Hi everyone! So here are some links to info about James Paul Gee’s work on Discourse Communities:
“Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics” an article in which he describes primary and secondary discourse communities. I personally find it fairly accessible and really interesting!
HERE is a slideshow that accentuates many of the main points from that same article. Many typos.
HERE is a website that bullet points Gee’s general theory of Discourse communities
For Nov 20, please write a draft of 1121 Unit 2 PLEASE BRING IN THREE COPIES. (the unit description is attached below– I’ve changed it slightly. Changes are highlighted. I will attach more sample assignments shortly. Please remember to keep Unit 3 in mind as you write this unit– that is, you may want to write Unit 2 as research that leads into Unit 3.
Please also read Cheryl Ball’s “Genre and Transfer in a Multimodal Class” (if you can open the file. I’m working on it) at the bottom of this page. So far, it prints in legit gibberish!
Unit 2. Inquiry-Based Research
The purpose of this inquiry-based research is to spark and deepen student curiosity. In this unit, students will further their research skills, using evidence to make an argument or explore a topic, question, or issue. With this in mind, students should begin research with a question or a hypothesis, but should NOT begin with a thesis! Students will be expected to use the library’s resources and will also have the possibility of conducting interviews or other observation based research. Research will require that students use best attribution practices including gathering, and evaluating of multiple sources, both primary and secondary sources. Students will be asked to synthesize a variety of ideas and sources while they pursue their research goals and questions. The scope and focus of research projects can vary, and can emerge from discourse community projects, genre exploration projects, or other topics that students wish to investigate. Students should be given some choice of genre in this assignment– that is: what genre is best to deliver the research they have accumulated to the audience they wish to reach?
Research assignments can be individual projects or group projects.
(Remember that Unit 3 is a multimodal assignment that asks students to repurpose writing they have done earlier in the semester to a digital genre. Unit 3 should have an element of persuasion. The description of this is posted in the previous blog post)
