Group Activities

                                         

A. BASIC GROUP ACTIVITIES

1. MAKING A SPEECH: If you were giving the type of paper discussed in your chapter as a speech, who would be a primary type of audience?  Imagine this audience and then write a rough-draft speech following the directions in the activity immediately above ("Developing a Rough Draft").
    

2. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY: Complete one of the exercises here or in your chapter's "Activities" page.  However, imagine you are in a business, work, or other professional situation, real or imaginary.
    

3. PERSONAL ACTIVITY: Complete one of the exercises here or in your chapter's "Activities" page.  However, imagine that you are communicating it to and/or about a close friend or relative, or a group of them.
       

4. SPEECH ABOUT THE CHAPTER: As a group, develop the outline of a speech or oral/visual presentation you could give based on the information you learned in the chapter you are reading.  Then answer these questions: How would this type of paper given as a public or work-related speech or oral/visual presentation differ from its written form?  How could you add to it to make it more interesting to your listeners?  What would you have to do in a speech that you would not have to do in turning in a paper?  On what occasions or for what purposes would an oral/visual presentation of this nature be appropriate? 
    

5. IMAGINARY RESEARCH: What kinds of resources--library and/or online--would you use to write the type of paper as described in the chapter you are reading?  Detail what the sources would be, and why.  Then make an imaginary list of such sources: provide imaginary details such as the authors' names, the titles of the sources, their publishers, etc.  Then make a simple outline of this type of paper using the subtitles suggested for the body sections in the chapter you are reading.  Finally, provide one or more imaginary quotations, complete with quotation marks and authors' names, for each body section.  (This exercise can be done with real sources, as well.) 
         

6. ONLINE ACTIVITY: Develop a small online group by exchanging email addresses or by going to a bulletin board meant for your group activity.  Then complete one of the exercises above as an individual, with your coordinator starting it: do so either in an email to everyone in your group or in a bulletin board "Discussion."  When the designated time for emailing or posting this first step is over, read each other's results and write a positive, helpful response to one or more of the other messages you receive: you may, for example, describe in detail what you like best; describe in a fair, balanced way how you might respond as a reader; or critique a response constructively by suggesting what could be added to make it even better.  (This exercise also can be done in non-online environments: either in class or as part of a combined at-home and in-class activity.)
    

7. INTERNET RESEARCH: Read the chapter you have been assigned, along with its samples, first.  Then, in groups of two or three people, use a search engine (e.g., www.google.com) to find other descriptions or examples of the type of paper discussed in the chapter.  Then make a list describing similarities and differences between this chapter and its samples and what you have found on the Internet.
    

8. INTERVIEW: As a group, interview someone in person who writes the types of papers discussed in your assigned chapter as part of his or her professional work.  Make a list of five to ten questions to ask this person beforehand (for example, "What purpose does this type of paper accomplish in your profession," "What does it mean to you personally," "How often are professionals/students in this field expected to write such papers," "What are your steps," "What is the typical pattern or sections of such a paper," "What happens after the paper is turned in," etc.).
        

9. Also see "Twenty-five Group Activities by Genre/Type."

   

B. ADVANCED GROUP ACTIVITIES

1. CRITICAL THINKING (Audience): Complete one of the exercises above in connection with your assigned chapter.  Then pass the paper on to another group.  Evaluate the paper you receive by choosing to play the role, serious or silly, of someone negatively affected by the paper: be as creative as you wish.  (You only need to pretend that you are affected negatively, no matter what you personally believe.)  For example, you might choose to play the role of someone who believes the opposite, a person affected by the writing physically or emotionally, a boss or employee, etc.).  Then fairly, gently, but thoroughly disagree or otherwise explain why you oppose the paper. 
    

2. CRITICAL THINKING (Rubric): After you have read the assigned chapter and have written rough drafts, develop a simple, easy-to-use, three- to six-point grading/scoring system using the page from this Web titled "Rubrics."  You may develop a rubric just for the content and supporting detail alone, or you may develop a rubric for an overall grading system for a finished paper ready for grading.
     

3. GROUP CRITIQUING USING CRITICAL THINKING: Break into groups of four to five people.  First, use "Rubrics" to develop a three- to six-point grading/scoring system (as in "Critical Thinking (Rubric)" immediately above).  Then, in small groups, grade/score each others' assigned papers so that each paper has three or four final scores on it--one each from three or four readers.  When you write the score of each paper, do so lightly in pencil on the back sheet of the paper so that the next reader cannot see the score as he/she reads the paper.
    

4. CRITICAL THINKING: As a group, complete one of the critical thinking activities in "D. Advanced Individual Activities," below.
        

5. Also see "Twenty-five Group Activities by Genre/Type."
        

6. Also see "Critical-Thinking Activities."

Return to beginning.

Individual Activities

   

C. BASIC INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITIES

1. JOURNALING:  Keeping a journal about your reading of your assigned chapter is an excellent method of thinking about it and preparing to write  this type of paper. Here are some journaling questions you could discuss:  
    
   (a) What information in the chapter is new to you, what is old, and what information helps you make connections to other classes or to people, work, or personal experience?
   (b) In your opinion, what are the points most helpful to you?  What points might be most helpful to others in the class or in other classes?
   (c) If you had this chapter to read over again, what would you keep the same, what would you add or change, and why?  How would you continue or add to it, if you were the author?
   (d) Who are some people—roommates, friends, family, other students, coworkers, or managers—with whom you might share this chapter? Why? What would you discuss with them after having shared it? What might be their responses, and yours in return?
   (e) What are one or more ways in which you think you might be able to write a paper using this chapter?  In what ways might you have difficulty doing so? How could you resolve some of those difficulties?
     

2. PERSONAL ACTIVITIES: Read your assigned chapter.  Then choose one exercise from the "Groups" section, above, but write about yourself--or someone or something involved in your own life--in detail.  Use any parts and/or steps requested in the activity above.  Be objective. 
    

3. USING FEELINGS: Read your assigned chapter.  Then write freely and quickly (brainstorm/freewrite), but instead of being strictly objective, choose something intensely emotional or personal (if this is acceptable to your instructor).  When you are finished, consider whether it can be revised to fit the requirements of this type of paper and, if it can, how.
    
4. A FINAL DRAFT: Read your assigned chapter.  Then complete a more organized, finished version of a writing activity, above, that you already have done in rough draft form, whether individually or in a group.  Include appropriate paragraphs, body sections, an introduction, a conclusion, a title, and--if your instructor/supervisor requests it--subtitles.  

    

D. ADVANCED INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITIES

1. GENERAL ACTIVITIES: Read your assigned chapter.  Then, as an individual, complete one of the exercises above in "Groups" section "B."
    
2. PROFESSIONAL SAMPLES/RESEARCH: Read your assigned chapter.  Then find a physical, printed copy--one that you can mark--of a professional sample of the type of paper discussed in the chapter.  Do so with the help of a librarian or supervisor.  Break this professional sample into the parts as described in any group exercise above that asks for body sections or steps, or as described in this chapter's "Introduction" or "Basics" sections.  Then write about what you found.  
    
3. INTERVIEW: Read your assigned chapter.  Then, as an individual, interview someone in person who writes the chapter's type of paper in his or her own professional work.  Follow the suggestions in "Interview" in the group activities above.  Make a list of five to ten questions to ask this person beforehand (for example, "What purpose does this type of paper accomplish in your profession," "What does it mean to you personally," "How often are professionals/students in this field expected to write such papers," "What are your steps," "What is the typical pattern or sections of such a paper," "What happens after the paper is turned in," etc.).
         
4. COMPARISON/CONTRAST: Read your assigned chapter.  Then answer the following questions.  What kinds of papers that you already know how to write are similar to the chapter's type of paper?  What kinds clearly are different or opposite, and why or how?  Discuss these similarities and differences, giving examples and/or commentary on how they affect readers in similar or different ways.
          
5. CRITICAL THINKING--Authentic Audience: Describe the contexts, reasons, or situations for writing the type of paper discussed in your assigned chapter.  What type of people might be involved, what are their likes, dislikes, values, living situations, and backgrounds?  What might be their needs, purposes, or goals?  How might this type of writing satisfy those purposes or goals?  What alternative methods might such people use to satisfy the same purposes or goals (such as speech, presentations, interpersonal interactions, personal reflection, personal action, etc.)?  Discuss your answers.
         
6. CRITICAL THINKING--Differing Cultures: Do you come from or have experience in a culture, class, or group different from that of standard North American, middle-class, college-educated society?  If so, what is the other culture?  Read your asigned chapter.  Then discuss some comparisons and contrasts between what or how the chapter presents as this type of paper, and how your own culture may perceive it in writing, speaking, and/or thinking.  Why or how do you think some of the differences (or similarities) exist?   What do the differences (and/or the similarities) say about the values--ethical, individual, and/or societal--in the two different cultures?  
       
7. CRITICAL THINKING--Authentic Writing Self: Read your assigned chapter.  Then answer the folloing questions.  What does the chapter's type of paper have to do with you, your abilities and experiences as a writer and/or a person, and your present/future goals?  How might this kind of paper help explain, echo, or extend your own self as a person, student, or professional?  Discuss your answers.
        

8. Also see "Critical-Thinking Activities."

             

Topical Activities

            Here are additional activities dealing with topical issues.  These activities are designed for application to most types of learning situations (group or individual, classroom or home) and types of papers.

CRITICAL THINKING--Problem Solving: Critical thinking means logical, thoughtful, creative, practical, and evaluative thinking--in short, a number of thinking skills combined.  One particular aspect of critical thinking is problem solving.  Problem solving is completed in several major steps: (a) fully describing a problem or need; (b) developing and describing several possible paths, methods, or systems to solve the problem; (c) developing and using an evaluation system to choose which path(s) will work best--e.g., a point system to decide the level for each solution of its cost, feasibility, practicality, required people, time, ethical value, etc. (see also "Rubrics"); and (d) imagining the positive and negative results of the chosen path(s).  Most real problem solving systems, though usually more thorough and complex than this, have these four steps in common.  Take a type of paper from one of the chapters and turn it into a problem-solving process: (a) how does this type of paper develop or show a problem or need; (b) how does it suggest or imply several possible paths (including any that it seems to be arguing against); (c) what kind of evaluation system does it seem to offer or imply for deciding which solution is best; and (d) what are the outcomes or results, positive or negative, that the paper may foresee or, at least, to which the paper leads?  Once you have listed these four steps as used in or with the type of paper, write your own brief imaginary (or real) paper of this type, trying to include as many problem-solving steps as is possible in the paper.  Also see "Critical-Thinking Activities" and critical-thinking in composition expert John Chaffee's "Problem-Solving Method--Advanced" at http://college.hmco.com/english/chaffee/critical_thinking/2e/students/tools/index.html.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY: Using a type of paper from one of the chapters, discuss some aspect of cultural diversity.  "Cultural diversity" includes differences not only of race or national origin, but also of gender, age, economic level, or disability.  How are you and/or a close friend or family member different from others in one or more of these culturally diverse ways?  What makes the difference special or notable?  What makes the difference problematic?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of the differences?  What are several ways in which you can create a type of paper using some form of diversity as a subject?

ENVIRONMENT: Using a type of paper from one of the chapters, discuss some aspect of environment.  "Environment" includes anything in environmental science, policy and politics, ethics, and related social and psychological causes.  How do you perceive environmental issues, how do you experience them, and what proofs from experience and/or research do you have that can support your opinions?  What is environmental science, research, and policy discovering now, what has it learned from our past, and how should it shape our future?   

GLOBAL AWARENESS: Using a type of paper from one of the chapters, discuss some aspect of global awareness.  This might be as simple as discussing something that is happening or has happened in another country, as personal as an experience you have had of someone or something in or from another country, or as complex as an important political, economic, cultural, or other global issue.  

SERVICE LEARNING: Using a type of paper from one of the chapters, discuss some aspect of service learning.  "Service learning" means providing a service, such as volunteer or paid work, that offers additional training or learning in an academic subject, as well.  What kind of work have you performed, are performing now, or could perform for academic credit?  How would you go about doing this work, and why or how would it be valuable to you as a learning experience?  What would you expect to learn?  How would it be valuable to others?  What are several ways in which you can create a type of paper using some form of service learning as a subject?

TECHNOLOGY: Using a type of paper from one of the chapters, discuss some aspect of technology.  "Technology" includes anything in science, engineering, medicine, computers, electronics, and the like that is more advanced than simple industrial machinery or industrial production.  How do you perceive technology helping you, changing you, or hurting you or your friends and family?  What kind of world will technology create for us?  Is technology ethical?  What are several ways in which you can create a type of paper using some form of technology as a subject?

WAR AND PEACE: Using a type of paper from one of the chapters, discuss some aspect of war and/or peace.  What are the justifications for either in a particular situation or in general?  What is the historical background?  What does an opposing side to the issue have to say and why?  What are the basic mechanisms that cause war and/or peace?  What can people do locally do cause or support either?  What kind of future do we have to look forward to concerning war and/or peace, why, and how?

Return to beginning.

        

7 Metacognitive Thinking Individual & Group Activities

            These group activities help develop writers' understanding of their own "writer self"--the part of themselves that is the controlling writer in charge of overall writing perceptions, strategies, and confidence.  These exercises also can be done as individual assignments, in class or at home.   

CONTENTS:

1. Audience

2. Style as Genre

3. First-Draft vs. “Perfect” Writing

4. Steps and Events of Writing

5. Style and Tone as Idiom

6. Alternative Writing Symbols

7. Writing as Thinking, Learning, and Doing

Exercise #1: AUDIENCE

1.      Imagine, clearly and carefully, a picture image of someone you strongly love or hate.  Pretend you must write this person a letter about something he/she said or did, or something he/she will say or will do.  Then write as much as you can as fast as you can for ten minutes, all of it directed to this person.  Start your letter “Dear _____.”

[1. Homework Exercise: Find a picture of someone who fits the above description and write 200+ words or for ten minutes as above, whichever is faster.]

2.      Next, clearly and carefully imagine a figure of authority whom you do not know personally but have seen on TV or in real life: a boss, director, superintendent, principal, or other authority figure to whom you feel you owe respect.  Pretend you must write this person a letter about something he/she said or did, or will say or do.  Then write as much as you can as fast as you can for ten minutes, all of it directed to this person.  Start your letter “Dear _____.”

[2. Homework Exercise: Find a picture in a magazine, from the Web, or elsewhere of someone who fits the above description and write 200+ words or for ten minutes as above, whichever is faster.]

3.      Third, look around the room you are in at all of the people.  Look slowly and carefully.  It is all right to meet other people’s eyes; however, don’t stare at anyone for a long time; rather, keep your eyes moving to different people.  Do this for a minute or two.  Then, without being obvious or making the person uncomfortable, choose one of these people.  Pretend you must write this person a letter about something he/she said or did, or will say or do.  Then write as much as you can as fast as you can for ten minutes, all of it directed to this person.  Start your letter “Dear _____.”

[3. Homework Exercise: Pick a classmate in this or another class and describe him/her very fully for 50+ words by detailing how he/she looks, sounds, dresses, moves, etc.  Then write another 200+ words or for ten minutes as above, whichever is faster.]

4.      Finally, write a list or a description of 200+ words detailing what it was like to have three different audiences in the above three letters you wrote.  You may answer some or all of the following questions:

a.       What kind of general audience could each letter be for (what kind of persons in general)?

b.      What are some similarities among the letters?

c.       What are some differences?

d.      How is your writing affected by your emotional feelings?

e.       How is your writing affected by how well or poorly you know the other person?

f.        How is your writing affected by the other person’s importance to you, or lack of it?

Homework Exercise: Follow the directions above.
  

Exercise #2: STYLE AS GENRE

1.      First, here is a sample of how a story starts.  Please read it and then write your own story, true or made up, starting with these two sentences: “Once upon a time, I had a problem with _____.  For example, one day I was __________.”  Simply write some more of the story without worrying about grammar, spelling, or punctuation.  Write as much as you can as fast as you can for ten minutes.  You may write anything that comes to mind: you will not be required to share it with anyone (other than the teacher).

Example: “Once upon a time, I had a problem with remembering dates and appointments.  For example, one evening I was happily sitting and watching one of my favorite TV shows when the telephone rang.  I answered it, and one of my night students asked me if we were having class that week.  “Sure,” I told her.”  She then asked me if I was coming.  I said, “Sure, I’ll be there,” thinking it was the next night.  She then asked me if I knew what night it was.  “Wednesday,” I said.  “No,” she answered, “it’s Thursday.  Class started forty-five minutes ago.”  I was stunned.  I apologized and said, “I’ll be right there.”  I ran to change my clothes, and I drove there as fast as I safely could.  The next day, I started writing my night-class dates in a pocket planner.  Even now, I look at my planner with its dates in it every day.”

2.      Next, here is a sample of how a news report starts.  Please read it and then write your own news report of something you saw in person, important or unimportant.  Try to take a news reporter’s objective, balanced, fair tone, as below.  Pretend you were just an observer, even if you weren’t.  Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  Write as much as you can as fast as you can for ten minutes.  You may write anything that comes to mind, as you will not have to share it with anyone (other than the teacher).

Example: “Last night at 6:45 p.m. , police were called to the intersection of Main and Broadway to settle a fight between two drivers.  One, Jim Larson, was driving a 1975 Chevrolet pickup truck and the other, Nancy Svoboda, was driving a 1998 Chevrolet sedan.  According to the police report, both parties were headed north side by side on Main , which has two lanes each way.  Larson, on the left of Svoboda, wanted to get into Larson’s lane, so rather than wait for her to move ahead and then use his turn signal to move behind her, he tried to serve in front of her without using a signal.  According to police, Svoboda served away and then sped up, refusing to let Larson into her lane.  The vehicles collided, causing scratches on the side of both.  Police ticketed both parties for reckless driving.  They also ticketed Larson for threatening physical assault because, according to the report, when they arrived he was “bending over her window and screaming at Svoboda with his fist raised.” 

3.      Third, here is a sample of how an academic thesis paper starts.  Please read it and then write your own academic thesis paper, starting “I would argue that __________.  I think this is true for two reasons.  First, __________.  Second, __________.”  Try to use a calm, rational, balanced, but firm tone.  Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  Write as much as you can as fast as you can for ten minutes.  You may write anything that comes to mind, for you will not be required to share it with anyone (other than the teacher).

Example: “I would argue that the average student is better off taking on-campus courses than completely online courses.  I think this is true for two reasons.  First, students enjoy their courses more when they take them in a physical classroom with other students.  For example, a studies in the academic journal Computers and Composition show that even though students may learn as much or more from online courses, the students tend to enjoy such courses less.  A typical student might find an online course helpful and useful, but he or she won’t have the pleasure of working face to face with other students and the professor.  Second, students usually finish school faster and are more likely to stay in school when they are part of a community of other students and of teachers whom they can see each week.  A number of research studies show that online courses have consistently higher dropout rates than do regular on-campus courses.  Other studies show that one of the main predictors of a student’s success in school is how much a student gets to know well several other people on campus.  Students don’t develop close relationships in online classes.
    

4.      Finally, write a list or a description of 200+ words detailing what it was like to have three different types (also called “genres”) of writing to do.  You may answer some or all of the following questions:

a.       What kind of audience/people is each genre for?  Why?  How?

b.      What are some similarities in how you wrote the genres?

c.       What are some differences?

d.      How is your own, personal writing style and/or method affected by having different genres to write?

e.       How is your style—the way you use sentences and words—affected by the different genres?

f.        How is the tone of your writing—the emotional sound or feeling of the words if they were spoken out loud—affected by the different genres?

g.       Which genre did you write best, which the worst, and why/how?

Homework Exercise: Follow the directions above, but write 150-200+ words for each of the first three sections, and follow the directions for section “4.”
   

Exercise #3: FIRST-DRAFT  WRITING vs. “PERFECT” WRITING

Have students write totally freely about something about which they feel strongly (or from an imaging exercise); then have them try to write something academic that must have each sentence be as perfectly formed, grammatically correct, and “right” as possible.  Then do some casual grammar comparisons for them to show them how many of them get “pretzled” sentences.

1.      Form a group.  Then, individually, choose any kind of interesting personal experience that you can share with others in the group, and write about it individually: write as much as you can as fast as you can for ten minutes.
    

2.      Next, choose an academic subject or idea—one about which you have some thoughts.  Write as carefully and perfectly as you can, sentence by sentence, a series of sentences explaining your thoughts.  Write in a “school” style, and use grammar, spelling, and punctuation as accurately as you can as you write each sentence.  Write in this way for ten minutes.
    

3.      Share your results with each other by reading them aloud.  After all of you have read your two drafts, each of you in turn should comment on what you think are the differences between your and others’ two drafts.
     

4.      Finally, choose one person’s set of two writings: choose the set that seems to have the greatest number of type of differences in how the sentences are structured.  Prepare to present your findings to the class by answering each of these questions:

a.       What are two or three main differences between the two samples?

b.      Does grammar, spelling, and punctuation seem to be better in one than in the other?  Which one?  Why and how?

c.       In general, which of the two kinds of writing did your group find easier to write?  Why/

d.      In general, which of the two kinds of writing did your group find easier to read (or hear)?  Why?

e.       Name two or three general conclusions, thoughts, opinions, or guesses that your group is willing to make about whether first-draft, freely written writing or careful, sentence-by-sentence writing is better.

     
Homework Exercise: Follow the directions above.  

Exercise #4: STEPS AND OTHER WRITING EVENTS

1.      Form a group.  Then, individually, take one or two pieces of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle of each side of each sheet.  Then draw one or two horizontal lines completely across the paper so that each side ends up being divided into four or six squares.  Then, in the left-hand column of your paper, write a list of steps you use to plan or develop a major research paper.  Use one square for each step, on the left-hand side only.  What are your prewriting activities or thoughts?  What kinds of thoughts, activities, or related experiences do you have or do during the days or weeks when you are writing the paper?  How do they tie in to helping you with your paper?  Consider not just the obvious, and not just what you have been told is a good writing step, but also the less obvious and even, perhaps, the seemingly forbidden or silly: e.g., needing a particular type of food or drink, doing a particular activity for several hours or days that helps you unconsciously process your thoughts, using a certain type of music, needing a certain kind of place to write, etc.
    

2.      Next, create a picture for each step--a visual image that well conveys your step or activity at each point.  Draw an image in the right-hand column beside each step.  
    

3.      Then share your steps and events with each other.  Choose either a mixture of several people's methods or one single one that is unusual, different, or unique.  Write down several steps using a word or brief phrase for each, and then at least twenty words describing each step.  Create a group-made picture for each step as well, a picture that is different from or an improvement of any individually-created picture.  
    

4.      Finally, draw your pictures with the name of each step on the classroom board for everyone in the class to see it.  Write the name of each step.  Then present your group's drawings by describing aloud what each step involves. 

Homework Exercise: Follow the directions above.
     

Exercise #5: STYLE AND TONE AS IDIOM*

1.      Form a group.  After doing so, then as individuals, please write a quick, fast letter to a very close friend of yours in school, and please try to use a lot of the “catch phrases”—the idioms or special ways of saying words and phrases that only people in your own immediate group use.  Write as much as you can as fast as you can for five minutes.
    

2.      Next, write a new version—on a separate part of your paper—of what you just finished: this new version should have the same content”; however, you should rewrite the way you said it so that now it is appropriate as a letter to one of your parents, grandparents, or other relatives.  Please write it to your relative who is least likely to approve of what you have said or discussed, and change it as best you can to make it appropriate for that relative.
    

3.      Finally, write a third version on a separate part of your paper.  This time, rewrite what you wrote so that it sounds like an academic essay or report for college.
    

4.      Then, in your groups, read your sets of three different versions to each other.  As a group, choose the set that best demonstrates strong differences among its three versions.  Then ask the author of the three versions to remain completely silent while the others of you in the group make a list of at least five differences among the versions, and why they may be present—ten words or more explaining each.
    

5.      Have your group’s reader read your chosen set of three versions and your explanations of the possible differences to the class.

* with thanks to JoAnn Dahl

Homework Exercise: Follow the directions above.
     

Exercise #6: ALTERNATIVE WRITING SYMBOLS (later in term)

1.      As a group, create one of the following to demonstrate some type of writing activity, type of writing, or element of writing:

Kinesthetic tableau (i.e., posed figures of people in various positions)

Skit (silent or with dialogue)

Musical composition

Sculpture

2.      Present what you have created to the class with a moderator who stands aside and explains, step by step, what is happening and what it means.

Homework Exercise: Follow the instructions above, but do so by writing 200-300 words for #1 and 100-200 w. for #2 (explaining the meanings/purposes of the parts of your creation): write a total of 400+ words. 

Exercise #7: WRITING AS THINKING, LEARNING, AND DOING (later in term)

1.      How is writing like thinking?  First, make a list of eight or ten ways that you use thinking.  Remember that there are other methods in addition to regular verbal thinking: e.g., visual, physical, intuitive, etc.   Next, describe one or more ways of writing for each of the ways of thinking on your list: e.g., where would journal or diary writing fit, letter writing, list-making, etc.?  Then describe for 100+ words how you have used writing for thinking in the past, when, where, why, or how, and/or how you might be able to do so in the present or future. 

2.      Next, how is writing like learning?  Make a list of eight or ten ways that people can learn: e.g., by listening, reading, talking, etc.  Then describe one or more ways of writing for each of the ways of learning on your list: i.e., how could writing be used in each type of learning?  Then describe for 100+ words how you have used writing for learning in the past, when, where, why, or how, and/or how you might be able to do so in the present or future.

3.      Third, how is writing like doing?  Make a list of eight or ten ways in which writing may be able to actually do something, make something happen, or accomplish change: e.g., writing laws, writing directions, writing a letter, etc.  Then write 100+ words describing how you have made changes in your or others’ lives in the past or could do so in the present or future.

4.      Share your results in a small group or with the class a whole.

Homework Exercise: Follow the directions above, but write 150-200+ words for each section.

Return to beginning.

How To Run a Small Group

            The following are directions for using small groups, whether you are a student, an instructor, or someone in the professional world learning how to develop good small-group work.  These directions are a brief distillation of a graduate course in how to run small groups, along with twenty years of weekly experience. 

NOTE: Groups of 3-4 work best in almost any traditional classroom or professional situation.  If you are in a classroom situation, counting off so that there is random distribution of groups also works best, in order to create more mixing.  If you are in a professional situation, it often works better to break up groups of six or more into smaller groups, work together in the smaller groups, and then come together in one larger group to make final decisions.  In this way, there is more participation, more development of ideas, and better results.

Step 1: Break into groups of three to four people.  Get out a piece of notebook paper for taking notes, and write down each other’s names.  Then choose roles—coordinator, writer, and reader.  

            The coordinator does not make decisions, but rather coordinates everyone to help make decisions.  The writer does not decide what to write alone, but rather writes what everyone decides together.  The reader is the person who reads the results aloud to the class or, in a professional situation, presents the group's report to the larger group or the immediate supervisor.  (If there is a fourth person in the group, he or she is a group facilitator--asking questions of those who talk less than others--or a recording secretary who writes the minute-by-minute activities).

Step 2: Pretend that you as a group are [see individual activities below or in each chapter].  Feel free to be inventive or even humorous in your choice of subject as long as you use the appropriate sections for the given type of paper.  If you are a professional work group, decide what your purpose and method are.  

Step 3: Write the suggested minimum of words for each section of the activity.  Add illustrations if appropriate.

Step 4: If the directions for your activity include passing a paper around from one group to another, then always pass the paper you have in the same direction and to the same group, either always to the left, or always to the right.

Step 5: Have your reader stand and read your results aloud (or have your writer write them on the board and have your reader explain them from the board).  If you are in a professional work group, be sure your reader understands exactly what he or she should present to a supervisor, and when he/she can expect to have the written version of the results from the group's writer.

Step 6, Individual Work: You also may continue your activity by writing, on your own, a serious, non-imaginary 300-500+ word version of this paper on a subject of your own choice.

Return to beginning. 

        

Small Groups in Labs, Online, and by Telephone

EXERCISES               GUIDELINES

EXERCISES 

(Note: Some of these activities are repeated from the "Basic Group Activities" section, above.)

1. ONLINE ACTIVITY A: Develop a small online group by exchanging email addresses or by going to a bulletin board meant for your group activity.  Then complete one of the exercises above as an individual, with your coordinator starting it: do so either in an email to everyone in your group or in a bulletin board "Discussion."  When the designated time for emailing or posting this first step is over, read each other's results and write a positive, helpful response to one or more of the other messages you receive: you may, for example, describe in detail what you like best; describe in a fair, balanced way how you might respond as a reader; or critique a response constructively by suggesting what could be added to make it even better.  (This exercise also can be done in non-online environments: either in class or as part of a combined at-home and in-class activity.)
        

2. ONLINE ACTIVITY B--A GROUP EMAIL ANALYSIS ("Analyzing an Imaginary Speech"; requires checking of email one to two times daily; can be modified for use on a bulletin board):

   (a) Days 1 & 2: Break into groups of three people.  Then choose one idea.  If you are starting online, use a predetermined system for deciding your group roles. Send your ideas to each other by email, and let the coordinator pick which one to use, according to the average interests of everyone in the group.

   (b) Day 3: Each group member should then write a part of the speech (30-40+ w.) and send it to the other group members, along with a suggestion of one or two possible unusual of unique viewpoints to use in analyzing this speech—see "Group Exercises—(d)" above.

   (c) Day 4: The coordinator then should declare which viewpoint will be used.

   (d) Day 5: Each group member then should analyze two or three ideas from the speech (50+ w. total) using this new viewpoint, and send the results to each other.

   (e) Day 6: The writer should compile the results of the speech and the results of the analyses into two easy-to-read sections and send them together to the other members of the group.

   (f) Day 7: The "reader" should look over the results, see if anything can be revised or edited to make the writing flow more easily, add subtitles (Speech and Analysis) to each section, and send both sections to the instructor and/or the class as a whole, with the group members’ names at the end of the reading.

3. ONLINE ACTIVITY C--A CLASS EMAIL ANALYSIS ("Grouping Analytical Comments"; can be modified for use on a bulletin board)):

   (a) Ask your instructor to help you choose a subject for analysis, something relevant and interesting to everyone in the class.

   (b) Then, by listserv, send an email to everyone in the class, stating three unusual, unique, and/or special points of view--just one or two sentences each--about the subject. The points of view, though they may be strong, should be fair, balanced, and objective. For example, you could use a rich person’s viewpoint, a poor person’s, and a politician’s.

   (c) Each class member then should read the emails from everyone else and choose three different points of view—from three different classmates—that in some way seem to relate or connect to each other.

   (d) Email these three points of view to everyone in the class, along with your own introductory paragraph (50+ words) analyzing—explaining—how or why you believe these three points of view relate or connect. 

4. INTERNET RESEARCH: Read this chapter and its samples first.  The, in groups of two or three people, use a search engine (e.g., www.google.com) to find other descriptions or examples of analyses.  Then make a list describing similarities and differences between this chapter and its samples and what you have found on the Internet.
   

These guidelines describe in detail how to develop online activities and exercises.

In a Computer Lab:  Simply use the directions above, "How to Run a Small Group."  However, each group should be composed of three people clustered around one computer.  The person in the middle is the writer, and those on either side are the coordinator and reader.  If more than one group must handle each paper, then each group of three should move to a new computer—containing the new paper—instead of passing papers from group to group, as above.

In a Chat Room: A chat room is "synchronous," which means everyone is on simultaneously.  Use the directions above, "How to Run a Small Group."  However, each group should be composed of four or five people in case someone forgets to attend the chat.  If possible, it may be easiest to form a chat group in a classroom setting first, and even to practice using a chat room in a computer lab.  Chat rooms often work better if they are checked on occasion by the instructor or general supervisor. 

On a Bulletin Board: A bulletin board is "asynchronous," which means that each individual goes onto the board at a time of his or her choice, without simultaneous communication happening.  Use the directions above, "How to Run a Small Group."  However, each group should be composed of four or five people in case someone forgets to post on the bulletin board.  If possible, it may be easiest to form a bulletin board group in a classroom setting first.  Then the coordinator of the group would establish the initial "Discussion" by inviting members to participate, and after that initial invitation, everyone responding (including the group coordinator) would use the "reply to" function (not another "Discussion").  In this way, on a class bulletin board, each separate, new "Discussion" will represent the interactions of an entire small group; students will be able not only to respond to each other in their groups, but also, if they wish, to see the work of other groups.  Any coordinator of a bulletin board group will need to be more directive in asking people to complete the steps and in helping coordinate the results at each step.  In addition, because of the time delay on bulletin boards, there must be deadlines (e.g., by midnight each night) for each step of the work.  Bulletin boards often work better if they are checked on occasion by the instructor or general supervisor. 

By Email: Email groups can work by having members of the group swap email addresses and sending the results to an instructor, supervisor, or email listserv.  Use the directions above, "How to Run a Small Group."  Each group should be composed, if possible, of four to five people, in case someone forgets to participate or doesn't reply within the given time limit.  When using email, it is helpful to have a "timer" as one of the roles, as described below.  Emailing work much the same as bulletin board messaging, except that the instructor or overall supervisor may choose whether to simply receive the final result and a list of those who participated, or to be present as an additional silent member by having his or her email address listed with the rest of the group's addresses.

By Telephone: Telephone groups usually are reserved for distance-learning courses that do not involve online work (e.g., a write-in course).  However, they also may be used as an option in face-to-face and online classes.  Students must be willing to swap telephone numbers.  Conference calls are one option; the other option is to allow students to work in pairs.  Three-way conference calls are easily established in most phone systems: e.g., in many systems, once you are connected to one person, you may click or flash once, dial a second party, and--after that party has answered--click or flash again to have all three of you on the line once more.  When working in pairs, one person can be the coordinator; the other can be both writer and reader.   

Are you an instructor or professional coordinator?  Online groups (chat or bulletin board) and telephone pairs can be very successful in the right setting and with the right students or employees.  However, if you are inexperienced in coordinating group work using the system above ("How to Run a Small Group"),  you may find it easier to work first with groups in face-to-face contact--in a classroom, computer lab, or meeting room.  Here are some guidelines to help you:

1. People may be assigned to peer groups by name, and by email address and/or telephone number.  Each  then should introduce himself or herself to the others in the group by name and major/work responsibility, and describe him/herself in one or two sentences.  (If email is being used, the teacher, supervisor, or even the entire class may wish to be included in this initial posting.)

2. Ask people to volunteer for their roles (or--especially in email use, to save time, assign the roles).  

3. The roles are similar to those in face-to-face classrooms: coordinator, writer, reader/poster, secretary, and/or timer.  The coordinator immediately helps everyone discover and set a workable chat-meeting or telephone time, or an email schedule, for the steps of this exercise.  Then he or she  keeps everyone working (and goes to the teacher/supervisor if there are problems that he or she can't resolve).  The writer writes the final document from suggestions made by everyone.  The poster posts the final document in the chat room, or to the teacher and/or the class by email.  If required (in exercises in future chapters), the poster may read documents to her group during conference calls.   A secretary keeps track of  the details of what happens in each exchange and/or minute; however, if desired a timer may be used, who regularly emails or phones all group members with frequent reminders of the time schedule and of when certain things must be done.

4. In email use, each individual sends his/her own contribution to the writer, who correlates and/or combines them and then sends them to the poster.  

5. In email, chat, and bulletin board use, the poster then can complete final combining and editing at will, then post the results to the class, instructor, or supervisor.  

6. Special Notes:
   (a) Some schools may require releases from students before email addresses and telephone numbers are shared; at the least, students should understand at the beginning of such a course that their presence in the course requires them to release such information at times, which information must be released, and when/how. 
   (b) If done primarily by Internet chat meetings or conference calls, most exercises in this online handbook may be completed in one to two days, especially if students are required before registering to commit to being available online or for conference calls at a pre-assigned weekly time period. 
   (c) However, other distance-learning group assignments may require several more days.  This is true of bulletin board assignments and in particular of email assignments.  Emails may take many hours to arrive at their recipients' computers, and both bulletin-board and email messages require quite a bit of extra time for full exchanges of thoughts.  For this reason, any such exercise must be done with great dispatch and still may require as much as one week to complete.  

Return to beginning.

        

Activities for 25 Different Types/Genres of Papers (Group & Individual)

ADD the LINKS to the INDEX BELOW

            The following activities offer small-group experiences in a variety of genres: e.g., several kinds of argument, several kinds of professional papers, several types of analysis and evaluation, etc.  They are organized alphabetically.  Some also occur in one or more individual chapters in the rest of this Web site.  

Index for 25 Group Activities by Genre/Type 
            

Introductory Note

            There are a number of methods of providing students with the raw experience of writing.  One is genre writing, a method introducing students to a variety of genres.  News articles, process papers, interpretive analyses of literature, academic thesis papers, business reports, and case studies are just a few examples of genres.  I started using genre-writing activities twenty years ago, and I gradually have built a developed repertoire.  I often introduce a genre to students by asking them to write imaginatively in small classroom groups using the genre.  This small-group work enables students to use their collective knowledge and experience and learn from each other.  I also give students readings about the genre, which include descriptions, instructions, and samples.  I then ask students to use the genre at home in individual rough drafts about subjects of their choosing.  Below are brief sets of directions for working on a number of genres.  At the end is a short summary, for those inexperienced in small-group work, of how I use such groups for writing.

Genre Activities

Advertisement [story-writing pattern of customer, problem, and solution/product]: Imagine that you are a group of ad writers for a big company.  You must write an ad for a new product.  Start by stating in a sentence or two the name of the company, the name of the new product, and a brief description of what the product is/does.  Also write a sentence stating who the targeted customers are.  Then write the ad: show how your product can solve the problems, real or imagined, of the customers you have targeted.  You may write a TV ad, a radio script, or just a description of what your ad will be like.  Be as creative, imaginative, or serious as you want, and write 200+ words.  Then create a visual version of the ad in three picture steps—The Product, Customers Before Using It, and Customers After Using It, and place these on the board.  Present and explain them to the class and read your ad aloud.

Analysis, Arts: See “Arts Analysis.”

Analysis, Literary: See “Literary Analysis.”

Analysis Paper, Academic: First, as a group, choose a recent major event.  For this classroom activity only, you may make up your event and the people in it.  Be as creative, imaginative, or serious as you want.  In a few sentences, state the event, when and where it happened, and a brief summary of it for those who may not have heard about it.  Second, analyze the event from the point of view of three or four very different types of people for 100+ words each, starting with subtitles of the types of people: e.g., Lawyer, Doctor, and Teacher; Conservative Republican, Radical-Liberal Democrat, and Moderate Independent; Dictator, King/Queen, and Citizen of Democracy; or Slave, Servant, and Peasant.  Choose three to four types who will have strong, clear, and differing points of view about the event.  Represent each type fairly and thoroughly, no matter what you, yourself, believe. 

Argument—Dialogic Paper: Imagine you are an important politician or a group of speechwriters for an important politician.  Write a 100+ word speech taking a strong, fair, logical, but clearly extreme and one-sided position on a subject, as serious or imaginative/creative as you want.  Then pass your speech on to another group. 

            Read aloud the speech you receive from a different group.  Then imagine you are the same or a different politician or speechwriting group, and write a new speech opposing the one you have received: your position on this new speech you write should again be 100+ words, strong, fair, logical, but clearly and extremely opposite of the one you have received from the different group.  Then pass this speech and the one you are opposing on to a new group that has seen neither. 

            When you get an entirely new set of pro and con speeches, read both aloud.  Then imagine once again that you are the same or a different politician or speechwriting group.  Write a third 100+ word speech in response to the pro and con speeches you have just read.  Your position this time cannot agree with either the pro or the con: you must take an entirely new, third position.  To do so, you may find a middle, compromise position, or you may find a third, higher position or point of view not recognized by the first two speeches.

Argument—Reaction to a Reading/Speech/Situation: See “Reaction Paper.”

Argument—Thesis Paper, Standard: See step one of “Argument—Dialogic Paper.”

Argument—Thesis Paper with Stories: Pretend you are on one side of a debate and you must convince a group of important people that you are right in order for you to save the world in some important way.  To do this effectively, all you have is the personal experiences of people, your own and/or others.  Write a single sentence stating your main argument; then write three realistic personal stories of 100 words each from three different people, each a story helping you prove your argument.  After writing them, add  sentence at the beginning of each story that summarizes how or why this experience will help prove your main argument.  For this classroom activity only, you may make up your stories and the people who tell them.  You may be serious, creative, or imaginative.

Arts Analysis: First, imagine your group is, together, a famous painter or sculptor.  Create your work of art on the board in front, along with a 50+ word description of it that cannot be seen just on the board (such as colors, special backgrounds, three-dimensional shapes, etc.).  Then switch “works of art” with another group.  Read the description you’ve received, look at the work of art, and then analyze it. Describe it using the elements of art, 30+ words per element: (1) medium (materials); (2) visual tensions (conflicts/contrasts) vs. similarities/balances; (3) where the work stands between complete abstraction vs. complete, photograph-like representation, and why/how; (4) quality of color, light vs. dark, etc.—type and intensity; (5) types of basic lines—converging, diverging, parallel, balanced, unbalanced, thick, thin, etc.; (6) symbolic meanings; and (7) the quality and quantity of real content or obvious meaning.  Read the summary and your analysis aloud to the class.

Article, Magazine: See “Magazine Article."

Article, Newspaper: See “Newspaper Article."

Brochure, Informational: Imagine that you are a group of owners or managers of a workplace that offers some kind of special service or assistance, and you want to create a brochure.  It will introduce people to what you provide and suggest why it is valuable.  A typical brochure has six sides: each side should have some kind of attractive visual or graphic image: a photo, a drawing, a graph or chart, etc.  Each side also should have a list or an interesting quotation from a valuable source and/or a customer.  Each side also should have a sentence or two explaining, introducing, or summarizing the visual information, quotes, and lists.  As a group, decide on the name of your company and its service (both of which should go in the brochure).  Then develop your own six-part brochure (with tall, narrow pages) on the board in your classroom.  Provide six graphic/visual images, three or more lists, and three or more quotations.  Also provide six brief explanations, introductions, or summaries, one per page.  Then explain and read your brochure to the class.

Business/Technical Report/Progress Report: Imagine that you are a group of managers in charge of an important, lengthy project for a big company.  It is your job to report—to the vice president who is above you—on the progress of the project.  (1) First, summarize in a sentence each (a) your company’s name, (b) what it does or make, (c) the nature and purpose of the project, and (d) the overall level, quality, or quantity of the current progress.  (2) Then develop three to four sections breaking down the progress: you can divide it by activity (for example, Purchases, Repairs, & Sales), time (e..g., June, July