assignments ENGL301 Writing & The Teaching of Writing: Book Club
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com NOTE: All classes, student meetings, and open student hours (office hours) this semester will be held virtually via Zoom. Need to make an during a time that is not an open student hour? appointment? Let me know you want to meet by adding yourself to my google.doc appointment calendar here: https://goo.gl/3CqLf and I will send you a zoom link for the time you sign up for. |
Spring 2021 Open Hours for students (office hours):
T&R 11:00-12:30 W 11:00-12:00 F 3:00-4:00 and by appointment. Click here to attend ANY of the Open Hour for Students Zoom sessions listen above. HOW TO ATTEND ZOOM CLASS Click here to attend ENGL 301 Writing & the Teaching of Writing Click here to attend ENGL 344 Young Adult Literature Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop. |
OVERVIEW
This will be the major project after the midterm check in and will, hopefully, begin to answer the question most often asked by new reading/writing teachers: if we aren’t teaching grammar, how do we teach writing? Book club is also a moment, in a class filled with theories of writing, to take a moment to understand theories of reading and the intimate connection between the two. This is valuable because ELA in K-12 is, primarily, a reading class. As we discussed in class, for each of the book clubs in class (I think there are four), I'll make available to you a short piece of writing--either a piece of short fiction or a poem to read in-class.
We will use book clubs to delve in to the important connections between reading and writing. We will also consider the role conversation plays as well. Besides the journals, you will meet regularly in class with your small group of classmates to discuss what you think about the texts we read. You'll experience a variety of kinds of prompts from specific to wide-open and consider which are most useful. You'll have the chance to experience a "book club" online as well--an asynchronous book club essentially. At the end of the club, you will write a brief analysis of the connections between reading, writing, and collaboration you made during the book club experience.To help you in this, you will have read some material on Reading Theory during the course of the book club.Finally, you will think about how being a good reader translates into being a good teacher of reading and the role writing plays in teaching reading.
WHAT TO DO DURING EACH BOOK CLUB
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THE BOOK: BOOK CLUB REFLECTION
When we are finished reading the book, you will write a 1000 word, typed, reflection that analyzes the following:
HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED FOR BOOK CLUB
Book Club is worth 15% of you final grade for this class. In order to earn a "B" for that 15% you must:
In order to earn an "A" for the 15% of your grade that is book club, you must:
If you do not meet the requirements for a "C" grade in book club, you will earn and "F" for the 15% of your final grade that book club represents.
This will be the major project after the midterm check in and will, hopefully, begin to answer the question most often asked by new reading/writing teachers: if we aren’t teaching grammar, how do we teach writing? Book club is also a moment, in a class filled with theories of writing, to take a moment to understand theories of reading and the intimate connection between the two. This is valuable because ELA in K-12 is, primarily, a reading class. As we discussed in class, for each of the book clubs in class (I think there are four), I'll make available to you a short piece of writing--either a piece of short fiction or a poem to read in-class.
We will use book clubs to delve in to the important connections between reading and writing. We will also consider the role conversation plays as well. Besides the journals, you will meet regularly in class with your small group of classmates to discuss what you think about the texts we read. You'll experience a variety of kinds of prompts from specific to wide-open and consider which are most useful. You'll have the chance to experience a "book club" online as well--an asynchronous book club essentially. At the end of the club, you will write a brief analysis of the connections between reading, writing, and collaboration you made during the book club experience.To help you in this, you will have read some material on Reading Theory during the course of the book club.Finally, you will think about how being a good reader translates into being a good teacher of reading and the role writing plays in teaching reading.
WHAT TO DO DURING EACH BOOK CLUB
- Write your book club journal. At the start of each book club (held in class, see the syllabus for dates), you will write a reading journal that will chronicle your process of making meaning for the texts you read. Trying to accommodate this online has been tricky. The process I've settled on is setting up one google.doc that acts like a kind of private discussion board for your group. You'll post your book club journal there along with your group members. You'll be able to read and comment on them prior to the group discussion.
- Share your written responses. In break out room, you'll meet in small groups for a group discussion where you will talk about what you have read/written about. See above about the google.docs (I will set that up for you).
- Just plain talk about the text. Figure out what you don’t understand. Try to come to a group consensus about what you think the text is all about. Find proof in the text to support it. Argue a little, in a spirited but civil kind of way. Try to enjoy yourselves.
- Turn all of the writing you do for book club to me by the end of class.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THE BOOK: BOOK CLUB REFLECTION
When we are finished reading the book, you will write a 1000 word, typed, reflection that analyzes the following:
- what you noticed about your own set of reading practices, again, considering the supplementary reading we’ll have discussed;
- what role writing played in either of the above;
- what you noticed about conversation and your group experience and your understanding of the text.
- what you noticed about the way the prompts or the medium for writing shaped how you came to understand the text.
- what you feel like you've learned about how to help students be better readers of texts in a future classroom.
HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED FOR BOOK CLUB
Book Club is worth 15% of you final grade for this class. In order to earn a "B" for that 15% you must:
- Attend and participate in all of the book club meetings scheduled on the syllabus, including the "online" book club.
- Complete all of the book club journals required for each book club meeting in ways that demonstrates that you've read the material and that you are thinking about the texts the way an advanced English major would.
- Produce a book club final reflection that meets the requirements of the final book club reflection described above
In order to earn an "A" for the 15% of your grade that is book club, you must:
- Do all of the things outlined in "A"
- Demonstrate in your book club journals that you understand what the class readings on reading theory tell you about how we make meaning (and help people make meaning) in a text.
- Demonstrate in your final book club reflection what you understand about the application of reading theory to helping students be better readers thoughtfully and with some depth.
- Attend most of the book club meetings scheduled on the syllabus, including the "online" book club.
- Produce a book club final reflection that meets the requirements of the final book club reflection described above.
If you do not meet the requirements for a "C" grade in book club, you will earn and "F" for the 15% of your final grade that book club represents.