Day 3 . Friday, August 29th

Tuesday, August 31:  Daily Class Outline

Lesson Objectives

Today we discuss the importance of audience, purpose, and context not only for the the items we have read, but also for the summary we have written.  We will also discuss quoting and paraphrasing, and we will practice how to incorporate these into our summaries.  We will discuss the importance of revision in terms of our summaries and then we will discuss the new articles students read for homework.  We will introduce the New York Times and its application to the course, and, lastly, we will introduce the concept of responding (the second part of Portfolio 1's first essay) and focus specifically on the Agree/Disagree Response.

Connection to Course Goals

Reviewing the Writing Situation Model in application to Cohen's article will help students solidify critical thinking skills.  By showing samples of and practicing quoting and paraphrasing, students are building skills that will help them in their future writing in (and outside of) this course.  Finally, revision is an essential part of the writing process and one of our primary goals in CO150.  The New York Times is an essential component of the course in that it exposes students to typically well-written, accountable public discourse.

A Possible Sequence of Activities for Today
1. Introduce class session and take attendance.  
2. Have students complete a WTL on writing a summary of Cohen's article. Activity Ideas:  WTL on Summary Writing
3. Review the WSM in application to Cohen's article and answer any remaining questions about the article from the previous class session.

Activity Ideas:  Reviewing the WSM and Cohen's Article
4. Discuss the importance of purpose, audience and context for writing summaries.

Activity Ideas:  Context and Summarizing
5. Discuss effective use of quoting and paraphrasing.

Activity Ideas:  Quoting and Paraphrasing
6. Discuss the importance and effectiveness of revision as part of the writing process. Activity Ideas:  Revision
7. Discuss Krugman's and Frank's articles.  Here, you should focus on applying the WSM and fleshing out the main idea and key points from the articles.  Activity Ideas:  Discussing Krugman's and Frank's Articles
8. Introduce the concept of responding. Activity Ideas:  Introducing Responding
9. Introduce the New York Times and how we will be using it for classroom purposes. Activity Ideas:  Introducing the New York Times
10. Establish a conclusion for the class session and instruct students on where to access homework assignments from now on.

Activity Ideas:  Concluding and Assigning Homework

Assignment for Next Class Session


Assing the following to students:

  • Ask students to revise their summaries* of Cohen's article based on today's class work and read pages 162-163 in the PHG on responding and types of evidence.  You might also have visit the CO150 Room in the Writing Studio and check out the guide on writing responses (you can assign this now or later this week). 
  • Write a 1-1.5 page Agree/Disagree response to either Krugman's or Frank's article. 
  • Be sure to have students begin reading their New York Times once they start receiving it so that you can discuss current events and topics that are of interest to your class.  If they have been receiving it for a few days, aim to have them collect and clip three articles to bring to class on Friday for discussion.**  Tell students they should bring their NYT papers to each subsequent class session so that you can discuss what they are reading.

*Decide whether you want to grade students' revised summaries online via the Writing Studio or in hard copy form and instruct students on this decision.


**From here on out, students should keep a News Clippings Journal of the NYT articles they are reading.  You will want to establish when you are collecting these, how much the journal is worth in the first portfolio (percentage of the portfolio or homework points), and how students keep track of their work.  The Writing Studio activit, "Keeping a Reading Log" is a great way to save paper and check student work online (this is located under the "Tools" option on the Writing Studio tool bar. If you use this reading log, be sure you have a way to check the actual articles themselves).  Or you may have students keep a spiral notebook or composition journal where they hand-write their summaries and responses. 

Additional Teaching Resources

To help you build community with and between your students, check out Establishing Rapport:  Personal Interaction and Learning or Motivating Students.

For additional examples and information on how to incorporate quotes and paraphrases into academic writing, visit Integrating Quotations and Maintaining Coherence.

The Leading a Class Discussion guide can provide you with more help to generate effective class discussions.