Typing Your Directions

We look at the answers to Ex. 23.9 page 272 in The Everyday Writer. Affect or effect?

I give you a directions sheet about MLA style, and you type up your directions. THE LAYOUT BELOW YOUR TITLE IS UP TO YOU.

 Look at these links: Legos   we    love . Indeed. And  professional builder #1.  Professional builder #2.  Lego artist #3. 


Homework:

1.  Finish typing your directions and print TWO COPIES so they are ready for a classmate to follow Monday. Have them printed BEFORE class starts. Have your answer picture ready as well. And don't leave the Legos at home!

2.  Read the handout about Lego nomenclature.  Write out the answers to the questions at the end of the handout IN YOUR DAYBOOK! The first daybook check is April 12.

3. TWFTD: nomenclature

4. On Monday and Tuesday I will be travelling to a conference.  You need to be alert and helpful so all of you do the Lego activity correctly (it IS complicated).

Legos Day One

"My play was a success.  The audience was a failure." 

by Ashleigh Brilliant

Thinkwrite in your daybook: If a set of directions fails, whose fault might it be?  Write until I stop you.

We look at pages 269-271 in The Everyday Writer. You spend five minutes working on Ex. 23.9 on page 272. Number to 13 and write the correct words in your daybook. Look at Section 24 for extra help.

I explain the Lego project, and you begin.

 

About quotes: who really said the above?

Homework:

1.  Finish writing out your directions and be ready to type them up tomorrow.  Make the picture to use for the answer key. (Draw or photo and copy. There is a color copier in room 136).

2. TWFTD: subsequent

Aristotle's Equation

We start here.

Audience + Purpose + Genre = Style (how it looks) and Content (what it says)

Look at p. 15 in Bedford and consider the equation for each. Which is more effective?

Now we look at your directions.
 
In your daybook, create a chart for each of the terms in the "equation" and your direction examples that you brought to class, like this:

MP3 Player:
Audience-
Purpose-
Genre-
Style-
Content-

 After filling in your chart, think about the effectiveness of each of your examples.  What specific choices in style and content work or do not work?

In groups you will compare the examples you brought to class.  Create a list as a group of the characteristics of effective vs. ineffective directions.  Record this in your daybook and then share with the class.

Homework:

1.  Fill at least one page (one side) in your daybook describing a situation where you were frustrated by ineffective written directions.  As you describe what happened, try to analyze what the specific problems were with those directions based on today's discussions.

2. TWFTD: rhetoric

3. Tomorrow the Lego project begins. That will be your first short "essay," which is NOT an essay at all.

The Writing Process

"Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed." Ray Bradbury (SF writer)

Copy and thinkwrite. Discuss.
                Here's a link to an article about 10,000 hours of practice.
                And here's another link on the same topic.
                 Would you like a video on it?
          
Groups share lists. Discuss.


All look at pages 7-11. Then copy red headings into your daybook in a way that maintains the hierarchy.


Establish a vocabulary section in your daybook. Flag. Enter TWFTD: drudgery. Definition? Google? For this word, today, you may use the quote from the book. BUT for all other words, you must choose and copy down your favorite quote AND GIVE THE SOURCE --an author and a site or publication.

Homework:


1. Read pages 12-15 in Bedford. In your daybook, write out two paragraphs based on the "Learning by Doing" at the bottom of page 13.


2. Find TWO EXAMPLES of written directions to bring to class. These could be the directions for any product OR a school assignment OR a "how to" from online OR in a manual. They must be hard copies.

Welcome!

This is the place for the daily happenings.  Look around and learn how a blog works!

You look at the course syllabus. Copies are also available in the Moodle version of this course.

On paper, find the answers to these questions:

1.  What is my office phone number?

2.  How many long papers will you write?

3.  How many short papers will you write?

4.  How many points is the daybook worth?

5. How many essay pages do you have to write to skip the final?

6. How can you get a zero on a paper?

7.. On the blog, what is the first link under the "Useful Links" section?

8. In Moodle, what is the picture under Short Project #1?

After you finish those, send a message to me in Moodle that introduces yourself to me and tells me about your past English classes. Then describe either your worst writing experience or your greatest writing success. Tell me the story.


Homework:
1. Get your books if you have not, including something to use for a daybook and a folder to hold all your returned papers.

2. On the first page in the daybook, write today's date and "Steps for Writing a Paper." Underneath that title, please use your past experience to put together a list of steps for writing an essay or long paper.