June 5

Today, we began by talking about the workshops.

What went well?

• Communicating with your peers
• We gave constructive criticism
• Hearing the paper read by somebody else
• It helped hearing what in the paper needed to change
• No one was critical
• Whenever someone said something, we took it to heart.  We respected each other’s opinions.
• There was positive feedback.  They didn’t give criticism in a negative way.  Everyone was open to the critique.
• Everything was saying things in a positive way.

If you think someone’s paper is really good, what can you do to still help that person?

• Encourage them
• Explore the paper in different angles
• Go back to the assignment
• Ask a question about something that isn’t in the paper and might want to add
• Ask about the writer’s concerns

 Then, we completed the writing into the day (see slide on the PowerPoint 55).

Megan showed the class how to submit the second draft of the Definition Essay on Moodle.

1. Go to the week of June 3-June 6.  Under Thursday, it will say "Second draft of Definition Essay." Click it.
2. Click "Submit Assignment."
3. Click "Add"
4. Click "Browse"
5. Find the file of your second draft and double click it.
6. Click "Upload."
7. Click "Save Changes."
8. Click "Submit Assignment."

We walked through each of the 6 characteristics from the reading last night and clarified what each one means:

1. A discourse community has the goals the whole community is working toward.
2. A discourse community has some way (or ways) of talking to each other.
3. The communication in a discourse community serves a purpose - to provide information about the community and to provide feedback about whether each member is fitting into the community
4. A discourse community has genres (ways of getting things done with communication) and those genres are used to work toward the goals.
5. A discourse community has specialized vocabulary.
6. A discourse community has both experts and new members.  There is always a ratio of both experts and new members.

We then discussed the next assignment, the Discourse Communities Comparison (see the syllabus for assignment description.)  The easiest way to organize it will be to describe the first community and it's writing and then move to the second community and its writing.  There will be no overt compare and contrasting.  You will let the read assume what the similarities and differences are as they read the descriptions in your paper.

• The first draft of this assignment is due on June 12.  It will be 30 points.  You will turn the first draft in on your blog and bring it to class for workshopping.
• The second draft of this assignment is due on June 17.  It will also be 30 points.  You will turn in this draft on your blog and on Moodle.  Megan will comment on the second draft.
• The final draft is due on July 8 (the end of the semester).  This draft will be 40 points.

We did independent writing answering the questions on slides 56-58.

Finally, we talked about the grading for tonight's homework (see PowerPoint slide 59).

Homework:

• Post your second draft of the definition essay to Moodle and to your blog.
• Answer the questions for the Self Assessment Reflection on your blog.