Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Day 40: Peer Review for RA Presentations

Schedule of events:
Self-Review and Peer Review Step 1: (15 minutes)Spend 15 minutes looking at your visual aid and notes, 
  1. Comparing it with the documents above
  2. Asking me questions
  3. Making changes
Step 2: (25 minutes)
With your partner, 
  1. Give your practice presentation (5-7 minutes)
  2. Give feedback on your partner's presentation (5 minutes)
  3. Switch!
Delivery Discussion:
What do you think is key for good delivery? Maybe the rubric will help you know?

Homework: By the last day of class, 10 December, you will need to complete the following:
  1. A final reflection that responds to any of these questions (or a mix). This should be thoughtful and well-developed. This is an opportunity for you to reflect and for me to get valuable feedback so that the class can improve and so that I can become a better teacher: 
    1. If you were an ESL 111 instructor in the spring, how would you teach the class? What would you focus on, what would you do the same as me, and what would you do differently? 
    2. If you were to take the one most useful thing you have learned in ESL 111 and explain it to a friend, what would you tell them? Why that thing? How would you explain it? 
    3. What was the highlight of ESL 111? Why was this the best part? What was the low of ESL 111 (not counting anything like attendance issues)? Why was this the worst part? What advice would you give future ESL 111 students? 
  1. A final collection of Writer's Help exercises based on any feedback I gave/give you in your Unit 2 and Unit 3 essay. Use this template. You may not use the same exercise that you used before on here. 
Attribution: This lesson was originally designed by Yaqian Jiang (2014), and I have adapted it to fit the style and format of my class.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Day 39: Visual Aid Content & Design

Short List
  1. Attendance Check and Warm-Up
  2. Comparing with a Partner
  3. Researching Gender-Based Marketing
  4. Teaching the Other Half
  5. Analyzing PowerPoint Presentations
Homework:
By the last day of class, 10 December, you will need to complete the following:
  1. A final reflection that responds to any of these questions (or a mix). This should be thoughtful and well-developed. This is an opportunity for you to reflect and for me to get valuable feedback so that the class can improve and so that I can become a better teacher: 
    • If you were an ESL 111 instructor in the spring, how would you teach the class? What would you focus on, what would you do the same as me, and what would you do differently? 
    • If you were to take the one most useful thing you have learned in ESL 111 and explain it to a friend, what would you tell them? Why that thing? How would you explain it? 
    • What was the highlight of ESL 111? Why was this the best part? What was the low of ESL 111 (not counting anything like attendance issues)? Why was this the worst part? What advice would you give future ESL 111 students? 
  2. A final collection of Writer's Help exercises based on any feedback I gave/give you in your Unit 2 and Unit 3 essay. Use this template. You may not use the same exercise that you used before on here. 

The Details
Schedule of events:

1. [5 minutes] Attendance Check and Warm-Up:
How was your Thanksgiving?

2. [15 minutes] Analyzing PowerPoint Presentations
Back in just pairs, it's time to put this into practice with the commercial you submitted to me for your final presentation.


PowerPoint 1
Actual student sample;
Only content remains--
visual elements have been removed
PowerPoint 2
Open in PowerPoint
and not Google Drive
so that you can see all
the fun animation! ;)

Answer these questions with your partner about the two PowerPoint presentations:

How do bad visual effects influence you as a viewer?
How does bad content influence you as a viewer?
What is more important, content or visual effects?
How much text should a powerpoint have on each slide?
For each PowerPoint, note at least two changes that you would make to improve them.

When you have finished discussing, at my prompting, post here what you think a good visual aid should have and should avoid.  Basically, if you were assigning a PowerPoint, what would you tell your students to do or not do?  Then, we'll check to see if you're right!

3. [10 minutes] Presentation on Presentations
This is an old fashioned PPT presentation on how to make visual aids.  We'll compare what you said in section 2 with the guides given here.

As we go through this presentation, think about the rough draft of your visual aid.  Is there anything that you might need to change after this? 

4. [5 minutes] Explanation of the Self-Review and the Peer Review
On Tuesday, we will be doing mock-presentations and self- and peer-review.  To prepare, here are the documents we will be using to guide us:


5. [10 minutes] Presentation Sign-ups, Explanation of Homework, and Returning Unit 3 Assignment

Homework: 
By the last day of class, 10 December, you will need to complete the following:
  1. A final reflection that responds to any of these questions (or a mix). This should be thoughtful and well-developed. This is an opportunity for you to reflect and for me to get valuable feedback so that the class can improve and so that I can become a better teacher: 
    • If you were an ESL 111 instructor in the spring, how would you teach the class? What would you focus on, what would you do the same as me, and what would you do differently? 
    • If you were to take the one most useful thing you have learned in ESL 111 and explain it to a friend, what would you tell them? Why that thing? How would you explain it? 
    • What was the highlight of ESL 111? Why was this the best part? What was the low of ESL 111 (not counting anything like attendance issues)? Why was this the worst part? What advice would you give future ESL 111 students? 
  2. A final collection of Writer's Help exercises based on any feedback I gave/give you in your Unit 2 and Unit 3 essay. Use this template. You may not use the same exercise that you used before on here. 
Attribution: This lesson was originally designed by Yaqian Jiang (2014), and I have adapted it to fit the style and format of my class. 

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Day 38: RA Presentation Overview, Audience Analysis, and PowerPoint Analysis

Short List
  1. Attendance Check and Warm-Up
  2. Comparing with a Partner
  3. Researching Gender-Based Marketing
  4. Teaching the Other Half
  5. Analyzing PowerPoint Presentations
Homework:
Complete your outline (a rough draft of a PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, Google Slide, etc.) for your RA presentation by the Monday after Thanksgiving (1 December).

Additionally, by the last day of class, 10 December, you will need to complete the following:
  1. A final reflection that responds to any of these questions (or a mix).  This should be thoughtful and well-developed.  This is an opportunity for you to reflect and for me to get valuable feedback so that the class can improve and so that I can become a better teacher: 
    • If you were an ESL 111 instructor in the spring, how would you teach the class?  What would you focus on, what would you do the same as me, and what would you do differently?  
    • If you were to take the one most useful thing you have learned in ESL 111 and explain it to a friend, what would you tell them?  Why that thing?  How would you explain it?  
    • What was the highlight of ESL 111?  Why was this the best part?  What was the low of ESL 111 (not counting anything like attendance issues)?  Why was this the worst part?  What advice would you give future ESL 111 students?  
  2. A final collection of Writer's Help exercises based on any feedback I gave/give you in your Unit 2 and Unit 3 essay.  Use this template.  You may not use the same exercise that you used before on here.  

The Details
Schedule of events:

1. [5 minutes] Attendance Check and Warm-Up:
We are going to jump right in with a little more analysis: download this document and fill in the first part answering these questions:
  1. How many target audiences can you think of? (List at least 6 total)
  2. For each target audience, what kinds of products would they be interested in? (List at least 5 products for each audience)
2. [10 minutes] Comparing with a Partner
Now, scroll down to Part 2 of that document and discuss these three questions with the person next to you.  Be prepared to report your findings.
  1. How are products related to the target audience?
  2. Do any of the products that you listed have more than one target audience? If not, try to think of products that have more than one target audience. 
  3. How would you appeal to the different target audiences? (List at least 3 ideas for each target audience)
3. [15 minutes] Researching Gender-based Marketing
For the next step, we are going to divide the class in half.  One half will click on the left and the other on the right: 

Left Link
Marketing to Men
Right Link
Marketing to Women

After reading the article and watching the video (pay special attention to the last paragraph), answer the following question about the marketing strategies being presented:
  1. Who is the target audience?
  2. What kinds of products are being sold?
  3. What are the best ways to appeal to the target audience?
  4. Have the marketing strategies changed over the years? If so, how?
  5. How accurate were your predictions from earlier? 
  6. Do you agree with the video and the article? Why or why not?
4. [10 minutes] Teaching the Other Half
Now that you are experts in either marketing to men or to women, each pair should join another pair and teach them what you know.  Focus on talking about:
  1. Your target audience
  2. The types of products that are usually sold to your target audience
  3. The best ways to appeal to your target audience
And quickly compare:
  1. How are the marketing strategies similar
  2. How are the marketing strategies different
  3. Describe the commercials that you watched to your group members.  Would these commercials work on you?
5. [10 minutes] Analyzing PowerPoint Presentations
Back in just pairs, it's time to put this into practice with the commercial you submitted to me for your final presentation.
PowerPoint 1
Actual student sample;
Only content remains--
visual elements have been removed
PowerPoint 2

Open in PowerPoint
and not Google Drive
so that you can see all
the fun animation! ;)
Answer these questions individually about the two PowerPoint presentations:
  1. How do bad visual effects influence you as a viewer?
  2. How does bad content influence you as a viewer?
  3. What is more important, content or visual effects?
  4. How much text should a powerpoint have on each slide?
  5. For each PowerPoint, note at least two changes that you would make to improve them. 
Once you have answered the questions for yourself, turn to your partner and discuss these:
  1. Are your rankings similar or different?
  2. If the rankings were different, why? 
  3. Do you agree with the changes that your group members want to make?
Homework:
Complete your outline (a rough draft of a PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, Google Slide, etc.) for your RA presentation by the Monday after Thanksgiving (1 December).

Additionally, by the last day of class, 10 December, you will need to complete the following:

  1. A final reflection that responds to any of these questions (or a mix).  This should be thoughtful and well-developed.  This is an opportunity for you to reflect and for me to get valuable feedback so that the class can improve and so that I can become a better teacher: 
    • If you were an ESL 111 instructor in the spring, how would you teach the class?  What would you focus on, what would you do the same as me, and what would you do differently?  
    • If you were to take the one most useful thing you have learned in ESL 111 and explain it to a friend, what would you tell them?  Why that thing?  How would you explain it?  
    • What was the highlight of ESL 111?  Why was this the best part?  What was the low of ESL 111 (not counting anything like attendance issues)?  Why was this the worst part?  What advice would you give future ESL 111 students?  
  2. A final collection of Writer's Help exercises based on any feedback I gave/give you in your Unit 2 and Unit 3 essay.  Use this template.  You may not use the same exercise that you used before on here.  

Attribution: This lesson is part of a group project by students of the University of Illinois' EIL 511: Task-based Language Teaching class, Hamzeh Abbadi,  (the leader in drafting/adapting this lesson), Martha Gast, Muna Salim Saleh Aullad Thani, Chelsea Coronel and Jon Bair. This lesson is a modification of Jill Tschopp Huang's 2014 lesson.

    Tuesday, November 18, 2014

    Day 37: How to Analyze an Ad

    Short List
    1. Attendance Check and Warm-Up
    2. Planning Your Own Commercial
    3. Debrief
    4. Analyzing the Real Commercial Compared to Your Own
    5. Individual Guided Practice Analyzing and Improving Your Ad
    Homework:
    Unit 3 Rhetorical Analysis Essay final draft due TONIGHT at midnight on Compass 2G.

    Naming conventions: Please name your paper 111_RA_Your NetID_FINAL

    The Details
    Schedule of events:

    1. [5 minutes] Attendance Check and Warm-Up:
    What do you remember from Monday?  What do you remember about audience and purpose?  What makes an ad "good" (successful/effective) or not?

    2. [12 minutes] Planning Your Own Commercial:
    In Unit 3, it was easy to analyze an article, because all of you have experience writing essays.  But probably none of us have experience planning a commercial.  So, we are going to plan a commercial for a company, and then we will see if our planned advertisement is similar to theirs or different (and if ours is even better than theirs!)

    Description of the Rhetorical Situation:
    You will create a commercial for Proactiv (a skin care company), and you will attempt to market their product, the Proactiv Solution System, a three-step skin care package intended to treat acne (mainly in teenagers or young adults, but would work for anyone who has acne).

    How would you design this commercial?  Use the following questions to help make sure you consider everything in your plan (don't forget to explain your reasoning behind each decision):
    • Who would act or speak in your commercial? Why?
    • What type of setting or music would you use? Why?
    • Would you use a storyline?  If so, what type of storyline? Why or why not? 
    • Which appeals would you incorporate?  Why those and why not others?
      • How would you incorporate pathos into your commercial?
      • How would you incorporate ethos into your commercial?
      • How would you incorporate logos into your commercial?
    You will write one document per group outlining your plan.  This plan/document can be written in whichever way best suites your group (MS Word, Google Docs, pen-and-paper, pictures, etc.)

    **One rule: You may NOT look up and watch any Proactiv website, advertisement, or commercial. That's cheating! :) 

    3. [7 minutes] Debrief
    At the end of the time limit, we will compare our plans and see what different groups did and why they did it differently.

    4. [10-15 minutes] Analyzing the Real Commercial Compared to Your Own
    Now, it's time to see what the real company did in their real commercial.  Take a look at this video.

    Compare and contrast what you did and what the makers of this commercial did:
    • How is your commercial different from this one in terms of:
      • Voice-over (pathos/emotion)
      • Storyline (pathos/emotion)
      • Facts and data used in the ad (ethos and logos)
      • Celebrities or experts (ethos) 
      • The company image (ethos and pathos)
    • Which was more effective, your planned commercial or the company's?  Why?
    • How successful was the real commercial in using appeals? Explain 
    5. [10 minutes] Individual Guided Practice Analyzing and Improving Your Ad
    Finally, it's time to put this into practice with the commercial you submitted to me for your final presentation.

    At your own computer,
    1. Open the commercial on the Internet
    2. Use the Visual Analysis Questionnaire to begin analyzing the ad
    3. Find the top 2-3 reasons why the ad is successful or not
    4. Begin writing an outline following this template 
    Homework:
    Unit 3 Rhetorical Analysis Essay final draft due TONIGHT at midnight on Compass 2G.
    Complete your outline for your RA presentation by the Monday after Thanksgiving (1 December)

    Attribution: This lesson is part of a group project by students of the University of Illinois' EIL 511: Task-based Language Teaching class, Muna Salim Saleh Aullad Thani (the leader in drafting/adapting this lesson), Martha Gast, Hamzeh Abbadi, Chelsea Coronel and Jon Bair. This lesson is a modification of Jill Tschopp Huang's 2014 lesson.

      Friday, November 14, 2014

      Day 36: Rhetorical Analysis Presentations

      Short List
      1. Attendance Check
      2. Intro to Commercial Analysis
      3. Debrief
      4. Practice Analyzing Commercials
      5. Explanation of the Unit 4 Task and Homework
      Homework:
      Unit 3 Rhetorical Analysis Essay final draft due Wednesday night at midnight on Compass 2G.

      The Details
      Schedule of events:

      1. Attendance Check

      2. [15 minutes] Intro to Commercial Analysis
      I have talked briefly about our final projects, but today we will start getting ready for it.  This unit and project are a lot of fun, but still require a lot of deep, critical thinking and analysis that I know you are capable of.

      So, to begin, you need to be in groups of 3 people, though there will be one group of four.  You may choose your group.

      1. Watch these six commercials.  
      2. Commercial 1
        pop icon
        Commercial 2
        baby
        Commercial 3
        first date
        Commercial 4
        Monopoly & Lebron
        Commercial 5
        Lebron and Dwight
        Commercial 6
        tree of life
      3. After you have discussed these two questions completely (don't rush through), post very detailed, descriptive answers that reflect your discussion here
        • How are these commercials different? 
        • Why do you think the same company produces such different commercials? 
      3. [5 minutes] Debrief
      At the end of the time (or if all of the groups finish early) we will debrief this activity and find out what we all discussed in common and what differences we have in our answers.

      4. [10-15 minutes] Practice Analyzing Commercials
      Using the thinking and analyzing skills you just put to practice in the first activity today, now try your best to do a rhetorical analysis of one of the following commercials.  Each group will do a different commercial.

      Use this Visual Analysis Questionnaire to help guide your analyses.  

      Commercial 1
      ADHD
      Commercial 2
      Allstate
      Commercial 3
      PETA
      Commercial 4
      Head & Shoulders

      5. [10 minutes] Explanation of the Unit 4 Task and Homework
      Our final major assignment in ESL 111 is a presentation and not a paper.  You will be conducting a rhetorical analysis on a commercial and the presenting your commercial and analysis to your classmates.  Before working on the presentation, though, the first step is to choose a commercial you would like to analyze.

      Guidelines:
      • Ads must be in English or have no language used in the advertising
        • product name in another language is acceptable
      • Ads must be of "normal" length 
        • approximately between 30 seconds and 1 minute
      • Ads must be "linkable" 
        • meaning they are available to be seen online with a link to Youtube or a similar, publicly available site
      • Ads must be "unique" 
        • no two students may have the same ad--the student who submits his or her ad first will be the one permitted to analyze it
      Submit your commercials here by Tuesday night at midnight.

      Assignment Prompt and Grading Rubric for Final Presentation

      Homework:
      Unit 3 Rhetorical Analysis Essay final draft due Wednesday night at midnight on Compass 2G.

      Attribution: This lesson is part of a group project by students of the University of Illinois' EIL 511: Task-based Language Teaching class, Chelsea Coronel (the leader in drafting/adapting this lesson), Martha Gast, Muna Salim Saleh Aullad Thani, Hamzeh Abbadi, and Jon Bair.  This lesson is a modification of Jill Tschopp Huang's 2014 lesson.  

        Thursday, November 6, 2014

        Day 32: Review of Introductions & Conclusions

        Short List
        1. Attendance Check and Warm-up
        2. Introduction and Conclusion Quiz-Making
        3. Taking the "Quizzes" and Teaching
        Homework:By Monday, have a rough draft of our rhetorical analyses:
        • Drafts of Introductions and Conclusions
        • Outlines of Body Paragraphs 
          • (Optional): Whole body paragraphs
        Optional (& Recommended): Peer Review
        This will be required after Monday's class.
        • I will tell you your partner
        • Follow these steps:
          1. Send an email with your rough draft to both your partner and me
          2. Carefully and kindly review your partner's draft using this worksheet
          3. Email the worksheet and the first draft back to both your partner and me

        The Details
        Schedule of events:

        1. [5-10 minutes] Attendance Check and Warm-Up:
        Are there any questions about your drafts of the assignments?

        2. [10 minutes] Introduction and Conclusion Quiz-Making
        What do you remember about introductions and conclusions?  Would you be able to pass a quiz on them?  Even more important, would you be able to write a good introduction and conclusion?

        In four small groups, we will create quizzes on each and "test" our classmates.

        Instructions:
        • The "quizzes" will each have 7 questions
        • The "quizzes" will be conducted orally and visually on one computer screen.  
        • At least one person in the group should be prepared to spend 3-5 minutes giving a short presentation teaching/reviewing the other group about your topic. 
        Resources:
        Only look at the resources for your group! If you are in the introduction group, please do not click on the conclusions group link and vice versa!


        Introduction Groups Conclusion Groups

        3. [30 minutes] Taking the "Quizzes" and Teaching
        At this point, you will spend a few minutes taking each other's quizzes.  Following each "quiz" a member of the team giving the "quiz" will teach for a few minutes on each topic.  Then, after about 15 minutes, we will switch sides. :)

        IMPORTANT ANNOUNCMENT:
        We will not meet in this classroom at all next week.  On MONDAY we will meet in the Undergraduate Library (UGL).  Please meet in the upstairs entrance to the UGL.  If you do not know where this is, stay and talk with me and I will explain it.  

        We will, on Monday, schedule times to meet one-on-one for individual conferences about your drafts.  This means, after Monday, each of you will meet with me individually instead of holding class.  But, since two class days are cancelled, if you miss your appointment with me, it will count double on attendance. Again, this will be discussed more on Monday.  

        Homework:By Monday, have a rough draft of our rhetorical analyses:
        • Drafts of Introductions and Conclusions
        • Outlines of Body Paragraphs 
          • (Optional): Whole body paragraphs
        Optional (& Recommended): Peer Review:
        This will be required after Monday's class.
        • I will tell you your partner
        • Follow these steps:
          1. Send an email with your rough draft to both your partner and me
          2. Carefully and kindly review your partner's draft using this worksheet
          3. Email the worksheet and the first draft back to both your partner and me
        Attribution: This lesson uses Jeff Arrigo's 2013 original materials. I have adapted and designed the activities to fit my teaching style and classroom atmosphere.

        Tuesday, November 4, 2014

        Day 31: Rhetorical Analysis Thesis Statements and Outlines pt. 2

        Short List
        1. Attendance Check and Warm-up
        2. The Assignment
        3. Thesis Review
        4. Reverse-Engineering a Rhetorical Analysis Outline
        5. Intro to Rhetorical Analysis Introductions
        Homework:
        By Monday, have a rough draft of our rhetorical analyses:
        • Drafts of Introductions and Conclusions
        • Outlines of Body Paragraphs 
        By Friday, have an outline and thesis statement

        The Details
        Schedule of events:

        1. Attendance Check:
        Before you sit down, please rejoin your group from Monday.

        2. [10 minutes] The Assignment
        I discovered that many people were confused about the nature of our current task, so I wanted to clear that up and help ensure that every one of my students succeeds in writing a rhetorical analysis essay.
        1. Unit 3 Assignment Prompt and Grading Rubric
        2. Your topic is not Single-Sex Schooling is Good for Girls or Reality TV is Bad
        3. [10 minutes] Thesis Review
        Let's take a couple of minutes to slow down. I know that learning inductively by looking at models and examples and trying to figure out rules or how to do something is often really hard, and I think that I might have made it either too hard or just not guided enough on Monday. So, let's as a whole class look at what makes thesis statements for rhetorical analyses somewhat unique, and then let's look at the thesis statements that we wrote for today look like--do they match?


        1

        2

        3

        4

        4. [30 minutes] Reverse-Engineering a Rhetorical Analysis Outline
        Now, you are equipped with a thesis for your rhetorical analysis essay, but you have not yet actually structured your outline. Here, we are going to use a real student rhetorical analysis to try and learn the basic structure. This is not a formula to follow, but a real example of a great essay that can guide you in making your own. As you draft your outline guide, make sure that it is generic enough that you can apply it to your own analyses.

        Steps:
        1. Read this essay
        2. Fill in the pieces that ask for the function of each part
        3. Compare what you decide with this document
        4. Use these to create a document that will work as a general outline for your papers.
        5. The scribe should make sure each group member gets a copy of this final document
        4. [Remaining Time] Intro to Rhetorical Analysis Introductions
        What do you remember about introductions? How do you think an introduction to a rhetorical analysis paper would be any different than an introduction to a regular argumentative essay?

        1

        2

        3

        4

        5
        Homework:
        By Monday, have a rough draft of our rhetorical analyses:
        • Drafts of Introductions and Conclusions
        • Outlines of Body Paragraphs 
        By Friday, have an outline and thesis statement

        Attribution: This lesson is from Jin Kim's and Jeff Arrigo's 2013 original lessons. I have adapted them to fit my teaching style and classroom atmosphere.