Day 6 . Monday, September 8^th

Course Goals and Review

Establish Grading Hierarchy

Academic Summary/Response Workshop

Concluding and Assigning Homework

Introduce the Class Session and take roll (1-2 minutes)

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By referring to your agenda on the board or by previewing the day's goals/objectives, introduce the class session for your students.  Today, write your own introduction.

You may also decide if you want to talk about the New York Times today or not.  Just be sure to allow students enough time to workshop each other's work thoroughly.

Course Goals and Review (3-5 minutes)

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Take a few minutes to explain how the Academic Summary/Response paper connects to the course goals and/or to review workshop etiquette

In your explanation of connection to course goals, remember to include the concepts of accountability, understanding the conversation on a publicly debated issue, the importance of understanding writing as a "situated" activity engaged in by others and oneself and all for particular purposes and audiences. 

Refer to the Teaching Guide on Planning Workshops and Peer Review on Writing@CSU to help you decide how to facilitate the workshop today (https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/peer/).

Create a Transition to the Next Activity

Establish Grading Hierarchy (10-15 minutes)

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Establish the hierarchy of criteria you will use to grade student work

By now, you've probably already heard many versions of the question "What exactly are you looking for in this paper?"  While we realize we have been teaching all along what we have been "looking for," part of this question stems from students usually being excluded in the process of evaluating the work they've done for a piece of writing.  The goal here is to give students a voice in establishing the hierarchy of criteria against which their work will be evaluated and also to open our eyes to what we've taught to be sure we grade fairly and accordingly. 

You might begin the discussion as follows:

Ask students to contribute to a list (on one side of the board) of all the concepts we've worked with so far.  This list should include claims, reasons, evidence, focus, development, organization, style, audience, all the goals of summary and the purposes associated with summary and response.

Once you have compiled all the concepts on the board, ask students which one(s), based on what their experience in class so far, is/are most important.  On the other half of the board begin creating a hierarchy of the components.

Once you've made the hierarchy, feel free to make some switches based on what you, as the teacher, know you've spent a lot of time on or that you know are most important to the course goals--i.e. students may make a case for "creativity" to be first on the hierarchy, when you know it needs to be purpose or audience (you might be surprised, though, students are usually pretty good at this). 

Tell students that this what they need to keep in mind as they complete their final drafts--doing these things effectively is, in a way, "what you're looking for."  But then also tell them that doing each of these things satisfactorily is a 'C' paper (all the pieces are satisfactorily there).  Ask them what they think will make a 'B' paper then.  An 'A' paper?

'A' and 'B' papers are papers that excel in the criteria categories and demonstrate a very effective style (or voice of the writer) and are free from grammatical and mechanical errors that disrupt communication (see the Grading Guide in the Appendix more details).

Create a Transition to the Next Activity

Workshop Academic Summary/Response Papers (time remaining)

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In-class Workshop of Academic Summary/Response Papers

Using the workshop in the Appendix (also consider the Writer's Triad) or by creating one of your own, conduct a workshop for the remaining 35-45 minutes of the class session.  You can incorporate the Writing Studio by having students post their responses to one another.  Have students complete what they don't finish in class for homework with arrangements to communicate via email or a forum in the Writing Studio so no one is left with incomplete workshop feedback.

Concluding and Assigning Homework (2-3 minutes)

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Today you might have a student recapitulate the main objectives you discussed today or you might write your own conclusion.  Be sure to cover the main ideas in the articles discussed today and to highlight what aspects they'll need to use to complete their Analytical/Evaluative Responses.  Remind students where they can access their homework.