Unit 2, Day 19: Tuesday, October 23

· Review goals and expectations for Essay 3 assignment

· Critique Essay 3 samples for contextual strengths and weaknesses

· Full Workshop on Essay 3 drafts

Connection to course goals: Analyzing the Essay 3 samples asks students to evaluate how effectively an essay meets the context and highlights options for how students might write their own papers. The final workshop emphasizes the importance of ongoing revision during the writing process (versus simply one draft).

INTRODUCTION:

1. Discuss Essay 3 goals and expectations students need to meet as they revise their papers (5-7 minutes): Before coming to class, create your own list based on the Essay 3 assignment sheet and all of the main “components” you have emphasized that need to be part of this paper. Lead a discussion that gets students to identify and discuss each of these expectations for what their paper should include.

2. Critique Essay 3 samples (15-20 minutes):

- Give students a few minutes to read back over the Essay 3 sample papers.

- Then, break them into groups of 3-4 and have them use the criteria list you generated earlier to critique the samples. Each group should come up with a list of 2-3 contextual strengths and 2-3 contextual weaknesses. They should be ready to share their findings with the class.

- Whole class discussion: Have each group present their findings and ask other groups to respond. Did the other groups see this as a strength/weakness? Why? Be sure that as a class you come to some consensus about the main strengths and weaknesses of each paper.

3. Workshop Essay 3 (50 minutes): Design a workshop that highlights the aspects of this assignment that you think need most attention. Since students have already spent some time looking at focus, you might try to center this workshop on development, evidence and cohesion. The backwards outline workshop in the appendix works very well for this. Also remind them that evidence needs to be relevant, specific and explained. Students will want to be especially detailed with their evidence from the actual TV show to ensure that readers can see the connections the writer is trying to make in terms of how those examples substantiate their thesis. (See the Essay 3 Workshop Guide sheet in the appendix for another idea.)

Assignment for Day 20:

· Revise and proofread your Essay 3 draft. Be prepared to hand in your paper with all process work in class.