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10/10: Your History of Collaboration
We’ll begin today by revisiting Bruffee. Do you have questions or thoughts about the article? We’ll look together at p. 642, where Bruffee offers a definition that is related to how we’ve understood discourse communities: “A community of knowledgeable peers is a group of people who accept, and whose work is guided by, the same paradigms and the same code of values and assumptions.” Think about the work you just completed in your Discourse Community Analysis assignment. How does this definition align with or deviate from Gee’s and Johns’? INDIVIDUAL WRITING Think again of the many discourse communities in your life, but this time think specifically about when you’ve collaborated “in…
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10/8: Kenneth Bruffee Introduces Collaborative Learning to College English Teachers
RHETORICAL SITUATION We’ll begin by orienting ourselves to Bruffee’s “Collaborative Learning and the ‘Conversation of Mankind’” (available on Brightspace) by understanding the rhetorical situation of this piece. We did this with Gee earlier in the semester; specifically, we will chart what we know about the author, audience, and text to take stock of the information we have going into this reading. Group Work In your groups, (quickly) answer the following questions. You should use textual evidence from Bruffee’s article, and I welcome you to use any relevant personal evidence, as well: Within your groups, you will need to assign the following roles: scribe, presenter, and observer. After you’ve developed an…
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10/1: The History of Collaboration
In-class Writing Prompt Think back to a time in your life when you worked with others in a meaningful way. Maybe you were on a sports team or a community organization. Describe this collaboration. How did you and your partner(s) work together towards a common goal? How was labor divided? Did different people have different roles? Were there more experienced peers that helped those with less experience? Give as many details as possible. In groups Share your in-class writing with your group and consider the following together: Compare your collaborative experiences with each other. What similarities do you notice across your experiences? What differences? After sharing our writing as a…
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9/26: Writing Workshop Day 2
Peer Review Groups Please find your partner(s) for the day and sit together: You will spend today reviewing each other’s drafts alongside the rubric. HOMEWORK Work on Project 1, your Discourse Community Analysis.
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Writing Workshop Day 1
Writing Processes We’ll begin today by reflecting on our individual writing processes. Think about how you approach a writing task. Do you take a bunch of notes first and then organize your thoughts? Do you have to craft a “perfect” introduction with a one-sentence thesis before you can move on? Do you reread each sentence you write before you can move on to the next? Are you an outliner? A mapper? An all-nighter-writer? Take a few minutes to write about the kind of writer you are. When you finish writing, take a look at this short excerpt where Anne Lamott’s defines her idea of writing “Shitty First Drafts.” Decisions, decisions…
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9/17: Discourse & Conflict
Review Project 1 We will review your Discourse Community Analysis project, and I’ll address questions or concerns you have. What does conflict look like? So far we’ve talked about discourse communities in ways that are relatively neutral; however, power, struggle, and conflict can also be a part of existing in and moving between communities. As people move between discourse communities where they practice new ways of engaging with people, texts, and languages, values and beliefs can sometimes be in tension. For example, Johns presents examples of people feeling alienated from their families as they become more literate or fluent in academic discourse communities; alternately, Johns offers another case of a…
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9/12: Discourse Communities, Genres, and Power
We’ll focus on two goals today: understanding Ann M. Johns’ text “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice” and assigning Project 1, the Discourse Community Analysis. Take a look at Johns (52-53) for some examples of recreational and professional communities she gives. Take a minute or two to list some of your recreational and professional communities. Discourse Communities & Their Genres In class, we defined genre as ways to classify or categorize written or graphic communication. Johns indicates that “communities use written discourses that enable members to keep in touch with each other, carry on discussions, explore controversies, and advance their aims; these genres are their vehicles for communication” (56). Johns…
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9/10: Understanding Gee’s Theories of Discourse Community
We’ll begin by reading a couple of paragraphs of Gee’s “Literacy, Discourse, Linguistics: An Introduction” (1989) together. Group Work In groups, you will be assigned a section of Gee’s text to closely read. Using the materials provided to create a poster, please produce the following: Each group will share their work with the class, and we will take any questions, critiques, or additional readings of Gee before moving on. Individual In-Class Writing Gee describes Discourse as “a sort of ‘identity kit’ which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognize”…
