Lego Project Day 1

Get out the green sheets you were to have read for homework. Compare the front and back of the page with the builder pictured on it. The information content is very similar between the two.

Thinkwrite: 1. What differences in style and content between the two sides do you see? 2. Which is more effective?

How will this work? You have 15 minutes to pick 12 different pieces (one duplicate size/shape -- so one pair). Then we will move into a computer lab to set up the document that will become your typed directions.

Audience, purpose, genre, content and style for the Lego project?

We look at MLA style page layout: pages A-2 and A-3 in Bedford.

You make the heading, insert page number top right with your last name, and the rest is up to you.


To get in the mood:
  Legos  we   love .  Indeed. And professional builder #1. Professional builder #2. Lego artist #3.

Homework:

1. Monday bring:

• A. TWO copies of your directions printed
• B. An answer key picture (either drawing or photo)
• C. Your legos.

2. Go to our class in Moodle. In the highlighted section, click on the Lego nomenclature reading. Read it. There are questions at the end that should be answered in your daybook.

3. TWFTD: nomenclature. Use the reading in Moodle for your quote, please.

4. No typo that I know of.

Aristotle's Rhetoric Equation

About yesterday:

      "Smart practice always includes a feedback loop that lets you recognize errors and correct them -- which is why dancers use mirrors. Ideally that feedback comes from someone with an expert eye and so every world-class sports champion has a coach. If you practice without such feedback, you don't get to the top ranks.
      The feedback matters and the concentration does, too -- not just the hours. ..."

The Hidden Driver of Excellence

Author: Daniel Goleman

[Did you have a coach who would let you do this?]

I.  Today we start here.

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

We look at p. 15 in Bedford and consider the equation for each. Witch is more effective?

II. Now we look at your examples.

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-
Effectiveness:

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?

Groups.

III. Your first writing project is writing directions for a small Lego creation. I give you the directions now.

Tomorrow you will pick out pieces and begin work on typing up your directions, and on Monday you will build each others' projects (NO PICTURES ALLOWED -- just written directions).

On Tuesday you will build each other's REVISED directions, and on Wednesday you will hand in the final version of your directions and all Legos.


Homework:

1. Fill at least one page (one side) in your daybook describing a situation where you experienced written communication (any genre) that was a rhetorical fail. This piece of writing failed to achieve its purpose. As you describe what happened, try to analyze what the specific problems were, based on today's discussions -- audience/purpose/genre/content/style. (Not due until daybook check.)

2. Read the green sheets thoroughly before class tomorrow.

3. TWFTD: rhetoric

4. There is one spelling error (that I know of) in today's blog.

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. See anything there you did not discuss?

Establish a vocabulary section in your daybook. Flag.

1. Enter TWFTD: drudgery.

2. Find a quote (by SOMEONE ELSE) that uses the word. For this word, today, you should use the sentence from the Bedford Guide. BUT for all other words, you must choose and copy down a quote using the word, AND GIVE THE SOURCE --an author and a site or publication.

3. Definition? Google? Always give teh source of your definition. Make sure your definition matches how the word is used in the text.

Homework:

1. Read pages 6-15 in Bedford. In your daybook, write out two paragraphs based on the "Learning by Doing" on page 14.

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.

3. There IS a typo on the blog today. If you found it, write it down, with a correction, in your daybook under the "Learning by Doing" assignment.

Welcome

This is the place for the daily happenings in class and HOMEWORK.

I will hand out the course information sheet and calendar. Copies are also available in the Moodle version of this course.

A. On paper, write the answers to these questions about the yellow handout:

1. Copy down my name. (You may call me Mrs. Loden, Ms. Loden, or Ms. Kate. Not a professor.)

2.  Read the "Course Objectives" section at the top. Copy down the four goals of this class.

3. Circle the goal in #2 that you think is the most important for you to practice this quarter.

4. How many points is the daybook worth?

5. How many papers (projects) with feedback will you write?

6. How many "solo" projects (papers) will you write?

7. How many "polished" pages do you have to write to skip the final?

8. What do you think an English teacher might mean by "polished" pages?

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

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

11. Together we look at our class in Moodle, and click on the "Grades" link under "Settings" (on the left). Which papers are worth the most points? How many points is that?

We discuss.

B. Now, on the back of your sheet of paper, please do some creative thinking/writing. Please imagine a scenario in the future where you will need to communicate clearly and effectively in writing (this includes typing on computers or phone). Try to describe it in as much detail as possible. Is it work-related? Or is it a personal situation? Is something important hanging in the balance?

Pkease remind me to collect these sheets at the end of class!

Homework:
1. Get your books if you have not, including something to use for a daybook and a folder to hold all your graded 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 you would go through for writing a long paper. You might start with "Sit down at my computer."

3. Did you notice the typo on today's  blog page? Then skip a couple lines below your "Steps for Writing a Paper" and write the typo from this blog page with its correction.