What
you'll do today in class:
-
Have students learn each other's names and something about
their classmates
-
Introduce the long-term expectations for the semester (the
course goals and skills students will develop and apply)
-
Introduce the everyday expectations of the course (in terms
of homework and other assignments, class discussions)
-
Begin considering the role of context in influencing
rhetorical choices
Connection
to course goals: The interview
activity establishes communication with each other necessary for peer revision
workshops and class discussions. This
activity, along with the introduction to course goals, also introduces students
to concepts of context and the rhetorical situation.
Activities:
1.
Introductions
(2 minutes): Make sure
everyone is in the right course and section.
Putting the course number, name, and section number on the board helps
weed out students who have wandered into the wrong room. Expect students to drift in late on the
first day—many are getting used to a new campus and still can't find their way
around yet.
2.
Introduce
yourself and take roll (5 minutes): Call names and record attendance on your roll sheet. Also write
on roll sheet nicknames and even phonetic pronunciations of difficult
names. While you'll probably use some other
attendance-taking measure in the future (such as collecting homework), taking
the time to call roll in the first few days will help you learn students'
names.
-
Because students may have added or dropped since the time
your roll sheet was generated, you will most likely have students who have
registered for your class whose names do not appear on the roll. Ask them to
stay after class and give you their names and ID numbers. Others will THINK
they are enrolled in your section, but that must be confirmed through the
registrar. (We have a laptop computer in the main office—Eddy 359—to give you
current rosters for your sections.)
-
DO NOT PROMISE ANY EXTRA STUDENTS THAT THEY WILL BE ABLE TO
ENROLL. The add/drop policy requires
only students who don't attend the first TWO classes to be dropped. Thus, you might have students who don't come
the first day but show up for the second class.
-
Also emphasize that they CANNOT DROP after the date on the
add/drop sheet. They also cannot
withdraw from CO150. If they want out, they must do it by the drop date.
3.
Discuss
syllabus (5 minutes): Briefly discuss how to read the assignments due
(especially if you are using a grid), the types of assignments in more general
terms—save specifics for later.
4.
Explain
Policy Statement (7-10 minutes): Show the books used (many will have bought older
editions that won't have the same readings in them). Present the course policy statement, emphasizing the policies
that you consider the most important.
Be sure to explain at least the following policies:
-
Attendance
-
Grading (for major assignments and overall class)
-
Grading for homework assignments
You'll probably also want to cover the course topic and the
required materials, as well as the philosophy for our cultural theme. One good strategy is to have a copy of your
policy statement for the OH that has highlighted or annotated the essential
ideas you want to convey. If not on the
OH, just having your own highlighted copy can help quell those first-day
jitters and prevent you from forgetting anything really critical you want to
convey. Or you can delegate some of the
responsibility by having students read sections.
Transition to next activity (use these explanations to connect activities for
students. They'll benefit from knowing how the activities build on each other): “We're going to begin examining the larger
culture (the United States in terms of identity, the media, and education) by
examining the culture of this classroom in this next activity.”
5.
Interview
activity (5-7 minutes): Have
students pair up and ask each other questions about one another and record
their answers so they can report back to the whole class.
6.
Report
results of interviews by having students introduce each other (15 minutes):
7.
After
students have introduced each other, ask them to consider what kinds of things
people were willing to offer to a stranger (5-7 minutes): Generate a list of categories on the
board. You probably won’t have time to
discuss the results of their interview today so keep a list of the categories
and put it on an overhead to use in discussion on Wednesday.
CONCLUSION: “Today we began to examine how context
influences our actions and choices (interview activity). We'll continue with
this idea on Wednesday and connect this idea more directly to culture and writing.”
Assignment
for Day 2:
- Read “Introduction: Reading Culture” in RC (1-4). Also read Zoellner’s “I’m O.K., But You’re Not” in PHG (28-29).
- After reading, write a 1-page typed response that explores these related questions: What is my cultural identity? In what ways do I define myself? What or who influences my sense of identity, cultural values, and ways of thinking? How has my cultural identity changed and what has been most influential in shaping those transformations?