This week’s class will be held entirely online. In order for this to work, you will need to post on time. Here’s the plan:
1. Post Response #7 by Tuesday, 10/9 at noon.
2. Check the blog to read the postings of your classmates after Tuesday, 10/9 at noon.
3. Respond to at least one of your classmate’s posts by midnight Thursday, 10/11. Choose a classmate who does NOT yet have feedback.
4. Check the blog to read your feedback by midnight Sunday, 10/14.
Response #7 Assignment:
Instead of asking you to respond to the reading, I am going to ask you to think ahead to the final project, the teaching packet. Please post the following information:
1. Title of the course
2. Audience of the course (include grade/level, ESL/NS, institution, any other relevant information)
3. Course description (One paragraph generally describing the course)
4. Textbook or general information about texts that you will use (course pack? What kind of texts will make up the course pack?)
5. Write a paragraph describing THE LAST of the three writing assignments. Think of this as the end goal for the writing in your course; all other writing assignments will lead up to this one. Be specific enough that your classmates can give you feedback.
6. Briefly describe a lesson plan idea that relates to that assignment. Be specific enough that your classmates can give you feedback.
I want to do something related to identity and a title for a course might be Cultural Identity (Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as he is influenced by his belonging to a group or culture. (wikipedia.com)). I think that it can be a special topic course in the University.
In this class what I want is that for students that are interested in other cultures can read and explore the lifestyle of other cultures in different places. For example we would need a book that can be divided in two parts one part will be dedicated to “The New World” and the other part will be divided in “The Old World”. Then the part of the New World will be divided in different sections, for example:
Part I: The New World
Section 1: South America
Section 2 : Las Islas del Caribe
Section3: North America
Section 4: Canada
Part II: The Old World
Section 1: Europa
Section 2: Africa
Section3: Asia
Section 4:Ausrtralia
Every section will have various chapters dedicated to different countries, states or even cities. The course will make the students do research on a place that they desire and they will write an essay talking about that place. After that the students can also do a presentation on the place that they choose. In this presentation the students can dress up like a Native of the place that they choose and if it will be possible, they will make a dish or desert native or traditional of that place. Ideally every student will choose a place and will not be repeated so we can have a lot of places. Then there can be a second writing assignment that I haven’t thought about. The last assignment will be an essay, were they can write about their own country and compare and/or contrast it with other places. But they will also have to tell me in the essay something that their family or they do different from their culture and to what experience of the ones read in class do they relate to in any way. This last idea still needs a lot of work but I want that the student writes about him and his own cultural identity having studies so many cultures. But this class will be of interest only to students that like to learn about other cultures. Another assignment can be to make the students write an essay on any tourism activity that they have done. It can be outside of Puerto Rico or it can be in Puerto Rico as well. I will want them to provide pictures that hey took or any picture that they can find of the place. All of these ideas have to be very closely thought about still and make a list of the things that I will want on the essays. In the class there will be no exams, there will be only writing assignments. There will be quizzes on the readings that they were supposed to have read for the class. I think that the mayor objective of this class will be to make them aware of the world that we live in and that they can talk about themselves as individuals that are aware of the cultural differences in the world (not talking badly about any culture).
1. Title of the course
Writing with a Purpose
2. Audience of the course (include grade/level, ESL/NS, institution, any other relevant information)
Nursing Associate Degree ESL students
Institution: Ponce Paramedical College
As i have experienced, nursing students do not think learning English is necessary for their profession if its only learning grammar and a few other things. It could be more appealing to them a course in which they can learn how to do some of the writing tasks they need to do and learn before graduating, if they learn how to do them in English because most of the paper work they need to fill out is in the English language.
3. Course description
This course is designed to prepare nursing students to write in their professional life, and to help them develop the necessary writing skills they need in order to complete simple tasks given by doctors or supervisors. We will explore different care plans in order to learn how to read them and complete them if necessary. We will also explore medical orders so the students can learn the basic medical vocabulary to understand them and fulfill those orders.
4. Textbook or general information about texts that you will use (course pack? What kind of texts will make up the course pack?)
The course pack of this course will be composed of a series of handouts. Each one of those handouts will have specific guidelines and examples of how to do each of the writing assignments, medical orders, nursing care plans, etc…
5. Write a paragraph describing THE LAST of the three writing assignments.
The last writing assignment of the course will be to develop a complete nursing plan, using all the skills developed and learned throughout the course. The nursing care plan is an important document nursing students need to know what it is, and how to complete o fulfill the requirements of their program and to go on in their professional life. This care plan needs to be as concise as possible explaining the patients’ condition, symptoms, medical follow up, lab results, treatment, etc…
Course Name:
The Modern Terror and Ghost Short Story: Fact or Fiction in the Eyes of Reality and The Detective
The whole perspective with the use of the classic and modern Ghost story is to develop the student’s sense of appreciation or interests with the classics and compare the elements of the stories. The terms of their language use, images described, situations and what drove the fear of the unknown in people in their respective timelines.
The course will be concentrated in the writing of essays and journals with a final Detective Research into a story or series of stories where they will have to look for information about a story and it’s use of the paranormal entity that is fooling with the characters minds.
The students will have to develop their writing techniques in four essays from the expository essay, the persuasive essay, informative essay and descriptive essay as well as their research abilities.
The grade level for such a course would be a second year English course with both ESL and NS capability since the materials for the work are readings from very direct writers.
The course will be using a textbook and selected readings for which there will be a course packet:
The Book:
Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural
Edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Herbert Wise
Modern Library
New York 1994
The Readings for the Course Packet will be the following:
“The Wind in the Rose-Bush” by Mary Wilkins-Freeman
“Legal Rites” by Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl
“The Haunting of Y-12” by Al Sarrantonio
“Money Talks” by Dick Baldwin
Further reading materials will be included such as essays and complementary readings. The readings will include series of writing guidelines and sample essays to follow through in what the students need to know to write their essays.
The last Lesson plan is that they have to develop their 10th journal entry where they will write in an informative manner why the apparition decided to invade the harmony of the main character’s household. The students will be the detectives in this case and catalogue all the clues as well as motives and people affected and how.
The name of the course will be Writing with Style. My audience are going to be 7th grader students in a junior high public school.
Course description: This course is going to be design to help students increase their ability to develop, support, and communicate ideas through the writing process. The students will concentrate on all stages of the writing process, from generating ideas and drafting to revising, editing, and self-assessment.
Text: Kemper, Nathan, Sebranek. Writers Express: A Handbook for Young Writers,
Thinkers and Learners. 1995
There will be three major assignments. In addition, a selection of drafts, revisions, and final papers must place in a binder for additional grading. I will divide the class in three units. The first unit will consists in Personal Writing. The second unit will be about Writing Tales or Stories. The third unit will consist in Research Writing.
Unit I: Personal Writing
This unit will consist on a personal narrative. This assignment will put students in touch with themselves and with the world in which they live. The students will follow some specific steps in order to enrich their stories with details, dialogue and personal feelings.
Possible lesson Plan
•Getting Started: Definition of personal narrative, concepts, share examples
•Pre writing: finding ideas for possible topics
•Writing the first draft
•Revising, Editing, and Proofreading
•Final Version Due
Unit II: Writing Tales or Stories
This second unit will be about writing a fantasies stories. This assignment will let young writers to explore, pretend and make believe.
•Getting Started: concept of fantasy, literature connection
•Prewriting: Invent characters
Choose a problem
•Writing the first draft: Introduce the characters
•Revising
•Editing and Proofreading
•Final Version Due
Unit III: Research Writing
This third assignment will consist in writing a classroom report about a selected topic. Many students will have to write similar reports as adults. Developing this skill now will prepare them for these types of tasks. The students will learn about the process of collecting information, facts and limiting a topic.
•Getting started: concepts of researching, organizing and writing
General topics
•Prewriting:
•Select a good topic
Web, list
Choosing one category Ask general questions
Talk in pairs
Ask specific questions
•Collecting information
Open ended questions
Good sources of information
Answer questions
Note card
Check information
•Writing the first draft
Connect ideas
Work on opening
Tie facts, quotes, charts
Ending strong
List of sources
•Revising, Editing and proofreading
•Ways to present the report
•Final version Due/Presentation
Successful completion of this course will result in an understanding of the rhetorical situation surrounding a writing task, as well as an understanding of how to use writing to clarify and articulate students’ thoughts in a way that is appropriate in a particular situation. Students will also become accustomed to, if not comfortable with, the writing process, what revision is and how to use revision as a tool to facilitate writing.
1. Title of the course
Societal Contexts in Cartoons
2. Audience of the course (include grade/level, ESL/NS, institution, any other relevant information)
This course will be designed for ESL college students mainly in their first year at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. This course will be designed for students at the intermediate level.
3. Course description (One paragraph generally describing the course)
Writing can be boring for students, especially if they have to base the writing on readings from a book or an anthology that they are not familiar with. My main interest with the course is to offer students an option for writing about a topic that they can all identify with since all of them have seen cartoons and enjoy them. The basic rhetorical modes that are taught at the intermediate level will be taught at this course. The students will learn to write descriptive, comparison and contrast and persuasive essays. They will also work on a research paper based on the cartoon show that they choose.
4. Textbook or general information about texts that you will use (course pack? What kind of texts will make up the course pack?)
Although any cartoon will work for this course, these are college students. That is why I have decided to use cartoons that are more attractive to their age level. Thus, they will be working with cartoons such as South Park, The Simpsons, and Family Guy among others. I will prepare a pack of segments rather a book. A DVD with these segments from will be designed for the course and every student will be own once they provide me with a DVD in which it will be burned. These cartoons are all satirical and directly criticize several aspects of our society such as politics, religion and family issues. This is what will help the students develop critical thinking skills which they will apply into their writing. Along with the
DVD, I will use a writing packet based on Keys for Writing by Ann Raimes and Concise Guide to Writing by Axelrod and Cooper
5. Write a paragraph describing THE LAST of the three writing assignments. Think of this as the end goal for the writing in your course; all other writing assignments will lead up to this one. Be specific enough that your classmates can give you feedback.
I expect my students to learn how to write using different rhetorical modes. I project that my last assignment will be a research paper based on one specific cartoon. The student will select one of the cartoon shows that have been analyzed throughout the semester and their research will be based on a specific aspect of it, whether it is its history, creators, purpose etc. In this research paper the student will prove that he/she has acquired the necessary skills for the course. The research paper will require the use of different rhetorical modes and researching skills. For this assignment they will be required to write a more extensive paper that will include a works cited page with at least four different types of sources. In a sense, with this paper, the students will use everything that they have learned in the semester.
6. Briefly describe a lesson plan idea that relates to that assignment. Be specific enough that your classmates can give you feedback.
The first assignment that I would give my students would be a brainstorming about the cartoons that have been used in class so that they can decide which one they want to work with. Once they have done that, then they can begin another brainstorming on that cartoon to find what specifically about it they want to research.
Course Title: Gendered Media Reading and Writing Comprehension
Level: Advanced English College in an ESL institution. 50 minutes classes.
Description: Literacy is not viewed in the “traditional” sense of the mechanical techniques of writing, reading, and thinking. It is conceived as a form of “conscientification,” that is to move towards action. It is not separate from social contexts (gender, race, class, sexual orientation) and therefore is not perceived as passively acquired. This class is designed for Advanced English College students to experience very different forms and experiences in reading. This course is to teach students a better reading and writing comprehension. This curriculum consists of 50- minute lessons about gendered media, specifically on film and printed advertisements.
Textbooks: Reading Packet and Keys for Writers.
Last writing assignment: This last task will be a portfolio of their previous work including a last essay that reflects upon the different types of reading (reading film, and printed advertisement) that they have made through the duration of the course. They will be asked to write an essay where they compare and contrast the different types of readings that they have made and to reflect on how it can be applied to their own experiences with the media.
The lesson is designed in the scaffolding approach to teaching because of its structure.
Lesson
Materials:
• Two advertisements. One of the advertisements is targeted towards a male advertisement and the other is targeted towards a female audience.
• Overhead projector
• Extension
• Blank transparencies
• Permanent markers or transparency markers
Activities:
A) The teacher shall show two advertisements. One of the advertisements is targeted towards a male advertisement and the other is targeted towards a female audience.
B) The teacher will give the students guiding questions and give them ten minutes to answer in their notebooks. Afterwards the teacher should open a dialogue with the students about what they wrote in answering to the guided questions. As the dialogue takes place the teacher should make notes of what is being said as to use later on in the lessons.
Guided questions:
• What do you like about it?
• What don’t you like it?
• What would you think if the models were switched?
• How would you place them if they were switched?
Well, I am thinking of using my current teaching context to create my teaching packet. I am planning on creating a Basic Composition course, hence this will be the title. It will be focused towards ESL freshman students from our own university, UPRM. In other words I am planning on re-developing the 3201 course based on my personal experience with my students.
The course will teach writing as a process and a product. The students are expected to learn the stages of the writing process; pre-writing, drafting, editing and revising. At the same time they will have some reading activities with the focus on straightening their writing. They will have short writing assignments and three long written assignments.
These will be the major goals of the course. They will write a narrative essay first, then an informative and last a persuasive/argumentative paper. The idea o selecting these essays in this sequence is to follow the Bain sequence as mentioned in the St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing. I have decided to follow this writing assignment sequence because it seem to be very logical. It goes from easy to hard. This sequence builds on skills previously covered in the previous essay. Now, will be expected to work on their essays in class. That is why my final teaching packet will have a detail of short writing assignments such as journals, reaction paper about readings and analysis of essays of the assigned genre or rhetorical mode.
For example; a sequence of lesson plans for the narrative essay will be something like this: first, they will have a class where they will be taught what a narrative essay is. Second, they may have to read a narrative essay to analyze. They will have to identify the thesis statement, the topics sentences, and the parts of the essay. They may also be asked to react to the narration of the essay based on its contents and instead of the structure. They may also be asked to react to other narrative essays that may be assigned in other classes. After learning what the narrative essay is, then they will start working with their own. Keep in mind all of this will not be done in one lesson plan, but over several ones. But basically this is the sequence for the lesson plans.
The title of the course:
Collaborations through the internet by using wiki
2) The course is not specifically designed for any group of writers, instead the assignment and the overall goal of this course can be very well adapted for writers of all level and skills, and as a result, it can be used for both native language and ESL writers. However, my focus will most likely be on NL user. Because the course involves the use of a computer and the internet, the students must therefore be familiar with technology and small understanding of how coding works. As a result this course can be used with high school students and college students in which the later will be the main focus for this assignment.
3) Collaborations through the internet by using wiki is an idea that was born out of my fascination with user created contents over the internet. Services such as blogging and wikipedia are all created by the end user and the results have been phenomenal. By having hundreds if not thousands of people read an article and edit it can create a work that is a lot more consistent in terms of grammar, syntax, context and style. This is the beauty of a wiki which allows users over any web browser to access the original text and let them freely update the article as they see fit. The goal of this course is to have students create their own wiki on any theme or subject that they collectively want to do. The wiki may be a literary analysis of an author, a technical documentation of a specific product or game, or a collection of articles related to one specific theme. Either way, there are many things that a student can do with a wiki.
4) Because of the nature of this course, there is no specific textbook that they will need. However I do require that the students have a writing handbook with them at all times as it may prove to be very helpful if they have doubts on writing. The other texts will be decided once the students decide on what they want their wiki to be on.
5) Throughout the semester, students will first divide their work amongst themselves and have them do their own research and write their own articles. By the end of the semester, they should have everything posted in the internet and ready for her peers dig in and do some corrections. Everyone in the class have to read every article that was written and contribute to it in any way they see fit. The original author will then have to track the changes done to their article. The instructor of the class will have a cut out date and once that date is reached, no more editing can be done to the wiki. The students will then take the new edited work and compare it to her original work and write a paper on the changes done to it and determine if the end result is better or worst than what they originally wrote.
6) The lessons will greatly depend on what the students want to do. Let suppose they want to create a biographical wiki on a group of authors. One of their lessons would have them write an autobiography in which the students will learn the foundation of what makes a good biography. What they learn in here will eventually be used to create the biography of an author they choose to write on.
My course will be titled “A Social and Political Analysis of Dictatorships during the Early 20th Century”. The audience of this course will be students with an intermediate or advanced proficiency level. The course is designed for students that are interested in history, politics or in how to conduct a brief analysis of historical events.
In the early 19th century there was a huge propagation of dictators all around the world. These dictators shaped economic and social structures that are still alive in the many countries.Not only did they changed the government but also the psychology of the people in the countries that they ruled. An example for this is censorship and how it affected the idea of what is right and wrong for many people. In the course it will be compared entertainment during the dictatorship years and after the fall of the dictator. Radical movements were born in response to the oppression of dictators and their methods of control. One example was the hippie movement and the strength that it gained in countries like Spain and Guatemala.
The course is designed to inform students of famous dictatorships in the early 19th century and how they gave birth to cultural and literary revolutions. In this course students will study famous dictators such as Franco in Spain, Trujillo in Santo Domingo and Bastista in Cuba. The elements that provided a fertile ground for the propagation of dictators will also be discussed and the relevance that they currently have. The students will be also introduced to the genre of the Dictator Novel.
Materials:
I would make my own teaching packet by collecting news articles about the eradication and fall of the political identities. I would also use encyclopedias and other reference texts. I would like to use three novels, the first one would be “The president” by Miguel Angel Asturias. This novel is about Manuel Estrada Cabrera a famous dictator of Guatemala. The second one would be “The feast of the Goat” by Mario Vargas Llosas. The third is “Franco:A biography” by Paul Preston. I would also use a dvd series called “Tell me How it Happened”. This is a series that focuses on the lives of the Spaniards during the dictatorship of Franco.
The last three assignments will help the student prepare for the last essay of the class. It is important to point out that before the students begin the writing process they will be provided with MLA workshops and other orientations that will help them select authentic sources for they final paper. The first of the last three assignments will be the development of a chart that will include the relevant information of each dictator. The students will use this chart to do a compare and contrast exercise in order to identify similar patterns in political and social structures. In the second assignment they will choose a dictator that they believe best represents the feeling of the period and they will write a short essay explaining why they choose him over the others. The last paper will be a analysis of the early 19th century dictatorship boom through the figure of the dictator that they choose. For this final assignment they must use five sources 1 scholarly article, two news articles, a dictator novel and any other kind of reference material.
Name of the course: Writing Techniques for students of seventh semester at the Universidad Pedagógica and Tecnológica of Colombia. The course must be taught for students from seventh semester of Modern Languages. The course is not a requirement, it is to convince these students in order to use a new approach about effective writing activities.
I want to motivate myself to teach this course because in classrooms from Boyacá- Colombia where is the place I come from. The students are training to demonstrate grammar context in writing rather than use effective techniques. I think future teachers in that location must know how to focus better in writing. New suggestions to develop a new statement will be useful for them.
The main objective of this course is to instruct youth future teachers in writing skills. The course will provide them strong skills that equip them with new strategies to perform enough as future teachers in that region.
The topics to teach will share a social component following special topics. Then Students will demonstrate the importance to implement in their classes. Another perspective is the personal development using this approach as mechanism for professional growing.
Building on future teachers instructors and taking into account the Colombian context; the curse will contain social topics such as: “Popular culture in Colombia”,” Stereotypes”, “The social conflict of a war” and “values and society”.
There will be 8 sessions , 2 hours topic. The conceptual contain of the topics will be developed through interesting readings. Based on that readings students must be able to determine and assess themselves their progress.
After the students gain some confidence with the purpose, they must be able to develop the next activities.
1. Image a class they can introduce a social topic.
2. The experiment must follow a lesson plan to manifest correctly a personal instruction.
3. Develop a writing strategy to teach these kind of topics.
4. Write a personal essay, about the experience in that training.
1. Title: Exploring Creative Writing
2. Audience of the course:
This course is designed for NS high school seniors or college freshman. (text used can be altered to address college freshman who are ESL students)
3. Course description:
The purpose of the course is to explore different genres of “creative writing”, including but not limited to:
Screenwriting (steps of traditional screenwriting; elements of film)
Freelance Writing (writing columns and articles for newspapers and magazines; writing critics for music, movies, food)
Poetry (haiku, lyric, sonnet, etc)
Writing in Art (comics, graffiti, studio art and words)
Writing for the Internet (blogs, websites)
The idea is to introduce the students to a variety of writing styles, in hopes that they discover their “niche” or “style” in which they write best.
4. Textbook or general information about texts that you will use (course pack? What kind of texts will make up the course pack?):
The course packet should include a variety of examples and styles from each purposed genre and also each sub-genre. Ideally, such sub-genre (critic of food, for example) should be backed with at least 3 different examples the students can look at and compare to see the similarities in structure, but also the differences in actual writing styles.
5. Write a paragraph describing THE LAST of the three writing assignments:
The “Final” for the class would be simply to have the student choose which style he or she connects with the most, or find the most interesting. With that being said, throughout the course of the semester, the students would be responsible for 5 additional writing assignments (not including the final), which is a relatively intense amount of writing (especially considering drafting work).
6. Briefly describe a lesson plan idea that relates to that assignment:
I think a good lesson plan that could lead up to the “Final” writing assignment would be to have the students look at all the different styles of writing they have explored in the semester, and then look at the title of the class: “Exploring Creative Writing”.
How can certain types of writing be considered “creative”? Isn’t that an insult to writers in general, and maybe a contradiction of terms? Isn’t all writing creative?
You could present other types of writing that don’t fall into our idea of “creative” writing. For example, speech writing – those who write speeches, particularly for political figures, have to be extremely creative. Agree or Disagree?
A text you could present to the class is Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Do they consider this “creative” writing?
The course title:
Movie World
Audience:
ESL Public High school Students (10th, 11th, or 12th grade)
Objective:
Due to the fact that many of the ESL highschool students dread the act of writing and reading this course will then provide them with the opportunity of producing creative writings based on watching movies. Since students don’t like the act of reading because they think it is a boring an painful procedure, if given the chance they will prefer to watch the interpretation of the story rather than reading it, this course will give a new twist to writing.
Students, after watching a couple of movies (usually of the same category) students will be able to produce different types of writings for example poems, essays (comparative, descriptive and/or analytic), journals among others.
Text book:
Since this is a more digital course which is based on movies, students will be given a category (horror, suspense, science fiction or romance) of which they will choose at least two they would like to watch. (the movies chosen can’t have hard core nudity nor sex scenes). Many students when arriving to high school have little or no knowledge on how to write therefore the book Writing for the Real World is a great resource when teaching them how to write. This book will provide the students with the necessary tools for this writing course.
Last Writing Assignment:
Towards the end of this course the Students will be able to write a comparative and contrast essay between the two movies watch of one of the categories. For example students could choose two movies from the category of “horror” and then write a comparative essay between them. Students could focus on an infinite of topics like characters, plot, setting, or even on the production of the movie.
This written assignment will be produce in class, each day working on a paragraph but if needed they could also work on it at home.( If the students needs more time to finish their daily class work then they are allowed to take it home and continue with their assignment)
Daily Plan: (first of several)
Date: 10/0ct/07
Objective: Students will be able to brainstorm on the different or same topics found among both
movies that were watch previously.
Standards: Oral Communication
Materials:
Notebook, Whiteboard , chart given to them (which is filled out by them during the course of
watching the movies)
Assignment:
Students, in oral form, will brainstorm on the topics found in both of the movies that were watch throughout the course, then they will have to choose the topic they would like to write their comparative essay on. After this students will then, in their notebooks, begin to develop more ideas on their topics.
1. Title of the course: Evoking the Audience: Introduction to Audience Conscious Writing
2. Audience of the course: The audience of this course will be ESL students at a College Level. They will also be students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
3. Course description: In this course the students will experiment writing in different genres, mostly related to their area of study, and keeping different audiences in mind. They will learn how to write for people who are experts at their area of study as well as a general audience who may have no background in their field. The use of language and vocabulary will be one of the main focus of this class.
4. Textbook or general information about texts that you will use: The textbook to be used in class will be a textbook that has information on the writing process and different genres and that also provides exercises where the audience in a main focus. So far, I have found an old book that has that type of information and it is “The Sundance Writer: A Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook”
5. Write a paragraph describing THE LAST of the three writing assignments: For their last assignment they will have to research on a topic of their area of study (major) that interests them. Once they have enough research they will write one paper describing the information found to others who are majoring in the same area. At the same time they will write a paper with the same findings to an audience who are not studying the same things as them, but that would like to know more about it. On the day this assignment is due, students will be asked to give a brief presentation on their topic, why they chose it and how the information, vocabulary and language use varies from one paper to the other.
Title of Course:
Writing Principles and Identity
Audience:
My audience will be ESL 10th graders who are beginning their journey as writers.
Course Description:
Basically this course will provide the students with the necessary tools to develop their own writing skills and styles. With the study of some theory behind writing along with various activities they will be able to accomplish their final goal of finding who they are as writers.
Textbook:
The book that will be used in the course will be Language Network by McDougal Littell This book focuses on combining grammar with writing, so they will be able to not only practice the basics of grammar but to put it into practice with writing. This book also has two entire sections devoted to the Writing Instruction. These sections focus on the writing process and to the development and enhancing of students’ writing skills.
Along with the textbook teaching packets will be given by the teacher in which the readings based on identity will serve as a guide for them to discover their own identity.
Three Last Writing Assignments:
The students will be asked to write an initial assessment piece in which they will answer a series of writing prompts to briefly analyze who they are as writers and to try to find their style. Having said this, I predict that by the end of the course the students will be able to not only know who they are as writers but that they will impart their personal style to a series of writings. The students will be asked to write autobiographies, narratives, essays and/or journals.
Lesson Plan Idea:
Basically the lesson plans for the course will have as an objective that at the end the students, once they’ve analyzed their identity as writers, will be able to create pieces of writing with simplicity. These pieces of writing should portray their own identity as writers.
I will be creating a course very similar to the one I am actually teaching right now which is 3103. I would like to call it Introduction to Critical Thinking and the Writing Process. The audience of the course would be students like the ones I have now: in their first year and they would have to have intermediate ability in English with some experience in writing and reading in English. the class would be created for an institution like El Colegio, an
University level class.
Regarding textbooks, I would use the one I’m using right now entitled: The New World Reader and also Keys for Writers as the students’ writing handbook. I would most definitely also include movies relevant to the reading in order to compliment the readings.
The course could be described as an introduction to critical thinking, critical reading and critical writing. The purpose of the course would be to learn to utilize these skills to communicate ideas the best and most effective way possible through writing, this being the ultimate goal of the course. The course would include a detailed introduction to the writing process and an introduction to critical thinking. there would be a theory-based approach and also a practice-based approach. In other words, students would be, at all times, practicing what they have been learning in class.
The first writing assignment would be an argumentative essay in which students would choose a topic relevant to class reading and formulate an argument on it. the second assignment would be a compare and contrast essay in which students would have to discuss the important similarities and differences between two things and argument towards the one they believed was better on more convenient. that way they would connect their argumentative skills with the essay. The third and final assignment would be a process analysis essay in which they would have to choose a topic or issue they have already confronted in the readings and analyze they way in which they would resolve that issue by the means of a process analysis essay. not only would they be linking the readings done in class into their essay but they would also use argumentation or persuasion in order to convince the reader why their solution will be “the” solution.
An idea for a lesson plan would be to divide the class in 3 groups and form a debate about a topic addressed in the readings done that week in class. The first part of the activity would be a writing portion in which they would write down their claims and explanations and the other part of the activity would be to persuade the “jury” or the other classmates with their arguments. All groups would do this and the teacher or me would decide and explain who had the best and weakest arguments and why. This way they would practice their critical thinking and writing skills and they would get a sense of what they would be doing in their first essay.
Final Project/Teaching Packet
1. Title of the Course- Technical and Conversational English for Engineers
2. Audience of the Course- Freshman Engineer students from the UPRM
3. Course Description- This course is oriented to prepare the students from the Engineering Department of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez to conduct themselves successfully in the oral and written tasks that they will perform in English for their future career needs.
4. Textbook or General Information about Texts- I will utilize the textbook English for the World of Work and I will prepare a reading packet that is rich on information regarding the following topics: getting ready for a job interview, writing a statement of the purpose for a grant or scholarship, developing a proposal, and proper vocabulary to utilize when writing a resume, among others.
5. Last Three Writing Assignments- Students will submit a polished and final copy of their resume, a statement of the purpose responding to a “made up” scholarship, and a proposal for a “future employer”.
6. Lesson Plan for Last Assignment-
Lesson: The Parts of a Proposal
-Students will be divided into groups of three and each group will be given a Sample Proposal.
- Students will read the proposal and examine its parts and content.
- The professor will guide a discussion in which students will share with the class the content and structure of this paper.
-The professor will then distribute a sheet with the information that should be included in each section of a proposal.
-Students will then analyze a proposal that will be projected in a screen to see how it is similar or different to the information sheet that the professor gave them.
Assignment: Students will utilize the handout “The Structure of a Proposal” [sheet with the parts of a proposal and space to write in] to write their first draft of their proposal. This draft will be revised thoroughly in a peer review on the next time the class meets.
Title of the Course:
Complementing the learning of Poetry with Writing
Audience:
Students that are in 12th grade of high school and take this course as an advanced English course.
Course Description:
This course will be developed so that students who are in high school can explore poetry and begin the creative process of writing their own poetry. At the beginning of the course the students will read poetry from different authors from Puerto Rico as well as minorities in the United States. We as a class will develop themes in common among these writers and poems. This will lead the students to begin a writing process of their own poetry and their experiences.
Textbook:
There will be different books used in this course, books of poetry as reference to the different authors as well as a packet that will include biographical information about authors. Material provided from the students will count as creative material for the course.
Last Writing Activity:
This will consist of a book of poetry handed in by the students at the end of the semester as part of their final grade. This will not be complicated, it will consist of about five poems that the student will choose from their own writings (they will have plenty of samples) add an introduction and conclusion.
Lesson Plan Idea:
Throughout the semester students will be able to write their own poems and explore writings of other poets. It seems like a good idea to take the class out of the environment of the classroom, the class will be outside and they will be writing about one topic in specific for example Nature. A big part of the course will be based on Creative Writing but at the beginning of the course the teacher will assign the topics.
1. Title of the Course: The Worldwide Postcolonial Era: Post Colonial Writers and Identity
2. Audience of the Course: The context for this course would be college students from the UPR Rio Piedras Campus with an intermediate or high English proficiency level, in speaking and writing. In order for the course to be productive, students should have knowledge of certain topics like, politics, literary movements, human rights, etc.
3. Course Description: Throughout history Colonialism has affected not only Puerto Rico, but also other countries. Postcolonial writers address issues like, racism, identity, language, culture and traditions. Students will first understand the different meanings of “Postcolonial Literature” and why people end up thinking that is any type of literature written by a “colonized” author. In order to do this, students will read the most important “founding works” on the term Postcolonialism like, Aime Cesaire, Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon. After students understand the idea of the concept then we will focus more on the writers. Students will read authors from different countries, like Charles Baudelaire, Jamaica Kincaid, Martin Espada, Albizu Campos, Lolita Lebron, Wole Soyinka who is a very important Nigerian writer, and Derek Walcott, among others.
4. Textbook: Since the course its aim to understand Postcolonialism and the writers, we cannot read all the authors, so for the purpose of the course I will make my own teaching packet where the student have all the necessary readings; theories, short stories and poems.
5. Write a paragraph describing the last of the three writing assignments: As the last assignment students will do a research project with two of their favorite authors, and they will analyze and compare their point of views. In order to do this, students will use references from the theorists discussed in class.
Course:
Summon the Writer in You! (Title in current evaluation and open for suggestions because it sounds like a budu thing, je je…)
Audience:
This course is meant for ESL students who are in a basic level writing course at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. These are students who have a basic knowledge of the parts of a written piece.
Course Description:
Students will work with different genres of writing, such as essays and the different rhetorical modes, letters, poetry and short stories, among others. They will learn how to work with these genres and at the same time, come to an awareness of who they are as writers, and how do they represent themselves to others as writers.
Texts:
The course will use a pack, which will be a compilation of different materials from several resources. These will include basic information on the basics of writing essays, small guides for different types of poetry, short stories and letters, and guidelines for writing different rhetorical modes. All of these will come with theory, practice exercises and sample work from other writers.
Aim or Goal for this course:
The aim or goal for this course is to have students write a two-part piece. The first will consist of a biographical description of their journey in the process of finding themselves as a writer, and how they portray themselves as such. The second part will consist on an argumentative/persuasive piece of this same topic, in terms of how can they present themselves to others, and how can they convince others of their new found personality. It may be hard to get students who have not written a single piece to find themselves as writers, but this is the main goal of the entire course.
Sample Lesson Plan:
Pre-Writing Assessment
The activity for this class will have two goals. The first is for the students to reflect upon their previous encounters with writing, and the second will be for the professor to have an idea of which is the level the students are at. Students will have a handout with some guideline questions which they need to answer in what they believe are the basic parts of an essay or written piece. They have the entire class period to do this, and they are required 250 words minimum. Some of the guideline questions are: Which things have you written before (ex. essay, project, poem, love letter, etc.)? For what purpose did you write them (ex. class, a special someone, a friend, for yourself)? How do you feel about your writing abilities? Which are your strengths?
Centeno Vega, Lidsay X.
Title of the Course: Writing for the Future
Audience of the Course: Basic- Intermediate English Level High School Students
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to prepare high school students for writing for everyday situations. Many students are not college oriented; some rather dive into the work force as soon as they finish their high school careers. Therefore, this course is intended for high school students to practice writing for real life situations.
Textbook
• Searl, D. (2003). English Leading to Professions. Pearson Education, Inc.
• (2002) Prentice Hall writing for the real World: a Writer’s Companion. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Last Assignment
The students will begin with assignments as simple as creating check lists to as actually filling out job applications and ultimately creating resumes. The assignments given throughout the course will help the students with their final project which consists of creating an actual resume, filling out job applications and writing letters of application for possible job opportunities that they might be interested in.
Lesson Plan
One of many lesson plans devoted to this course will be dedicated to writing a resume. The teacher will give a list of details of what a resume consist of. After discussing what a resume should and shouldn’t include, the students will be handed an example of what a resume should look like and examine it for possible errors. They will finally put to the test to create their own resume.
Reaction to Sandra Soto
Sandra:
I think that your idea is great. You are using material that really calls the attention to your audience. But what will you do with does students who don’t watch does type of cartoons? Are you planning to give them like an introduction class about the chosen cartoons?
Todays youth is very visual, so I think that using cartoons will defenitely encourage them. Are you also planning to use some writings that have been done about the cartoons or just the cartoons themselves?
Good Luck!Nice Idea!
Stephanie
Reaction to Lidsay
I think this idea is great since I also believe that many high school classes just prepare you to keep on studying and very little to every day situations they will encounter. For example how to fill out a job application that is in English or how to write a Resume unless you attend a vocational school they are usually not taught any of these things which are also very helpful.
As a highschool teacher many of my students have asked me how they can write a Resume or what simply what a question in a job application means. Therefore I believe it is a great idea to teache this to our students.
Response to Gerardo Muniz:
I like your idea because I think that many students are not able to appreciate classic writers because they do not see the relevance that they have in modern culture. By establishing a connection between classic horror stories with maybe movies or contemporary writers they will be able to see that many images, characters and themes are still part of the entertainment industry. This will make them appreciate the creativity of classic writers. The part of your course description that interested me the most was when you say that it will analyze the elements that people feared in different eras. I believe it would be very interesting to conduct a study of psychology and see how the term fear has evolved through the years. Your last assignment I believe has a purpose and at the same time is extremely attractive for the students. There were some parts that I did not quite understand but the overall idea I think it is great.
Response to Cristina
Your writing class sounds very interesting. I think that high school students need these types of challenges in order to prepare them for the future. Another thing that you could add to your final project is to encourage students to publish their best work and do a book with their creative ideas. You should also mention that they will be involved in presenting ideas for the cover as well and the whole process of the publication. That will be a nice way to get them exited with the class
Sandra:
I like your idea very much, in fact, so much that I hit myself for not thinking of this. Anyways, when you say cartoon, I thought you meant cartoon strips that you find in newspapers or political commentary with a cartoon of a political figure head. Technically, what you are proposing is the use of animated cartoon show. Anyhow this is all technicality which is irrelevant to what you want to achieve. I can already think of how you can use South Park, a show famous for its short turn out time and topics that are relevant to the moment it air. You can ask your students to find an episode of south park (such as the one that involves euthanasia and Terry Shiavo, and have students compare Parker’s and Stone’s stance on this issue and those of other people from different media such as news, editorial, and even the President’s reaction to this issue.
Sharon:
Your idea sounds great and I’m all for the idea on teaching a class on post-colonialism. Maybe you can focus a bit more on post-colonial Puerto Rican literature and have them compare our post-colonial situation with other countries. the only problem with this is that there are hardly any Puerto Rican post colonial literature written in English.
Jessica:
Your creative writing course is completely different that the one the department offers to our students. After looking at the different types of writing that you listed, I found that poetry was out of place as you focus a lot more on new types of media. I would personally eliminate poetry and keep the other type of writing that you have listed so that the course may be more cohesive.
Reaction to Stefanie,
I really think that your idea is good, because when I came to the University we read this book called Conversations and I don’t remember what it was about but I actually don’t remember a profesor that said to us, okey this is a Persuasive Essay, and I want you to read it and try to take out the parts of a Persuasive essay as we have already studied. Then in class as a group discuss what we found. I really think that students do need the this is how it is done but I also believe that they need examples (more than one) and analyze it in depth. It is not enough to say okey students this is a persuasive essay and I want you to read it and analyze it on your own. I think that the teachers has to guide the discussion of what makes that essay persuasive and what are the elements and strong points of the essay. I thimk that it is a good idea to give them examples of what not to do as well.
Reaction to Fabiola.
I think your idea is very interesting due to you involve a different topic. Also the materials represent literary and social movements. You include in this course the dictator’s profile, it represents a social and political effervescence. Simultaneously the student can discover political conditions based on literature. The articulation with MLA workshop is a good strategy, so the students perceive better their assignments. The students will be expected to transform exclusive narratives point of view as in the case of Mario Vargas Llosa. Moreover,the value on critical thinking is manifested in the square of contrast; in that way students will discuss a political sequence agreements and disagreements.
Stephanie,
Yes. I will divide every rethorical mode into units and every unit will have its own cartoon. That is why I will create a DVD for the students so that they can familiarize with the different cartoons and episodes.
Karen,
Your idea is really creative and it serves its purpose well. I agree when you say that the mentality of most of your students at POPAC is that they do not need to learn the language. By developing a course that is directly related to their profession, they will see the connection between nursing and learning how to write in English. The course seems to complement their field of study well and hopefully it will motivate them more.
Jessica:
I think that your module is great for teaching a writing course, and it brings out the little author within the students minds which has to be of the utmost importance within the writing class. The diversity with which you layered the last assignment was very inventive and could really produce a great outcome in the process of their growth as writers.
Cristina:
Your implementation of creative writing in the poetry genre is something that students in the ESL realm need to learn about. The whole scope of the genre is very disturbing for students who have never encountered the poetics of the classics and for that reason is that this course will serve as a great stepping stone in their understanding of the literary genre. I particularly like the whole division of the course packet and the selected readings for the course where it is not from a cannon, yet you can choose which authors to read and who to not read in the class, mainly focused in their craft not their popularity. That is a suggestion that maybe could be useful or not.
Viviana,
I like the idea of your course. Sometimes students are more interested in some assignments if those are related to what they are studying. I have a few questions towards the last assignment. If I’m not mistaken the last assignment consist of three parts; writing a paper about their research to students who are majoring in the same area, another paper written explaining the research to students who are not majoring in that area and last giving a presentation of their topic to the whole class, right? Don’t you believe giving them three assignments as one; isn’t a little bit too much? I believe you should just focus on giving them one of those papers as assignment and the presentation as a part of it, but two papers and a presentation is too much.
Response to Yadira:
Hi! First of all your idea for the course is very creative! It caught my attention because the students will be able to expand their horizons in terms of their view of the world. Your course also allows students to identify with the culture or place they’ve chosen as their favorite. It encourages the students’ creativity which is good because you are asking them to do research and to find the information that they need on their own, which would make them more independent from their teachers.
Karen:
I agree with you in terms of students not been interested in the English language just because they think the class is all about grammar, sentence structures among other things. Just like you I believe students should be able to practice this language with tasks associated to their area of study, that way they will learn how to make their ideas be understood by other and communicate themselves better in the language.
Ahiesha:
Ahiesha
I think that your idea of integrating movies in to a writing course is excellent, but one thing that you should think about- what type of movies are you planning to show recent movies,5 years ago movies or movies that you know that the students have not seen. The problem with showing a recent movie is that many students have seen it, don’t like it, they know what’s going to happen and end up not paying attention. With 5 years ago movies- öh a saw this when I was some odd years old and its stupid and end up againg not paying attention. I consider that going retro- real retro is the best way to go- that’s just me and my way of thinking.
Food for thought!
I liked Karen’s idea of writing with a purpose for her nursing students. It seems that a lot of students dislike English clas because they see it as not having a purpose outside of the classroom. I think that if the students see just how much they use it on an everyday basis they wouldn’t be so against it.
Response to Linnette:
I have never taught seven grade but it seems that your course is an interesting one. First, you are starting with a personal narrative, which is an effective way to get students to lose the fear of writing; most of them feel it is impossible to write because they do not know much so imagine how it goes when it comes to writing in a language that is not their native one. Second, you continue with writing tales; I strongly believe it will be a very fruitful task; students at this age have an interesting type of creativity and might be able to develop great stories, settings and characters. Now, the one on a research paper I think will give you some headaches unless you do it step by step. Even in college it is tough for students to do their first research paper but it is because most of them have not done one before. Who knows? Maybe this idea of introducing the research paper earlier into the curriculum might benefit those who teach at the college level and those students who plan to continue studying beyond high school.
Response to Sandra/Yadira:
Sandra,
I really like your idea. Not only will students most certainly be interested in the material, but I also like the fact that the material can be adapted to suit students at a variety of proficency levels.
Also, the entire concept of the course requires to students to think critically and analyze these cartoons that are so familiar to them. For many students, I think they would see something they enjoy in a new light.
Yadira,
I think a course focusing on “Cultural Identity” would be really great, and I am especially interested in the “tourist” aspect you mention. I also think this could be adapted to be a “unit” in a middle/high school classroom.
One question: would the students have to do readings and writing about all the sections you mentioned, or are they only choosing one place to focus on for the entire course?
To: Jessica
What I think if that the students will do reading on all the sections but they will do writting in specific parts like their favarate place and the place where they visited. I think that the course will be like a Trip around the world so they can then put themselves in that world and describe themselves in light of all what they studied during the semester.