Group 1: Discuss the author’s attitude toward the subject or theme. Explain what type of essay it is – argumentative, persuasive, exploratory, narrative, or otherwise. Define what the subject or theme of the essay is. * Try to sum up the subject/theme in one word or one sentence. Cite specific sentences or paragraphs where …
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Lesson: Finding Sources at the Library
For this library visit we will be scouring the library for sources that you can use in your essay. For this assignment you need to provide (at least) 1 source from each category: Book, Scholarly Journal, Popular Journal, & Website. Once you find the source, either print it out (scholarly journal) or bring the physical …
Lesson: Research Interviews
(this is designed for two class periods) Research interviews! I required my students to interview “an expert’ for their synthesis/research projects. In addition to actually doing the interview, this required them to identify what sort of expertise was needed for their projects, reach out to the interviewee, and create appropriate interview questions — all important …
Lesson: Pockets Actvity
I used this activity as an ice breaker, entry into a discussion of texts, as well as an introduction to the observation unit. This activity also presented an opportunity to engage the students’ lives with what they brought into the classroom. I didn’t add anything to the contents of my pockets before the class, …
Lesson: Translation in the Classroom
Translation in the English Classroom I would like to offer the idea that integrating translation into the English classroom is a valid and worthwhile venture. I would not recommend introducing it too early or building a larger unit in an introductory course, but there are several approaches to the subject which could prove useful and …
Lesson: Print Ad Analysis
Print Ad Analysis For this exercise, I like to bring in some goofy or bizarre advertisement or PSA For the last few semesters, I have used a PSA from PETA that I found at this URL: https://www.mediapeta.com/peta/Images/Main/Sections/MediaCenter/PrintAds/DiegoLunaHR.pdf Here is a citation: “Diego Luna: Safe Sex.” PETA.org. PETA. n.d. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. I like using …
Lesson: Sentence and Context
This activity asks students to look closely at sentences and challenges them to create and change meaning through a variety of techniques. The goal is to get students thinking carefully about how they construct meaning, at a sentence level. It’s also FUN – there’s lots of room here to play around. I’ve never gotten through …
Lesson: Vampire Games
(Like Reindeer Games, But Bloodier and Less Festive) A serum has been invented which has the power to turn everyone on the earth into a vampire. All of earth’s inhabitants have elected to take the serum, thereby effectively changing 100% of the human race into vampire-kind. The Pope, your grandparents, your former swim coach. Synthetic …
Lesson: Battle of the Sentences
Bringing the Sentence Workshop (Macro in the Micro) To a New Extreme I used this for my unit on Analysis. It took about 15 minutes. This can be done with student produced sentences, or sentences between texts you wish to compare. For my exercise, I chose Deborah Tannen’s “There is No Unmarked Woman” and Lennard …
Lesson: Textual Analysis
Goal for Lesson Series: Moving towards analytical thinking and ultimately ending in an essay centered on textual analysis. Secondary Skills: Considering context, interpreting and paraphrasing a text, writing with the idea of an audience in mind. Prior Homework Assignment: Read Mark Doty’s poem “A Display of Mackerel” (p95) and write a few sentences on …
Lesson: Creating Thesis Statements
A topic sentence is the sentence that conveys a central position of a paragraph. Like a topic sentence, a thesis statement is a sentence that conveys your central position for a multi-paragraph essay. Argumentative/Persuasive thesis statements must contain an arguable claim. Statements of fact are not argumentative thesis statements. An argumentative/persuasive thesis statement must be …
Lesson: Observation and Perspective
(Consider taking students to the museum or the transfer station and having them choose an “object” for this activity) Read Wallace Stevens’ “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.’ In the poem, Stevens describes 13 different ways of looking at a blackbird. Some of Stevens’ observations are concrete others are more philosophical. Your assignment is …
Lesson: Use Your Senses, An Introduction to Observation
Introduction to Observation activity: Use your senses! 1. (10-15 minutes) Choose a short piece of writing that features sensory details. I chose the first chapter of “We the Animals’ by Justin Torres (it’s one of my favorite books!) Read the piece aloud in class. I read the piece to my students so that they could …
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Lesson: Thesis Statements & Topic Sentences
Each group gets a thesis statement and topic sentences provided. The thesis statements will all be on the same topic, but differing in their position. Each group will be given the same topic sentences. Groups will be asked to choose topic sentences that they think support their thesis statement, and put them in an order …
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Lesson: Inkshedding for Workshops
So, this was probably the most successful exercise I used for ink-shedding, which I feel helped develop some confident workshop personas. You will be responsible for giving them more definite criteria when you get to the actual workshop phase, but this can be helpful in giving them the confidence to mark up a text for …
Lesson: Exploring Place
Today’s activity is intended to start you on the path of exploring place for your first essay assignment. We will be making observations about three different “places,” and writing a blog post designed to get you thinking about the specific place you will write about in your essay. Place #1: The Exterior World We …
Lesson: Photo Observations
Part 1: I will display a photograph for one minute. After the minute has expired, I will remove the photograph and ask you to write for 10 minutes about what you saw in the photo. Please include as much detail as you can possibly recall. Details of character, scene, expression, mood, emotion, sense of time …
Lesson: Museum Activity
This activity has been very helpful in showing students the differences between observational writing and analysis/synthesis. It is separated like a lab report so that it shows students what types of writing go into which fields. Activity: Today we will be going to the Museum. After reading the Hoshino piece for Tuesday, you have seen …
Submit a Resource
Please send us your writing instruction resources! What: We are looking for lessons, prompts, activities, teaching practices, handouts, etc. that you have tried and have worked well with your classes. Please include a 50-word summary of the teaching tool, a detailed description of how/why you implement this in the classroom. Also, if possible, please include …
Resources for Teachers
“What do you mean I need a thesis statement?” Sometimes, what seems to be a simple question requires a complex response. How do you talk with your students about writing? How do you work with students as writers? We’re working to build resources for teachers to help address writing challenges in their classrooms. Browse the …
Concepts for Your Writing Classroom
The university writing classroom can be a challenging space. Oftentimes our students are entering at different levels and with different awarenesses of and vocabularies for the ideas that matter in a writing classroom. Below, we’ve listed some key concepts for your writing classroom. Raise these ideas with your students. Are they aware of their rhetorical …
Difficult Texts & Problem-Posing Prompts
When we teachers enter classrooms with particular poems or stories in hand, we also enter with expectations about the kind of student responses that would be most fruitful, and these expectations have been shaped, for the most part in literature departments in American universities. We value some readings more than others […]. One inevitable result …
[playbuzz-item url=”//www.playbuzz.com/writealaska10/teaching-resrouce-extravaganza”] The University Writing Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks promotes creative and critical thinking in service of student success in their future written coursework. We contribute to students building a foundation for lifelong learning and civic engagement. Our student-centered classrooms use rhetorically-based inquiry in order to foster critical …
Writing in Place
“Place-based” pedagogy attempts to engage the world around us and our students with our classrooms. A place-based pedagogy means bringing current events into your classroom (what’s the relationship between time and “place”?) or taking a class field-trip to the transfer site. It means engaging Alaska as place or assigning a prompt that encourages students to …
Observation Unit Plan: Authority
The general theme for this observation unit is “Authority.’ Using Lad Tobin’s Writing Relationships model, this unit has been designed with fostering dynamic student-teacher and student-student relationships within the composition classroom. As the observation unit is the first in the curricular sequence, it is incredibly important to develop the relationships that the students and teacher …
Sample Course Sequence: Autoethnography
Definition: Autoethnography is a blending of autobiography and ethnography. Autoethnographers describe and analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience. This genre acknowledges subjectivity, emotionality, and the researcher’s influence on research — rather than ignoring these matters or claiming to be objective. The genre demonstrates that cultural research does not have to come from …
Reflection Unit Plan: Into the Wild Movie Reflection
For our final, “Reflection” unit, I decided to pair watching a movie with a low-key writing assignment in my class. I chose Into the Wild because 1) I think it is great 2) Alaskan students generally have a lot to say about it 3) students can relate to the main character, which makes for good …
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Handout: Peer Review Instructions
As a reviewer, your role is now, in part, an editor and an assistant writer. You want to think about the piece of writing as if you do not know where it is coming from, so think of it as an artifact. As you look at the artifact, think about how it stands on …
Prompt: Documentary Review
This assignment can be a nice way of practicing “good research.” Students are required to look critically at the research and presentation of a documentary, and will hopefully incorporate those lessons into their own research writing. THE COVE — CRITICAL REVIEW PURPOSE: To provide a critical review of the documentary, “The Cove.’ INSTRUCTIONS: Watch …
Teaching Forum
Please remember to keep in mind what this forum is for… Discussing ideas about lesson plans, class room activities, writing prompts, and other aspects of composition education. Asking questions related to composition theories and practices. Linking to material that you have found that you would like to incorporate or have incorporated in your class but …
Reflection and Revision
Reflection and Revision signify a critical awareness of and intention behind the choices that a student makes when composing a text. Refection and revision are critical components of the writing classroom and process, as they require students to be fully deliberate and aware of the choices they have made on the writing “journey”. They reflect …
Synthesis
Synthesis involves combining elements to create a new concept, theory, or idea. Synthesis is about judgment: appraising which path to take and then committing to the choice. Synthesis is the creation of composition, as it forces students to see how seemingly unrelated concepts can be complement or antagonize one another. This unit requires students to …
Analysis
Analysis is an interpretation of an experience or text, which is supported by examining its foundational details. Analysis is about exploring possible options. Students who have drawn on observation to generate the option now undergo a thorough examination of where each option might lead (the consequences behind choice), while considering why some choices are better …
Observation
In the classroom, observation transcribes to students’ abilities to use description and summary effectively in their writing. Observation in writing is about options. The concept of observational writing is to show students how to examine their intellectual choices, as it encourages students to consider all of the decisions they can take in an essay. Observation …
English 111x: Introduction to Academic Writing
Below, you will find catalog and course descriptions, course outcomes, scheduling sequences, and curricular sequences for English-111x. These guidelines form the scaffolding structure for your course; however, the “content’ of your course is completely up to you. The readings you choose should be in service of the writing project anchoring each unit. While planning your …
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