Goals

• Practice text analysis (analytical response).
• Discuss the "Reading for Meaning" strategy as a way of reading texts more closely.

Assignment for Day 12
Reading - In PHG, Tannen essay and the two responses to it (pp. 278-83; 192-6).

1. ASAP: Re-read your Analytical response in light of today's class, and note any changes that you would make in a revision;
2. Select useful "Reading for Meaning" questions and respond to them, using the essay you think you will be responding to for the final draft of your Response Essay.

• Appendix 7: Reading for Meaning

Activities

Daily - [As a way of making a transition into this daily writing, explain to students that what they talked about before in discussing the hooks essay was the content of the reading. Analysis looks at a different level of the essay, the "how" (as opposed to "what") level, where the essay is examined as a piece of writing (the same way you as teacher respond to their writing in this class).] Put the following prompt on the board or OH: Here's a quick assignment to focus today's discussion. Freewrite about or list the qualities that make a piece of writing effective. Give students 5-7 minutes to write, then move into the following activity which is designed to get them to practice text analysis.

Analyzing "Keeping Close to Home" - Explain the purpose of the activity (to practice the third mode of response and to look at what makes writing effective). Put the following directions on the board or OH:

• Form groups of three.
• Appoint a recorder, reporter, and time-keeper.
• Read each other's lists of qualities of effective writing.
• Agree on the two or three most important qualities.
• Now read each other's responses to "Keeping Close to Home," noting the strengths and weaknesses others in the group mentioned in their essays.
• Match these strengths and weaknesses with the qualities your group agreed upon.
• Overall, is hooks's piece effective? Why or why not?
• Make sure your judgments are supported with specific examples.
• Be prepared to share your group's analysis with the class.
• You have 13 minutes.

WHILE THEY ARE WORKING IN GROUPS, COLLECT A COPY OF THEIR ANALYTICAL RESPONSES TO HOOKS'S ESSAY.

Reconvene as a whole class. First, list the criteria for effective writing that the groups came up with and come to some sort of consensus as a class about the five most important criteria. Then, discuss how each group rated the article's overall effectiveness. Point out that would be how to focus an analytical response by way of a thesis, e.g., "hooks's essay is generally effective." This thesis would then be supported by the reasons why the essay is generally effective. At this point, list on the board or OH these "reasons"--the specific strengths and weaknesses groups found in hooks's essay. Have each group contribute at least one, and have them offer specific examples/evidence. (For example, if hooks's essay was "too conversational," where might we find a good example of this overly conversational tone? If she "used convincing personal experience to back up her points," where are some examples of this effective use of evidence?)

Explain assignment for next class, particularly "Reading for Meaning" strategy - Reserve five minutes or so at the end of class to explain the "Reading for Meaning" strategy as a way of reading texts more closely. Discuss the "Reading for Meaning" questions (see Appendix 7) that students will be responding to in preparation for writing their workshop drafts of the Response Essay. Be sure to note that students don't need to answer ALL questions, only those which seem like they would be most appropriate/useful in looking more deeply at the essay they've chosen to consider in their final draft. This is meant to be a tool that will help them to write a better, more thorough, more critical response. You might also take this opportunity to tell students that if they want to, they are welcome to respond to an essay using a different technique than the one they used in the early draft. For example, they could write an Interpretive/Reflective Response to hooks or Rodriguez, or an Analytical Response to Jung or Rodriguez.

RETURN THEIR INTERPRETIVE/REFLECTIVE RESPONSES WITH YOUR COMMENTS. If time, mention any common problems you saw in these responses.