April 24

Today, we talked about grades in place of doing a writing into the day.  We spent the rest of class working on things for class, such as the final reflection, meeting with panel groups, revising, etc.  Megan also met with panel groups four, five and six.  In the last 20 minutes, we filled out instructor evals.

Homework:

• Post your final drafts and your final reflection to your blog before class on Monday.
• Panel groups one and two will present on Monday.

April 17

Today, we graded ourselves on participation.  We spent the rest of class working on things for class, such as the final reflection, meeting with panel groups, revising, etc. 

No Homework.

*Note: No class on Monday, April 22

April 15

For writing into the day, we responded to the question: In relation to an English class, what do you think of when you hear the word "reflection"?

The class responded with the following:

• Looking back on work you've done, thinking about it and relating it to yourself or other work you have done
• A way to think about how your writing has grown, how it has improved and how that might help you in the future
• Thinking back about how assignments have changed
• Thinking about your progress
• Thinking about what you've done
• Looking at something you got out of the work you did
• An opportunity to look at what improvements you would make if you could go back an revise more

Megan then gave the following a working definition for this class:

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines reflection as: “(1) the action of bending or folding back [and] (2) consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose¹.” Reflecting in a writing classroom combines these two definitions.

“Reflection is thinking for an extended period by linking recent experiences to earlier ones…The thinking involves looking for commonalities, differences, and interrelations beyond their superficial elements.²” “The act of reflection, therefore, becomes crucial to [students’] education. It serves as the bridge between experiences and learning.^3”

“Meaningful reflection considers three questions:

1. What—what happened?
2. So what—what does it mean? 
3. Now what—what is the next step?⁴” 

We talked about the Final Reflection assignment.  On the last day of class, you will need to put the on your blog:

• In one post, you will imbed the final drafts of the major assignments (see the document "Using Scribd to Post to Your Blog" on Moodle for how you should do this)
• In another post, you will write the final reflection letter

Finally, we used Megan's SI Reflection (http://megansreflection.blogspot.com) as a model for the final reflection and discussed it.

What types of things might you link to or use as examples in your final reflection?

• Blog posts
• Daybook entries
• Comments - instructor comments, comments you've written, comment posted by your inquiry group
• Reflections
• Reading Responses
• Schooling trajectory
• Videos like TedTalks
• Readings
• Classmates' work
• Class discussions
• Papers
• Meetings we have had
• Pictures - daybook entries, peer workshop writing, timeline, questions from discussions

How might you use these models to think about your own reflection?

• Figure out where to start
• Do the reflection sequentially or by topic
• Include a lot of what is going on in your head 
• Choose a topic and support it with the blog

No Homework

Note: All drafts for extra feedback must be email to Megan by midnight tonight.

April 10

Today,  we wrote into the day about our writing processes for the Joining the Conversation Part #2 (Academic).  Finally, we got into our inquiry groups and workshopped our papers.  If there were four people, the paper was discussed for 15 minutes.  If there were five people, the paper was discussed for 12 minutes.  

Homework:

• On your blog, answer the questions on the "Workshop Reflection for Your Blog" handout.
• On your blog, answer the questions on the "Self Assessment Reflection" about Part #3.
• Post Part #3 on your blog and on Moodle.

Note: On Monday, bring your laptop.  We will be talking about reflection and will do a model activity using computers.

April 8

Today, we wrote into the day by answering these two questions:

1. Why shouldn't you use second person (you, yours) in academic writing?
2. Why should you write formally in academic writing?

Then, we got into our inquiry groups and discussed specifics of how to turn the dialogue into an academic piece.  We came up with the following:

• Remove play structure (Name:, stage directions, setting)
• Paraphrase and use the name as inline citation
• Use third person
• Use first person when describing personal experiences or explaining your opinion at the end
• Group similar ideas together
• Group by ideas rather than by sources
• Take out words indication conversation (well, I think, ya know); make this a paraphrase or quote.
• Explain how quotes explore/connect to/answer your inquiry question.
• Dialogue becomes supporting details.
• Include a works cited page/footnotes
• Analyze the quotes more
• Maybe include a thesis

Finally, in our inquiry groups, we read the Swales piece, talked about how to introduce our academic pieces and had individual work time.  In the last ten minutes of class, Megan handed out and explained the current grades.

Homework:

• On your blog, respond to the four questions in your email about Megan's comments on your Annotated Bibliography.
• Post your first draft of Part 2 to your blog.
• Bring hard copies of Part 2 for your inquiry group to workshop on Wednesday.

April 3

Today, we wrote into the day about our writing processes for the Joining the Conversation Part #1 (Dialogue).  Then, we got into our inquiry groups and workshopped our papers.  If there were three people in the group, the paper was discussed for 20 minutes.  If there were four people, the paper was discussed for 15 minutes.  If there were five people, the paper was discussed for 12 minutes.  

 

Homework:

• On your blog, answer the questions on the "Workshop Reflection for Your Blog" handout before class on Monday.
• Bring the Swales reading (on Moodle) to class on Monday.

Note: On Monday, bring your Annotated Bibliography, your dialogue and your sources on an electronic device.  We will talk about how to start your academic piece and spend time drafting in class.

April 1

For writing into the day, we responded to the quote (in italics) that is at the beginning of the Multimodal Piece assignment description in the syllabus.  Then, we discussed the Mulitmodal and Panel assignments.  The panel descipriton is as follows:

• Groups of 3-4 people grouped by topic of inquiry
• Show (and explain, if necessary) your multimodal project
• Explain why you chose that form
•  Discussion 

• Entire panel time: 30-35 minutes
• 10 minute (minimum) discussion
  • Start out by asking if the class has questions (if so, discuss)
  • Prepare 3-4 questions about your panel’s topic to discuss with the class if you have extra time

As a class, we designated panels. I emailed this list to the class.  Finally, for the last 30 minutes of class, we had work time to talk with panels or draft the Joining the Conversation dialogue.

 

Homework:

• Post the first draft of your Joining the Conversation dialogue on your blog.
• Bring hardcopies of your draft for your inquiry group to class on Wednesday.

* You are no longer required to post comments on the blog.
* The last day to revise a draft for additional feedback from Megan is April 15.