Work for Wednesday, 15 October

My back spasmed again this morning getting out of the shower, so I'll not be able to make it in to teach or for office hours; instead, I'll be alternating hot and cold packs and be on my back--again. This doesn't mean you can't be learning and making progress.

Over the weekend, you finished a draft of the section of your reflective essay dealing with what you have learned to date. Also, you wrote a paragraph in which you let me know what I could do to help you learn better, and you completed a prewriting exercise on a section of the reflective essay in which you discussed your performance in the class.

For Friday, I would like you to bring all your work together by producing a unified draft of the entire reflection essay which includes all three sections, that is,

1) A discussion of your performance;
2) a discussion of what you have learned;
3) some ideas on what I could do to help you learn more or better.

Share this draft with your group and with me using google documents and bring two hard copies to class on Friday. The reflective essay is meant to help you develop something called a metadiscouse--an ability to reflect on and think objectively and systematically about your learning and your writing, what you are doing well, and what you can improve. Much of college is learning how to learn on your own, and developing a metadiscouse is essential to developing this skill.

When completing your draft, make sure to make clear claims, explain your claims, and then back them up using examples, quotations from what you have written, the work you have done, and analysis of each. Remember, your goal isn't to just tell me about your performance or what you have learned. Your goal is to show me what you have learned and to show me what you say about your performance is true. Use examples and analysis to show, not just tell.

Second, you should have read Peter Elbow's "Writing for Teachers" over the weekend. Be prepared to discuss the article. When thinking about it, you might remember your primary audience for your reflective essay is me, your teacher. Think about how the reflective essay is like and differs from the examples described by Elbow. We'll discuss this question in class on Friday.

Steve