June 5

Today, we began by talking about the workshops.

What went well?

• Overall the discussion helped.  It helped you catch the grammar and sentence structure mistakes.  It helps to hear it read aloud.
• The different perspectives that everyone gets.  There was some discomfort at the beginning but by the end I got some productive feedback.
• Having someone else read it help show what makes sense to you but not to the reader
• I realized that I focused more on the writing process than good academic writing.  Reading others’ papers and hearing feedback helped me get back on track.  Even though we are not experts in writing, I was able to relate it to my everyday life.  Everyday I can learn even from a child.  We can learn a lot just by listening to our classmates.  The instructor facilitates the learning but we learn better from

What productive feedback did you get?

• The introduction - how to restructure it and what to add to it
• The tone of my paper seems like I was giving directions instead of just opinions
• Giving more examples of my experience of academic writing and my defense of what good academic writing is

 What were the hardest things to avoid doing?

• Focus on the basic punctuation
• Not to write on the paper
• Giving good feedback on paper – making sure to give a good reason behind my advice
• Offering criticism in a beneficial way.  Why should I offer opinions when we are in the same position?  Why should the writer value my opinion over yours?
• We value the opinion because we want to improve.  Your opinion helps use improve.  The writer should be arrogant.  And the reader is someone who can offer help because no one has all the knowledge in the world.  Everyone can learn from everybody.
• Even though we are all students, we can form together and put our ideas together.  We are teaming up against Megan and help get each other better grades.
• We are giving feedback as readers and say what we didn’t understand.  As writers, we might think it works but the reader can help you see what doesn’t work.
• At the end of the day, it is just opinions, not the facts.  You can choose to listen to it or not.

If you think someone’s paper is really good, what can you do to still help that person?

• Even if you felt the paper was awesome, there is still good advice you can give.  No paper is perfect.
• Point out the things that can be changed.  It can always be better than “good.”  Help make it a perfect paper.
• You find yourself searching for things to critique.  Ask the writer questions.  Ask if the writer thought something could be better, which could help you come up with what to say.
• Refer back to the author’s concerns.
• Ask what the writer struggled with.
• Even giving praise helps.  Point out something that was really strong.
• Offer praise is just as constructive as criticism because it shows the writer what he/she doesn’t need to change.
• You can suggest something to add on or say in addition.  Keep them open to what else they could put in their paper.

 Then, we completed the writing into the day (see slide on the PowerPoint 53).

Megan showed the class how to submit the second draft of the Definition Essay on Moodle.

1. Go to the week of June 3-June 6.  Under Thursday, it will say "Second draft of Definition Essay." Click it.
2. Click "Submit Assignment."
3. Click "Add"
4. Click "Browse"
5. Find the file of your second draft and double click it.
6. Click "Upload."
7. Click "Submit Assignment."

We walked through each of the 6 characteristics from the reading last night and clarified what each one means:

1. A discourse community has the goals the whole community is working toward.
2. A discourse community has some way (or ways) of talking to each other.
3. The communication in a discourse community serves a purpose - to provide information about the community and to provide feedback about whether each member is fitting into the community
4. A discourse community has genres (ways of getting things done with communication) and those genres are used to work toward the goals.
5. A discourse community has specialized vocabulary.
6. A discourse community has both experts and new members.  There is always a ratio of both experts and new members.

We then discussed the next assignment, the Discourse Communities Comparison (see the syllabus for assignment description.)  The easiest way to organize it will be to describe the first community and it's writing and then move to the second community and its writing.  There will be no overt compare and contrasting.  You will let the read assume what the similarities and differences are as they read the descriptions in your paper.

• The first draft of this assignment is due on June 12.  It will be 30 points.  You will turn the first draft in on your blog and bring it to class for workshopping.
• The second draft of this assignment is due on June 17.  It will also be 30 points.  You will turn in this draft on your blog and on Moodle.  Megan will comment on the second draft.
• The final draft is due on July 8 (the end of the semester).  This draft will be 40 points.

Finally, we talked about the grading for tonight's homework (see PowerPoint slide 57).

Homework:

• Post your second draft of the definition essay to Moodle and to your blog.
• Answer the questions for the Self Assessment Reflection on your blog.