Day 3: Simplicity

I really didn't feel like teaching today and was dreading putting together my class plan. So, today ended up being a pleasant surprise. I ended up writing my assignment a mere 2 hours before teaching but yesterday's conversation at the TA meeting must have gotten my mind working in my sleep because I'm pretty happy with the outcome. (I also (ahem) borrowed heavily from Erica and Chloe's assignment).

I think what was weighing me down when I was thinking about class today was feeling like I had so much to get done. But then I had a moment of clarity: there's time next week and the rest of the quarter, just take one thing at a time.

So, today I concentrated on approaches to dealing with texts (this will feed into approaches to reading your own writing as we go).

Had enough time to brainstorm identities/communities and writing associated with them to help the students prepare for their essays.

Here is the class plan I used:
Qw: Describe the experience of reading this essay. What surprised you? Interested you? What did you struggle with? If you struggled, what did you do to deal with this difficulty?

Reading as a writer: How to approach text -- Discuss

1. What’s the writer’s project?
a. Why do you think I might propose the term project instead of thesis or main idea?
2. What’s at stake?
3. What are the key words or concepts?

Pairs – address these questions, take notes, have specific places in the text to go to
Class discussion

Assignment -- discuss