backReturn to Unit One: MWF

MWF
Unit One, Day 10 - Wednesday, September 13

What they'll do today in class:

Connection to course goals: Practicing the skills of summary and analysis again shows students the need to meet the expectations of the context. They can also see the ability to make choices within that context because we focus on a different aspect of an essay this time (organization).

  1. To begin, let's quickly summarize the main ideas of the Schor essay.
  2. (NOTE: You'll probably just want to do this as a large class discussion and list the ideas on the board. Hopefully, they'll have the hang of summary by this point so it will come a little easier.)

    (5-10 min)

    MAIN IDEAS OF SCHOR ESSAY:

  3. Let's again practice analysis, but with this essay we'll focus on organization.
  4. When you're filling out the first column on the worksheet, feel free to "group" paragraphs together if they accomplish the same purpose and make the same point.
  5. When you're filling out column 2, just try to give a quick summary of what's said…we're not looking for academic here.
  6. For section 3, look for various parts of an essay that we've seen so far - is this section making a main point? Providing evidence? Getting the reader's attention? What does it do for the reader?
  7. (15 min)

  8. Make a class backwards outline on the board.
  9. (15 min)

  10. Then ask them to consider the following in terms of how well this "outlined" organization works
  11. Summarize this activity by emphasizing that a backwards outline works well to really break-down the organization of an essay, and they can use this activity with any essay they plan on evaluating, or even with their own essays.

    (5-10 min)

  12. Return to the criteria list and see how some of these issues meet or fail to meet those general criteria. Where do these issues fit with our criteria list? How well does the essay meet the criteria? Where would it work well, where would it falter?

(5 min)

Assignment:

Read:

RC, Adams, "The Dilbert Principle" 381-385

Write:

A paragraph summary and one page response to the following questions:

- Did you enjoy reading the Adams essay? Why/Why not?

- How would you describe the "voice" or "tone" of this essay?

- Was the voice and/or tone effective? How did it affect you as a reader?