Monday, April 20 2009

Today’s Agenda

For today, I have asked you to draft the first 2.5 pages of your portfolio letter.

In class on Friday, we talked about the basic structure for the letter.

1)      Begin with a paragraph that introduces the reader to who you are, where you are coming from, and what it is you have focused on in class this semester

2)      Introduce the three major papers that you will be presenting in your portfolio: the précis, the guided argument, and the argument. You will be briefly mentioning again how you have improved as a writer as you have gone through the drafting process of these papers

3)      Next, you move into your body paragraphs: a couple on the précis, a couple on the guided argument, and a couple of the argument. In each of these paragraphs, you will be providing specific example – quoted – from the drafts that shows your improvement over time.

We are going to begin class today with a reflection on where we are with these drafts: what is going well, what is not going so well – essentially, what do we need to do to improve this draft in terms of its required content.

Group Discussion

Okay. I want to take a few moments to talk about what’s coming down the road at us. This week, we are going to be finishing a draft of this letter and paper three. However there are a few basic portfolio requirements that will also be coming your way that you can begin working on at any time, and I would encourage you to get on them sooner rather than later.

Portfolio Content

1)      Cover Letter

2)      All Graded Drafts of the Précis                   (PLUS CLEAN COPY)

3)      All Graded Drafts of Guided Argument (PLUS CLEAN COPY)

4)      All Graded Drafts of Argument                  (PLUS CLEAN COPY)

5)      6 of your best BLOG posts or in-class journal assignments.

6)      6 Other homework assignments.

Of these 6 sections, sections 5 and 6 require the least amount of work, and I would encourage you to get them organized as soon as possible.  To do this, you will need to get a 3-ring binder for your portfolio WITH DIVIDED SECTIONS.

Okay, now that we have through about that and answered a few questions, let’s move on to a peer-review of our current drafts of the Letter and get into groups.

As I explained last time, one of the new challenges here is that you are writing for an audience that does not know you, and does not know how hard you have worked this semester.

Consequently, it is very important that take great care and effort to present ourselves in the best possible light.

Proofreading

We will be reviewing in 3 rounds today.

Round 1:

Basic Structure:

1)      Begin with a paragraph that introduces the reader to who you are, where you are coming from, and what it is you have focusing on in class this semester

2)      Introduce the three major papers that you will be presenting in your portfolio: the précis, the guided argument, and the argument. You will be briefly mentioning again how you have improved as a writer as you have gone through the drafting process of these papers

3)      Next, you move into your body paragraphs: a couple on the précis, a couple on the guided  argument, and a couple of the argument. In each of these paragraphs, you will be providing specific examples – quoted – from the drafts that shows your improvement over time.

Round 2:

Accuracy of claims

Look at how the author is demonstrating their learning. Do their examples appear to actually represent the development they are claiming? If not, let them know, and suggest to them how they might be clearer or more persuasive in their writing.

Expansion: we will need to think about how our writing may be of some use to us in our future endeavors here at Husson University.

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