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Richard.Jewell.net |
CollegeWriting.info
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CollegeWriting.info |
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Activities & Exercises for Xxx Writing |
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Activities for This Chapter (or scroll down) |
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GO TO "Activities & Groups" (or go to the following individual activities) | |||
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Activities for Groups |
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Running a Small Group |
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Activities for Individuals |  |
Computer Lab, Telephone, & Online Groups |
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Topical Activities |  |
Activities for 25 Different Types of Papers |
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7 Metacognitive Thinking Activities | ||
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Activities for This Chapter |
CATEGORY SORTING (class exercise): (a) As a class, decide on a subject to analyze: one that is common to all of you: your school, its dining facilities, a recent and well-known event in the news, your writing class, etc.
(b) Then individually choose a role or point of view (e.g., the cynic, the fair-minded balancer, the "good" person, the "selfish" person, the troublemaker, etc.). From the viewpoint of that role, write three or four points about the subject chosen by the class.
(c) Choose what you think is your most interesting comment. Share your role and your comment with the class out loud. As you do so, your instructor should write a word or phrase summarizing each.
(d) As a class, edit the comments on the board with your instructor's help: try to break down the comments into three to five major areas or categories of analysis: help your instructor decide which comments should be grouped together and why.
ANALYZING A PAST EXPERIENCE (individual exercise): (a) Choose an experience in your life that was intense at the time but now is long ago enough for you to be able to be reasonably objective about it. Describe the experience (100+ w.).
(b) Next, choose three to five main points or parts of the experience, and explain the meaning or importance of each from at least three different viewpoints each. Your viewpoints might include the meaning of your experiences to you when you had them, a different meaning they might now have (not exactly the same meaning), how others saw your experience at the time (if different from your viewpoint), how society and/or culture in your geographic area or a different one might see your experience differently, or how systems of thought (like moral or ethical beliefs, psychological interpretations, or philosophical ones) might view your experience differently (100-200+ w. total).
(c) Share your results with your instructor or class.
"FUN" PAGE: Go to the
chapter's "Fun" page and, as an individual
or a group, engage in one of its activities.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Read the chapter and take
notes about it using one of the three methods in "General
Study Questions."
OTHER ACTIVITIES: For a wide variety of other
activities and exercises, go to "Activities
& Groups."
ROUGH DRAFT: As an individual or a group, write an
analysis of a reading as described in this chapter. Use the subtitles
shown in the "Introduction" or the "Basics" section as
subtitles of your rough draft, and write at least 50+ words in each body
section. If you are working as a group, you may, if your instructor
allows, develop a fictional and fanciful background and subject for your
rough draft.
GROUP CRITIQUE OF A
LATER DRAFT:
If your class has a paper all of you are preparing for grading, gather in a group to
critique each other's developed drafts:
(a) Simply pass the papers to each other;
your paper preferably should be checked by three other people. (Some
instructors prefer that you make several copies, distribute them to your
group members, take the copies home that you receive, and comment on them
there.)
(b) Write comments for each other.
To do so, use a a
set of grading guidelines (or "rubric"):
for example, "How are the contents,"
"How is the organization of parts," "Do paragraphs work
well," and "How well have editing errors been corrected?"
Preferably, you can use the guidelines your instructor applies when grading.
(c) For each question or requirement in your guidelines, write one or more
comments. Your comments should be substantial and specific (more like a
complete sentence, and more specific than just "Nice!" or "Needs
work"). Your comments also should be positive or helpfully
constructive: when positive, they should offer specific praise of a particular part, detail, or
method; when constructive, they should offer specific advice about what to add or do to make
the paper better.
(d) Add a final positive or constructive comment about how you think the
average reader of this paper might respond to it, and/or how the paper could
be changed or fixed for a stronger or more positive response from its
audience.
(e) After
receiving your comments from others, take them home. Review
what they have written. Remember
that your readers are not commenting on you as a person, but rather on how
easily (or poorly) they have been able to read your paper as its audience
members. Pay attention in particular to comments that may have
been repeated by more than one of your readers.
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