assignments ENGL 101 Writing Rhetorically: PARTNER INTERVIEW mini-paper
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com Fall 2020 Open Hours for students (office hours): M 12:30-2:00 W 10:00-11:00, 3:00-4:00 Th 10:00-11:00 and by appointment. |
NOTE: All classes, student meetings, and open hours (office hours) this Fall 2020 will be held virtually.
Links to Open Hour for Students Zoom sessions: For Monday Open Hours, click here. For Wednesday Open Hours @ 10:00, click here. For Wednesday Open Hours @3:00, click here. For Thursday Open Hours, click here. Need to make an during a time that is not an office 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. |
Overview
Every class needs an icebreaker, even though everyone absolutely hates them. So just to try to make it a little more awful--no, kidding, really, to to try to make it more useful, our icebreaker is meant to help you help you to see the process for how most of the assignments in our class will go (it also will show you what you'll need to do for the paper you will write in the second half of the semester). And, of course, it will help you to make a connection with at least one other person in our class and, also, to just generally know the people you will spend the next 15 weeks with--because we all have a story, and those stories affect who we are and how we react and participate in any given situation including a class. Also: prizes (see below).
Once you've completed this assignment, I will post your partner introduction to our class website on a "class profile page." I'll ask each of you for a picture of yourself--or some image that you want to represent you. This is a way for all of us to know who the other person is a little bit better. It's a way to bridge the virtual gap that our online class creates.
Details
In order to write this short introduction of your partner you have to gather two kinds of information then you've got to put it together into a mini-essay.
You'll have two class periods to work on this with your partner. You'll be randomly assigned using the break out function in Zoom. You'll have a chance to do a little workshopping on your paper. And, as I said above, I'll post it to our class website, and ask you for an image to accompany the profile that your partner writes about you.
Format Rules
Prizes!
Once the profiles are posted, you'll read all of your classmates profiles. Everyone will have a voting ballot with everyone's name on it. As a class, you will vote for the following categories:
Every winner gets his or her choice of a 10 dollar Dunkin' Donuts gift card or a 10 dollar gift certificate to the campus book store.
Every class needs an icebreaker, even though everyone absolutely hates them. So just to try to make it a little more awful--no, kidding, really, to to try to make it more useful, our icebreaker is meant to help you help you to see the process for how most of the assignments in our class will go (it also will show you what you'll need to do for the paper you will write in the second half of the semester). And, of course, it will help you to make a connection with at least one other person in our class and, also, to just generally know the people you will spend the next 15 weeks with--because we all have a story, and those stories affect who we are and how we react and participate in any given situation including a class. Also: prizes (see below).
Once you've completed this assignment, I will post your partner introduction to our class website on a "class profile page." I'll ask each of you for a picture of yourself--or some image that you want to represent you. This is a way for all of us to know who the other person is a little bit better. It's a way to bridge the virtual gap that our online class creates.
Details
In order to write this short introduction of your partner you have to gather two kinds of information then you've got to put it together into a mini-essay.
- Basic Facts. These are the easiest things to get out of a person. Things like when you were born and where. If you have siblings. Where you went to high school. Favorites: food, movie, TV show, book, whatever. Hobbies. Dumb interesting facts. Major. Thing they can't stand the smell of. This isn't a complete list, but, you know what I mean. You want to know just the kinds of things that identify a person.
- A story or two that really tells you something about who this person is. This is much harder. People are often super bad about telling stories about themselves. You might ask your partner to tell you a story that their family or friends always tells about themselves. That can be a good place to start. Proudest moment story? Most embarrassing moment story? Best school story? Worst? Story that involves adventure? Story that is about summer time stuff? Stories about you and your family?
Here's the thing: at first, this part is going to be hard, but once you get started you'll get some good stories and that will form the basis of your introduction. Because that is the key to this assignment: you want to tell a story about your partner that tells the class something about who they are, what they care about, what matters to them, etc. - Once you've gathered enough stuff about your partner, write a 250 word introduction of your partner. That's not very long at all. It can't really be longer because the introduction should be interesting to a reader who is reading this on the web. It should focus on one or maybe two stories about this person and it should revolve around a thesis--a main idea or main point--about what you've learned about this person and how this story proves this main point.
You'll have two class periods to work on this with your partner. You'll be randomly assigned using the break out function in Zoom. You'll have a chance to do a little workshopping on your paper. And, as I said above, I'll post it to our class website, and ask you for an image to accompany the profile that your partner writes about you.
Format Rules
- Have a title to your partner profile. Don't bold or Italicize your own title. Title should be the same size and font as rest of paper. Title should be centered on the page after your name/date info.
- For the purposes of the workshop, double-space your writing in a google.doc or other shareable format. I know google.docs best, but I'm fine with whatever you chose as long as you know how to easily share it. Make sure you use the "share" function in google.docs and get a "anyone with this link can edit" link that you copy and paste into the chat in zoom for your partner to use.
- When it is time to turn in your final draft: Make sure you use the "share" function in google.docs and get a "anyone with this link can edit" link that you copy and paste into an email to me. In ONE google.doc, have both your original draft that you had for the workshop, the one with the comments you and your workshop partner made on it, as well as the final, revised draft with your in-class self-reflection on it.
- Your picture needs to be a .jpeg file that I can post to the class profile page for our class.
Prizes!
Once the profiles are posted, you'll read all of your classmates profiles. Everyone will have a voting ballot with everyone's name on it. As a class, you will vote for the following categories:
- Best Information/story
Who's got the best story out of their interview partner and has done the best job of using the other information to give us a complete picture of this classmate. - Best duo
What two classmates do an equally great job of telling each others' stories. - Funniest
Who made us laugh - Best Overall
Who did just a great job all around: good story, good facts, wasn't boring when they were reading. They had a clear main idea and all of their information supported it.
Every winner gets his or her choice of a 10 dollar Dunkin' Donuts gift card or a 10 dollar gift certificate to the campus book store.