Week 2

RHET 1311.991 & 992 Comp I

Fall 2017

(Week 2 begins August 28 and closes September 3, 2017.)

Weekly
Checklist

Reading & Resources & Projects & Reflective Critical

response Practice Portfolio Journals Discussions

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 Weekly Week 2 Checklist
Checklist All assignments are due no later than 11:30 p.m.,
September 3, 2017.

! Reading topics in Writing Spaces Volume 2:

o Storytelling, narration, and the who I am story (WS2, p. 270)
o Murder! (WS2, p. 87)
! Composition response:
o Revise your introduction from the discussion board into a who I
am story
o Complete the Murder! activity as assigned over the course of five
days
! Resources
o Read the handouts about description and complete the assigned
Power of Description exercise
o Wheres the library? (Informational only)
! Portfolio: None this week
! Reflective journal: None this week
! Critical discussions: Writer values

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 Housekeeping. I hope everyone is doing okay
without too much stress as we enter the second
week of the semester. As I mentioned last week,
with juggling of rosters, there were a few newcomers even as week 1 winds
down. However, even if you just arrived, you must submit all the Orientation
Week work (Week 0) by no later than 11:30 p.m. on the last day of week 1,
Sunday, August 27. Again, you cannot be re-enrolled in this course this semester
if that drop occurs. There are no exceptions to that submission. For those folks
just now added to the roster, Im going to cut you some slack and allow week 1
work to be due at the same time as this week 2 work is due (no later than 11:30
p.m., September 3).

A+ (making the grade). On another note, I realize everyone thinks

about grades a lot. I want you to do your best, but I also want you to keep in
mind that learning is a higher goal than grades. If youre focused on learning,
you should do quite well in the area of grades. Be diligent, seek to learn, and
youll do just fine.

Since you are seeing some grades by now, I wanted to let you know that for
participation, practice, process scores, each week I may simply enter a
cumulative score for each week. You wont typically receive a rubric or
particular feedback for participation/practice-type assignments. However, feel
free to ask for specific feedback at any time and dont hesitate to inquire what
your points refer to if youre uncertain. For major projects and the portfolio, youll
receive individual rubric feedback, so you can know exactly how your work has
been assessed, and each project assignment will be listed separately within the
Bb grade book.

If youre unhappy with your points at the end of this week, dont let it upset
youjust purpose to be thorough, diligent, and timely with your work in the
weeks to come. Were just getting into the semester, so you have plenty of time
to improve your participation scores. Also ask questions at any time in order to
clarify your understanding and help you as you do the current weeks work.
Theres no question too small, and if youre unsure about something, always,
always be sure to ask! I really need to know, especially if my materials are
unclearI make corrections each semester to my assignments, always trying to
clarify, streamline, and make it easier for students to succeed. The bottom line is
I depend upon you to help me improve our course. And Im so grateful for your
questions, so be sure to fire away! And, finally, please remember that
assessment takes time (as was indicated in the self-quiz about online
education). Typically, there is a minimum of one week in lag time before I enter
grades.

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Original sketch by hyperboleandahalf.com
Errors (again). On the topic of grades and for
future reference, if at some time in the semester
you notice a grade that you believe to be in
error, dont hesitate to message me and ask
about it. Im quite capable of making a mistake
or forgetting to update things, but Im always
glad to correct my errors. Essentially, keep in
touch and message me with issues as you
notice them. I love working together, so keep
me informed, and well all do just fine.

Reading. This week you have two readings, but one will be
spread out over several days, so Im going to explain them
separately. Typically, Im not going to discuss the readings
too much within this assignment document, although I may
Reading &
make some comments. I dont see the point in summarizing
response what youll be reading in short order. Nevertheless,
whatever is covered within the readings should be learned
and incorporated as you compose your assignments. The
composition responses are intended to help in this process, but
you need to know that youre responsible for fitly applying anything we read or
study within everything you write.

For this week, first, you should read Storytelling, narration, and the who I am
story on p. 270 of Writing Spaces Volume 2. Your composition response to this
piece of reading will be to revise (or rewrite) your introduction that you posted
on the discussion board last week by following the directives in the reading. In
other words, your goal is to craft a who I am story using the guidelines within
this reading assignment.

Be sure to include an MLA header on the first page of your paper, and I suggest
you save your file as [LastName]-Bio. Submit your story as a Word document in
the Bb drop box area (in this weeks content area) entitled Week 1: Who I am.
Write a minimum of 300-500 words; double-space and be sure to include a
cover page or MLA heading. Before you revise or re-invent, however, I urge you
to complete this weeks resource exercise about the Power of description
thats assigned Resources & Practice below.

Your second reading should be read and responded to over the course of five
days. I hope this is a fun activity that shows you a wealth of information. I ask
you to carry it out over the course of five days so you can read and write
attentively. It would be easy to scan the article and just throw something down
on paper, but in order to grow, its much better to do the assignment step-by-

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stepactually do what the author says to do without looking ahead. Then after
youve done the assigned writing each day, review your writing in response to
the authors experience and analysis. Heres the breakdown of the assignment
over five days time:

o Day 1: Read pp. 87-88 in WS2 and follow the composition instructions
for writing the detectives report on p. 88.
o Day 2: Type out your answers to the questions on pp. 88-89 then
continue reading through p. 91 in WS2 and compose the assigned
coroners report.
o Day 3: Read the follow-up information about the coroners report from
the bottom of p. 91-94 of WS2. Compose the eulogy as assigned on p.
94.
o Day 4: Read the eulogy follow-up information on pp. 94-97 of WS2 then
follow instructions to compose the prosecutors closing argument as
assigned on p. 97.
o Day 5: Read the rest of the article from pp. 97-100 in WS2, and write a
final reflection by answering the discussion questions.

Be sure to include an MLA header on the first page of your paper, and I suggest
you save your file as [LastName]-Murder. Submit all of your response work as a
single PDF document in the Bb drop box area entitled Week 2: Murder!
activity.

Writing Exercises. Weve talked about rhetoric, and I hope

you see that the meat of rhetoric is content. However, the
word composition is defined by Google as the nature of
Resources &
something's ingredients or constituents; the way in which a
Practice whole or mixture is made up.1 So in a first-year composition
course, were addressing not only critical thinking and
critical writing; were also concerned with nature, ingredients,
diction, mechanics, organization, grammar, and punctuation.

In order to address these types of things, well conduct some practice exercises
that will impact our final pieces of writing. Well be reading Dr. Lennie Irvins
insights about academic composition in a week or two, and hes a very good
teacher, so Im going to appropriate some of his resources this semester. Well
kick off this week by reviewing his writing guide entitled The power of
description. Its located in this weeks content area, so be sure to pull it up and
study it closely for this exercise.

At the bottom of the Dr. Irvins handout, there are ten telling sentences. For this

1 https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-

8#q=composition%20definition

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exercise, choose two or three of the sentences and open them up, using the
techniques of description as explained within the handout. Each new version
that you compose should be three to five sentences or more. Attempt to show
and not tell. For further insight, Ive included another handout entitled
Description Follow Up from Dr. Irvin in which he provides some examples.

Be sure to include an MLA header on the first page of your paper, and I suggest
you save your file as [LastName]-Description. Submit your showing examples
in a PDF document within the Bb drop box entitled Week 2: Writing exercises
no later than 11:30 p.m., September 3, 2017.

The online library. Of course, well need library access for our work this semester.
Fortunately, you dont have to travel to campus to go to the library. From within
our classroom, you can directly access the online Ottenheimer Library by
clicking the button situated just below My Grades on the left sidebar. Well
have some library resources to help us learn about and navigate the library as
the semester unfolds. For this week, I just want you to know its there and how to
find it. So click the button, and take a moment to go to the library. It should
open in a new link, so you dont lose your place in our online classroom.

A response to reader values. Read through the reader values

that were listed in the discussion area last week (Week 1:
Reader values). Go to your word-processing program, and
Critical type a title What WE value as readers, and assimilate the
lists that everyone has posted. Go ahead and shorten or
Discussions
streamline the list by combining or re-phrasing any values
that overlap or seem to mean the same thing. If there are
way too many values listed, just be sure to include the values
that recur most or seem most important. Once youve compiled
the list, then draft a response to the prompt What I should strive to do as a
writer (suggested word length of 200-250 words). Once youre satisfied with
your thoughts, copy/paste your response within the discussion board in the area
entitled area entitled Week 2: Writer values, and respond to at least of two of
your peers posts.

Future discussions. After this week, well have two focus areas for our discussions
over the course of the semester. So you can understand in advance how these
discussions are going to unfold, Ive provided an overview below:

WPA outcomes. Our focus during the semester will be upon

achieving outcomes as listed in the Writing Program Administrators
outcomes statement. Already last week you encountered these
outcomes in our syllabus, and facets of these outcomes will appear
throughout the semester within our textbook reading. These concepts

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are an integral part of first year composition, so its important that you know
about them, understand them, and apply them. They are fundamental
principles that lie at the root of why we write the way we write. If you havent
read through these important outcomes and arent aware of how they inform
our writing, take time to review them carefully right now. Ive posted a link to the
WPA outcomes statement in Weekly contentResources within our Bb
classroom. A critical discussion about these outcomes will begin in week 3.

Real-world rhetoric. Were all learners by nature, and we typically learn most
effectively by real-world, trial-and-error methods. Yet formal education is a
boost that sort of speeds up and focuses the learning process as we read
textbooks and carry out particular assignments that help us engage the
information. Well, here we are in the formal education setting. But we dont
want to miss exposure to the invaluable real-world setting either. To take
advantage of both, during the semester, Im going to ask you to interview a
couple of people. First, youll locate someone who is a senior-level student and
is presently studying within your major. (You could even choose a person who
graduated in May 2017, but no earlier than that.) Later in the semester youll
interview someone who is already working in your field of interest. Both of these
interviews will enable you to learn about rhetoric and composition within higher
ed courses and in the workplace. We wont begin this real-world rhetoric
component until about week 7 or 8, so you can just start thinking of people with
whom you might visit. Theres no need to do anything about it yet, as Ill provide
you with specific interview questions in a few weeks. I just want you to know
these will be some learning resources that well seek out this semester.

Thats all for this week! Message questions within our Bb classroom at any time.

Remember all assignments are due no later than 11:30 p.m. September 3, 2017.

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weekly
checklist