< Week 10: Monday, October 27<sup>th</sup> - Friday, October 31<sup>st</sup>

Week 10: Monday, October 27th - Friday, October 31st

Week 10: Monday, October 27 - Friday, October 31

Note: The beginning of Portfolio 3 marks a new stage in your lesson planning. You are now responsible for creating nearly all of your own activities to accomplish the course goals. To support your efforts to accomplish this task, we have provided detailed discussion of teaching goals. Also, you may consult the “Activity Bank,” which is offered as a supplemental source in the materials for this course and also will be available (and continuously enlarged upon) in the Teacher Resources of the Online Writing Center. We encourage you to integrate the course texts, the PHG and the New York Times, as well as technology components--the Online Writing Center, Writing Studio and Syllabase--into your lesson planning If you have any questions about developing your lesson plans, please see Mike, Steve, Kate, Sarah, Kerri, Paul, Liz or Sue.

Please remember to provide lesson and course connections each class day and to introduce and conclude your lessons along with providing helpful transitions between activities.

Goals for this week:

·       Type of Claim:

Value: See "Evaluating" Chapter

Solution/policy: See "Problem-solving" Chapter

Cause-effect: See "Cause-effect" Chapter

Fact: See "Informing" Chapter

Your discussion of a claim will depend on the audience and existing research. For example, if research has already shown that grades don't reflect intelligence, a writer could quickly support this sub claim and then focus on the solution -- using portfolios instead. However, if there is no evidence to support the claim that grades fail to represent intelligence, the focus for the argument should be on proving this claim.

Connection to Course Goals

After creating a transition between Portfolios 2 and 3 and connecting these to course goals, the two main objectives for this week are to have students construct their claims and arguments and to have students think critically about how their target audience and context will influence the choices they make when writing their arguments. Use the PHG to introduce students to classical forms of argumentation, but also emphasize that audience and context are as important as "forms" when making choices about content and organization. To write successfully, students will need to think about their readers' needs and interests and shape their arguments accordingly. The Context Comparison is designed to help students analyze writing for two different, real-world audiences. It serves the overall goals of encouraging students to be active participants in culture and enabling them to write for audiences beyond academia.

Required Reading and Assignments

Resources

Review The Writing Situation Model:

 

Key points from the Writing Situation Model: Be sure to cover the following points (in whatever order feels right for you):

·      Writers have purposes for writing

·      These purposes usually emerge from the writer's cultural or social context (something happens outside the writer that creates a need to write - something to respond to)

·      Writes make choices based on the context they are writing for (writing a letter home to your parents asking for money is a different than writing a letter to an organization to ask for contributions for a good cause). Therefore, different contexts will pose different requirements, limitations, and opportunities for a writer.

·      In addition to context, writers also need to think about readers.

·      Readers have various needs and interests, which are likewise determined by their contexts (their background, environment and experience).

·      In order to communicate effectively, a writer must anticipate what their readers' needs and interests are.

·      Cultural and social contexts shape the writing situation, acting on both writers and readers. Key elements of cultural context include language/media, government, shared values and beliefs, historical events. Key elements of social context include organizations, universities, schools, churches, businesses, environmental groups; family, friends, and neighbors; local events and traditions; community concerns (such as planning for growth along the Front Range).

Introduce The “Great Circle of Writing” Model: This model helps students see the shift in their roles as writers that takes place as they join, learn about, and now contribute to a conversation about a publicly debated issue.

Points to bring up about the Great Circle of Writing Model:

Sample Brainstorming Activity for Developing Claims and Arguments: The goal of this activity is to help students formulate possible arguments and claims for their issue. This activity takes place in front of the class using the white board. Lead students through one of the following strategies.

Strategy 1: Answer the question that you explored in Portfolio II to form an argument for Portfolio 3. For example:

If your research question for Portfolio II was:

> Who is responsible for intervening when child abuse is suspected?

Your argumentative claim for Portfolio III might be:

> The government needs to impose stricter laws to deter child abuse.

OR

> Teachers need to play a more active role in preventing child abuse.

Strategy 2: Brainstorm possible arguments by describing which parts of your issue you feel most strongly about. Then, imagine that you were involved in a conversation surrounding these aspects with some friends; what viewpoints might you offer? Which positions would you agree/disagree with? What overall arguments would you make?

Discuss Audience and Context for Arguments: Use this activity to model approaches to choosing a context and audience for the first arguing essay. Ask two or three students to put their claims up on the board (ask for volunteers - try pitching it as "free help" with their essay). Then, check to see if these claims are narrow and debatable. If they aren't, have students revise them to meet this criterion. If they are, use them as models for argumentation. Ask the class to brainstorm a list of possible audiences for each claim.

Use these points as a guide for this discussion:

After discussing these points, shift the discussion to an analysis of the Editorial page of the New York Times.

·      What portion of this argument is most relevant to the population of tax payers, informed citizens, educated adults, and active voters such as generally read the Times?

·      Why is it important that such an audience be made to understand the issue as you do?

·      What kind of background information might this audience require that the first audience did not?

·      What kind of result might you hope to accomplish with this audience—to convince them of some principle or to persuade them toward some action?

Help students understand how to analyze a target publication. They will need to select a publication to target for their argument (If possible avoid general news sources such as TIME and Newsweek as well as the Coloradoan, and the Collegian. A scholarly publication such as College English, various professional or trade publication, even Web sites, would be better. Emphasize that you want them to showcase their talents by selecting a publication that is unlike the Times Editorial context they’ll use for the second arguing essay). To select an appropriate publication, they should review and, ultimately, subject likely candidates to a careful analysis. The results of the analysis will provide them with enough information to help them determine whether the publication is appropriate for their writing situation. A good place to start would be to examine sources cited in the News and Issue Analysis. Analyzing the targeted publication will also provide students with insights into the typical organization, layout, and types of evidence used by articles in the publication. When you assign the activity to help students conduct this analysis, stress that they should also be aware of the use of visuals in the publication, since graphics often play an important role in conveying information and ideas to readers.

Assignment

·      Read the “Analyzing a Publication Tutorial” in the CO150 Room on Writing@CSU .

·      Assign “Comparison and Contrast” in the PHG, pages 254-55 and page 370. Note that you DO NOT need to follow the development of a typical comparison/contrast paper to complete the Context Comparison successfully. However, it is helpful to see how comparison analysis is conducted.

·      Assign each student to select and analyze one graphic that’s used in the PHG and one graphic they find in the Times. Have them bring their examples to class, ready to explain them.