You are almost done! It is Unit 5: Final Portfolio Time. I am going to summarize your assignments for the whole semester here, grouping them under their respective “Units.” I hope this helps you remember and organize as you start with Unit 1. Good luck! Note: I put “++” next to those assignment that I felt were the most major and ought to be included in your Final Portfolio. Please know that you are welcome to also include other assignments that you feel shed good light onto you and your work in this class.
What happened in Unit 4 — Multi-Modal:
The Multi-Modal Unit asked that you take the Research you did in Unit 3 (of your skill/interest area) and creatively switch it into a digital genre of your choice (video essay, video sports interview, video diary, podcast…). There wasn’t much time for this. You did your best, ++and included a link in your Final Portfolio to what you made. In a way, Unit 4 is yet another genre mashup — only this time: digital!
What happened in Unit 3 — Inquiry / Research:
You stuck with the same skill you used in Unit 2, only delving into it to find out what problems or issues surround it. (You may have completed a couple of Worksheets I provided over spring break to help you organize your thoughts.) ++You wrote a proposal for research to me, at minimum 4 paragraphs, explaining what further inquiry or research would do for this problem, shedding new awareness on it. You gave credit to your (excellent!) sources where credit was due!
Note: This personal Research was hopefully very interesting both to you and to me. It was not something I could find verbatim on the Internet, in a box, or on an essay site. It made you want to do more! (see unit 4)
What happened in Unit 2 — Genre and Rhetoric:
+You choose a skill/something you do well. This “skill” would become the focus of/form the written content of all your future Unit assignments henceforth.
++Your first genre switch was that you create a written “recipe” for a skill/something you do well
You listed 10 or so types of writing (genres) that you encounter in your life
++You picked one of these genres/forms of writing and gave me a clear example of it
++You analyzed this example rhetorically (who is its audience? its writer? who is impacted by this genre? what kinds of language to they use? etc.)
++You did a creative switch in which write about your “skill” in the form and style of this genre
You had readings assigned and you wrote and posted reflections on them. Depending on your section number, they would be: “Shitty First Drafts” by Annie Lamott and “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk and “Internal Revision: A Process of Discovery” by Donald Murray.
You were working on the train, bus, in transit to record Outer and Inner Dialogues in at least three different locations or times, with setting and situation noted. (Note: We didn’t have time to address this assignment, but you may include it in your Final Portfolio with some prefatory notes to me if you wish!)
What happened in Unit 1 — Language and Metacognition:
This was a very long Unit. I will put “++” next to the major assignments, but there were many small ones as well:
++lipograms and general constraint writing — one without descending letters on the topic of “fear” and one without ascending letters on the topic of “cure”
++a formal essay on the topic of “freedom”
You wrote reflections on assigned readings including (depending on your section #) one by author Laura Carroll called “Backpacks v. Briefcases”; one by author Nelson Graff called “Teaching Rhetorical Analysis”; and “Grammar to Get Things Done” (section 115 only)
A reflection on how this Unit had been working for you (its challenges, its triumphs) so far, and how you felt.
Short in-class writings about your day, your path to school, little things you noticed…
Lots of vocabulary work (section 439 in particular)
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