May 10

We will meet briefly to discuss the evaluation of your portfolios and to turn in your folders. zorganize your work for the semester in the folder.

May 1

Work on your reflective essay and finish any revisions of the essays you are including in your portfolio. Your portfolio will need to be complete at the end of class on Tuesday. Remember that I sent you an e-mail with attachments that include the table of contents, cover sheets, and the instructions I handed out in class.

April 26

Select essays and prepare for your final portfolio:

1. Choose the essay that represents your best product.
2. Choose the essay that represents your best process and organize all of the drafts and exercises related to it.
3. Revise the two essays as much as you want or think they need.
4. Click here to see the portfolio evaluation rubric. (It is legal size, so you may not be able to print it easily. I will have copies in class.)
5. If you want further feedback on any of the essays (especially your Da Vinci Code essay), e-mail me your revision.

April 24

1. Complete draft #3 of your Da Vinci Code essay.
2. Make revision notes on both of your other two essays that you have received back from me with comments. Make grammar corrections and notes right on the last draft.

April 19

1. Complete the form identifying page numbers in The Da Vinci Code where you can find information for your topics.
2. Write your first draft of the essay: at least 3 body paragraphs held together by a thesis.

April 17

1. Write the three paragraphs about your writing progress and your Da Vinci Code paragraphs. Click here for the handout.
2. Review your paragraphs about The Da Vinci Code and find one that you can expand into an essay or that can become one body paragraph in an essay.
3. Begin revising the essay about people who are different.
4. Bring your handbook to class.

April 12

1. Draft a final paragraph on The Da Vinci Code, choosing one of the topics I gave you.
2. Revise the first paragraph you wrote on The Da Vinci Code. (See the topics for pages 1-369.
3. Organize all of your paragraphs on The Da Vinci Code. Staple together drafts, notes, peer reviews, etc. of the same paragraph. Decide which of your paragraphs is best, and which shows the most effective process, that is the paragraph that improved the most as a result of revision.
4. Organize all of the drafts, notes, prewriting, etc. for your two essays.

April 10

1. Finish The Da Vinci Code.
2. Draft one paragraph from the assignment for pages 1-369. (We'll do the revision later.)
3. Gather together all of the writing related to the essay you've been working on--about people who are "different."

April 5

1. Read through page 369 of The Da Vinci Code. Keep journaling. You might write about characters or situations that surprise you, Sophie's thoughts about her grandfather through these pages, your reactions to any big revelations.
2. Complete the revision ofyour essay about people who are different. Identify who the person is that you are writing about in each paragraph. Identify sources by author and title (just title for the movie).

April 3

1. Read through page 369 of The Da Vinci Code. Keep journaling. You might write about characters or situations that surprise you, Sophie's thoughts about her grandfather through these pages, your reactions to any big revelations.
2. Be working on revising your essay about people who are different. I will probably collect revisions next Thursday, but you should have completed some revision as we discussed in class.

March 29

1. Draft two paragraphs based on your reading. Click here for the topics.

March 27

1. Revise your two paragraphs using the feedback from class.
2. Read the next 100 pages of The Da Vinci Code.
3. Write a couple of pages in your journal: write about what is interesting (or not), when characters or situations surprise you, what you think of the ideas about The Last Supper and the Holy Grail that some of the characters have.

March 15

1. Draft two paragraphs about pages 1-180 of The Da Vinci Code. Click here for a copy of the topics.
2. Revise your essay about people's response to being treated badly, incorporating your paragraph about Silas.
3. If you have time work on a paragraph about the idea we began to discuss in class: Do you think it is right to kill in the name of God? Describe Silas’s thinking on that question (pages 14 and 35) and explain what you think is wrong with his thinking or why you agree with him.

March 13

1. Read through page 180 of The Da Vinci Code.
2. I you missed class, e-mail me your two paragraphs as soon as you can.

March 8

1. Continue reading The Da Vinci Code.
2. Draft a paragraph on one of the topics below:
   • Write a paragraph that describes the most interesting trait of one of the following characters: Sophie Neveu, Robert Langdon, or Bezu Fache. Include descriptions of things the character has done so far that show the trait you find interesting.
   • Consider one of the symbols discussed on these pages whose meaning as described by Langdon surprised you. Write a paragraph that describes what Langdon says it means compared to what you thought it meant. Include information about how you came to understand the meaning that is different from what Langdon says.
3. Write a paragraph about Silas that will fit your essay about people who are different.
   

March 6

1. Read pages 1-89 of The Da Vinci Code.
2. Write in your journal for about an hour about your reading of pages 1-89 of The Da Vinci Code. Below are some topics to cover, but write about whatever is interesting to you in the book as well.

• Are you enjoying the book? Why or why not?
• What character (other than Silas) are you finding most interesting? Why?
• Write about Silas—your impressions and thoughts.
• Is there anything so far that has surprised you?

March 1

We will be taking Thursday, March 1, off to give everyone a chance to get a good start on reading The Da Vinci Code. The assignment for Tuesday, March 6, is as follows:

1. Read pages 1-89 of The Da Vinci Code.
2. Write in your journal for about an hour about your reading of pages 1-89 of The Da Vinci Code. Below are some topics to cover, but write about whatever is interesting to you in the book as well.

• Are you enjoying the book? Why or why not?
• What character (other than Silas) are you finding most interesting? Why?
• Write about Silas—your impressions and thoughts.
• Is there anything so far that has surprised you?
  

February 27

1. Write the first draft of an essay about the way in which the people we have been writing about (Fin, Paul Logan, George, Roger Wilkens, the person you know) responded to OR were affected by the treatement they received.
2. Bring your copy of The Da Vinci Code.

February 22

1. Write for 15-20 minutes about what you did in class Tuesday night. Describe what you did as a group and how it relates to turning the material into an essay. Also evaluate your process. What is working? What should/could you have done differently to make it go better?
2. Complete another revision of your essay about a time you were scared. Use my feedback.

February 20

1. Add some examples to your description of events in The Station Agent from the part of the movie we watched Thursday.
2. Add to all of your descriptions of people who were treated badly some details of how they responded to the treatment and how it affected them. You may not have relevant information for all of the examples, but add it where you do have.

February 15

1. Revise the paragraph I returned to you with comments (personal example of a person who was treated badly because he/she was different.)
2. Revise your descriptions based on the two essays we read. Be careful to put the details in your descriptions in your own words.
3. Write a description of events in The Station Agent that fit our topic (a person being treated badly because he/she was different). Focus on the treatment of Fin that is related to his being a dwarf.

February 13

1. Make significant improvement in one body paragraph of your essay about a time you were scared. (You can do more if you want, but concentrate first on one paragraph. Doing so may give you ideas about other paragraphs—make some notes)
2. Read the two essays I gave you copies of, marking passages that show someone being treated badly because he/she is different. Write descriptions of the events you marked in each essay. You can find the essays online. Click on the links below.
   • “I Became Her Target”
   • “Rowing the Bus”
3. Go to My Home Page and complete the Vark Questionnaire. Print two copies of the results—one for you and one for me. Then research strategies for one or two of your dominant learning style(s) using the other learning styles and study links on the home page. and identify one habit you can change to take advantage of your learning style.
   

February 8

1. Complete a revision of your paragraphs and turn them into an essay as follows, and e-mail me the revised essay by 2:00 Thursday:

• Revise the body paragraphs using the comments I wrote on the revision you turned in last week.
• Write an introductory paragraph of three to five sentences that ends with the thesis sentence. (The thesis is the sentence at the top of your paragraphs that was the topic sentence for the original paragraph that you wrote. A thesis is like a topic sentence, but it controls a whole essay rather than just one paragraph.) Click here for a brainstorming exercise that will give you four options of how to start your introduction. After your starting sentence, write two or three more that will take us to your thesis.
• Revise your topic sentences so that they flow together. To help you do this, copy and paste the thesis and topic sentences onto a separate page so that you can see them all together. Revise them so that flow together as parts of a story, but continue to express the topic and point of each paragraph.
• Turn the end of your story--when you are no longer scared--into a 2-3 sentence conclusion.

2. Draft a paragraph that tells about a time that you witnessed (or experienced or participated in) someone being treated badly because he/she was different. Follow all the expectations we have discussed for a body paragraph (150-200 words, topic sentence, etc.). This paragraph has nothing to do with your essay about being scared. It's the beginning of a new assignment.

February 6

1. E-mail your paragraphs to me if you have not already given me a copy.
2. Continue to revise the paragraphs to improve them. Be sure each paragraph has a topic sentence that makes a point and that the paragraphs are developed with good details.
3. To help you come up with additional details, talk to the people who were around during the time you were afraid. See what details they help you remember and make notes of any that are useful. Then add them in the appropriate place in your paragraphs.

February 1

1. Revise your paragraphs about the time you were scared so that they are ready to turn in for feedback. Develop each with good detail and be sure that each has a topic sentence that connects to the point about being scared.
2. Fill in the schedule chart I gave you. Indicate times that would be convenient for you to meet with me outside of class time.

January 30

1. Write the paragraphs for the topics you identified in class tonight. Start the paragraphs with topic sentences and develop them with good details that stick to the point that you state in your topic sentence.

January 25

1. Look at the paragraph that you wrote about the time you were afraid, and zero in on the part of the paragraph that describes the actual moment of fear. Circle those sentences.
2. Separate these sentences from what came before and after in your paragraph by hitting the enter key before the first sentence and after the last sentence of this group. (It may, in fact, be only one sentence.)
3. Now expand that group of sentences into a new paragraph of 150-200 words.
4. Be sure to put a topic sentence at the beginning of this new paragraph that identifies the new topic. (The point is still "most scared.")
5. If you want to repeat the exercise we did in class to come up with descriptive details to use in the new paragraph, click here for the brainstorming questions I asked in class. (Remember to close your eyes and put yourself in the moment before answering the questions; it really works.)

January 23

1. Read the syllabus. (There is a link to the syllabus at the right.)
2. Complete the short survey that I handed out in class.
3. Write one paragraph about the time you were most scared. The paragraph should tell what happened and describe the experience of being scared. It should be between 150 and 200 words in length--no more, no less. (Yes, count the words.)

January 18

Class will not meet on this day.

January 16

First Day of Class: Show up with your writing tools.