Short List
- Attendance Check
- The Assignment
- Self-Review/Independent Work
- Peer Review
This Friday, the entire Unit 2, Essay Basics essay will be due. Please look at this prompt and grading rubric.
The Details
Schedule of events:
1. Attendance Check
2. [10 minutes] The Assignment
We have talked a lot about this essay, but we have not talked about the details of what you should be doing enough for my own satisfaction.
You will respond to this prompt:
Should schools monitor student activities on the Internet at all times, even outside of school? What are the potential beneficial or negative effects that would be caused by monitoring student activities?
- At least 5 paragraphs
- 1 Microsoft Word Document
- Margins = 1 inch (2.5cm) on all sides
- 1 References Page
- 1 Title Page
- All sources used must appear correctly cited on the References Page
- Font = Times New Roman, size 12
- Double spaced
3. [25-30 minutes] Self-Review
You are going to (1) analyze your work--you know what is good and you know what could be better if you are honest about it, (2) compare and contrast what you have written with what is expected of you and your work, and (3) document your observations all before helping your partner do the same.
Before we start the real "steps" of this activity, think very, very carefully about who you want to partner with. I will not assign partners, because I want you to choose for yourself who would be the best partner for you. This is something that you should not feel offended by or be afraid of offending someone else based on who you choose or do not choose; instead, this is all about choosing to make a partnership that will result in the best work done by both people in the partnership. You grade literally depends on it!
Step 1:
Get out (1) your drafts of your paragraph portfolio if you have them and (2) your current draft for the essay. If you do not, try and remember what comments I made. What things did you not do as well on according to my comments and your grade on the rubric? Have you improved those things in this writing assignment?
Step 2:
Look at all three of your drafts and compare them with these resources while taking notes (see Step 3 directions):
| Resource 1 | Resource 2 | Resource 3 | Resource 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| This is the unit prompt and grading rubric. One of the wisest things to do when preparing for a large, important assignment is to compare what you have done against the "standard" that the instructor is grading your work against. | This resource is simpler and more straight-forward, but not as complete as Resource 3 | On the homepage, once you log in, you should see some useful "Assigned Links" in yellow on the middle of the page. Some of these are the same as for paper 1, but that is because they are still just as useful. | While this resource from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is long and wordy, it provides a great set of questions to use when proofreading your own work. If you do not really know where to start in looking at your writing, this is a great resource to help you make the most of this time. |
Ask yourself about these key points:
- If I have body paragraphs, can I identify PIE in each body paragraph?
- Is my thesis clear, concise, but specific enough, giving a preview of the main points?
- Do the body paragraphs support the thesis?
- Is the Point clear?
- Are there Illustrations that support the Point?
- Are the Illustrations clearly connected to the Point by Explanations?
- Did I do an adequate job avoiding plagiarism?
- Are all of my quotations appropriately marked with quotation marks, in-text citation, and signal phrases?
- Are all of my paraphrases and summaries appropriately marked with in-text citation and signal phrases?
I would recommend doing steps 2 and 3 simultaneously, writing your observations as you make them.
Write down your observations clearly and with enough explanation for your partner to understand. If possible, write them down as "Action Steps," or things that you can "assign" for yourself to do between now and Friday to fix and better your essay.
| Partnership 1 | Partnership 2 | Partnership 3 | Partnership 4 | Partnership 5 | Partnership 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your self-assessment | Your self-assessment | Your self-assessment | Your self-assessment | Your self-assessment | Your self-assessment |
Now, you will (1) read your partner's observations, (2) read your partner's papers, and (3) give them your feedback and comments.
Steps 1 and 2 are understandable enough from the sentence before, so I will only explain Step 3:
- Tell them some of their strengths and some of the things you like about their essay draft.
- Comment on some of their observations, agreeing with what they said, disagreeing with what they said, etc.
- Offer some ways they could make their essay and the parts of the essay even better that they had not already thought of.
- Offer some practical ways they could implement some changes based on both their own and your observations.
- Answer any questions your partner might have.
5. [no time--only an option for partners who may finish early] Make the Changes
If you and your partners are especially fast, use the remaining time to implement the changes that you and your partner have agreed upon for your paper.
Homework:
This Friday, revisions of all three paragraphs will be due. Take a look at this prompt and grading rubric.
Attribution: This lesson is entirely my own creation, but some of the material has been borrowed from other lessons by other instructors. Their attribution is on each piece of borrowed material.
For further resources:
Our class is very short. All there is to know about writing is very large. And on top of that, actually being a good writer takes even longer than learning all there is to know. I try to pick the most important and useful things within the context of the ESL 111 curriculum so that we make the most of our time. However, I understand that you might want to learn more than I can teach in the class time, especially if you find challenges as you work on your assignments.
Please come to my office hours. I will be in FLB 3050 (my office) today from 10-11 and on Thursdays from 2-3. I am actually in there much more often than just those times. Please set up times to come in, and you will find that I will work with you one-on-one, answering questions, reading your paper, and giving you feedback and suggestions.
For those of you wanting to learn about integrating opposing arguments and ideas, here is a lesson I taught last spring in ESL 112 that walks through some ways and reasons why bringing in opposing ideas to support your point. I will also gladly walk through this with you. (Please be aware that my site was much less complete in the past than it is now!)
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