of pointings (describedshortly), comparisons between the writer’s intended purpose and audience, or short written suggestionsabout focus, development, coherence, or style.Pointings. Underline any nouns, verbs, details, and phrases that are memorable, striking, or effective. Put awavy line under any words or phrases that are excessively wordy or ineffective.Put parentheses ( )around sentences that need revision for clarity. Put carets (^) where additional details or examples areneeded.Purpose and audience. One way to evaluate an essay is to compare it with the writer’s plans and intentions.Does the paper do what the writer hopes it will do? First, have the writer explicitly state his or her intendedpurpose and audience. Then have the reader read the essay, without looking at this statement. The readershould compare those statements with the actual essay and then indicatespecific passagesin which theessay illustrates or fails to illustrate that purpose. The reader should also identifyspecific passagesin whichthe essay addresses a different audience.Evaluations of focus, development, coherence, or style: ask questions that encourage readers tofocus on specific passages and to offer concrete revision suggestions.Show where the writer could use more showing details, images, facts or description. Suggest arevision.What details are not relevant to the main idea? Explain why they are not relevant. Suggest arevision.Find one passage where the paragraph hooks and transitions should be clearer. Suggest a revision.Advice for revision plans: ask peer readers to locate one or two main areas to concentrate onduring a revision.As you revise this paper, concentrate most ona) collecting more examples,b) shaping your main paragraphs,c) revising sentences for clarity, ord) editing and proofreading.Explain your choice. (Peer reader should explain his or her choice.)Revision Plan Questions.At the end of workshops, ask your students to write about the advice theyreceived or their plans for revision. If time permits, encourage students to begin revising their essays,based on the workshop responses.Writer. After you have discussed the suggestions with your other group members, work for 10 minuteson your essay, first planning the changes you want to make and then actually revising your draft.
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 30 preview image30A Word of Caution.Often, teachers design workshop sheets withtoo manyquestions for a 20- or 30-minute workshop. Limit your workshop questions to those most appropriate to the writer’s stage in thewriting process (brainstorming, collecting, shaping, revising, or editing) or to the problems that your studentsare having with this essay.Sample Workshop SheetsOn the following pages are sample workshop sheets from instructors who useThe Reid Guide. Use thesesample workshop sheets to supplement the Peer Response guidelines given in each chapter ofThe ReidGuide. Note that their prompts combine several types of questions from the samples earlier. As you writeyour own workshop sheets, adapt these samples to your own assignmentsand to yourownstudents.(You will need to give students more space to respond than is provided in these samples.)
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Lecture Notes for The Reid Guide for College Writers, 12th Edition - Page 31 preview image31Observing Workshop SheetWriter: ______________Reader: _____________Instructions. The writer should fill out the top part of two workshop sheets for the other members of thegroup. Then each group member should exchange papers and read the drafts of the other two members inyour group. Write your responses on this sheet and on the draft itself. You will have 20 minutes.Writer.In the space below, write two questions that you would like to have your readers answer.1.2.Reader.1.Read through the draft twice. Without looking back at the essay, explain what you liked best aboutthe description. Then explain where (refer tospecificparagraphs or sentences) you were confused orcould not visualize the subject being described.2.Without rereading the draft, write one sentence stating your perception of the writer’s dominant idea.Now look at the draft again. Underline the phrases or sentences that most clearly express the dominantidea.3. List three observed details that support the dominant idea. List one detail that is not relevant to the dominantidea.4.Make the following “pointings” on this passage: A. Underline vivid words, phrases, or images. B. Put awavy line under vague, abstract, imprecise, or “telling” language.5.Describe what you think the writer should dofirstwhen he or she revises this passage.a. Re-observe the subject and add more vivid description.b. Try writing from another point of view.c. Use more sensory images.d. Revise sentences for clarity.6.Answer the writer’s questions above.
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