Sunday, April 20, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Week 10 (March 17th and 19th): Debates and Blog Assignment
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! Check out my Week 10 Voki to my class with the St. Patrick's Day theme.
Debates:
Our debate projects are in full swing with the Debate 1 teams doing theirs on Monday, March 17th. The debate proposition was the following:
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) should be amended to allow both male and female employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid time to care for their new baby or adopted child.
I was pleased with the way that the debaters argued their side. I gave everyone a job to do, which worked out quite well. I had Cody doing the picture taking and video taping for me, three students timing, three students judging, half the class asking questions to the pro side in the cross examination period, and the other half of the class posing questions to the con side.
At the end of the debate, I sent the judges out to confer. They had a debate scoring rubric with points assigned for each part of the debate. The judges presented a summary of their decision to the class. They thought that the pro side had the stronger argument, but because the rebuttal and closing argument were stronger with the con side, the con team was the overall winner.
Prizes were awarded to the con team. It was a good time had by all, I think.
How am I going to refine this lesson? For Debate 2 on the genetic engineering, I am going to use a handout for the notetakers, who will not only write each of the arguments presented, but they will have to write a question for the cross examination team. It will involve the audience more and help them attend to the debate. Another thing I am going to do is to give time for the sides to confer before the rebuttal period begins.
Blog Assignment:
The students are doing a great job evaluating one another's blogs. The blog that appears to be the big winner is a blog by Cody Griffith called, "All Things Fishing." Check it out at http://codysblog247.blogspot.com/
My personal favorite is Megan Kalka's music blog where she finds new singers and does a mini-review. Megan is a music major.
What I love about all the students' blogs is that they are subject matter experts on what they love. Everyone is exploring the use of visual rhetoric. Lots are adding YouTube videos and photos. Jennifer, Ann-Marie, and Megan are putting music on.
I'm pleased with the blog assignments in my Comp 2 class and will probably incorporate them in my Comp 1 hybrid class in the fall as a way for students to do journaling. I have ordered a book on tips for blogging, so I hope to learn lots.
Debates:
Our debate projects are in full swing with the Debate 1 teams doing theirs on Monday, March 17th. The debate proposition was the following:
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) should be amended to allow both male and female employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid time to care for their new baby or adopted child.
I was pleased with the way that the debaters argued their side. I gave everyone a job to do, which worked out quite well. I had Cody doing the picture taking and video taping for me, three students timing, three students judging, half the class asking questions to the pro side in the cross examination period, and the other half of the class posing questions to the con side.
At the end of the debate, I sent the judges out to confer. They had a debate scoring rubric with points assigned for each part of the debate. The judges presented a summary of their decision to the class. They thought that the pro side had the stronger argument, but because the rebuttal and closing argument were stronger with the con side, the con team was the overall winner.
Prizes were awarded to the con team. It was a good time had by all, I think.
How am I going to refine this lesson? For Debate 2 on the genetic engineering, I am going to use a handout for the notetakers, who will not only write each of the arguments presented, but they will have to write a question for the cross examination team. It will involve the audience more and help them attend to the debate. Another thing I am going to do is to give time for the sides to confer before the rebuttal period begins.
Blog Assignment:
The students are doing a great job evaluating one another's blogs. The blog that appears to be the big winner is a blog by Cody Griffith called, "All Things Fishing." Check it out at http://codysblog247.blogspot.com/
My personal favorite is Megan Kalka's music blog where she finds new singers and does a mini-review. Megan is a music major.
What I love about all the students' blogs is that they are subject matter experts on what they love. Everyone is exploring the use of visual rhetoric. Lots are adding YouTube videos and photos. Jennifer, Ann-Marie, and Megan are putting music on.
I'm pleased with the blog assignments in my Comp 2 class and will probably incorporate them in my Comp 1 hybrid class in the fall as a way for students to do journaling. I have ordered a book on tips for blogging, so I hope to learn lots.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Week 9: Post Spring Break and Debate Project
On Monday, my students should all be back from their spring break, which was from March 3 - March 10. Our face-to-face class will be devoted to getting organized and figuring out who will be doing what. In groups of three, the students will be drafting three main arguments for their debate resolution, then going to credible sources in our library's database to put their debate together.
People who are scheduled to do the first debate on March 17th will use Wednesday's online lesson to participate in a discussion forum and to submit their documents in their team file folders. I have decided to grade each person's participation in the debate project rather than to give a group grade. This makes them all accountable for their own learning and the learning of the others in the group.
The debate resolutions that were drafted during the last class meeting were voted on by the class and ranged from requiring immigrants who come to the States to have basic English language literacy skills to paying males full paternity leave if their spouses have a baby or if they adopt a baby.
The debates should be lively. The debate process has been structured to include rules and procedures to roles to a debate rubric.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Week 8 and the Debate Project
We all voted on the general subject areas for the beginning of our debate projects, which will carry through from after spring break to Week 13 of our fifteen-week course. We spent the hour working in groups of six to write proposition statements.
We voted on the proposition statements from the four general categories. The students signed up for their groups. I hope to videotape parts of the debates to post here on this blog.
We voted on the proposition statements from the four general categories. The students signed up for their groups. I hope to videotape parts of the debates to post here on this blog.
Weeks 6 & 7
I wanted to share with you some freeware that I have been using lately for my announcements for my hybrid Composition 1102 class and my ENC 3250 Professional Writing class.
The above is a Toon Doo.
Below is a Voki for my Week 7 announcement about getting ready for the midterm exams.
Get a Voki now!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Weeks 4 & 5
Week 4 was the week that the students posted their final drafts of their traditional argument. Everyone is exploring how to open their essays with a 'pow' and have catchy titles that will grab the reader's interest.
Many need to work on narrowing their topics to fit the scope of the 700-750 word limit and take a unique angle so that their voices come through.
I was pleased that everyone took a strong rhetorical stance and defended his or her point of view. Nancy did a creative paper on why drinking bottled beer is better than canned beer, her main argument resting on the widget that is in canned beers that is responsible for the head.
In Week 5, we had a group work assignment on two contrasting views of the torture to extract information from potential terrorists. A poll was conducted on the kinds of torture that the American government should have the right to use in interrogations with possible terrorists (from truth serums to whippings, sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, to waterboarding). It was eye opening to see how the opinions differed among the students. It is great to have the poll anonymous so that the students could feel free to express their opinions.
The lesson concluded with a humorous look at torture and four of the six groups came up with tickling as being torturous. The class brainstormed three reasons why tickling can be torturous. I think that students are feeling more comfortable about taking risks and going out of the box.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Third Week of Class: MLK Day and 3 Student Conferences
I didn't get to meet with my students face to face on Monday because of MLK Day. The weeks seem to be flying and there doesn't seem to be much time to do everything work-wise, social-wise, family-wise.
Two students cancelled their student conferences with me this week for a variety of reasons. This is the first semester that I am forcing my students to come to my office and talk about their papers. However, I am only requiring that they see me once, so I don't suppose that is too torturous for them.
The meetings provided time for us to get to know one another better and discuss drafts of their first papers. For most of the students, I headed them off at the pass on their traditional argument approach. Most were trying to construct an argument rather than present their rhetorical stance in their claim. I had assumed that doing a traditional argument would be much easier than doing a constructive or Rogerian approach. Surprises never cease and it pays to follow the adage that "Never assume anything."
My students' first drafts are all in and graded based on the annotations they did on their drafts and the completed self-review worksheets they copied and pasted to their drafts. The assignment is worth 25 points and is considered an editing assignment. In order to get them to scuba dive and not snorkle when they review their work, they will need to know how to annotate effectively. Most are on their way; some will just do the minimum and write words like, "develop" or "delete" and leave it at that.
I am looking forward to reading significantly different revised drafts next week.
Life is indeed good. Teaching rocks!!
Two students cancelled their student conferences with me this week for a variety of reasons. This is the first semester that I am forcing my students to come to my office and talk about their papers. However, I am only requiring that they see me once, so I don't suppose that is too torturous for them.
The meetings provided time for us to get to know one another better and discuss drafts of their first papers. For most of the students, I headed them off at the pass on their traditional argument approach. Most were trying to construct an argument rather than present their rhetorical stance in their claim. I had assumed that doing a traditional argument would be much easier than doing a constructive or Rogerian approach. Surprises never cease and it pays to follow the adage that "Never assume anything."
My students' first drafts are all in and graded based on the annotations they did on their drafts and the completed self-review worksheets they copied and pasted to their drafts. The assignment is worth 25 points and is considered an editing assignment. In order to get them to scuba dive and not snorkle when they review their work, they will need to know how to annotate effectively. Most are on their way; some will just do the minimum and write words like, "develop" or "delete" and leave it at that.
I am looking forward to reading significantly different revised drafts next week.
Life is indeed good. Teaching rocks!!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Second Week of Class
Monday, January 14, was a face-to-face class complete with California quiche, Arabic bread, fruit, cheese and crackers!
It is a great class and very responsive. I planned too much, as usual, and didn't get everything done. Jennifer was my timekeeper and gave me an extra ten minutes (which I shouldn't have had).
The big surprise of the day came when I saw the students had a different edition of the text than I had. I had the old edition. One of the essays assigned for the group work was one that the students didn't have in their texts. No one mentioned this, which led me to believe that no one had done the readings assigned for that day.
A few students didn't bring their books to class and lost participation points.
The fun moments, I think, were having the students take the "Remember Me " quiz in which they had to identify the students with their activity (from the first day ice breaker) and then the giving out of prizes for the catchiest title on the essay on abolishing college football.
I was very pleased with the first online assignment in which students had to revise a title of an essay, revised sentences, write a 'pow' intro, and answer questions on the difference between active and passive reading. I enjoyed reading the students' responses and look forward to a fun and productive semester with them.
Establishing a community of learners who work well together and are not afraid to take risks is my goal this semester.
It is a great class and very responsive. I planned too much, as usual, and didn't get everything done. Jennifer was my timekeeper and gave me an extra ten minutes (which I shouldn't have had).
The big surprise of the day came when I saw the students had a different edition of the text than I had. I had the old edition. One of the essays assigned for the group work was one that the students didn't have in their texts. No one mentioned this, which led me to believe that no one had done the readings assigned for that day.
A few students didn't bring their books to class and lost participation points.
The fun moments, I think, were having the students take the "Remember Me " quiz in which they had to identify the students with their activity (from the first day ice breaker) and then the giving out of prizes for the catchiest title on the essay on abolishing college football.
I was very pleased with the first online assignment in which students had to revise a title of an essay, revised sentences, write a 'pow' intro, and answer questions on the difference between active and passive reading. I enjoyed reading the students' responses and look forward to a fun and productive semester with them.
Establishing a community of learners who work well together and are not afraid to take risks is my goal this semester.
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