Groups

In each class this week, I divided the students into groups so they could compare their work on the three articles they are currently summarizing. Some classes really excel in groups and others seem rather intimidated. Thankfully this week all four classes did quite well in smaller groups.

Even though writing is what I teach, this week I've been training them to carefully read the newspaper article, magazine article, and website article they have been assigned.

They need to consider the title of each one -- is it misleading or on the mark. Then they are asked to circle every word they do not know or could not give a definition if they were asked. Next they are asked to note the names of any people mentioned (one of the articles mentions ten different people). Then they are asked to highlight every question mark and note each time the author uses the word "but." Then they must discern the structure of the message and any subtitles. Hopefully when they have done a close reading after noting all of the above, they can then locate the author's main point and begin to summarize the message. The most difficult thing about summarizing is that students want to "report" the article or "copy" the article rather than condensing the article's message into a brief paragraph that contains the entire message that the author has given.

So Week 3 of the spring semester will come to a conclusion tomorrow. I have to be on campus for a meeting of all English faculty to discuss some of the various English courses that are currently being assessed so we can continue to stay in good standing with the accreditation requirements of the state of California. It's really a lot of work. Some of us feel as though we attend more meetings than we do classes to teach.

Well, February just vanished. Poof! Two months of 2013 gone.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol