I salute you, oh fearless grammar leader!  :-)
 

Linda Comerford
317.786.6404
[log in to unmask]
www.comerfordconsulting.com <http://www.comerfordconsulting.com/> 
 

  _____  

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carol Morrison
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2011 2:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: First Day Icebreakers for College English



After collecting and typing up the responses to the "Round Robin" writing
activity on day #1 of my classes, I discovered that over 75% of students
indicated in their responses that learning grammar or improving their
grammar was one of the primary learning objectives they had for taking the
course. I found this response particularly engaging:
 
"The reason I am taking this course is to better my knowledge of writing in
a mature, grammatically correct manner. I hope for this class to help me
express my creative ideas on paper and to be understandable for the leader.
I want to learn how to better connect ideas."
 
I am now the fearless grammar leader.
 
Carol Morrison
Commander-in-Chief of Grammar 
 

--- On Thu, 8/18/11, Claudia Kiburz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:



From: Claudia Kiburz <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: First Day Icebreakers for College English
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 5:39 PM


You can always do a round robin. Each students get a start to a story or
essay. Each students writes for a designated time and then passes it along
to the person next to him. There is no need to finish a sentence. The next
person just reads the essay and continues on. Starters might be:
This semester in this class I expect to learn ...
When I am writing, I always have problems with ...
Some things I want to know about my teacher are ...
The reasons that I am taking this course are ...
Some grammar point I find daunting are ...
Some things which I really value are ...

You can have each student initial their input or you could hand out a
variety of colored pens. This depends on your class size. Or you could leave
the pieces anonymous. At the end of the year, you could revisit them and see
if students can guess who wrote the comments.
  





  _____  

From: Carol Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 4:59 PM
Subject: First Day Icebreakers for College English



The days are flying by as I rapidly approach the first day of class on 8/31,
and I am trying to think of a good first day plan for introducing myself and
my courses to the students. My final schedule will now be (2) sections of
COMP 101 and (1) section of Basic Writing. Aside from handing out the
syllabus, and introducing myself to the class, do any of you have some good
ideas for day #1? We used to do a diagnostic essay, but the college has done
away with that, which I am relieved about for many reasons: mock "grading"
or commenting on student writing before class has even commenced and also
the idea that this essay will somehow diagnose what illnesses the students'
writing suffers from or what might plague it. Another term that has been
used is "writing sample," which I also find off-putting, maybe because it
conjures up the image of a urine sample which will be tested to see if it
comes out "clean." Anyway, I think the first day is important for many
reasons: it is the first impression the students will have of me as their
instructor and also can be a deal breaker for some students who will drop
after the first day if they don't like what they experience. Any ideas? I am
also presuming at least half of the students will not have purchased texts,
so I don't want to dive right into that the first day. 
Thanks so much. 
Carol Morrison 
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