Category: Writing-Intensive

Posted on

The Process Letter

The Process Letter

JHON SINGLETON

English Department/New York City College of Technology

ENG 1101- E093

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

The Process Letter is a formal exploration of the student's personal writing process journal within a semester. Think of it as a "love letter" to self and future composition level 2 instructor.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

1. Students will be able to reflect and highlight thoughts and perceptions about the course content.
2. Students will express in writing their understanding of, reflections on, response to, or analysis of difficult writing academic concepts.
3. Students will express in writing their understanding of, reflections on, response to, or analysis of difficult writing moments.
4. Students will express a writing paragraph sample completed during the semester, showing editing and revising prowess that adheres to MLA format.
5. To further their academic writing journey, students have the opportunity to contribute to their future professor's itinerary/discussions for future lessons. This continues with Paulo Freire's "non-banking" system.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

I introduce The Process Letter activity once the research project has been talked about. It occurred during the 10th week of the semester. We went through the 6-paragraph process step by step using a student sample/ example. this takes about a class session. However, students are encouraged and welcome to discuss the parts of the letter during a 15-minute open forum with the remaining class session. Students are entitled to complete two rough drafts before I grade the final draft. 2 hours is expected over 5 weeks is expected. It is due along with the research project.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The preparation that is required is completing at least 70% of the course material to the student an opportunity to express a full reflection.
As mentioned above, I go through through the 6-paragraph process step by step using a student sample/ example. this takes about a class session.
I will consider this a "middle stakes" assignment because it is worth 10% of their final course grade, Most of the assignment is personalized and only ONE paragraph requires MLA format.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

There is a rubric for this assignment. It is based on a 10pt analysis of the student's presentation. Because of college-wide general education assessment initiatives, I believe a rubric is mandatory.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

My students love this activity. It allows them to have a pow-wow with their classmates about their triumphs and difficulties during the semester. I even learn how to improve the course for the following semester. The challenges were few but there were about 4 students who kept putting the project off until the last minute even with positive encouragement. They thought the letter was an easy A and completed it late.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Posted on

Family Life History Paper

Family Life History Paper

Judith Sedaitis

Social Science

SOC 1104 Race & Ethnicity

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This activity is the capstone of research work in-class and as homework on the 2 main sociological theories and on the role Western imperialism. plays in history of student's cultural heritage. Students describe one of their ancestors home, usually their mother's or father's and analyze the trajectory of their family history from the lens of both individual accountability (cultural theory) and from the primacy of economic and other external forces (conflict theory)

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The over-arching goal is to teach self awareness through critical analysis. This means several aims are involved. 1) To learn how to critically consider the two competing sociological theories and the historical/ economic role of imperialism in their ancestral country. 2) To use enough interpretation/ evaluation to develop a comprehensive analysis . 3) To successfully argument drawing on their preferred approach. And finally, 4) To acknowledge the other point of view and the complexities of the debate.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

We build the skills necessary for a successful paper from weeks 5- 10 in the semester. Since this is a social science class, most the lectures in this period teach material that students will use in their papers, and is reinforced and expanded in smaller, weekly homework assignments. This assignment weaves together weeks of classroom learning and homework. The actual writing period is about 2 weeks, but the students usually take only a day to write it, using the knowledge they gleaned the 5 weeks prior.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The paper is 20% of their final grade. The preparation is 5 weeks of lecture and homework assignments.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

I use the critical thinking value rubric.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I thought it worked really well. It was clearly a challenging piece of writing that students became personally invested in because they were interviewing and writing about their own family's history.
And they couldn't use AI to do it instead!

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Rubric on how to write the paper: https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-83761766-dt-content-rid-676728781_1/xid-676728781_1

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-83761766-dt-content-rid-676728781_1/xid-676728781_1

Posted on

Coping with Stress

Coping with Stress

Roriann Smith

Social Science

Intro to psychology

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This was a two-part assignment where students had to first write a self-reflection essay detailing a personal experience with stress. They were required to describe the specific situation, discuss their emotional responses to the stressful event, and the coping mechanisms they employed to manage the stress, providing details on which strategies were effective and which were not. Additionally, students needed to analyze how psychological theories and concepts discussed in class aligned with or differed from their personal experiences. They were also asked to consider how cultural practices, traditions, and/or historical events may have contributed to their response to the stressful situation.

For the second part of the assignment, in groups of 4-5 students, each group had to select and discuss two anonymous students' stressful experiences from part one. The groups were then tasked with brainstorming a range of applicable coping mechanisms, drawing from both personal experiences and researched strategies, including local resources geared towards stress management. Using the information gathered, students were asked to create a compelling podcast episode, television show segment, or radio show where they engaged in a reflective dialogue concerning the assigned reflection essays, encouraged alternative coping mechanisms, and presented local resources as viable solutions. The show could be prerecorded or live.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The main goals of this assignment were to:
• Understand Stress and Emotional Responses:
o I want students to develop a deeper understanding of personal emotional responses to stress and the factors that trigger these responses.
• Critical Reflection and Analysis:
o This assignment would allow students to cultivate critical reflection skills by analyzing personal experiences and comparing them with established psychological theories and concepts.
• Public Speaking and Presentation:
o Students would improve public speaking and presentation skills through the creation and delivery of the podcast or show.
• Empathy and Support:
o Another goal was to encourage empathy and support within the group by discussing and reflecting on peers’ stressful experiences and suggesting helpful coping mechanisms.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The first part of the assignment was done within the first month of the beginning of the semester. Part 2 was due on the last day of classes. Students were given 30 minutes on three separate days to work with their groups on the project. Depending on the scope of students’ projects, the out-of-class time varied.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Due to the complexity, the depth of knowledge and skills required, and its impact on students' grades this assignment is high stakes. The assignment requires a detailed self-reflection that involves personal introspection, analysis of emotional responses, coping mechanisms, and alignment with psychological theories which requires significant effort and understanding. The second part involves group work involving a collaborative element that requires coordination, communication, and cooperation among group members. Creating a podcast episode, television show segment, or radio show involves content creation, technical skills, creativity, and public presentation abilities which demands substantial time and effort. The assignment integrates various skills such as critical thinking, research, public speaking, empathy, and cultural awareness. The comprehensive nature of the task suggests a higher level of difficulty.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

The first part of the assignment was assessed using the Writing VALUE rubric. For the second part of the assignment, I developed a custom rubric by incorporating elements from the Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Integrative Learning, and Oral Communication VALUE rubrics.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This assignment was quite successful in my class, so I plan to repeat it. Although I didn’t encounter any major challenges, providing students with an example to follow could help them generate ideas more easily. Additionally, I would allocate more class time for students to work on their projects, as some groups had difficulty coordinating due to conflicting schedules. Students seemed to enjoy the production part of the assignment, and some groups wished they had been more creative after seeing other groups’ projects.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Hzqc8nbFOwKpua0U1uBd1y1mH1GLwuMR?usp=drive_link

Posted on

Critical thinking

Critical thinking

Wenhsing Yang

City Tech

NUR 2110

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Critical thinking through writing assignments-understand the patient care with their needs

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

familiar with priority, delegation, quality of care

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

I used half hours in class and lab for students to think about patient care and how to intervene with their needs.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

students need to be familiar with the disease process and its influence to patients quality of life.
some are low-stakes, some are high-stakes, because it was being use in the simulation

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

I use Gen. rubric.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

i will repeat it but I will use different scenarios because every patients is different

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Posted on

Pre-class discussion

Pre-class discussion

Changkyu Kim

Computer Engineering Technology/New York City College of Technology

Feedback Control Systems

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Pre-class review session will provide an explanation with an analogy about the incoming lecture. Students will read a 10-minute review about the main engineering concepts and discuss them based on non-engineering experience. The pre-class review session will be found at OpenLab. The due date is always the following lecture date.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Students are requested to develop their own idea for the technical problems and submit short informal writing before the weekly class. The pre-class discussion will be evaluated by presenting pure reasoning rather than writing structure or grammatical errors.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

Students will submit the writing assignments of pre-class discussion for the first half of the semester. During this period, students should be able to understand the main engineering concepts of control systems. Because a 10-minute preview of incoming lectures will be given in Openlab, additional discussion is not necessary during the lectures.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

I have to upload the preview of lectures on Openlab, and the discussion question will be based on daily non-engineering experiences. It is low-stakes.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Pre-class discussion writing will be evaluated based on the following criterion: 1. Sufficiently address the subject with supporting examples 2. Address the subject with consistent and concise logic. 3. address the subject and provide your own perspective.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I was surprised that all students were eager to respond to pre-class activities. Most students presented their perspectives on each subject. The submission rate was higher than homework, which is given after classes. The main challenge for me is maintaining the same quality of discussion questions and the consistency of the subject during the whole semester. I would repeat the activities after improving quality and consistency.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

1. Instruction : Pre-class discussion
Pre-class review session will provide an explanation with an analogy about the incoming lecture. Students will read a 10-minute review about the main engineering concepts and discuss them based on non-engineering experience. The pre-class review session will be found at OpenLab. The due date is always the following lecture date.

2. General guideline
Format :
Font : Times New Roman
Size : 11, single space

The number of words : No less than 150 words

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/kimcet4864sp2021/2023/01/24/lecture-1-introduction/

Posted on

Being Informative and Persuasive when Discussing Legal Topics

Being Informative and Persuasive when Discussing Legal Topics

Terel Watson

Law and Paralegal Studies

Senior Legal Seminar

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In this activity, students are required to view two videos relating to an area of Criminal Justice Reform that the students are drafting their scholarly paper analyzing. The two videos are excerpts from documentaries or journalistic pieces. The students are then required to spot the legal issues presented in the videos and use the research they have done on the topic and discussions in class to take a position on those issues orally. Students will have 5 minutes to present their position. The presentation is followed by a 5-minute student-led question-and-answer session.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

This is an assignment for a writing-intensive capstone course. One area in my students' writing that needed improvement was their ability to articulate their position using reliable evidence. While all of my students had strong opinions on the legal topics discussed in class, they struggled to defend why they had certain positions. For their scholarly paper, my students are asked to inform on one of three areas of Criminal Justice Reform and to persuade an audience of their position relating to an aspect of the topic. The students are then required to use numerous primary and secondary sources to inform and defend their position.

This assignment assesses their ability to articulate their views orally and cogently. Once this assignment is completed, students will apply the same principles to improve their ability to inform and persuade in written form.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This course requires that much of the semester be devoted to the 15-page significant written assignment. This oral assignment serves as part of the scaffolding process in students preparing their papers. Thus, the oral assignment would be completed during the latter third of the semester, during the drafting of the final paper. In addition, time will be devoted to the presentations over two, two-hour class sessions.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

As students are writing their final paper, they are doing significant research into the issues presented. This assignment is designed so students aren't required to do research outside the scope of their paper. Once students understand that they are very receptive. Students are first alerted to the need to complete an oral presentation early in the course. The syllabus also provides a brief overview of the oral assignment. The syllabus also states that the oral presentation is 15% of the final overall grade. Thus, it can be "high stakes" for students.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

My course is not a part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative. The Oral Communication VALUE Rubric is a great guide for me in assessing the student’s mastery of the learning goals related to this assignment. However, I do not publish a set rubric for this assignment. I will consider doing that in the future. As a general matter, below are some questions I consider determining a student's success with the assignment:
1. Did the student spot the legal issues requiring analysis?
2. Did the student properly use primary and secondary sources to inform on the issue?
3. Did the student use their sources to present the information accurately?
4. Do students properly use primary and secondary sources to persuade their audience on their position.
5. Are the students logical and coherent in their presentation of their position?
6. Can students answer questions about their position extemporaneously? Or is the student tied to excessive notes?

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

While I have always had an oral presentation component to my course. I have not yet implemented this video-driven prompt to my course yet. Last semester I taught Legal Ethics and not this seminar. However, in the past student used PowerPoint to present on their legal topic. However, this led to students excessively lecturing on the topic and made it difficult to incite dynamic and meaningful questions after the presentation in some cases. Thus, the use of provocative videos serves to focus the presentations a bit. These videos will also stimulate deep thought on "hot-button" issues important to students. I look forward to incorporating this into my course the next time I teach the seminar!

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/watsonlaw4900spring2020/course-materials/assignments/

The OpenLab at City Tech:A place to learn, work, and share

The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.

Support

Help | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Credits

Accessibility

Our goal is to make the OpenLab accessible for all users.

Learn more about accessibility on the OpenLab

Copyright

Creative Commons

  • - Attribution
  • - NonCommercial
  • - ShareAlike
Creative Commons

top