Rhetoric and Composition, Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day! Thank you for your patience. The Costal twins are getting better each day.

God willing...I will be in class on Wednesday...a big, public thank you to my friend, mentor and family advocate, the great Pam Cross on the assist, don't get too used to the love or the "Pam Cross Experience."





CLASS:

View video on Swat Valley in Pakistan.

Now...

I have graded formal essay one and will have it returned to you by Wednesday. The GOOD NEWS is that many of them contained great, concrete supporting details. Nice work! There were some very vivid submissions that SHOWED and never TOLD.

BAD NEWS: One consistent issue I have noticed concerns sentence structure. Many of you are writing multi-clausal sentences that are either run-ons or fragments. Many of them are also improperly punctuated and contained definite errors in parallelism. On Wednesday, as we catch up on...well, EVERYTHING...we'll dive into Hacker and take a look at some common problems. In the meantime, I would like you to use class time to do a little editing activity on your Skube papers that may help you address some of your more awkwardly constructed sentences.

So...

1. Get into families and pair up with the family member you did NOT work with last time. 

2. Sit beside your partner, not face-to-face.

3. One partner is the writer first and one is the proofreader first.

4. The writer has a pen for correcting. The proofreader does not.

5. The writer places the paper where both partners can clearly see it and reads aloud, beginning with the last sentence in the paper, continuing with the next to the last, and so on through the paper. The proofreader watches the paper intently and listens carefully to exactly what the writer reads, noting differences between the spoken and written words. Back to front reading prevents the writer and proofreader from getting caught up in the voice or narrative of the text, making it easier to concentrate on recognizing sentence errors. This method of reading also makes it easier to find sentence fragments, which are frequently phrases or clauses that should be attached to the previous sentence.

6. While reading, the writer makes any noticeable corrections. If the proofreader notes a discrepancy between what is being read and what appears on the paper, one that the writer fails to note, the proofreader MUST interrupt the writer in order to point out the discrepancy.
7. The writer must make the final decision on all proposed changes.

8. This process continues until the paper is completely proofread. Then, the partners reverse roles and repeat the process.

Professor Cross will begin this process with you in class. Feel free to utilize the classroom space after she dismisses you at 4:30pm. There is a class in our classroom at 6pm.

READ:

1. RF should be read through Chapter 7.

WRITE:

1. React as Journal # 3 for homework. First discuss your general feelings about the piece, then discuss the ways in which it relates to the reading.

2. Three, count 'em, three revisions of Skube should be in class Wednesday, ready for submission.