back Return to Unit One:MWF
Class Plan -- Unit One, Day 11
Goals Assignment for Day 12
Reading - "The Language of Discretion" Amy Tan, p. 265, EL
"'Nigger': The Meaning of a Word" Gloria Naylor, p. 318, EL
"The Language of Silence" Maxine Hong Kingston, p. 48, EL
"The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl" Elizabeth Wong, p. 26, PHG

Writing - In a three-column log, list the following for each article we have read s o far this semester: author, title, one-sentence summary, including the four new articles.

Note: A one-paragraph summary of each of the above four articles will be due on Day 13.

Activities:
Daily - Make a list of the 2-4 kinds of style errors that you have the most trouble with in your papers.

Discussion - Grammar/punctuation and/or usage lesson on topics gleaned from Personal Literacy essay. Review for about 20-25 minutes.

I usually discuss why correctness is important yet why we don't spend so much time on it in CO150. I include the fact that many audiences will not give their work a chance if it has lots of surface errors, how surface errors can interfere with communication, and some of the other attitudes audiences have toward correctness. I also talk about how most CO150 students have few problems in this area, but most could use some review of certain rules.

I also use this day to introduce students to the handbook section of the PHG and to outline my program for dealing with style issues (mechanics, grammar, usage, etc.).

I concentrate the lesson on 2-3 areas that many students had problems with on the first paper, referring to PHG as I review.

Editing workshop - Have students exchange drafts with a partner. Look at the list the writer wrote for the Daily and concentrate on looking for those errors. They should mark possible errors in pencil using the symbols on the back cover of the PHG. The writer should correct the errors using these symbols. When finished, they should turn in their paper.

If a student discovers they have a lot of problems with style through this workshop, I'll let them take the paper to correct and turn in by the end of the day.

Collect Response essay folders.