Legos Day One

We review Audience/Purpose/Genre = Style/Content by looking your sets of directions.

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?

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. Tomorrow 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 light blue 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.

Rhetoric

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

I.  Today we start with a video.

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?


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

You will pick out pieces today and begin work on creating your directions. On Monday there will be class time for typing the directions, and on Tuesday you will build each other's projects (NO PICTURES ALLOWED -- just written directions).

On Wednesday you will build each other's REVISED directions, and on Thursday 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. Create a rough draft of your directions on the green sheet. If you wish you may type up your directions, but be ready with access to the document to revise on Monday during class. Also either draw your answer key diagram, or take pictures to print.

3. TWFTD: rhetoric

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

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.