WRT105 Unit 1 Calendar
WEEK ONE
Thur. 9/7 Welcome ! Introduction to the Course Syllabus; Review student manual
Homework: 1) Read the course syllabus & student manual. 2). Read and annotate the Introduction to “Coming to Terms” by Joseph Harris. Annotate the piece by noting places that will help you become a more active reader. Also note any challenges or limits this approach might have. Be prepared to discuss in class. We will be referring to this piece throughout the course, so it is important to read it closely.
Fri. 9/8 Unpack Harris article; share HW; Following Harris’s advice about ways to “come to terms” with a text, we’ll analyze Harris’s project, key words, and uses and limits just as he suggests.
Homework: Writing Assignment – Write a definition of what Harris means by a writer’s “project”. How is describing a writer’s project similar/different from writing a summary? Read Introduction to summary as a critical practice and Focused Description ( pg.76 , 77W.A.); Read critically “Everything Is a Text”.
Mon.9/12 No Class
Tue 9/13 Read Bedford Genre chapter 1: what’s genre? Unpack ” Everything is a Text”; play with a literacy situation. Explore key concepts that will be introduced in EaT (purpose, audience, persona, medium, genre and context).
Homework: Read “Your Recent Email to Your Professor” and then practice shifting either audience or purpose or even breaking conventions of the email context in order to start to see complexities in any writing situation.
Wed. 9/14 Using the advice and strategies in Everything’s a Text, read the Introduction to It’s Complicated by dana boyd (pgs 1-15), write about 250 words reflecting on your pre-reading, reading, and post-reading processes strategies (following the guidelines in chapter 2 of EaT). Then write a thick paragraph thinking about how this Boyd’s explanation of the new role of social media adds to or complicates our understanding of purpose, audience, persona and genre? How does her overview of the shifts in our culture mesh with your own experience?
Homework: Post your response in Turnitin.
Thur. 9/15 Discussion of Boyd’s chapter and our writing about it. How does new media complicate our literacies in the 21st c.? Practice with Passage-based focused freewriting (handout in class) using Boyd’s intro. Brief introduction to June Jordan and her essay “Nobody Mean More to me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan.”
Homework: 1)Do quick and dirty research on poet/activist/ scholar June Jordan (not basketball player June Jordan). Keep track of what you find, including urls of websites. 2)Read and annotate June Jordan’s “Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan” (on Bb). Use the moves we practiced in class to create a “passage based focused freewrite on Jordan’s essay (bring your writing from this to class). Be prepared to discuss how Jordan’s essay complicates our understanding of purpose, audience, persona and genre.
Week 2 Examining the college admission process
Fri. 9/16 Discuss Jordan’s essay and share our passage based focused freewrites. plan our blog posts ( response) about her essay. Introduction to Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University”. Quick and dirty research on David Bartholomae and the concept of a “discourse community.”
Homework: Post your blog entry for June Jordan’s essay to turnitin. Read and annotate “Inventing the University” by David Bartholomae. Return again to the questions listed under “…invention tools” in the Unit 1 Assignment. Choose 1 or 2 that you feel might intersect with ideas from any of the readings so far, and write a thick paragraph talking about the connections you see. Bring this writing to class on Monday.
Mon. 9/19 Discuss “Reinventing the University”; examine an example of summary (78): The Artist’s Mother by James Abbott McNeill Whistler,1871; We’ll examine Counterproductive Habits of Mind (pg42-45, W.A); write a 250-word summary of Bartholomae’s piece.
Homework: 1)Read pg. 23-45 in Writing Analytically; 2)Free write on challenges centering on college application process
Tue. 9/20 Words Matter: Becoming Conversant instead of Reading for the Gist ( Pg.106-108,W.A.) We’ll practice Notice and Focus + Ranking pg. 24 WA.; Introduction to The Method (pg.26-35 W.A.; Study sample responses (pg.28 W.A); page 79 (W.A); how would June Jordan respond to “Reinventing the University?” Introduction to Unit 1 assignment;
Homework: Use the Method to analyze the unit 1 assignment. Bring in your observations and questions for class discussion.
Wed. 9/21 Focus(Objectives): Using an idea from “Reinventing the University” as a lens to reading June Jordan’s piece ( blog)
Do Now: Share-Free write on challenges centering on college application process
Mini Lesson:
- Discuss Unit 1 Assignment. Introduction to key terms Purpose, Audience, Persona, Medium, Genre, Context. Groups will be assigned a heading and discuss each heading.
- Watch Ted Talk “How we’re priming some kids for college- and others for prison” by Alice Goffman. Listen and take notes!
- Small group discussion-What are the “rules” or “guidelines” of a Ted Talk ? Who is the audience? What are the advantages of the medium?( assessment)
Independent Practice-
- Challenge: Think about what the restrictions are for this genre? Short-comings?
- College Essay writing-focusing on the genre approach
Homework: Read “Make the implicit explicit- Paraphrase x 3” ( pg. 36-39); “What it Means to Have an Idea” pp 70-71 ; Opinions versus Ideas page 49 in W.A. Introduction to synthesis and rhetorical reading, particularly “the pitch, the complaint, and the moment” (WA111-113). Analyze the pitch, complaint and moment of the Ted Talk.
Thur. 9/22 Continue discussing key terms Purpose, Audience, Persona, Medium, Genre, Context as noted in “Everything is Text” by Dan Melzer (Melzer handout). Read and discuss “College Application Essay” by Paul Rudnick.
Take a look at Common Application essay prompts. What is the college essay genre? What are the guidelines? Who is the audience? Purpose? Medium? Context? Comment on Rudnick’s “college essay”. How well does it reflect the guidelines of the Common Application essay? How well does it reflect the writer’s awareness of audience, purpose, medium?
Homework: Write 1-2 paragraphs (2 parts) –
- How do these writing prompts support/hinder the types of writing you will be doing in college based on what we will be doing in this course? What would Rudnick say about these writing prompts? Do you think your high school prepared you to write these essays? Support your claims.
- Reflection: Consider purpose, audience, persona, medium, genre and context of the “college essay” How will these considerations inform your essay?
Week 3
Fri. 9/23 Unpack the significant impact of understanding genre on writing. Discuss ideas and quotations from “ A Genre approach to Writing Assignment” by Irene Clark( Clark handout).
In a small group, read and discuss “Naked Confession of a College Bound” & “College Admission Passion Play” from Wall St Journal in respect to the author’s use of a typical genre and its effect on the intended messages.
Homework: Read the “The Five Analytical Moves”, pp 53-67 W.A ; Select a paragraph from one of the writings we discussed in class and write an analysis using “The Five Analytical Moves”. Again consider purpose, audience, persona, medium, genre and context of the “college application”.
Mon 9/26 Read “How to Integrate Quotations into Your Paper” pp 270-278 in W.A.; Study “using source analytically: an example” (page 279-280 in W.A.); Read ‘Uncovering Assumptions’ (page 91-92.; “Difference within Similarities” ( page 99-101); “Seems to be about X but could also be about Y ( page 101-103 ) in W.A; and identify “Seems to be about X but could also be about Y” in June Jordan’s “Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan”.
Homework: Find a college essay prompt and do the following: 1) What are some of the assumptions embedded in the prompt? What seems to be X but could also be Y? Write a thick paragraph to describe the purpose of your essay: Why do you want to go to college or why do you want to apply for this particular college? Why are you a candidate that will add to the culture or success of the university?
Tue. 9/27 We will share our “purpose” paragraph and assumptions you have uncovered about the college application process.
Homework: Read “ How do I bring diversity to College” by A. Kirkland and B. Hansen? Write a paragraph to respond to a particular aspect of the college essay topic. What additional contributions can you make to the university’s diversity culture?
Wed. 9/28 Unpack “ How do I bring diversity to College”. Share writing from H.W. We’ll discuss and practice “Making Interpretations plausible”( pgs 140-142) in W.A.
Homework: Read “The Rhetoric of College Application Essay” by James Warren. Identify the “rhetoric” described in Warren’ s essay. Take a flash point from the Warren’s piece and practice MIP.
Thur. 9/30 Unpack Warren’s writing. How does Warren’s “college essay rhetoric” shine a new light on your understanding of the college essay assignment and college application process. For each aspect of the literary situation, provide your personal descriptions.
Homework: Demonstrating rhetorical awareness (establishing critical relationships with sources heuristic).Complete the “Establishing Critical Relationships with Sources” heuristic. How does Warren share his views about college application process with Jordan or Gladwell? In what ways do they differ? Take one idea by Warren and reflect it in your college essay. Read “Class Matters” and Gladwell’s “Getting In”.
Week 3
Fri. 10/1 Unpack the genre of “Class Matters”. Briefly share Gladwell’ views on college admission process in respect to social, cultural and historical implications and complications. Apply the writing principles in Harris’s “Coming to Terms” to our understanding of the synthesis assignment- the blog entry on college application process.
Homework: Write 500 words toward your blog about college admission process by making meaningful connections between three of the shared readings of the unit. Please directly quote from (and properly in-text cite) your material, and push yourself to develop your ideas, your thinking about the genre of the “admission essay” as well as the college admission process. Bring three copies to class.
Mon-Tue 10/3-10/4 No Class
Wed. 10/5 Share and discuss the blog. We’ll discuss how to make a thesis evolve ( page 227 W.A); Deepening and complicating the claims in our blogs and strengthening our syntheses. Introduce unit reflection piece.
Homework: Revise the blog; analyze meaningful activities you have done in this unit ( refer to the Unit 1 Reflection descriptions handout).
Thur. 10/6 Class share reflections and provide feedback; share responses to a college essay prompt
Homework: Complete your draft of the college essay. Due 10/10 to Turnitin.com
Fri. 10/7 College Essay workshop.
Homework: David Sibley’s Introduction to Geographies of Exclusion (both in CE); Take a stab at defining “public space” including making a list of all the spaces you consider “public”. Review pages 2-8 of “ Everything’s a Text” by Dan Melzer and respond: what does it mean to analyze a text?