sketch notebook spread with writing and doodles about how to be an optimist

Agenda: Week 6

Week 6: Reading Op-Ed/Opinion Essays as Writers

Class Info

  • Dates: Wednesday, 3/4, Monday, 3/9
  • Meeting Info: Meeting Info: 11:30am-12:45pm in room N517

Objectives

  • To read op-ed/opinion essays and find mentor texts
  • To brainstorm topics for Project 2
  • To consider research techniques
  • To complete any unfinished work, especially Project 1: Discourse Communities and the reflective cover letter

For Wednesday, 3/4

Reading

Writing

  • take notes and annotate while reading
  • Draft our next Noticing Series post

In Class Wednesday, 3/4

  • Finalizing Project 1 cover letters if you missed class on Monday
  • Noticing Series: Noticing Passing
  • NYT video op-ed: “Greta Thunberg Has Given Up on Politicians“
  • reactions? experience listening/watching this text?
  • Thinking about reading like a writer, who is the author, audience, purpose, situation, tone?
  • What is Thunberg’s argument?
  • How does Thunberg support her argument?
  • What is effective/less effective in her opinion piece?
  • What does the multimodal aspect do for her argument?
  • What do we understand about the genre Thunberg is using?

For Monday, 3/9

Reading

Writing

  • Write and publish our next Noticing Series post
  • take notes and annotate while reading
  • Add to our Brainstorm Discussion about issues relevant to the audiences we’re aiming to reach that you would want to read about, write about, research

Actions

In Class Monday, 3/9

Passing, Part 2, Chapter 1

  • Listen to Part 2 Chapter 1
  • What big ideas stand out?
  • What details or patterns of details can we notice?
  • What opinions can we find in this chapter, either directly or implied?

What is an Op Ed or an opinion essay?

  • What topics would make us interested enough to read an opinion essay?
  • Helpful resources:
  • What is an opinion essay? why write one?
  • Reading op-ed/opinion essays, including “What We Are Not Teaching Boys About Being Human” by Ruth Whippman
    • what was your experience reading this essay?
    • what shaped your experience? point to specific parts of the text or elsewhere that shaped your experience.
  • What are the features of the op-ed/opinion essay genre?
  • Genre: how is an opinion essay different from an argumentative essay? a persuasive essay? a polemic?
  • If you haven’t already, please work on and publish your next Noticing Series post, Noticing Passing
    • reason to share an opinion
    • introduction that includes that opinion, what comparison they might make
    • uses specific tone, diction, style relevant to audience and purpose. eg softer language, less trying to change your opinion and more sharing information?
    • includes personal experience, telling a personal story
    • includes facts, refers to experts, refers to data, mentions or links to studies or other research–and does this appropriately for the venue and audience
    • thesis? yes, but maybe not like we’re used to in an academic essay. Might be longer, might be later, and might just be implied
    • title–this might help us understand the argument/main idea
    • counterpoint, rejection of counterpoint
    • desired outcome
    • call to action
  • The Op-Ed Project
  • Reviewing Project 2 instructions
  • What are possible topics for our projects?
  • Op-Ed/Opinion Essay: “College Students Have Something to Say. It’s Just Not What You’d Expect” by Jonathan Malesic
  • What topics matter to students? what opinion essays would you be interested in reading or writing in a City Tech context?
  • Project proposals
    • what topic are you interested in writing about?
    • what is the thesis or argument for your opinion essay?
    • within the City Tech student population, who is your audience?
    • what information will you need to support your opinion?
  • Reading opinions in Passing

Photo credit:

“How to be an Optimist (Short guide:)” by Irene Mei via Flickr under the license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Deed

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