linoleum floor with tape outline of Sonic the Hedgehog and the word START three times.
“Start” by Knowtex via Flickr CC BY 2.0

Week 1: Course Overview & Annotating Texts

Class Info

  • Dates: Monday, 8/28, Wednesday, 8/30
  • Meeting Info:

This course meets in person for 100 minutes twice per week, Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:00-1:40pm, in Namm 602A.

By the end of each week, I will post an agenda that will outline the next week’s work. It will include instructions for you and links to readings, discussion questions, and other work.  We will work on developing community both in our classroom and in our online written community. 

Topic

Introductions and Course Overview

Objectives

  • To get acquainted with the course, the First Year Learning Community, our OpenLab site, our course format, and each other, and to begin contributing to the course site.

To-Do This Week

Action

Reading

  • Read the course’s Syllabus, which includes the description of the course, policies, what I expect from you, and what you can expect from me.
  • Read the course’s schedule for an overview of the semester
  • Read the “Welcome, Students” post
  • Read through the other materials on our site to get familiar with what’s available and to be ready to ask any questions you might have.
  • Read “Tips for Success” from The OpenLab for Students, plus any other sections that you find important.
  • Read “How to Read like a Writer” by Mike Bunn.
  • Review “RLW” (Reading like a Writer) Power Point by Laura Westengard.
  • Read your classmates’ contributions to the discussions you’re all participating in on our site.

Writing

  • Join in our Introductions discussion by following the instructions included in the post. Please add your introduction early enough in the week (ideally by Wednesday morning) to give everyone time to read the introductions.
  • Join the discussion about Mike Bunn’s essay, “How To Read Like a Writer” early enough to give everyone time to read all the comments.
  • Everyone has questions when starting college–about the course, the syllabus, the agendas, what a FYLC is, what you’re supposed to be doing, if you’re where you’re supposed to be, how to find something at City Tech, anything and everything! Add a question to our Q&A forum. If you have the answer to someone’s question, answer it! (lots of crowdsourcing potential here!)

In Class, M 8/28

  • Welcome
  • Introductions
    • What do you want to know about your classmates? What do you want us to know about you?
    • what’s your major and why?
    • Anyone play sports? watch sports? say more!
    • where are you from?
    • what do you like to do for fun?
    • what do you want to do after college?
    • why did you pick City Tech?
    • how would you describe yourself in 3 words?
    • how do you like it so far?
    • what are your goals for the semester?
    • if you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
    • what is a superpower you possess?
    • what hidden talents do you have?
    • what languages other than English do you speak?
    • what made you choose your major?
    • what are your weaknesses? places for improvement?
    • what are your strengths?
    • what’s your dream job?
    • do you have siblings?
    • what skills are you looking to learn? life or school
    • what is your passion?
    • Interviews
    • Reflections: What stands out to you from the interviews? What was the experience like for you?
  • Course Site overview
    • sign up for the OpenLab and join our course
    • you can still do all of this week’s work even if you can’t yet sign up for the OpenLab to join our course.

In Class, W 8/30: Metacognition and Annotation

  • Welcome back
  • Overview of our Syllabus and Course Schedule:
    • what questions, concerns, observations do you have? what do you want to highlight for yourself and your classmates? what words do you need to understand better to understand the syllabus?
    • In groups, discuss your annotations. What became clear, and what became confusing?
    • add your notes as a comment.
  • Reading like a Writer
    • Why open the essay this way?
    • gives context
    • a hook: a way to attract a reader’s attention. As college students, it’s a relevant topic
    • what’s at stake in reading
    • What do we do when we read?
    • What is annotation?
    • How does annotation help our understanding?
    • what advice do we take away with us from Bunn’s essay? These will be ideas we come back to throughout the semester.
    • we’re already writers–we can get techniques from reading
    • how are texts constructed? we want to know so we can construct texts ourselves.
    • what’s the author’s purpose? who is the intended audience?
  • What do we need to know?
    • Connect Day
    • IDs
    • Student Support Hours (also known as Office Hours)
    • Where is everything? need help finding the library, your department, the restrooms, etc?
    • Getting Started With Technology–hope this helps you get into your email, your CUNYfirst, and wifi!