Week 10

Plans for Today:

• Reminders
• Discussion of threshold concepts 1.5, "Writing Mediates Activity"
• Research Project Discussion

Announcements/Reminders:

As I have been grading I've noticed a few things across the board that everyone should be improving on for their writing assignments:

• Make sure you are using the Research Journal template to complete your Research Journals (right now we are using the Rabbit Hole Template specifically). This means, you must address the ACRL in the reflective summary section.
• Dig deep into your research.
• For your CT's, use personal examples to explain quotes/paraphrases from the text and remember your audience when writing CT's.

Group up, Share, and Discuss:

• How does writing mediate activity? Provide specific examples.
• What do the following quotes mean?
  • “Writing can mediate the internal activity of thought and emotion as well as external behavior” (p.27).
  • "The concept that writing mediates human activity is troublesome because it goes against the usual concepts of writing as "just" transcribing ("writing down" or "writing up") thought or speech" (p. 27).
• The book says "Although other forms of communication (like speaking) also mediates activity, writing has several advantages (and disadvantages) over those forms" (p.26). What does this mean? Give examples.

Keeping in mind that writing mediates activity, let's discuss how your research projects will mediate activity.

• Take one minute and think about your project (look through your RJ's if you need to) and think about how your project for my class will mediate activity, or make something happen or change.

Homework:

• Last Friday I said this week you will do another Rabbit Hole Assignment. RJ_6 will follow the same template we used last week with A, B, and C sources.
• Also, I will be sending out a google form this afternoon for you to evaluate yourself and your classmates' participation in groups for my class. Complete that form before Wednesday's class. Remember, your answers will be kept private.

Plans for Today:

• Reminders
• Warm Up
• Discussion of 2.2, "Genres are Enacted by Writers and Readers."
• Activity

Reminder:

• April 5th is the last day to drop.

Warm Up:

• What does the following mean? Break it down.
  • “...no single text is a genre; it can only be an instance of that genre as it enters into contexts (activity systems) where it might be taken up as such an instance. Readers and users of texts have as much to do with a text becoming an instance of a genre as writers do” (p.40).
  • "...genres are only relatively stable. Generic forms are open to hybridization and change over time" (p.40).
  • "This view holds that genres are habitual responses to recurring socially bounded situations" (p. 39).

Discussion

• Share your responses and let's figure out what this means.

Activity

As the text says "genres are habitual responses to recurring socially bounded situations," in groups, find an example of a genre and write down what is the response it has to a socially bounded situation.

For Friday

• Be prepared to group up and to discuss times you will be able to conference with me. For the sake of time, it'll be best if you can conference with me in small groups (no bigger than 3). If you want to get ahead, figure out who you might want to group up with and discuss if you have times that align with each other on Monday and Tuesday.
• Not everyone will be able to get the time we have for class, but that's fine, we will be able to make these meetings work.
• Also, keep an eye out for your midterm grades. They will be showing up very soon.

Plans for Today:

• Discussion of student/teacher conferences for next week.
• Finish Genre Activity from Wednesday
• Discussion of genres (due dates for drafts).

Grades are posted now. Make sure you check the document I attached to your grade in blackboard so you can see why you made the grade you did and how you can improve for the final.

Also, if any of you weren't able to submit to the FYRC the link has been re-opened until today, Friday, March 29th at 9pm. http://firstyearwiki.tamucc.edu/wiki/Main/FYRC2019

Class Discussion

• Sign up for times to meet with me in small groups.
• Monday will be used for conferences so we won't have a regular class time, but I will be in my office all day meeting with you. I'll post the schedule once we decide on the times everyone will be meeting with me.
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pX2D_obF1ZiFNueNYPQKCKab7d867qX6pj4pMHFm8G8/edit?usp=sharing

Finish Genre Activity from Wednesday

Genre Discussion

• Plan out due dates for genre drafts for the final project.

Homework for next week:

• CT_9
  • Naming What We Know, 1.2 "Writing Addresses, Invokes, and/or Creates Audiences & 2.1 "Writing Represents The World, Events, Ideas, and Feelings"
• RJ_7 (follow the regular template, not the Rabbit Hole Assignment this time)

Read:

• The Basic Elements of the Communication Process (you don't need to write on this but we will discuss it in class).

Conferences:

• When you come to meet me next week, come with two questions in mind. It can be related to your work in class, research project, etc.