Week 5

Hi all-

Our regular weekly agenda is below. As usual, you have work due on our course site Monday and work to do in advance of our class on Wednesday.

But first, here are the writing activities for Unit 1 that we started but did not have enough time to complete during today’s class, these exercises will help you further develop your ideas for Unit 1 and prepare for Monday’s assignment:

  • To help you get organized for your Unit 1 assignment, list the following:
    • The discourse community you belong to and are focusing on.
    • The issue or problem that is important for your discourse community and which you have chosen as your focus for Unit 1
    • Possible audiences for telling your problem to and your purpose/reason for addressing that audience. Remember that your audience should be outside your discourse community.
  • Pick one of your possible audiences and list a series of strategies, ideas for discussing your problem. To brainstorm effective strategies, keep in mind your audience and your purpose. (Remember to use Wollstonecraft and Douglass for inspiration and as models)

 

Monday, 2/28

(asynchronous, work due on our class site by 11:59 pm)

READING & WATCHING: 

WRITING: Pick a Model & Organize Your Ideas

  • Decide on whether you are going to write a letter or a speech for your chosen audience.
  • Now, review the relevant models. If you are writing a speech, review A.O.C and Douglass. If you are writing a letter look at Wollstonecraft’s text.
  • Imagine you have met someone who is part of your intended audience. You want to convince them of the importance of the issue you’ve identified.
    • Set a timer and spend 20 uninterrupted minutes writing what you would say about your issue or problem. (This is a freewrite, so you don’t have to worry about perfect grammar or complete sentences– just get your ideas down!)
    • Include all the details you can think of related to this issue or problem:
      • Who is affected and how?
      • What are some of the effects of this problem? Give examples.
      • Also include other important and relevant information to help someone on the outside of your discourse community see and understand the problem.
      • Who are the people with power who could help to create change?
    • After twenty minutes, read through and decide what information seems useful and worth using in theletter or speech you will be writing. Also, think about how you will lay out your argument; for example, in what order will you deliver the information?
  • The above activities (including those from our class work) are for you to keep and reflect on as you work towards the Unit Assignment (in other words, do not submit the above).

 

  • For today’s submission, write a Post (approx. 300 words) with the following:
    • Write a few sentences explaining which model you are choosing (the letter or speech) and why. How do you think this specific genre will help you to make your argument?
    • Create either an outline or a summary organizing your thoughts. This outline or summary should state your main point and how you will make your argument.
  • Before publishing your post, make sure you do the following:
    • Title it “Pick a Model & Organize Your Ideas”
    • Pick the category “Unit 1”

Wednesday, 3/2

(in-person session at City Tech)

RESOURCE:

CLASSWORK: Drafting

  • Come prepared to work on your draft during our class session.
  • For this class session, we will meet in N806, which is a computer lab. But feel free to bring your own computer or tablet if you prefer to work on your own device.