My lesson plan
If you could teach this class what ideas would you emphasize?
If I were to teach this class, I would make sure that my students would have a firm understanding on how to make an effective argument. This is important not only in writing class, but in general as well. The ability to make a strong argument and eliminate any logical fallacies will help anyone develop a coherent and sound opinion. Sometimes people make broad and very general arguments that often do not really have any significance to them. If I said "libraries are important because they have a lot of books", that would not be a very good argument. However, if I said "libraries are fundamental to the overall growth and academic development of teenagers", that argument will hold more weight and get more people interested.
Another thing I would do is emphasize teamwork and group activities to get my students more engaged and talking. You can have a great lesson plan prepared but if the students do not want to participate, then it is practically useless. There was one day in class where we did a speed dating style collaboration on our paper where we got five to ten ideas from different people within 20 minutes. I like this style of collaboration because even if you do not need help on something, you can help other people develop their ideas.
If I were to teach this class, I would make sure that my students would have a firm understanding on how to make an effective argument. This is important not only in writing class, but in general as well. The ability to make a strong argument and eliminate any logical fallacies will help anyone develop a coherent and sound opinion. Sometimes people make broad and very general arguments that often do not really have any significance to them. If I said "libraries are important because they have a lot of books", that would not be a very good argument. However, if I said "libraries are fundamental to the overall growth and academic development of teenagers", that argument will hold more weight and get more people interested.
Another thing I would do is emphasize teamwork and group activities to get my students more engaged and talking. You can have a great lesson plan prepared but if the students do not want to participate, then it is practically useless. There was one day in class where we did a speed dating style collaboration on our paper where we got five to ten ideas from different people within 20 minutes. I like this style of collaboration because even if you do not need help on something, you can help other people develop their ideas.
authors and activities
This blog post was about Media Influence and I read an interesting article by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright that really opened my mind about the topic. I think it is important to understand how the media tries to control how you feel so you can try and resist the temptation to completely believe what they are showing or telling you. Sturken and Cartwright talk about Images and Ideology; they explore the dynamics of power and how propaganda is used in today's society. This is one of my favorite articles because it opens your mind to something that is going on all around us. Most of the time we are unaware of media influence and the two authors try and reveal the dirty secrets about Media.
Throughout my semester of UWRT, we read about numerous topics covered by just as many people. I really learned from each and every author; from Plato's allegory of the cave to Lars Eighner's "On Dumpster Diving", I learned about very interesting topics and concepts. There were a few authors that I wish we spent more class time on, but given the length of the classes, I think we covered many good authors and topics.
Throughout my semester of UWRT, we read about numerous topics covered by just as many people. I really learned from each and every author; from Plato's allegory of the cave to Lars Eighner's "On Dumpster Diving", I learned about very interesting topics and concepts. There were a few authors that I wish we spent more class time on, but given the length of the classes, I think we covered many good authors and topics.