Tag Archives: Module 1

Class 07

Good morning, all. Hope you had a chance to enjoy this glorious weekend. Today in class, we’ll review a number of the key concepts from Module 1, go over the expectations we can have for each other when it comes to Essay 1 (due Wednesday), and prepare to sharpen our use of digital tools, academic writing skills, and the richness of our class community as we turn to Module 2: Defining Book Groups.

You’ll want to start in the “Goals and Plans” Doc. There, you’ll see a list of the content and skills we covered this Module. We’ll spend some time writing and talking today about the ways we covered that content–and articulating moment where things “clicked” and questions we still have. Module 1 was quite a lot, but don’t worry, we’ll circle back to most of it in Module 2. That’s one thing about writing: it requires practice, and the more “reps” you get, the better.

After that, I’ll share an example of a student essay from Fall 2020 in response to this same prompt. We’ll look at it as a group, considering where we see its main idea, its evidence, its signs of organization, and the way the writer follows conventions.

With the balance of class, you’ll work on one of three things in independent work:

Give a “shout-out” (do people even say that anymore?) or some “shine” (as they say in my kids’ elementary school) to another person in class who did great work in some way. Post that as a reply to this post by the start of our next class. (So, to be clear, if you don’t finish this in class, it’s OK to finish it as homework.)
Use the “checklist” linked to on the “Goals and Plans” Doc to proofread your essay. There’s also a copy of it in the submission form for this essay. It must follow MLA format or I may ask you to revise it before marking it COMPLETE.
If you’re listed under one of the “housekeeping” tasks, it means you’ve not completed the set-up of one or more digital tools. Please do this first, before the other two activities, and let me know if you need any help. I’ll have some breakout rooms open so we can talk without disturbing others doing independent work.

Class 05

Good morning, all! We’ve made it through the stop-and-start part of our semester, and just at the right time. Wednesday we’ll have peer editing for Essay 1. A week from Wednesday, Sept 29, your first formal essay will be due.

Today, we’re spending time looking at some of the shorter assignments you’ve done with sources to prepare for Essay 1. These are the library assignment (where you were to practice summary and citation) and the blog post #2 (where you were to practice response and opinion writing). These are important skills and they take practice.

After we talk about summary and response, we’ll do some brainstorming about what goes into an effective first paragraph. From there, we’ll start thinking about all the sources and evidence we’ve compiled. How do we organize this under the argument we’re making: “I’ve decided to read X because Y…”

Class 04: Sept 13

Good morning and welcome back after a 12-day hiatus. Happy new year if you celebrate it, and happy first day of school for those of you with little siblings, cousins, kids, etc.

There were some nice conversations on the blog over the last few days. A few posts I’d like to highlight are those by Christopher, Jamy, and Kedwin. Each of the writers published their freewrite on our blog with a title and a tag, and one person commented on their post. Great job folks. If you didn’t add a tag, please do. If you didn’t add an image or make an interesting title, you can do that between now and Sept 27. Comments are closed. These pieces will be graded on a 5-point scale between now and our next class meeting, with two points assigned to the letter and one each to the title, the tag, and the comment from your peer. These are private. You should see them on your end of the Commons page; I haven’t used them before so we’ll learn together.

We will spend some time in class today wrapping up our previewing activities, including the “Page 99 test.” We’ll also discuss our annotations on the readings for today. We’ll also take a look at the prompt for Essay 1,

Class 03: Sept 1

Welcome back.

Our goal for today is to continue discussing reading practices; introduce summary and citation practices; continue previewing texts.

In class today, you’ll respond to “The Cover of my Face” in a way that builds on reading practices we discussed Monday. There were some great questions in the Hypothe.is conversation, and you’ll start there in breakout rooms, then move to a fuller-class discussion. We’ll also look at page 99 of all three texts using the same close reading skills you practiced with Hypothes.is. This is the same way you’ll read “La Otra” by Jaquira Diaz and “Quick Feet” by Kiese Laymon, your assigned texts for Sept 13.

Looking forward, we’ll be using the library to continue to locate texts to use to make our “Pick a book” decision. We’ll briefly go over the Assignment Sheet for Essay 1, on our class site, and the Library Assignment, on our Goals and Plans Doc. That essay’s peer edit draft is due Sept 22, with a revision due Sept 29. You’ll work in Google Docs for peer editing, and the final version will be published to a Commons site that you’ll start over this week, and which you’ll use throughout the semester to make your portfolio.

As a reminder, please log in to CUNY Academic Commons and to turn on Hypothes.is as we start class. If you’re having trouble with Hypothes.is, please be sure you’ve registered and installed the plug-in on Chrome, and joined our class group. If you’re still having trouble, talk with me after class and just follow along the best you can. There will be time in small groups for you to ask a friend from class to help you explain that process. You also should contact IT, whose information is on our syllabus.

Let’s get started with the “Goals and Plans” Doc.

Class 02 (8/30)

Welcome back.

Our goal for today is to continue discussing reading practices; introduce summary and citation practices; continue previewing texts.

the “Goals and Plans” Doc.