To address students’ remaining concerns about Portfolio I – Part C. To examine three sample essays as a means to discuss purpose, thesis, and support. To conduct an activity where students workshop their own papers.
Today’s activities primarily encourage critical thinking and revision. Students are encouraged to think critically about other writers’ analyses and then apply the same careful attention to their own writing. During this process we hope to direct their attention to the importance of constructing a clear purpose and thesis, as well as maintaining strong focus and developing detailed support.
Ask students to respond to the following questions: What do you like about your draft so far? What questions or confusions do you still have? What challenges are you facing in writing this essay? What steps could you take between now and Wednesday to address these obstacles?
Call on students to see what their responses to the WTL were and address their concerns. If their questions are too specific and don’t pertain to the interests of others, ask them to talk with you outside of class (otherwise you can get bogged down in a 10 minute, isolated conversation with one student).
Sample Transition: Some of your questions and concerns may be addressed as we examine and discuss the sample analysis essays you’ve read for today.
Discuss all three essays that students read for today’s class - Adam Forrest, Karyn Lewis and Jean Kilbourne. (If you already did one of these essays last week, you would discuss just two.) You might facilitate this as a whole class discussion or put students in groups and have each group focus on a different essay. If students work in groups, ask them to take notes and prepare to report on their findings to the class.
Cover these points:
After students share responses to these questions, highlight the strengths from each essay and remind students that they will want to demonstrate similar strengths in their own essays. You might also explain that students may use points from Kilbourne, Hanson, and Hacker’s articles to support their own analysis wherever appropriate.
Transition: Develop a transition here.
Students have already had some practice work-shopping each other’s papers. Now they will have the opportunity to workshop their own papers. This activity is useful because students often don’t read and revise their own work. This workshop allows them to examine their writing carefully and consider how to revise it.
Ask students to take out their drafts. Before beginning the workshop, they should read their papers silently. Then, ask them the following questions and give them a couple of minutes to respond to each question:
Take a few minutes to review the contents of Portfolio I – Part C. Let students know what you plan to collect with this portfolio.
Write a conclusion for class. You might remind students to use the Writing Center (in Eddy 6) and to visit your office hours if they’d like assistance with papers.
** Note to GTAs: You will need to make a sample Inquiry Essay available to students through The Writing Studio before assigning today’s homework. You can access the sample essay in the appendix section of this online syllabus.
1.) Review the Portfolio I – Part C assignment sheet one final time to be sure that you are aware of all the assignment requirements.
2.) Revise your Portfolio I – Part C essay so that it is polished and credible.
3.) Prepare to submit all portfolio materials.
4.) Print off the sample Inquiry Essay and bring it to class.
