Writing Samples -- What's Wrong Here???

LEARNING CYCLE: Finding Out the Rules



enagage: I'm always engaging ;-)


TASK 1 (explore):

Read the following writing samples, and note down any mistakes you may find on a piece of paper. You have five minutes. Then, we'll talk in class about the mistakes we've found. One student will write them on the board as a bullet-pointed list of categories. Question: Who, you think, has written those examples (age, group of society)?


EXAMPLE 1

When entering a university or college, most students parents put a word or two into their child ear. If the student listen, its on him or her. But the advice your parents usually give you is right. Most students are introduce to drugs and alcohle and is put with the delima should they use it. Then start to think back at what they parent told them. They let it float in one ear and out the other.


EXAMPLE 2

As the showed end for that week my friends and I were preparing to leave, but stop to socialize like everyoneelse was doing. For some strange reason we were singled out. "Gentlemen, cross the street", yelled the officer. We kept talking because we didn't know if he was referring to us. "Get off the property and cross the street", yelled the officer. So, I turned around and gestured to my friends lets leave and as we were crossing the street me friend Theron got snatched up by an officer for no reason. The officer grabbed him threw him up against a car and twisted his arm behind his back for no reason. Theron ask what did he do and he said, "Shut up, your getting arrested tonight", and handcuffed him. Naturally, as friends we tried to help; in all the comotion my friend Chris got hancuffed also. So, they took Theron and Chris back inside the building.



TASK 2 (expand):

Each student on his/her own: Read over the handout "Appendix A: Student Writing Samples and Analyses" which I will distribute. The introduction will tell you who wrote these samples. This lesson is not about discrimination, but about learning of a totally different language including grammar, which has its pros and cons. Pick two to three additional writing samples (you can do more if you're very fast), looking for different "mistakes." In the following, we won't call them "mistakes" any more, but "deviations from Standard English." Add them to our class list on the board (with sample words). You have 10 minutes.



TASK 3 (explain):

Get together in groups of 4, and pick up 1-2 sharpies and a poster page. Use chapter II which I will distribute, "What Are the Distinctive Features...?", and create a poster with a well-organized overview of the distinctive features, including short samples. You can use our previously created category list, too. Just make sure it is a brief overview and fits on one page of your poster. You have 15-20 minutes. Write all your group's members' names on the BACK of your poster, so I can grade it after class!

HINT: You can assign different sub-chapters to each of your group's members, to work faster. This way, you won't all have to read the same text, but can delegate the topics.

Hang up your poster, and present it briefly to the class. (evaluation; assessment)






THE NEXT BLOG TEXT is the handout "What Is...?" which I will distribute in class. If you're not present today, pick it up from the mailbox outside my office door in FANER 3202B where I always leave all handouts distributed in class.

THE BLOG SUMMMARY is due on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd, and will be done by Andre Dyson.

Everybody's BLOG RESPONSE can be posted as soon as his summary is published on Wednesday, and is due on Friday, Sept. 4th, before class time.



NOTE:
Deadline for each blog response is ALWAYS the time a new blog summary appears online. I am NOT going back to search for belatedly added comments (unless you were sick and brought me an official excuse). That means, you can post to Laura Treat's summary about "Sharpening" until Andre Dyson has published his "What Is...?" After that, I won't look at the old entries any more, so you won't get any points for late assignments. You can post to Andre's summary until the next one, due on Friday, Sept. 4th, by Alex Rude, appears online. I will distribute this text on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd.

EXCEPTION: If one of the people who do the summary decides to post before his/her deadline, for example, today instead of next Wednesday, that's fine, but your response (= comment) still won't be due before next class time, because that would have been the real due date. If you want to, you can respond earlier.