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Class Plan -- Unit One, Day 6
Goals Assignment for Day 7
Two-page (min.) draft of response essay for workshop.

Activities:
Daily - Work in groups of 3 or 4. Have one group member record your answers to the following questions. (Have half the class work on one of the responses to Tannen and the other half on the other.) How many paragraphs of the response are devoted to summarizing Tannen? Rewrite the summary into a one-paragraph introduction. What is the thesis of the response? What type of response is this (agree/disagree, interpretive/reflective, text analysis)? What are the main reasons given to support the thesis, i.e., that explain why the thesis is true? What kind(s) of evidence are used to support the reasons? Give one example of evidence.

"Eavesdrop" on groups to check understanding. Collect their work, if you wish.

Discussion - These responses to Tannen are both examples of text analysis. What are some possible theses for agree/disagree and interpretive/reflective responses?

Then talk about what kinds of reasons and evidence could be used to support a couple sample theses.

Have students discuss which essay they intend to respond to and offer possible thesis statements for their response. Put some of these on the board and discuss what kinds of development these statements would lead to.

Paraphrasing Exercise - One of the problems students often have is with paraphrasing. They may tend to quote excessively instead of paraphrasing, or when they paraphrase, they may merely move the author's words around rather than putting them into their own words.

Use one of the paraphrasing exercises in the Appendix or create your own to help students work on paraphrasing skills. If you do not have time to finish the exercise in class, assign for homework and finish up at the beginning of the next class.