Class Plan -- Day 1, Part 1 (GTA’s Only)

Class Plan -- Day 1, Part 1 (GTA's Only)

Note to GTA's. The first syllabus day is broken into two parts to allow the lecturers to get a day ahead of you for the rest of the semester. But fear not, the lecturers will still be using the same basic concepts and exercises as you will--you'll just have more time for them. Due:

Nothing. It's the first day of class.

Goals:

To introduce the focus of the class (the importance of audience and language in effective writing).
To introduce the general course structure
To introduce the four writing elements we focus on in this course (make sure you're familiar with these yourself before you teach. The handout following this lesson should be all you need).
To begin to get students interacting with one another and "break the ice".

Assignment:

Read PHG pp. 1-13; 21-29; 33-36 on Writing Myths and Rituals and Purposes and Processes for Writing. Put yourself in your own ideal writing situation (according to the "Writing Rituals" chapter) and try two of the warm-up techniques on p. 38-40.
Carefully read the CO150 statement of purpose, the course overview, and the course policy statement. Make a 2-column log in which you write down the main points of each in the left margin, and any questions about them in the right margin. Be prepared to turn these in.

Setup Needs:

Copies of policy statement, course overview and statement of purpose.
Copies of the "shape" handout for half the class (these can be collected and used again).
Copies of the handout on writing elements.

Sequence:

Quickly introduce yourself and the course number and section (just to make sure everyone's in the right place).
Take the roll to see who's who. (5 minutes)
Introduce the focus of the course according to the statement of purpose. For instance, you might start off by asking your class, "What is writing?" and "What's the difference between writing and other forms of communication?" Then, you can use what they come up with (generally things like communication, record keeping, words on paper, etc.) to talk about the key difference between writing and speaking: the fact that, in writing, the speaker isn't there to interpret for the listener. You can also have your students try to define the term "communication" and identify the key components and participants in communication in order to demonstrate the importance of audience. Another good way to demonstrate this is to draw the following diagram on the board: The diagram represents the rhetorical situation of any writer, as well as how language is central to a writer's negotiations with his/her audience, and the community which circumscribes that audience. Help your students understand the idea by asking them about the relationships between the three points of the triangle--what's the relationship between the writer and his/her audience? Between the writer and culture? How does language affect these relationships? How valuable are the writer's ideas if those negotiations fail and the audience doesn't understand them?(5-10 minutes)
Then, in order to demonstrate these ideas about audience, start with the "shape" exercise (about 15-20 minutes, including the discussion). Have your students break into pairs and introduce themselves. They should arrange their chairs so that each set of partners is back-to-back. Give the "shape" handout to ONE partner in each pair, giving him/her instructions not to let anyone else see the shape. While you're doing this, tell the other partners to take out a sheet of paper. Then, tell the class that the partner with the handout should try to give the other partner instructions to draw the shape on another piece of paper without looking at the shape itself. Give everyone about five minutes for this but don't let anyone compare the shapes just yet.
Then, use the following sequence to show students how this little activity demonstrates the importance of speaking to an audience:
Start by asking students what they were trying to do--to communicate. Make the connection that transmitting this shape was their purpose for communicating.
Then ask the partners who had the original shape if they understood what THEY were saying when they tried to explain the shape to their counterparts. The majority of answers will probably be positive.
Then have the partners compare the drawings. Chances are most of them will be pretty far off. Ask your students "based on these drawings, how effective was your communications, even though you understood your own message?" Let this lead to the idea that a message is only valuable in expository writing when it's understood by an audience: the message has to be unserstood. The purpose of CO150 is to help them understand how to actually help their audience to understand their ideas--to communicate their purpose to their audience.
Finally, ask your students if they'd be able to use the same explanation they just used for their partner to describe the shape to a three-year-old. What would have to change? Use the responses here to explain how using a language your audience is familiar with is vital to helping them understand your message. Hence the course focus on language issues.
Then, connect this sequence to the other three writing elements by flagging back to the "shape" exercise. Have the class take out some paper and write for about 2-3 minutes about the qualities an ideal set of instructions would need to have in order to be clear--instructions that would allow someone to reproduce the shape drawing exactly. After giving your students a few minutes to write, start putting their responses on the board. Once you've got a good number of responses on the board, simply categorize those responses in terms of the four writing elements. The categorization will be easy. For instance, anything about step-by-step sequence, or a logical order is focus; sufficient explanations, enough detail, etc. relate to development, and understandable, clear language relates to coherence. Voila! The other three writing elements revealed! Note for your students how all these elements stem from the idea of communicating your purpose clearly to your audience. (10 minutes)
Hand out the sheet on the four elements and have your students read it out loud.
To end the class, hand out the course overview, statement of purpose, and policy statement. If you have time, go over the course overview to show students how the various components of the course fit into the focus you just explained. (10-15 minutes)
Give the assignment.
CONGRATULATIONS! You just survived your first class!