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
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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