English 1550 (Thursday, Oct. 20)

1. Class:

* Distributed conference sign-up sheets.

* Briefly reviewed argumentative essay and worker portrait assignments.

* Read additional worker portraits on the Center for Working-Class Studies website.

* Discussed some formatting elements of the worker portrait assignment (like point of view, quote presentation, intended audience).

* Split into small groups and talked about/informally presented important dates in Youngstown's history (based on "Steeltown USA" readings).

2. Class analysis:

Karen began class by making sure students knew exactly what was coming up (and when) in the course. Students signed up for next week's conferences, and Karen reviewed the final two major assignments. I liked the way that Karen compared and contrasted the assignments, making her guidelines and requirements absolutely clear. I think this was helpful, especially because many students initially seemed confused and overwhelmed. Reading more worker portraits in class also appeared to be beneficial, although students still struggled to understand what exactly was expected of them for the assignment. I think that a few students left class today not knowing how to approach the worker portrait. Perhaps it's just so different from anything that they've ever written before ... or could it be that, for the most part, they don't read the newspaper, a place that they'd find examples of portraits or profiles? Regardless of the reason, students seemed unsure of the assignment, so it'll be interesting to see what their rough drafts look like.

3. Class implementation:

I particularly like Karen's use of group work in the classroom (and especially in the computer lab). During today's conference with Dr. Ball for Teaching of Writing, we discussed a situation I might come across in my spring 2012 English 1550 classroom: having an "Emmalee" as a student. I've pretty much always been the type of student who prefers to listen to others rather than volunteer my thoughts (although I occasionally will, especially if prompted). Dr. Ball made a good point, though: Other students miss out on what those quiet students have to say. He also noted that group work is a good solution, so I'll definitely work on incorporating it into my course.

COMMENTS:

* Guy Shebat: I think you can safely assume that students don’t, generally, read newspapers these days. Maybe, then, you want to build doing so into one of your assignments? There are loads of Jambars around every day. You could easily pick up 50 of them and distribute them for class. Just a thought. Yes – respecting the ‘quiet, diligent’ Emmalees in your class is important – not everyone has to be vocal to be participating (and/or benefitting) from a writing course.