Due:
- Reading from PHG on observing and remembering.
- Reading and "tests" of at least two prewriting techniques.
Goals:
- To introduce the Literacy Essay assignment and connect it
to the course focus.
- To discuss and practice prewriting techniques to prepare to
draft the Literacy Essay for a workshop.
Assignment:
- Draft the Literacy Essay. Your draft should be 2-3 pages
long (handwritten length). Do your best to incorporate the elements
of the assignment on the assignment sheet with the general writing
elements we discussed last time. Bring a photocopy of your draft
to class to exchange with a classmate.
- NOTE: You may want to have students give you a photocopied
draft as well so you can check them off.
Setup Needs:
- Instructor's literacy narrative or anecdotes about experiences
with literacy.
- Copies of Literacy Essay assignment sheet.
- Be familiar with the prewriting techniques outlined on pp.
125 of the PHG, and, perhaps, be ready to talk about the ones
that work for you.
Sequence:
- To begin the class, wrap up any further questions/concerns
about the course policies. A good way to prepare for this is
to note the most frequently asked questions in the two-column
log your students did for the first day's homework and address
those questions at the beginning of this class session.
- Start by introducing the Literacy Narrative assignment. You
might start this out with a Daily exercise that helps connect the
assignment with the course (for instance, asking your students
to try to define "literacy"), or simply by having students
read the assignment sheet aloud and freewrite about the main purpose
and elements of the assignments along with any questions that
come to mind.
- Once you've gone over the assignment itself, start a discussion
about the possibilities for subject matter. Start by reading
your own literacy narrative aloud, and then take some suggestions
from the class about other kinds of instances they might talk
about. It's possible to fill a lot of time just discussing people's
experiences with language, so either watch the time on this closely.
OR, if you feel this discussion is really valuable, assign all
or part of the rest of the activities in this lesson as homework.
- Then, discuss prewriting strategies. Start by connecting
the assignment to the four elements: what sort of focus, development,
etc. will you need to adequately communicate this experience to
other members of the class (When you discuss development, be sure
to bring in the Observing and Remembering material that they read
for this class from the PHG). Ask your students, "How do
you find that information?" Introduce the idea of prewriting
as a way of finding the focus and detail you need without having
to come up with a complete draft first.
- Give the drafting assignment for next time.
- For the remainder of the class, have students try some prewriting
strategies to find an incident to write about in their Literacy
Essays and to begin remembering details about that incident.
To speed the work along, have the following prompt on an overhead:
"For the rest of the hour, your job is to begin to find a an incident
you can use to focus your Literacy Essay, and to begin generating the
detail you need to help your audience understand that incident and its
implications. Start by working with any of the prewriting exercises on
p. 125 of the PHG. If you work with one for ten minutes and it
doesn't seem to get you anywhere, try a different one. KEEP GOING UNTIL
YOU HAVE SOME IDEAS YOU CAN WORK WITH."
- While your students are writing, make the rounds to field
questions, encourage your writers (who'll be a little nervous
about having to produce a draft), and push them to keep working
with the prewriting techniques. Be gentle about it--but keep
everyone moving. If anyone stops writing, have him/her try another
technique.
Return to Unit One:MWF