June 5

Today, we began by talking about the workshops.

What went well?

• Taking constructive criticism
• Everyone respond to the opinions well
• We had good input and feedback from the group interaction
• It was phenomenal.  There was a great energy in the room.  The feedback was genuine.  It felt like they were really trying to help me.  They made sure you understood why they were giving particular feedback.  It gave me a better sense of control over my writing and I also saw the vision for my paper.
• The group members helped me broaden my horizons in my commentary.
• I appreciated the energy too.  It was helpful criticism.  They pointed out where I contradicted myself.  It was useful.  We were helping each other understand what points were trying to be made.
• You can apply the suggestions made about others’ papers to your own paper.
• I enjoyed the group chemistry.
• When the group could not come to a consensus, they pulled Megan over.  That was fruitful because otherwise it could have shut down the workshop or become an argument. 
• I liked the participation.  Everyone in the group participated 110%.  It was a lot of feedback and the time disappeared.  There was so much input and so much thought put into that one paper… that one paragraph.  We lost track of time.  Everyone was focused on what we were doing.
• It opened my eyes to things because I began to look, read and dissect the paper so I could understand that relevance of the group workshop.
• It pushed me to do better in my own paper.
• There was technical help I needed and was able to get.
• Reading it aloud really helped.  It gives a mirror back on myself.  It lets me know what didn’t sound right.

We had a big debate on Monday about focus on grammar as opposed to content.  What did you focus on during the actual workshop?

• We ended up looking at content mostly.
• We looked at both.  We had different perspectives.  One person was really focused on content.  One person was also looking at structure and sentence level concerns.  We had a mix of both.
• It was spread out as far as structure and ideas.  No one person focused on one particular thing.  Collectively, we came together and we focused on all of it.
• We didn’t focus on grammar at all.  We made sure that we were answering the questions.

 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.

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