Class Plan -- Day 7

Return to Unit One:TR

• Reading from PHG, reading and summary of Rodriguez.

Goals:

• To discuss and begin practicing analytical responding.
• To discuss Rodriguez.

Assignment:

• Read Lutz (pp. 172-182) and Lakoff (pp. 141-147). Do a practice summary and analytic response of one of them.

Setup Needs:

• Daily on overhead or "Y" drive (see below).
• Copies of sample responses to Rodriguez.

Sequence:

• Start with the following Daily prompt: (5-10 Min.)

As you read in the PHG for today, an analytical response requires you to  

state a claim about the effectiveness or value of an article, and then    

convince your audience that your claim is a valid one.  Today, we're      

going to practice analytical responding with the Richard Rodriguez        

article.  To get started, consider the following claim about Rodriguez:   

                                                                          

"While Rodriguez describes his personal experiences with language well,   

his point that bilingual education is destructive isn't adequately        

supported."                                                               

                                                                          

Assuming an audience of classmates who have read and analyzed this        

article, what would you need to do to convince your audience of this      

claim?  (HINT:  Start with the questions and/or objections that you       

think your audience might have to this claim, and then see what points    

and supporting evidence you'd need in order to convince them.)            

When your students are done with this Daily, use it to begin a discussion on what goes into an analytical response. Start by getting your students' ideas about what questions their audience would have about the claim, and show them, step-by-step on the board, how they can organize a response by answering those questions and finding evidence from the text to support their answers. By the end of the discussion, you should have a working outline based on the "claim" in the Daily. (15 Min.)

• Then, have your students practice responding using the sample response to Rodriguez. Hand out the samples and use the same procedure as the last class: have your students rank the sample on the same 1-10 scale as individuals and then in groups. Then, put the group rankings on the board.
• Then, to talk about WHY the students ranked the response they way they did, have them generate an actual claim about the effectiveness of the response, and develop on the board an outline for a "response to the response" using the same procedure you just used to outline the response to the Rodriguez essay (generate the claim, reasons, evidence, etc.). This should give your students even more practice with the necessary steps for generating their own responses.
• Finally, have your students practice writing analytic responses based on the outline they just generated on the board. If time allows and your students begin finishing the practice responses, have them exchange essays with classmates and read them (or read other responses on others' computer screens) to get even more ideas.
• This activity should lead naturally into the assignment for next time: to practice their own complete Summary/Responses with the Lutz or Lakoff essays.