April 30, 2009

  • I think I may have FINALLY found an English 110 book I love AS MUCH AS my English 120 book(s)! What, Sybil? Something as great as the everything's an argument + Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs combo? Yes, it's true kids.

    How to Write Anything, by John J. Ruszkiewicz (Bedford/St. Martin's - favorite publishing company, btw)...

    Now the only issue is INTEGRATING these new chapters and new assignments into an already half-set-in-stone bunch of projects & papers I've grown to like/love/etc. Here's some of my brainstorming thus far (as to what chapters to use and what assignments in those chapters to consider, etc.):

    Chapter 1: Narrative

    Possible assignment(s) –

    a)Literacy Narrative: recall teachers and assignments that helped you in learning how to read and write, describe books that changed you, etc. [at back of chapter]

    b)Academic Narrative: recall past schooling, teachers who challenged you and those who didn’t, describe assignments you liked, etc.

    c)Composition Narrative: recall your past + writing

    d)Visual Narrative: graphic novel [example in chapter]

    Chapter 2: Report

    Possible assignments –

    a)Visual Report: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    b)Informative/Academic Report: report on what you think “an essay” is? What constitutes a piece of writing? [P1]

    Chapter 3: Argument {saved for English 120}

    Chapter 4: Evaluation {save for English 120?}

    Possible assignments –

    a)Evaluation of Visual Texts: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    b)Cultural Evaluation: [three at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    Chapter 5: Causal Analysis

    Possible assignments –

    a)Exploratory Essay: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    b)Cultural Analysis: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    Chapter 6: Proposal {save for English 105?}

    Possible assignments –

    a)Visual Proposal: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    Chapter 7: Literary Analysis

    Possible assignments –

    a)Analysis of Three Photographs: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    b)Textual Analysis of Song Lyrics: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    Chapter 8: Rhetorical Analysis

    Possible assignments –

    a)Visual Analysis: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    b)Analysis of a Text: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    c)Genre Analysis: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    d)Audience Analysis: [at back of chapter, example in chapter]

    Chapter 9: Essay Examination

    Chapter 10: Position Paper

    Chapter 11: Email - Professional Email Assignment

    Chapter 12: Business Letter {English 105}

    Chapter 13: Resume {English 105}

    Chapter 14: Personal Statement – Could work with current P6: Who Am I? Paper/Project

    Chapter 15: Lab Report

    Chapter 16: Oral Report – Could work with current P2: The Stretch Project

    I'm thinking of combining the Analysis chapters (or not - haven't completely decided) and adding the element of Facebook/blogging/online writing to that to create a new Project 4 (which used to be about punctuation) where students will ask questions like, "Do students use the ellipses correctly on Facebook?" They'd have their Facebook friends even take a survey about ellipses, etc. This could be done for the many pieces of punctuation (semi-colons, colons, commas, etc.). It'd be almost a Cultural Analysis of sorts. So, now, instead of P4 being this group project where they read The New Well-Tempered Sentence, find worksheets on the OWL website, and then teach the class how the punctuation is used correctly, they'll RESEARCH & ANALYSIS how that puncutation is used in their favorite online forum. It could be an interesting project... could be...

    P1, which was a mini-essay to start off with, will now turn into a report using Chapter 2 I think. Then perhaps we'll use Chapter 1 to jump into a new version of P2 which was The Stretch Project (I have mixed feelings on how that project has turned out in the past - time to try a different version perhaps). P3 was a visual analysis of the novel, Rule of the Bone, but I've taken that novel out of the class now, so they'll perhaps visually analyze some other writing that I find? Maybe I could use The New Well-Tempered Sentence for that project and P4? Hmph. Don't know. [Do you love how I'm thinking aloud? Good times.]

    Okay. I have class in like 3 minutes. More brainstorming later...