Week 6

Plans for Today:

• Warm up
• Discussion Over Learning Outcomes
• Workshop for Reflective Overview

Warm up:

Look at the learning outcomes for our class and focus on two that you feel you have a good grasp of. If there are any that particularly confuse you, write them down

Discussion over Learning Outcomes

What have we done in class to meet these learning outcomes? What readings have we done that apply to these learning outcomes?

Workshop for Reflective Overview

For the rest of class, you will be working on your reflective overview. Open a new word document (you can put it in a folder titled Reflective Overview). The following questions will help you think about what kinds of evidence you may be able to use for your Reflective Overview:

• Go through your folders and choose evidence to match the Learning Outcomes
• Write about why that evidence matches a specific Learning Outcome
• Look through our class plans and think about the assignments and activities we have done in class so far. How do these activities/assignments relate to you achieving a learning outcome?
• Review the reading assignments we have done so far. For each one, which outcome does it seem to connect to? Why? How? (Readings, not just writings, can definitely count as evidence for a learning outcome)
• Look at the comments you have received from your classmates and me. How have you used them for revision? How can any of that be used as evidence?

Homework for Wednesday, October 3

• Write RJ_5. It is important that you are keeping up with your research journals. This is the last one before the Midterm Portfolio is due.
• Make sure you read Naming What We Know 1.9 “Writing is a Technology Through Which Writers Create and Recreate Meaning”. We will be discussion this concept in class this week.
• Make sure you have a draft for your Research Proposal ready for peer-review this week.
• Start drafting your Reflective Overview.

Plans for Today:

• Discuss Naming What We Know 1.9 "Writing is a Technology Through Which Writers Create and Recreate Meaning."
• Peer-Review Research Proposal.

Warm up:

What does it mean to say “Writing is a Technology Through Which Writers Create and Recreate Meaning”?

Group up, share, and discuss:

Explore the following quotes and explain them in your own words using personal or real-world examples to help make your point:

• “With the emergence and diffusion of digital technologies, however, the impact of technology on the making of meaning has never been more visible, socially and culturally. The power of networks can perhaps be most easily understood in terms of connectivity: the ability to connect readers to writers, to turn anyone with a network connection into a publisher” (p. 33).
• “The affordances of particular writing technologies participate in the construction of new and changing rhetorical contexts” (p. 33).
• How does this relate to the writing you are composing for this class?

Research Proposal Discussion

• Blackboard under "writing examples"

Research Proposal Peer-review Activity

Pull up the template for the research proposal. Next, open the research proposal of your partner. Look at their proposal and provide feedback using the google comment feature.

• Is the writer following the template?
• How are they making it clear that their research topic has a significant purpose?
• Do they discuss previous research on the topic and show how they are fitting into the scholarly conversation?
• Make sure you give actionable feedback. By that I mean, don't just say "I'm confused here" say something like "I am not sure what you are explaining in this section because you don't explain this quote."

Homework for Friday, October 5

• Have a draft of your Reflective Overview for peer-review. Even if you just have a section to look at that is better than nothing!

Plans for Today:

• Reflective Overview Examples
• Reflective Overview Peer-Review

See me in office hours today (12:30-2) if you have any questions or concerns.

Reflective Overview Examples

• In blackboard under "writing examples".
• Something to think about: What is the purpose of a Reflective Overview?

Workshop for Reflective Overview

Choose a partner and read their Reflective Overview. When reading their work, make sure you have the Reflective Overview assignment description and rubric open in another window, and consider the following:

• Does the student clearly address the prompt?
• Does the student use the template and guidelines provided?
• Does the student anticipate readers’ needs and expectations?
• Does the student write enough in each section to make sure readers understand the message they are trying to get across?
• Does the student provide sufficient and appropriate evidence to support assertions? (citations, links to evidence in Google Drive)
• Does the student use the ACRL and Naming What We Know to support their points and explain concepts from class?

After you read their work, offer the student 2-3 pieces of feedback using the comment feature in Google Docs. Your feedback should be specific and actionable. Moreover, your feedback should include a “because clause,” meaning you should always offer a clear reason for your suggestions/feedback. Feedback should focus on “higher-order” issues such as structure, developing examples, etc. Your feedback should help the author expand and explain their attempts to make meaning from the texts. Avoid commenting on grammar and spelling, and avoid non-actionable comments like “make this clearer,” or “this is good/bad,” etc.

Homework for Monday, October 8

• Revise your Reflective Overview and Research Proposal based on the feedback you got this week. Have draft 2 for both of these writings.
• Read and Write CT_6 Naming What We Know:
  • Naming What we Know: 4.4 “Revision is Central to Developing Writing” (note, this CT may be a bit shorter than a full page since the reading is less complex, but I want you to think about this reading as you revise your Research Proposal and Reflective Overview)
• Make sure you've completed RJ_5 this week.
• The Mid-Term Portfolio is due a week from today! Look back through the schedule and check that you are up to date on assignments. Also, check out the rubric if you are concerned about how I will be grading this assignment.