College Writing is an elective designed for college-bound seniors as a
hybrid course where students will work in an online environment and
through face-to-face instruction.
Finals Wednesday 11/11/2009: Everyone from Period Two came in today to complete the Final Evaluation. Make sure you completely READ and FOLLOW the directions at the top of the sheet you download. Please click the Download and open it by dragging it into Pages. Save your work frequently in case your computer or Internet is slow, etc. When you are completely finished with your final, please make sure you used conventional English and used spell check. When you are finished with everything, please go to the top of the screen and click “File” and go down to “Export.” Choose the file “Word DOC.” Make sure your document is named your (Last, First) name Final Eval and click “Export.” Please attach this file as a Word.doc and email it back to me as an attachment to my preferred email address: eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us. Finals Tuesday 11/10/2009: Everyone from Period One came in today to complete the Final Evaluation. Make sure you completely READ and FOLLOW the directions at the top of the sheet you download. Please click and open it by dragging it into Pages. Save your work frequently in case your computer or Internet is slow, etc. When you are completely finished with your final, please make sure you used conventional English and used spell check. When you are finished with everything, please go to the top of the screen and click “File” and go down to “Export.” Choose the file “Word DOC.” Make sure your document is named your (Last, First) name Final Eval and click “Export.” Please attach this file as a Word.doc and email it back to me as an attachment to my preferred email address: eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us. Monday 11/9/2009: Everyone attended class today to hand in the Role-Play Paper and to discuss next term: We are reading The Kite Runner next term as well as Beloved. I want to discuss the writing groups, assignments, the daily schedule, and final project for next term. Friday 11/6/2009: Friday writing groups met today to finish the Role-Play Paper is due Monday 11/9/2009. Everyone must attend class on Monday 11/9/2009 to hand in the final work for the term and to discuss the schedule for next term. Thursday 11/5/2009: Everyone met today to meet Candance Doerr-Stevens from the Center for Writing. Remember that the Role-Play Paper is due Monday 11/9/2009. Everyone must attend class on Monday 11/9/2009 to hand in the final work for the term and to discuss the schedule for next term. Wednesday 11/4/2009: Wednesday writing groups met today to finish any remaining Wallflower blogs, which are due at the end of the day (2:20 pm) today. Remember that the Role-Play Paper is due Monday 11/9/2009. Everyone must attend class on Monday 11/9/2009 to hand in the final work for the term and to discuss the schedule for next term. We are hosting a visitor tomorrow from the U of MN. Tuesday 11/3/2009: The Wallflower test today! Wallflower study guides and Role-Play Reflections are due today. Wallflower blogs are due at the end of the day (2:20 pm) tomorrow. Remember that the Role-Play Paper is due Monday 11/9/2009. Everyone must attend class on Monday 11/9/2009 to hand in the final work for the term and to discuss the schedule for next term. Monday 11/2/2009: The Wallflower test is tomorrow! Monday groups met today to discuss Wallflower rough drafts and work on Wallflower study guides, which will be due tomorrow 11/3/2009. Make sure you complete your Role-Play Reflection, which is also due tomorrow by email (follow the directions on the reflection). Wallflower blogs are due at the end of the day (2:20 pm) on Wednesday. Remember that the Role-Play Paper is due Monday 11/9/2009. Everyone must attend class on Monday 11/9/2009 to hand in the final work for the term and to discuss the schedule for next term. Friday 10/30/2009: Friday groups met today to discuss Wallflower rough drafts and work on Wallflower blogs and study guides, which will be due on the day of the test: next Tuesday 11/3/2009. Make sure you also complete your Role-Play Reflection, which is due also Tuesday 11/3/2009 by email (follow the directions on the reflection). Remember that the Role-Play Paper is due Monday 11/9/2009. Everyone must attend class on Monday 11/9/2009 to hand in the final work for the term and to discuss the schedule for next term. Thursday 10/29/2009: Everyone met as a large group today to receive feedback on Wallflower Essay rough drafts. We discussed the Role-Play Reflection, which is due Tuesday 11/3/2009 by email (follow the directions on the reflection) and the final Role-Play Paper, which is due Monday 11/9/2009. Everyone must attend class on Monday 11/9/2009 to hand in the final work for the term and to discuss the schedule for next term. Please make corrections to your Wallflower rough drafts and discuss them with me on your writing group days. If you are a Wednesday person, you can come in on the other days or before/after school today, tomorrow or Monday. Wednesday 10/28/2009: Wednesday groups met today to discuss Wallflower Essays and work on Wallflower blogs and study guides, which will be due on the day of the test: next Tuesday 11/3/2009. Tomorrow we will talk about your final assignments for this term. I will print you a copy of the final paper expectations and rubric. Read your email later today. Tuesday 10/27/2009: Everyone met as a large group today. Due today: a completed Wallflower Essay Packet, two attached articles and a complete rough draft with a MLA-Formatted Works Cited page. Even if you are absent, you should send me an electronic copy of your rough draft. Continue to write your five Wallflower blogs from your Ning character's point of view and work on your Wallflower Study Guide. The final draft of your Wallflower Essay (with rough draft, packet and originality report), Wallflower blogs and study guide will be due on the day of the test: Tuesday 11/3/2009. We will talk about your final assignments for this term on Thursday. I will print you a copy of the final paper expectations and rubric. Read your email later today. Monday 10/26/2009: Monday writing groups met today to work on projects. I'm out at the MCTE Fall Workshop today. For tomorrow, you should have completed your Wallflower Essay Packet, attached two articles (please use more research in your paper if you need to) and written a complete rough draft with a MLA-Formatted Works Cited page. Continue to work on your Wallflower Study Guide. The final draft of your paper (with rough draft, packet and originality report) and study guide will be due on the day of the test: Tuesday 11/3/2009. Friday 10/23/2009: Friday writing groups met today to work on projects. I'm sorry that I'm out sick today. Please make sure that your Bubbl.us map has been shared with me online. Put a printed copy in my basket if this was not done yesterday. Make sure you have Downloaded your Ning RubricforSelf.doc here or from your email. Please follow the directions exactly. It is due as a Word.doc attachment to my email: eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us before the end of the school day @ 2:20 pm today. Make sure you work on your Wallflower Essay Packets, which are due next Tuesday and your Wallflower study guide. Thursday 10/22/2009: We met as a large group today to discuss upcoming assignments. Add any additional information to your Bubbl.us map. It is due today. Share it with me online according to the instructions in your email. Print a copy of your map and put it in the basket on my desk before you leave class. We reviewed the grading RubricforSelf.doc for the Ning, which you can Download here or from your email. Please follow the directions exactly. It is due as a Word.doc attachment to my email: eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us before the end of the school day @ 2:20 pm tomorrow. We broke into groups for the Small Group Discussion Questions (Step 2) of your Wallflower Essay Packets. CHECK YOUR GRADES ONLINE. If your grade is below 70%, you are now required to attend every day until your grade improves. You must check with me to make sure I have given you clearance to return to the hybrid schedule. Please refer to the Parent Letter if you need more clarification. Wednesday 10/21/2009: Wednesday writing groups met today to work on projects. Please complete your Bubbl.us maps, which are due tomorrow. Tomorrow I will discuss and post the Ning Internet Role-Play Rubrics, which will be due at the end of class. Make sure you read and plan ahead for The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Your complete paper packet and rough draft are due Tuesday 10/27/2009. You must also complete the study guide (you may use Wikipedia for some information on the study guide) that will be due on Tuesday 11/3/2009. Tuesday 10/20/2009: We met as a large group today to discuss upcoming assignments. Please finish up any Ning discussions today (the minimum is six discussions, average is ten, above average posting depends on the amount of posts (+10), the content of writing and links embedded in the argument). I will begin reading and grading them after class today. Anything added after today's class may not receive credit. We also looked over, discussed, continued and completed the Bubbl.us maps, which are due Thursday. I will post and discuss the Ning Internet Role-Play Rubrics on Thursday, and they will be due at the end of class. Make sure you read and plan ahead for The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Your complete paper packet and rough draft are due Tuesday 10/27/2009. You must also complete the study guide (you may use Wikipedia for some information on the study guide) that will be due on Tuesday 11/3/2009. Monday 10/19/2009: Welcome back from your long weekend. Monday writing groups met today to work on new assignments. Please finish up any Ning discussions today (the minimum is six discussions, average is ten, above average posting depends on the amount of posts (+10), the content of writing and links embedded in the argument). I will begin reading and grading them after class tomorrow. Anything added after tomorrow's class may not receive credit. We will also look over, discuss, continue and complete the Bubbl.us maps for the Ning discussions tomorrow. Shared maps will be due on Thursday 10/22/09. Make sure you read and plan ahead for The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Note that your complete paper packet and rough draft are due next Tuesday 10/27/2009. You must also complete the study guide (you may use Wikipedia for some information on the study guide) that will be due on Tuesday 11/3/2009. Tuesday 10/12/2009: We met as a large group today to take the Little Brother test, hand in Little Brother Essay MLA-formatted final drafts with Works Cited, rough drafts, and the first page of your originality reports. Please continue to post comments in the Ning through MEA break. , continue with your Bubbl.us map (We'll work on these next Tuesday). Begin getting ready with The Perks of Being a Wallflower study guides and paper packets that will be due on Tuesday 11/3/2009. Monday 10/12/2009: Monday writing groups met today to work on assignments and look over rough drafts. Continue to post comments in the Ning through MEA break. By Tuesday, October 20th you must use the characters in the role-play to create your own maps on Bubbl.us. For tomorrow bring in your group's vocabulary. The final drafts of your Little Brother Essay are due tomorrow, stapled to your rough draft and www.turnitin.com originality report. Friday 10/9/2009: Friday writing groups met today to work on assignments and look over rough drafts. Your Little Brother blogs are due today. Vocabulary and final drafts of your Little Brother Essay are due Tuesday when we have our Little Brother test. Post comments in the Ning. By Tuesday, October 20th you must use the characters in the role-play to create your own maps on Bubbl.us. Thursday 10/8/2009: We met as a large group to discuss technology in schools with John Weisser - jweisser@bloomington.k12.mn.us. Signed Grade slips were due today. Make sure you have completed all of your assigned blogs by tomorrow. Vocabulary and final drafts of your Little Brother Essay are due next Tuesday when we have our Little Brother test. Post comments in the Ning role-play discussion forums. By Tuesday, October 20th you must use the characters in the role-play to create your own maps on Bubbl.us. Wednesday 10/7/2009: Wednesday writing groups met today to work on projects. For tomorrow, please come prepared with questions for our guest speaker about hardware and software at the school and within the district. Also, please print your mid-term grade from TIES, have a parent sign it and bring it in. Note that conferences are tomorrow night. Make sure you have completed all of your assigned blogs by Friday. Vocabulary and final drafts of your Little Brother Essay are due next Tuesday when we have our Little Brother test. Post comments in the Ning role-play discussion forums. By Tuesday, October 20th you must use the characters in the role-play to create your own maps on Bubbl.us. Check your gmail for additional directions. Tuesday 10/6/2009: Little Brother rough drafts are due today in class (by email if you are not in school, but you still have to bring me a printed copy when you return). Underline your thesis. Please make sure you have marked your three quotes and three paraphrases from Little Brother, as well as any outside sources. For Thursday, please come prepared with questions for our guest speaker about hardware and software at the school and within the district. Also, Please print your mid-term grade from TIES, have a parent sign it and bring it in on Thursday. Conferences are also this Thursday night. Classes met as large groups today in order to develop a better understanding of power and position of characters in the Ning role-play. We made a map of characters on the board. By Tuesday, October 20th you must use the characters in the role-play to create your own maps on Bubbl.us. You may use your gmail account to register. Check your gmail for additional directions. Please continue to write and respond to others in the Ning role-play. Make sure you have completed all of your assigned blogs by Friday of this week and vocabulary words by next Tuesday. You have a test next Tuesday on Little Brother, because we are having a guest speaker on Thursday. Your final drafts of your Little Brother Essay.pdf are also due on October 13th, along with your group's vocabulary cards. Monday 10/5/2009: You must print your mid-term grade from TIES, have a parent sign it and bring it in this Thursday. Monday Writing Groups met to work on assignments. Please continue to write and respond to others in the Ning forum. Finish reading Little Brother. The rough draft for your Little Brother Essay.pdf is due tomorrow. Your journal responses in Blogger are due online this Friday, October 9th. I have moved the test to Tuesday, October 13th, because we are having a guest speaker on Thursday. Your final drafts of your Little Brother Essay.pdf are also due on October 13th, along with your group's vocabulary cards. Friday 10/2/2009: Friday writing groups met today to work on assignments. Please continue to write and respond to others in the Ning forum. Finish reading Little Brother. The rough draft for your Little Brother Essay.pdf is due on Tuesday, October 6th. Your journal responses in Blogger are due online next Friday, October 9th. I have moved the test to Tuesday, October 13th, because we are having a guest speaker next Thursday. Your final drafts of your Little Brother Essay.pdf are also due on October 13th, along with your group's vocabulary cards. Thursday 10/1/2009: We met as a large group to meet to discuss assignments and changes to the calendar. Please continue to write and respond to others in the Ning forum. Finish reading Little Brother. The rough draft for your Little Brother Essay.pdf is due on Tuesday, October 6th. Your journal responses in Blogger are due online next Friday, October 9th. I have moved the test to Tuesday, October 13th, because we are having a guest speaker next Thursday. Your final drafts of your Little Brother Essay.pdf are also due on October 13th, along with your group's vocabulary cards. Wednesday 9/30/2009: Wednesday Writing Groups met today to work on Ning and Little Brother assignments. By now, you should have your character's photo and profile on Ning. Please get into the discussions in the forum. We will work on this all day in class on Thursday. Finish reading Little Brother. Do your vocabulary assignment. Finish your blogs. Please note that your rough draft for your compare/contrast paper is due next Tuesday, October 6th. The more your paper looks like a complete final draft, the better you will do. Start thinking of your thesis statement and example comparisons. Tuesday 9/29/2009: We met as a large group to take the Little Brother quiz through Chapter 15 and to discuss assignments. By now, you should have your character's bio and photo, as well as updated and personalized MY Pages on Ning. After we discussed some details today, you should continue using the forum to discuss issues about Internet access. Finish reading Little Brother as soon as you can. Finish your blogs. Do your vocabulary assignment. Remember that the rough draft of your paper is due October 6th. We discussed some ideas for the paper in class today. Monday 9/28/2009: Monday Writing Groups met to work on new assignments. You should have already CREATED YOUR PROFILE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER--not you--on Ning last week. Please begin (or continue) to find research: facts, incidents, reasons, examples, expert testimony, statistics, etc. about online privacy and schools and add to the discussions to the forum on Ning at this time. You will have a Little Brother quiz tomorrow through Chapter 15. Remember that the rough draft of your paper, where you will compare or contrast the book to our world, is due October 6th. The more your paper looks like a complete final draft, the better you will do. Start thinking of your thesis statement and example comparisons. Friday 9/25/2009: CHECK YOUR EMAIL. Your character's bio/profile on Ning is due today. You may go in and edit the information you began yesterday. Remember that I will grade you according to the rubric you used to evaluate a post from last year's role play: BoeserLizReviewRubric.doc . Please begin getting involved in the discussions regarding Staff Access, Student Access and Usage Policies. Generally the more you write, and the more sources you use to back up your opinions, the better you will do in general. Try to find sources you can use for facts, statistics, expert testimony, examples, precidents, etc. Create links to your sources in your arguments. Keep reading Little Brother and adding to your blog posts. We will have a quiz up to Chapter 15 on Tuesday. Thursday 9/24/2009: College Essays are due today in MLA Format, along with rough drafts and originality reports (with similarity and word counts circled). Keep reading Little Brother and adding to your blog posts. Please create your character's bio/profile on http://internetroleplay.ning.com/ today. Your invitation will appear in your Gmail inbox. In short, you should find a picture of your character and post it to your personal blog--note where you found your picture. Personalize your bio page, changing the background colors and fonts to suit your character. You must also post the responses to the bullets listed below (from your character's point of view) to your personal blog. Remember the main debate will center around this question: Who should have total access to view and use online content in this school? Why this person and in what situations? Along with your picture, respond to these four bullets in the questions boxes provided in the Ning bio.. - Write your bio, so we know all about you, and answer the following: - Should administrators be able to view and use online content to manage student affairs? If so in what situations? - What online content should students be able to access in school? Should some sites be blocked? If so why? - Are the current Internet school policies, blocking criteria, and definitions of “school” clear to you? If not, what would you recommend the school policies be related to these issues? Wednesday 9/23/2009: Wednesday Writing Groups met to work on assignments and receive feedback on the College Essays, which are due tomorrow at the beginning of class. Check your email for Turnitin.com IDs and passwords. Make sure you have your final draft, rough draft and originality report stapled together. You should have handed in three character choices (and their opinions on Internet access) for the role-play yesterday. Keep reading Little Brother and adding to your blog posts. Tuesday 9/22/2009: - We met as a large group to discuss and review Little Brother and to discuss the upcoming paper: Little Brother Essay.pdf. Remember that you will have a minimum of five blog posts done by 10/8/2009, along with your group’s vocabulary. We also discussed the topic of the related topic of online privacy and this term's role-play: Who should have total access to view and use online content in this school? You have submitted three character choices (who you would like to be and their positions/stance on the topic). You must hand in your choices by 2:20 today to get full credit. You may type and email them or write your choices by hand and put them in my basket. The better you do explaining your character and choice, the more likely you are to get what you want. College Essays are due on Thursday at the beginning of class. Make sure you have your final draft, rough draft and originality report stapled together. Please continue reading Little Brother --about a chapter a day. We'll have a quiz next Tuesday 9/29/2009. Possible roles include:
Friday 9/18/2009: - CHECK YOUR EMAIL from yesterday. Friday writing groups met to review College Essay rough drafts and work on assignments. Please continue reading Little Brother --about a chapter a day. Remember that you must make at least five blog posts about the book. Send your role-play reflections before or on Monday. On Tuesday 9/22, you must give me at least three possible character choices for the role-play. Include the character type (ideas listed above) and the character's stance on the issue. It is important that I know if the character has liberal, neutral or conservative views on the topics. Thursday 9/17/2009: CHECK YOUR EMAIL. We met as a large group to review the school and district Internet policies and last year's College Writing role-play. Your assignment today is to download the BoeserLizReviewRubric.doc into Pages and use it to evaluate ONE character's posts in last year's College Writing role-play. Be sure to write your name in the upper left-hand corner, but write the name of the character in the upper right-hand corner. Next, you might want to to evaluate the method of scoring suggested by the rubric. Please reword, revise and make comments on the rubric in order to make it work in a way that you understand and think is fair and highlight your changes. I will take your suggestions into consideration. Save your document as your Last, First Name + Review Rubric (e.g. BoeserLizReviewRubric). In Pages, you will have to go to File>Export>Doc>Next and save your grading rubric. Please attach this to an email and send it to me before Monday. Anyone who wants to submit a revised College Essay should do so before Tuesday in order to get feedback before the final essay is due online 9/24/09. Keep reading Little Brother and adding to your blog posts. Wednesday 9/16/2009: - Wednesday writing groups met to review College Essay rough drafts and work on assignments. Please continue reading Little Brother --about a chapter a day. Remember that you must make at least five blog posts about the book. Remember to bring in the school rules and Internet policies for tomorrow's discussion. Tuesday 9/15/2009: - We met as a large group today. Little Brother Quiz #1 through Chapter 5. College Essay rough drafts must be read, proofread, and signed by all of your group members before you hand it in today. You must staple your prompt to the back of your essay draft (unless you have already written it on the front) and hand it in. It should be typed and double-spaced with 1" margins. You should display the word count under your at the bottom of your essay. Please continue reading Little Brother . You should read about a chapter a day. Remember that you must make at least five blog posts about the book. Remember to bring in the school rules and Internet policies for Thursday's discussion. Monday 9/14/2009: - Monday writing groups met to work on assignments. By tomorrow please read Little Brother through Chapter 5. There will be a brief reading check quiz tomorrow. You should have completed three posts to your blog (Digital Media in schools, college essay rough draft, and response to research article). Please make sure you have a complete College Essay rough draft at the beginning of your class. Please write your name (and anything else that pertains) in MLA format. It should be typed and double-spaced with 1" margins. Please include the essay prompt and word limit if possible. Please type or write in your word count at the bottom of your essay (you can generally find the word count under the TOOLS of any word processing program). See Example Essay.pdf to help you. Friday 9/11/2009: We briefly discussed an extra credit opportunity. We took class time to divide up into writing groups to look at some research links and articles about online issues (you may also research one of your own). Each student in the group should pick ONE article to read and summarize on as your third Blogger.com post. Afterward, each student will discuss these articles with their group members. Before class is over we will get in a large group and talk about the content of the articles, how they apply to Little Brother and what we are going to work on this term. College Essay prompts were also handed back and briefly discussed today. Remember that your second Blogger.com post should have been your initial thoughts, feelings, and answer to the prompt for your College Essay--a very rough draft to get you started. Your actual, paper rough draft is due on Tuesday 9/15/2009 in class. We will also have a quiz Little Brother on Tuesday 9/15/2009. Make sure you read through Chapter 5. Thursday 9/10/2009: We finished watching Frontline's Growing Up Online and discussed what we observed from the documentary. We took class time to divide up into writing groups to make up rules and understand the primary purpose of the groups. Afterwards each group looked over and discussed the writing prompts carefully, word for word, and made sure they understood everything the question is asking. Writing groups took notes, underlined key words, etc. and signed off on individuals' prompts before handing them in. College Essay prompts are due in class before you leave today. Students must finish creating a blog at Blogger.com. (Make sure you invite me missboeser@gmail.com to your blog. Note that eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us is my work/school for all normal email communication.) Please write your first blog post about Frontline's Growing Up Online (see directions below). Your second post should be your initial thoughts, feelings, and answer to the prompt for your College Essay--a very rough draft. Do these before Monday. Make sure you begin reading Little Brother. You should be through Chapter 5 by Tuesday. Digital Media in Schools Wednesday 9/9/2009: Students must use their Gmail account to create a blog at Blogger.com.
Make sure you invite me through my gmail address: missboeser@gmail.com
to your blog. Please use this email only for blogging as I prefer eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us for all email communication. We viewed Frontline's Growing Up Online to watch and discuss society's perception of how the Internet has changed the lives of American youth. Use the Guide For Educators (PDF)
and answer questions on Page. 5: PART 2: Digital Media in Schools
(copied above) in your personal blog by Monday 9/14/2009. Find a
prompt for your College Essay. Please make sure you print and bring in your essay prompt tomorrow.At school, teachers are dealing with using new technologies in the classroom. Some teachers are eager adopters of technology, while others are hesitant and feel uncomfortable. Use these questions with the program chapter A Revolution in Classrooms and Social Life. 2.1. More teachers are using tools to try to detect cheating or deter studentsí inclination to cheat. In the program, we see the use of plagiarism-detection tools like Turnitin.com and writing assignments completed during class time to make sure students do their own work and generate their own ideas. In terms of student writing, what are some different types of "cheating"? What are the elements you would include in your definition of "cheating"? 2.2. One teacher in the program says, "We almost have to be entertainers." If we think of an entertainer as an actor, musician, dancer or someone who performs, in what ways is your favorite teacher like an entertainer? In what ways is he or she unlike -- or different from -- an entertainer? What are the positive and negative consequences of expecting teachers to be entertaining? 2.3. One student claims he "never reads books" but relies on summaries and annotated notes he finds on Web sites. He confesses that he feels guilty about this, stating, "I feel like I kind of cheated it." Should he feel guilty? Why or why not? 2.4 In the program, we see teachers using digital technology for their presentations. How do students use digital media in school? In what grade levels and in which types of classes are students most likely to use digital media for learning? What types of uses are most and least common? Why? Tuesday 9/8/2009: We looked over the course expectations and parent letter as well as the website and links provided thus far for the term. You can see some examples of past projects here. Before tomorrow's class, you must create a Gmail account (unless you have one already) and, from that account, send me an email that contains your first and last name. Failure to do so on time will hinder your ability to participate with the rest of the group in tomorrow's activities. Also, you must find a essay prompt for a college application, a scholarship or a job. The assignment can be accessed by clicking this: College Essay. Please make sure you print and bring in your essay prompt on Thursday 9/10/09. Make sure you write your first and last name in the upper right hand corner and highlight the question you will answer. Students will be expected to meet as a large group for lecture, instruction and test days, which are generally Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students will also work in assigned writing groups that will meet face-to-face on assigned days throughout the term. This means that students are not required to be in the classroom every day. Please see the tentative class calendar for more specific information. Students must be present for large group days and assigned writing group days. Failure to attend on these days will negatively impact the participation part of the grade. Missed days may result in the loss of credit. If a student’s grade drops below 70%, the student may be required to attend every day until the grade improves. In addition, students may also opt to come into the classroom to use equipment and/or ask for extra help on days when they are not scheduled. Students in College Writing will read and write about several novels as well as nonfiction selections. In the first term we will work in large groups, small groups and individually on The Perks of Being a Wallflower and a book in the creative commons, Little Brother, which students may buy, borrow or download from the Internet in a variety of forms. In addition, students will participate in an online role-play that may be monitored and assessed by University of Minnesota researchers. During the second term, we will analyze novels, which may include The Kite Runner, The Chosen, Speak, Montana 1948 and Beloved. Students will also work on an individual book project using novels or non-fiction selected from lists recommended for college reading. Students will review vocabulary, literary terms and writing techniques in order to prepare for standardized tests and a wide variety of academic papers. Students will review and implement research skills in order to evaluate the merit of sources, consider forms, write for specific purposes and audiences and use MLA format, which has recently changed and been updated in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition). Each student must create a Gmail account in order to access the tools and communicate outside of class. Students will need to read and respond to each other’s work in blogs, wikis, social networks, and other Web 2.0 formats. These sources and tools through which we publish our work must only be used for College Writing and therefore must be appropriate for school. Any crude, illegal or dangerous behavior included or alluded to in the assignments may be reported to a school counselor, administrator and/or civic authorities. Jefferson is running a pilot program this year, which allows students to use their own laptops with access to the wireless Internet. During scheduled class time, computers and the Internet will be available, but it would be a benefit for each student to have Internet access away from school as well. Students will need the Internet in order to research their assignments, access the class website, communicate outside of class and hand in assignments. *Please refer to the attached hybrid course form from page three of your Registration Guide. A student’s grade will be divided into the following components:
All of the school rules apply in COLLEGE WRITING. Please make sure you and your student know the school rules. I will not tolerate any inappropriate or unacceptable behavior. ESSENTIAL STANDARDS 1. Plan, organize and compose narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive, critical and research writing to address a specific audience and purpose.
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