Portfolio Drop Off!

How you will feel after dropping off your portfolio

How you will feel if you don't...

 Folks:

This is the end.

Drop off your portfolios in my office (COAS/ARHU 270A) before 11:30am today, May 1st.

Please DO NOT leave your portfolio in my box; there is no guarantee that I'll get it and this is too big of a grade to take a chance like that. Plus, there are evil, portfolio stealing gnomes that wander these halls. Be on the safe side; turn your portfolio into me personally.

And have a great summer! Woot woot! Life long and prosper, punks! :D

Compocon

Lots of cool stuff, but no, no dancing mice

Just a reminder, today we're meeting in the ARHU lobby for class to check out Compocon. Please make sure to sign in with me. It's a good time to relax, check out some 1302 projects, and mingle with other students.

See you there!

Portfolio Requirements

Folks:

All portfolios are due on Wednesday, May 1st. This will be our last day together ::cue tiny violin music::

Your portfolio is hefty. It's a big piece of your grade (60%!). Be sure to go a good job with it.


Your portfolio must include:



1. Graded copies of stages 1-5 with my comments. If you've misplaced my comments, then instead of including this, you'll need to write a one page reflection on your revision process (what you've changed and why) for each missing paper.

2. Your original Stage VI -- of course, without my comments. This will be your pre-peer review version. 

3. Revised and edited copies of stages 1-6.

4. Your public document for stage V (A copy, link, or brief description if there was just one original and you already turned it in)

Please be sure you're turning in polished work. At this point, I will be looking at grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting in addition to content. Many students have asked if MLA formatting is required. The short of my answer is "yes" -- UNLESS you have a reason for not using MLA. For example, if, throughout the semester, your writing has been focused on a science discipline, you may choose to use APA instead. Maybe your essays are all about how MLA ruined your life D-: in which case, it would make sense to use something else.

So in other words, if you don't use MLA, be sure to articulate WHY you've made the rhetorical decision not to.

 How you decide to present this information to me is entirely up to you. As long as it is presented in a way that your audience (me!) can easily make sense of your work, you'll be in good shape. Is turning in a big pile of crumpled/unstapled and messy papers audience centered? I'm thinking no.

You are being graded on the quality of your finished product and the rhetorical effectiveness of your writing.

May the force be with you! Make it so! For Durotar!

Stop! It's (Almost) Grammar Time!

If you get this reference, you're old (aka awesome) like me

As we finish up our Stage V presentations and our Stage VI peer review sessions, it's just about that time of the writing process where we begin editing.

One way I recommend going about editing your papers is to take them to the University Writing Center (in the library). They're super apt at finding all your wonderful spelling, punctuation and usage errors, so give them a try!

One other thing we'll be doing in class is having Mini-Lessons on pesky grammar skills that I've noticed (by reading your papers of course) you might be having trouble with. For extra credit, why don't you volunteer to teach the class about one of these? Your lesson will have to include:

 1. An explanation of the rules
 2. an activity to reinforce it with the class.

You should expect to spend between 10-15 minutes. Volunteers who successfully present a "Grammar Time" lesson will receive 5 points to their final grade. It's pretty generous, I know.

Up for grabs:

Monday April 22nd

1.Then vs. Than
2. Identifying and Correcting Run-On Sentences
3. Properly Using Quotation Marks
4. Their, There, and They're (Oh my!)

Wednesday, April 24th

1. Using Semi Colons
2. To, Too, and Two
3. You're vs. Your
4. Apostrophes

I'll be sending around a sign-up sheet in class. If you're seeing this and want to reserve one, let me know by shooting me an email or leaving a comment below.

By the way, I WILL be looking at spelling/grammar/usage MLA business when it comes to your final portfolios. So please, do proofread. 

Stage VI

Our last essay!

To show my thanks to you for being awesome students, I am assigning you an equally awesome essay assignment -- STAGE VI.

Don't forget to review specific directions under the writing assignments tab. BUT, once you've reviewed those, check out these review questions. Again, these are not only the peer review questions you'll be addressing once we return from our break, but they're also the questions I'll be asking whilst grading your papers.

1. Narrative -- How does the essay illustrate who the author was as a writer coming in to 1301? Does the narrative address the struggles/difficulties of the course, or lack their of? How did the author overcome their struggles?
2. Vivid Details -- The key to a successful stage VI is all about specifics. How does the author incorporate specific detail into their essay? Do they quote specific readings? Give examples from class discussion? Refer back to their essays?
3. Discourse -- How does the author situate their development as a writer within the greater discourse of writing studies?
4. Significance -- How does the author articulate the significance of their development and journey? What was the outcome of it all, and why is it important? What does it mean for their future as a writer/student/person in the world?

And if that's not enough direction, wouldn't you like to see an example?

 Example of an A paper, though, of course, this is only one of a million different ways to earn an A on this assignment.

Thoughts on Stage V

We've got some mighty hefty workdays ahead of us, kiddos!

On that note, I know some of you are wondering and weary about the grading procedures for Stage V. There are three elements to your Stage V project --

Your Public Document (5 points possible)
Your Reflective Essay (5 points possible now, 5 additional when turned in with the portfolio at the end of the semester)
Your Presentation (5 points possible)

Lemmie break it down for you.


For the "Public Document" you'll be graded on this scale:

Rhetorically Smart (Full five points -- document demonstrates an awareness of audience, purpose, and form. It is also complete and polished)
Rhetorically Aware (Four Points -- document demonstrates an awareness of audience, purpose and form, but is either unfinished/unpolished, or could have been approached in a more effective manner).
Rhetorically Average (Three points -- document is missing one of the crucial elements -- audience, purpose, context!)
Rhetorically Dull (Two Points -- document is missing two elements! and/or is unfinished/sloppy)
Rhetorical Fail (One point -- you know where this is going)


For the Reflective Essay:

This is your chance to prove to me how rhetorically smart your document is. There are a few ways to approach this:

1. A cover letter as a guide to your public document explaining all of it's rhetorical awesomeness
2. An essay that articulates WHY your public document deserves an A
3.  A narrative explaining how you came about the idea for your project, outlining your decisions and why you made them.

But of course, these are only suggestions.

Here are the questions I'll be asking myself while grading. You can think of these as peer review questions if you'd like to get feedback from a partner (or me!):

1. How does the author describe the public document in their essay? There should be enough detail to get an idea of what is being described.

2. How does the author address the document's purpose? In other words, why was the public document created? Does the author give reasons for choosing this purpose?

3. How does the author address the document's audience? The audience should be a specific, targeted group of people. Are there any secondary audiences? How are they addressed? Does the author give reasons for choosing this specific audience?

4. How does the author define rhetorical effectiveness, in relation to their document? How do they justify their choices as a author in terms of genre, form, content, etc?

5. How does the author bring research (inquiry) into their discussion of their document? A works cited page should also be included.

This is the loose rubric I'll be using when grading your reflective document.

And finally, the presentation:

1. Does the presenter effectively use their alotted time?
2. Does the presenter communicate with the audience? (I.e -- voice, body language, tone, etc)
3. Content of the presentation -- does the presenter go in depth in describing their document? How do they explain their rhetorical decisions to the audience?

As I mentioned in class, during the alotted "work days" I'll be in my office, available to look at drafts or bounce ideas off of. The following are our alotted work days and the times I'm available in my office (COAS 270A)

Friday, April 5th 8:45am-11:45
Monday, April 8th 8:45 -- 11:45

Come visit me. Bring a draft! Or food. :-3

Our Presentation Schedule:

Wednesday, April 10th (Like a boss)

8:45

1. Alex
2. Xavier
3. Irving
4.
5. Michael

9:45
1. Brenda
2. Stephanie
3. Sarah
4. Jorge
5. Alan

Friday, April 12th

8:45
1.
2. Josselyn
3. Merly
4.
5.

9:45
1. Eduardo
2. Nayibe
3. Manuel
4. Yolitza
5. Michael

Monday, April15th

8:45
1. Rigo
2. Eli
3. Angelica
4. Jocelyn H
5. Carlos

9:45
1. Courtney
2. Melissa
3. Ana
4. Juan
5. Victor

Wednesday, April 17th

8:45
1. Victoria
2. Vanessa
3. Liani
4. Precious
5. Linda

9:45
1. Erick
2. Juan
3. Orestes
4. Josie
5. Pedro

Friday, April 19th
Julio

ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY DURING PRESENTATION DAYS! It's for a grade :-)


ADDED IN: Extra point to the first person to find business cat's typo :-X

Going Public?

Not easy, but you can do it!

Before we begin Stage V, I'd like to pause for a moment and reflect on writing. What does it mean to be "rhetorically smart?"

Let's take a look at some video examples. Do you think these are rhetorically smart videos?

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/plagiarism

http://youtu.be/m6ZKVdKTWww

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220675/Gangnam-style-Georgia-congressman-John-Lewis-stars-latest-parody.html 
http://youtu.be/o6G3nwhPuR4

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/zombies

Your assignment:

Find an example of a public document with an audience similar to your own and write an analysis of it. How might you use what you learned from this analysis in your own plans for Stage V?

If you need some more direction, feel free to address the following questions:

• What made you choose this particular document?
• Who was the intended audience and how could you tell?
• What was the purpose of the document? How successful do you think the document was in reaching its purpose?
• What does it get "rhetorically right?"
•  How does it fail?
• What can YOU take away from this document when creating your own?

Your analysis should be about one page, typed, double spaced. Please also bring a copy, link, or picture of the public document you've decided to analyze.

Due Wednesday, April 3rd