11/10/08

Today was really a mix of good, bad, and otherwise.

I started class today by showing the students the magazine that I had published of their second project. They thought it was pretty cool and 2 of my students requested a copy!

I then asked them why they didn't do works cited pages on Project 3 and why no one emailed me one in response to my email. I gave them until Wednesday to fix them if they did them completely wrong and to do one if they didn't have it. I made sure I wrote this on the board, too.

I then had them write their reflection for Project 4. Instead of handing out a sheet with the prompt on it, I made an overhead with four separate questions. The first one asked them to reflect on what they've learned about genres. The second asked them to specifically give examples of how they used pathos, ethos, and logos in their letter. The third one asked them whether or not they would actually be convinced to make a change about something on campus and if they were comfortable sending their letters. The final question asked them to tell their goals for the final project, their struggles, the things they're faking, and the things that they're good at that they want others to see. This was probably the longest reflection I've done with them and I can't wait to see their responses.

I then collected their projects and most of them had not prepared them at all. They all were digging in their folders for all of the pieces and most didn't have a way to keep their work together when I had specifically put that on the checklist from the last class. I emphasized to them how important it is to read the things that I hand out!!!

To change the pace again and to stress one more time the importance of the writing process, I had the students work with playdough. I had each student come to the front and grab their own can of playdough. For the first round, I had them form an animal. They had 4 10 second intervals. I questioned them after each interval how they felt about their work. Each time they felt better about it. I then asked them, after the 4 intervals, why we did the exercise. One girl immediately said that we were practicing revision. I agreed with her.

I then had them break the playdough into two pieces and had them work on each piece for 2 10 minute intervals. I then used this to transition them into Project 5 which I called the Campus Chameleon. I explained to them that we would be working on 3 different genres and also revision of a previous project. I had them figure out what genres they were interested in and give me a list so I could prepare examples for them for the next class when we actually get started on them.

We ended the class by looking at the examples from Dr. Baer's class and answering questions.

Overall, I felt like things went well. I think the students have a good grip on Project 5 and I'm hoping that from now until Wednesday they will come up with some fun ideas and get at least a little excited.

Plus, today Maggie announced her idea to make the notes page be a typed version of the students' journals from each day of the project. I plan on stealing this idea.