Session 1: Welcome

9.30: Intro to RWS100 and the lower division writing program

TA Introductions; photo session(program of assimilation and mind control revealed)

Overview of RWS100

10.00: Overview of RWS100

The program, RWS100, ICT, Fall students, the course theme, etc.

RWS 100 and the lower division writing program

See the orientation handout for contact info and resources for new TAs.

Argument is at the center of the program and 100.

We mostly focus on non fiction, argumentative texts.

RWS 100 and the lower division writing program

We ask students to interpret, analyze, and produce written arguments, because this is central to academic literacy, critical thinking, and civic life - Lasch: “argument is the essence of education,” and “central to democratic culture”; - Norgaard: Universities are “houses of argument.” - Graff: “Argument literacy” is key to higher education.

- argument and interpretation = big part of academic work/literacy

We want students to be able to identify claims, evaluate evidence and reasons, locate assumptions, identify argumentative moves, pose critical questions, produce sophisticated arguments, etc.

We do this not just because we think it’s good for their souls, critical thinking, ability to reason, deliberate, be engaged citizens, etc. But also because it’s key to their professional futures – every gateway requires it.

Why We Fight! (4 your right to write, argue & analyze well)

The ability to interpret arguments, locate claims and evidence, analyze moves and strategies, and evaluate arguments are crucial skills.

They are central to business, law, professional life, and to academic study (including graduate school).

Students tested for these skills in the WPA, the LSAT, GMAT, and GRE – all the gateways to professional life.

Consider the LSAT…

Sample LSAT Question

FIND THE MAIN CLAIMPediatrician: “Some parents have decided not to have their children receive the MMR vaccine because they fear that it may cause autism. They cite a study that found a possible link between the vaccine and the disease. However, two other much larger studies have found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. These parents have, therefore, willfully put their own children and many others at risk of catching measles, mumps, and rubella, while failing to do anything to prevent their children from becoming autistic.” Which most accurately expresses the main claim of the pediatrician’s argument?

(A) Parents should not pay attention to medical studies because they can’t understand them; instead, they should get advice from their pediatricians.(B) The study that found a link between autism and the MMR vaccine was unsound because the doctor who conducted it was being paid by a group of trial lawyers who wanted him to find a connection so they could carry out a lawsuit.(C) Public health needs require that parents have their kids vaccinated regardless of their fears about the procedure.(D) Parents’ refusal to have their kids take the vaccine is both medically unjustified and dangerous, because the vaccine has known disease-preventing benefits and refusing it will have no effect on whether their kids become autistic.(E) Despite the results of the two large studies, there is still some possibility that the MMR vaccine might cause autism.

Analytical Writing Tasks

Present Your Views on an Issue (45 minutes, choice of 2 topics)

Analyze an Argument (30 minutes) Each essay is scored on a 0-6 scale using

holistic scoring Two scores for each essay

GRE Website presents directions, actual topics, scoring guide, and sample essays for both the Issue and Argument tasks (www.gre.org/gentest.html)

Argumentation/Justification

• In Wolfe’s 2010 study, assignments from a broad range of disciplines were collected and examined. Results? “A majority of writing assignments (59%) required argumentation. All engineering writing assignments required argumentation, as did 90% in fine arts, 80% of interdisciplinary assignments, 72% of social science assignments, 60% of education assignments, 53% in natural science, 47% in the humanities, and 46% in business. Argumentation is valued across the curriculum.

• Example: Stockton found that the history faculty she interviewed unanimously, “agreed that argument is the key word for good writing and that the absence of argument constitutes the central problem in students’ written work” (Wolfe, p. 50). This finding was echoed in other fields.

• Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s Academically Adrift, a comprehensive review of undergraduate education, identifies lack of argumentation skills as a major problem. (They also show that liberal arts degrees produce some of the most literate, sophisticated thinkers)

• These aren’t so much “justifications” of our approach as points you may want to share with students, future employers, other academics, who sometimes think teaching writing = comma placement.

Rhetorical self-consciousness + understanding of moves HELPS with academic literacy

We aim to improve academic literacy – equip students with transferable skills that will help them in the disciplinary communities they are part of; help students become more rhetorically sophisticated and self reflective producers and consumers of texts, help students become critical, engaged writers.

We want to help students read and interpret texts rhetorically, to develop rhetorical self consciousness – to look “at” as well as through language. So we also focus on moves, strategies and choices – what the author is doing with words, how she is doing it, and why.

Revealing the rhetorical moves that writers make is an important part of achieving academic literacy, and of acculturation into disciplinary communities. When you recognize the moves, you not only understand the disciplinary conversation better, you are better equipped to join it.

You will (not) be assimilated…

You need to work within the course framework and assignment sequence, but you can be creative and adapt it – we’re interested in hearing your ideas (esp. for the start and end of the semester). Also, we focus on PACES – but you can go beyond this if you wish (assumptions, implications, counterexamples, fallacies etc.) Just don’t let argument overshadow student writing

RWS100 represents just one way to design a writing course – many others are possible (genre, critical literacy, cultural studies, expressivism, etc.)

Writing programs often serve many masters, since general education programs are collaborative enterprises. Had we world enough and time (and money and control) I like the idea of a hybrid WID-based approach.

You will (not) be assimilated…

But even so, your experience in this program will be valuable as a) it’s an influential model, b) the trend is toward aligning k-12 and higher ed. around argument, and c) SDSU’s program is regionally influential.

Our program is fairly “mainstream.” Our mission statement and learning outcomes are similar to WPA and NCTE statements on teaching writing.

Fulkerson “Composition at the Turn of the Century” presents a map of “Comp-landia.” Varieties of social construction/cultural studies, expressivism, and rhetoric. Within Rhetoric, the “argumentation” approach is most widespread.

You will (not) be assimilated…

In other words, in the future, you may go on to teach writing in an entirely different way – and that’s great. But it will be useful to have familiarity with a program like this, which is large, multi-leveled, comprehensive and tightly designed. Many other TAs will work in programs where there is one semester of freshman comp, and that’s it.

Expectations

ITC = an important part of your work. You are expected to attend. You get credit for it

More importantly, it’s part of collaboration, professional development, and networking. The dialogue matters.

Modest home work is assigned but it’s all to prepare for your class. Meetings are 50 minutes.

Your contribution is important and most welcome. We provide a lot of support, but you are welcome to adapt & remix, or add your own materials. We encourage you to suggest new ideas/ways of teaching the course. TA contributions have improved 100 a lot – many of their ideas are on the wiki.

Teaching in a time of crisis…

Class sizes have just been increased to 32 This is really big for a writing class Most major academic organizations (including

the WPA) have shown that university writing classes should have at most 20 students.

Our pedagogies aren’t really designed for classes this big. We may wish to share coping strategies.

In fact, we may want to “jigsaw” the work of preparing class plans, etc.

Teaching in a time of crisis…

We can't provide quite as much support as usual, and jobs are harder to come by.

You may well have to teach RWS200 next semester, where learning curve is steeper, and you may benefit from the support of your fellow Tas.

So using ITC and your fellow TAs is especially important this semester.

Meet your audience

Fall semester students are often quite well prepared – often more so than spring students. Some may be fairly sophisticated writers, but you’ll be presenting them with a different way of approaching texts, and they’ll find this challenging.

You may have some 3rd semester students who have come through 92a and 92b. You’ll be able to tell if you have them (roster will say level “1,” as opposed to “0”). They register late, tend to come in clusters, will be weaker writers; some will be ESL.

You may have some ESL/international students. You can refer them to LING100 if you think they’ll struggle.

About 500 students will have done “early start” classes over summer as college prep. They tend to be serious, hard working students. They tend to be grouped in a few classes.

The “R” in RWS = Rhetoric

Some students will assume they are in an English class, and will bring expectations from high school English. E.g. when you say “claim” or “argument,” they may think “thesis” or “opinion.”

You may need to remind them this is a Rhetoric and Writing class so they don't keep reaching for familiar strategies from high school English.

Fall 2011 Course theme

We’re part of the GE common theme: “Sustainability, Social Justice & Environmental Integrity”

We’ll read 3 main texts1) Oreskes’ “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change: How Do We Know We’re Not Wrong?”2) The documentary Food Inc. (Kenner) 3) Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Assignment Sequence

1. produce an account and analysis of a single argument (Oreskes)

2. gather sources, situate an argument within a field of other texts, map out and analyze relationships between them (extend, complicate, illustrate, etc.) (Food Inc)

3. identify, analyze and evaluate rhetorical strategies (Skloot)

4. an optional 4th assignment

Optional Final Assignment (Assignment 3.5/4)

■ For the final assignment, you can select from a number of options. We recommend one of the following, although you are welcome to suggest alternatives.

■ Last semester a number of TAs chose to extend the strategies assignment – in essence, have students do 3 & ½ major assignments. They did a formal written strategies assignment, plus a presentation (sometimes in groups) and self analysis of rhetorical choices.

Managing the Final Paper

1. Portfolio: Students have done small writing assignments over the semester. You can assign further short writing assignments in the final part of the course, and give students an aggregate grade for the completed portfolio.

2. Reflection essay – have students write a paper that asks them to reflect on the writing work they have done, what they have learned, the way they approach writing, the things they still need to work on, etc.

Managing the Final Paper

3. Group projects/presentations where students get to make an argument that draws from one of the issues raised in the class, or which focuses on one of the texts covered. If you choose this option, we suggest you construct a group assignment with clearly defined roles for each student, so that individual grades can be assigned and you minimize “free riding” and conflict.

4. Lens paper: if you would like to stick to “traditional” way in the 4th assignment has been taught, you can use the “lens assignment” (see past 100 syllabi, assignments, materials etc. for details.) This paper involves taking one of the texts we’ve read and using it as a “lens” through which to analyze another text or a contemporary issue. The student can present an original argument, interpretation or analysis. (E.g. Gladwell as lens on Chua’s “tiger mother,” or Food Inc. on recently passed food safety bill.)

Supplementary texts

Roll your own assignment

For the 4th assignment, you can assign no text, select your own text, or let students choose a text(s), but you’ll need to work with them and provide guidance.

Overview of RWS100

Sample syllabi, schedules and assignment sequences are on the wiki (and will be on Blackboard later).

We’ll talk more about syllabi later today.

Main Texts1. Oreskes, Kenner, Skloot2. Short texts, incl. Bleich, Kristof, Rifkin, and any others you

select to introduce the course, and the major texts. Short texts in Praxis, on the wiki, FrankenReader.

3. Various short texts for unit 2 and 4th assignment (Some can be used repeatedly. E.g. you may wish to consider Parry’s “The Art of Branding a Condition” for introducing rhetoric, setting up Friedman, and in the strategies unit. You can talk to us for recommendations).

4. RWS 100 Reader 5. Graff et al. They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in

Academic Writing.6. Praxis: A Brief Rhetoric7. Little Seagull Handbook (trying this & Praxis for first time – we

want feedback)

• BUT - in a sense the “central” text in the class = the students’ texts. (Your fabulous teaching performance vs. their written performance)

• You may want to delve deep into the issues raised in texts. You may want to perform brilliantly, and may be tempted to model your teaching on the last class you took (a grad class).

• Their writing is the key text, and teaching them how to read their own writing practices (reflexivity) is also important

• “The ability to reflect on what is being written seems to be the essence of the difference between able and not so able writers from their initial writing experience onward”(Yancey 4)

11.00 The First Week(s):

Introducing rhetoric, the course,

and working with short texts

Common Class Activities & Patterns [See p. 3 of handout]

Pre-reading and “pre-discussion” work (questionnaires to get at assumptions, surveys, etc.)

“Jig saw” work (students share researching key parts of text and share in class)

Class discussion, group work Critical reading/rhetorical reading – posing questions, interrogating

assumptions, reading actively and critically (modeling qns to ask) Charting – what is the text doing; what/how/why moves are made PACES (project, argument, claims, evidence, strategies) Pre-writing exercises +templates, rhetorical precis, metadiscourse,

transitions, mechanics Drafting, peer review, student “read alouds,” conferencing Assessment and response Analysis (single argument, relationship between texts, strategies, “lens”

work, evaluation of arguments) and presentation of student arguments Reflection and reflective practice (applying concepts to students own

writing – e.g. charting, analyzing students’ moves and strategies, etc.)

Example: pre-reading exercises

1. In Class test“Careful, you might run out of planet: SUVs and the exploitation of the American myth,” by Goewey.Questions:1. Is Goewey critical or complimentary of SUVs?2. Does the author believe that there is time to make a

change?3. Does the author put more emphasis on car quality or

social issues in assessing the value of SUVs?4. Is the author likely to be a supporter of major oil

companies?5. Was this essay written in 1979, 1989, or 1999?

Pre-reading

2. Examining Titles Carefully: Chua- Chua’s article “A World on the Edge” is part of her book World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability.

3. Headings you can find out a lot by going through the section and chapter headings. For example, you can find out a lot by looking at section headings in Food Inc. (1. Introduction 2. Fast Food to All Food 3. Illusion of diversity 4. Unintended Consequences…7. Hidden Costs…9. The Veil 10. Shocks to the System. 11. The Power of the Consumer)

The Source: Oreskes–her text is a chapter from a book by MIT Press titled Climate Change: What it Means for us, our children, and our grandchildren.

Surveys/Questionnaires

Food Inc.■ Warm-up: What factors influence me/my family’s choices about what to eat? Ask students to name some of these factors. Possible responses might include price, convenience, what types of food are readily available, taste preferences, nutritional content, habits, cultural influences etc. ■ Do you know which agricultural products are subsidized, whether that makes a difference to what people eat, and what is in most foods?■ Do you know which groups of people in the U.S. have the highest rates or diabetes? Of obesity?■ What role should the government play in a) regulating what people eat, b) informing people about what goes into their food, c) taxing, subsidizing, or incentivizing people to eat some things and not others? Examples: NYC bans hydrogenated oils; soda taxes – should taxes be added to sodas the way taxes are to cigarettes, to discourage consumption, and help pay for the health costs? ■ etc.

See the handout for a detailed account of each of these major activities.

There are handouts, class exercises, and class plans based on each of these key activities (see wiki or Blackboard).

Some Roadmaps for RWS100

Overview of RWS100 Overview of RWS 100, Assignments, Classroom Activities, Coursework, and Detailed Description of First 3 Weeks

Gives you multiple views – broad overview, to detailed description of 4 units, to class-by-class description of first three weeks.

Introducing rhetoric

We ask that you tell students that RWS 100 is a rhetoric class. Many will base their expectations on high school English classes and literary analysis. You’ll need to emphasize that the interpretation, analysis and production of argument is central, that they will be reading non-fiction texts, and producing a lot of analysis.

You may find “Content is king” - locate, remember and deliver content. You may encounter a “textbook mentality” in the reading practices of many of your students, and an “information processor” model of writing.

Textbooks are often “anti-rhetorical” - presenting knowledge in terms of a decontextualized, disembodied voice of authority, a “view from nowhere,” and of knowledge as “settled,” unified and authoritative

The contested, contingent, contextual, community-centered, argument-driven…in short, the RHETORICAL dimensions of knowledge – of academic discourse, are largely absent.

Nudging students toward a rhetorical stance…

We want to move students from a focus on what texts say (content) to what they do and how they do it (rhetoric). Rhetorical self consciousness = achieving a kind of double vision – of looking “at” as well as through language.

Rhetorical self consciousness – understanding what texts do - is an important skill for students. Revealing the rhetorical moves that writers make, the strategies they draw on, is part of achieving academic literacy, and of acculturation into disciplinary communities. When you recognize the moves you not only understand the disciplinary conversation better, you are better equipped to join it.

In the first week of class we’d like you to introduce key conceptsthrough the analysis of some short texts. There is a folder on Blackboard to help you with this.

Focusing on strategies and what texts do = good ways of introducing rhetoric.

Basic Rhetorical Strategies

How do texts position readers?What point of view do they adopt?From what perspective do they invite us

to view the world?

Consider these chewing gum ads:

Rhetoric Is “Everywhere” & an “Everyday” Thing

When a politician tries to get you to vote for them, they are using rhetoric. When a lawyer tries to move a jury, they are using rhetoric. When a government produces propaganda, they are using rhetoric. When an advertisement tries to get you to buy something, it is using

rhetoric. When the president gives a speech, he is using rhetoric.

But rhetoric can be much subtler (and quite positive) as well: When someone writes an office memo, they are using rhetoric. When a newspaper offers their depiction of what happened last night,

they are using rhetoric. When a scientist presents theories or results, they are using rhetoric. When you write your mom or dad an email, you are using rhetoric. Thought itself is rhetorical - when you think, you engage in “inner

argument,” or “inner persuasion” in order to reach a decision or act.

HEADLINES DESCRIBING MEDICAL MARIJUANA DECISION Salon Magazine “Court rules against pot for sick people”  New York Times: “High Court Allows Prosecution of Medical

Marijuana Users” USA Today: “MEDICAL MARIJUANA BAN UPHELD” San Diego Union Tribune: “Court OKs Marijuana Crackdown” L.A. Times: “Justices Give Feds Last Word on Medical Marijuana” Christian Science Monitor: “US Court Rules Against Pot For Sick

People” Christian News Source: “Medical Marijuana Laws Don't Shield

Users From Prosecution”

Telemarketing Strategies Script

Pre-introduction: (Ask to speak to the decision-maker) Introduction: (Introduce yourself and the reason for your call) Attention Getter: (Mention the key features of the offer and qualify them for eligibility) Probing Questions: (Always ask for information that will be useful for rebuttals) Offer: (Explain the product/service and terms of commitment) Close: (ALWAYS ASK FOR THE SALE) Rebuttal (deal with objections)Sales Continuation: (Agree, use rebuttals, sell benefits, CLOSE) Up/down/cross-sell: (If there is another product of less-price this is the time to sell it.) Confirmation Close: (Review the terms of the offer to reduce buyer remorse) Final Close: (End on a positive note. Thank the customer and leave a dial free number for customer support)

Everyday words, names, definitions, categories – how they are selected or constructed = rhetorical. Consider:

Cash advance (vs. high interest loan) Second Mortgage vs. Home equity loan “War on terror,” vs. “war against Islamic extremists,” vs. “fight against

Al Queda” (scope, agents involved, action) “War on drugs”’ “Axis of Evil”; “Body bags” vs. “transfer tubes” “Doctor assisted suicide” vs. “death with dignity” “Defense of marriage” vs. “marriage equality” “French Fries/Freedom fries” “Death Tax/Estate Tax” “Habit forming” vs. “addictive” “Erectile dysfunction” vs. “impotence” “Halitosis” vs. “bad breath” “Male pattern baldness” vs. “losing your hair” “Viagra!”

When ads used a lot of logos

Today’s ads often use different appeals

WE CAN READ MATERIAL CULTURE RHETORICALLY

“By reading…we mean something more than simply lifting information out of books and articles. To read a text or event is to do something to it, to make sense out of its signals and clues…Reading is thus not something we do to books alone. Or, to put it another way, books and other printed surfaces are not the only texts we read. Rather, a ‘text’ is anything that can be interpreted, that we can make meaning out of or assign value to. In this sense, all culture is a text and all culture can be read.” Joseph Harris and Jay Rosen.

Strategies in Sculpture: Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial

Why these choices for a memorial – what strategies might they represent?

The Vietnam war memorial is black It is made of reflective black granite. When a visitor looks at the

wall, she will see the engraved names and her own reflection The monument is built along a pathway that requires people to

move along the small corridor of space Unlike many monuments, it lists all the names of U.S. soldiers

who died, and it does so in chronological rather than alphabetic order (Lin has she wanted the wall to read “‘like an epic Greek poem’ and ‘return the vets to the time frame of the war’)

Information about rank, unit, and decorations are not given The wall is V-shaped, with one side pointing to the Lincoln

Memorial and the other to the Washington Monument. Lin's conception was to create an opening or a wound in the earth to symbolize the gravity of the loss of the soldiers

The rise of the “bum-proof” bench in Los Angeles

"One of the most common, but mind-numbing, of these deterrents is the [L.A.] Rapid Transit District’s new barrelshaped bus bench that offers a minimal surface for uncomfortable sitting, while making sleeping utterly impossible. Such ‘bumproof’ benches are being widely introduced on the periphery of Skid Row. Another invention...is the aggressive deployment of outdoor sprinklers. Several years ago the city opened a ‘Skid Row Park’ along lower Fifth Street, on a corner of Hell. To ensure that the park was not used for sleeping--that is, to guarantee that it was mainly utilized for drug dealing and prostitution--the city installed an elaborate overhead sprinkler system programmed to drench unsuspecting sleepers at random times during the night. The system was immediately copied by some local businessmen in order to drive the homeless away from adjacent public sidewalks.“Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, p. 233.

Why design seats this way? How does this shape/constrain behavior, & whose behavior is targeted?

Why design walls & curbs this way?

2003: One of the greatest acts of “political stagecraft”

“Going far beyond the foundations in stagecraft set by the Reagan White House, [the Bush administration] is using the powers of television and technology to promote a presidency like never before.” ELISABETH BUMILLER, NYT, 2003.

For more on the history of political image making see http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/index.html

Introducing rhetoric

You may wish to use short texts, visual texts, advertisements, op-eds and other texts that students are probably familiar with in order to introduce rhetoric.

Email communication is a good place to start – students are familiar with the genre, and may find it easier to recognize strategies, acts of persuasion, positioning, performance, etc.

This YouTube animation is a good text to start a discussion about rhetoric – about audience, purpose, persuasion, strategies, genre, ethos, rhetorical situation, etc.

Using a YouTube Animation to introduce rhetorical concepts

SubText – animation showing a guy composing an email to a girl he likes. The man “thinks aloud” as he writes, and we glimpse what goes on “in his head” as he composeshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=400w4XnjElI

Examine how this trivial act is full of rhetorical issues. The character is asking, how does this language present me? What persona does it construct? What tactic will be most effective? What moves should I make, how will this make me seem? How should I think of my audience? What is my purpose? How do I avoid embarrassment?

Have students take the concepts of rhetorical situation, persuasion, construction of ethos, strategies, etc., and apply to this visual text.

Using Email exercises to introduce rhetoric – see handout

TA Ideas on short texts + introducing class/concepts?

Some sample sequences are in handout. Eg Friedman, Parry, etc.

The new Praxis text to introduce argument & rhetorical analysis

Different approaches to introducing/pacing argument concepts

Charting, templates, rhetorical reading questions, argument map. See wiki and reader

Charting & Analyzing Sample Short Texts: Kristof/Bleich/Rifkin/Friedman

Sample syllabi, schedules and assignment sequences are on the wiki (and will be on Blackboard soon).

Drafting your syllabus – questions?

Reader contains plagiarism “agreement” – should also be section covering this in syllabus.

Schedule some evaluation/feedback fairly early

Learning Outcomes: What they are, why they matter, how to use them to your advantage.

Outcomes should be listed on your syllabus, and it’s useful to include them in your assignments

They can be used as part of student reflections, and to help prime students for evaluations.

If things get ugly, the outcomes and syllabus provide you with backup. In disputes, they matter.

Recent change: our outcomes are now explicitly framed in terms of the general education program and its “capacities” and goals (meta-outcomes)

This new language adds a certain amount of institutional authority to our courses. You can point students to the section that states how important our courses and outcomes are to the educational mission of the university (then go back to berating them for sending text messages in class). If questioned, you can also say, “look, the course goals aren’t my arbitrary whim designed to torture you, but the university’s carefully researched conclusion as to what constitutes essential undergraduate academic skills.”

Discussion & Participation

Prime with a questionnaire, survey or questions Call by name Put in groups and assign responsibility Jig saw work “Pyramids” (alone, in pairs, 4s, etc.) Freewrite (give students time to assemble thoughts, so

they feel more confidant contributing Wait….at least 7 seconds. Try not to get stuck in the

habit of answering your own questions. Have students post responses and homework to

Blackboard, so you can bring to class and use to get discussion going.

Author Interview, Panel or Role-PlayingOne student assumes the role of the writer and answers question from the audience about the article’s main claim, choices regarding supporting evidence, and the writer’s view of his/her audience at the time of writing.

Students assigned to play role of author for 10-15 minutes. You may choose to let that student greet the class “in character,” and provide a brief summary of the argument that he/she wrote, which everyone else in class has read. After that, the exercise consists of class members asking the “writer” questions about the argument itself.

CAN ALSO be used with assignment 2 (sources) in which students are responsible to assume the role of different authors, and you can set up a debate with Chua.

Note that there are discussion guides for both Food Inc and Confessions.

Seth’s Seven Tips for Discussion (RWS 296)

1) Beware of cold starts. Consider directed freewriting, journaling, or the “Brain Dump” at the start of class. Quick responses can both kickstart discussions, and eventually help students question where their responses come from.

Seth Taylor: Seven Tips for Discussion (RWS 296)

2) Be wary of asking the BIG questions first:

“So… what do you think about the reading?”

“So what’s the point of the chapter?”

Active Learning: Seven Tips for Discussion

3) Let your first question be easy, possibly about their reading process:“How long did it take to read this?”“Where does it get interesting (or boring)?”Were there any passages you found difficult, interesting or unusual?

4) Open-ended questions will require students to think. Yes/No questions require very little of them, and can often shut down discussion before it starts.

Active Learning: Seven Tips for Discussion

5) Encourage students to explain, support, their responses to a text. Almost every answer can be followed

up with a “Why?” question from the instructor.

Active Learning: Seven Tips for Discussion

6) Encourage students to talk to each other, rather than simply fire answers back to you:

Re-directing students to respond to each others ideas

Group breakout exercises Let students teach

Active Learning: Seven Tips for Discussion

7) At the end of class, try to re-cap or summarize the ground that was covered. You do not need the discussion to come to a grand conclusion, but some sort of review

will help increase retention.

1.30 – 2.30 p.m.

Rhetorical Reading of Friedman

Glen McClish

3.00 Blackboard, the Wiki & Finding things

3. Blackboard & Tech Tools

The order of things (in a hierarchical, inflexible, old “new media” warehouse/content management system).

At first it will seem like a black hole. After a while it’s merely confusing.

How to contribute (you have the power – use it carefully!! Don’t delete things)

How to copy things to your course Making your Blackboard class visible to your students How to post on the discussion board in order to hand in

homework Exercise: post a bio sketch to the TA discussion board.

Blackboard's SafeAssign

SafeAssign Tutorial in Blackboard - UNC demonstrates how an instructor creates a SafeAssign Assignment, interprets the SA report, and how students submit their papers to SA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gWf3pPVJ3k Blackboard SafeAssign Tutorial – presentation on the use of

Blackboard's new Safe Assign - drag the timeline bar to 30 minutes to start the section on SA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLMGP6rlOj0&feature=related ITS has a page on SafeAssign and plagiarism

http://its.sdsu.edu/tech/plagiarism/

Blackboard has a “grade center” tool.

■ It’s useful if you want your students to be able to track their grades on assignments, exercises and homework.

■ You may wish to attend a Blackboard training session (see Jon Rizzo @ ITS)

■ Grade center (and other Bb) instructional materials are online at: http://its.sdsu.edu/blackboard/instructor/index.html

■ Grade center may be worth investing time in for the future (it’s less helpful for one class)

■ Grade center does not transfer to web portal – so you have to re-enter grades at the end of the semester.

■ If you know how to use a spreadsheet, you can download student info from Web portal and enter grades there (if you want electronic copy).

■ You can always go old school and use a gradebook…

Blackboard & Technology Tools

If you feel ambitious, consider alternatives – wikis, CSMs, hosted sites, etc. I suggest we use the wiki this semester for planning.

4.00 Surviving the First Day

• Classroom Dynamics

• What to do on the First Day

• The inside scoop from your fellow TAs