For Tuesday Oct 5

Hello all,

Today, we tried to blow some bubbles but all we got back was disappointing news about your outlooks and goals.

We then moved to discussing the next stage of Project One: the Portfolio. The Portfolio is due Oct. 13.

Portfolio should contain:
Overall annotation
Short annotation for reading to week 5
Readings from Week 5
Short annotation for essay (narrative on your writing)
Revised essay

In class, we discussed some reasons how we decide if we have a passing or failing portfolio. Hunter suggested that the portfolio is successful if it showcases a degree of completion in the texts, and A.J. suggests that the portfolio is good if it achieves clarity. Brenna contributed a focus on comprehension in the portfolio, while Blaze carefully highlighted the need to demonstrate an application of thought in the texts. Dean asserted that the portfolio must be comprised of many components, and Baalika contributed a focus on grammar, style and conventions. Nice work.

The nine characteristics of portfolios are:

collection: "collection, then, is the source of the portfolio's greater face validity, of its ability to represent the writer more fully than earlier forms of assessment allowed" (33). That is, the portfolio judges more than a single performance range: the writer is able to use different genres that show off different areas of expertise

context richness: "portfolio assessment ... assumes that writers bring their experiences, in the form of their writings, with them into the assessment.... This characteristic means that instruction and assessment are intertwined, that the context within which the learning took place determines the contents of the portfolio" (34).

delayed evaluation: students can go back and revise their work, they are building a portfolio not in a day but over the course of a semester or a year

selection: "The act of making the selection leads writers to implicit--and often explicit--decisions about quality" (35)
student-centered control: the learner is responsible for his/her success

reflection and self-assessment: this is especially related to the letter that some portfolios require, it is the act of returning to a corpus of texts and reflecting upon those works

growth along specific parameters: the portfolio allows evaluators to ask specific questions such as "Has the writer developed a stronger ability to write unified essays?" or "Has a writer become a better speller?" (36)
development over Time: "Readers can trace the development of each piece" (37).

(According the Hamp-Lyons and Condon)


We then spent some time discussing how to construct the annotations for the portfolio. Remember the impulse is to 1. reflect 2. apply and 3 evaluate in each of the annotations.

For the Global Annotation (1-2 paragraphs)
-Reflect on what you have learning in the class (readings, discussions, postings, drafting, prewriting, revising, peer reviewing, etc)
-Apply how you have learned. Discuss the various tools that you have used and augmented for your writing.
-Evaluate how and what you have learned (the value of it).

For the Summary Response Annotation (1 paragraph)
-Reflect on what you have learned (readings and class discussions)
-Apply how you have learned.
-Evaluate how and what you have learned.

For the Narrative Annotation (1 paragraph)
-Reflect on what you have learned (prewriting, drafting, reviewing, and revising)
-Apply how you have learned.
-Evaluate how and what you have learned.

Following this discussion, we shifted to the drafts. I explained some of my comments on your drafts.

1. this, that, thing, it, there-Remember, these words are unclear, and you will want to be specific with your reader. Dean made an amazing comment that he thinks he uses these because he is writing in 1st person. Nice observation!!
Try and replace anything that is not specific with more targeted words.

2. Comma time: Oh Boy did we have fun with commas. We learned:
1. 1,2, and 3 or 1,2 and 3 rule.
2. ,FANBOYS= can separate sentences.
3. Comma before an introductory group of words i.e. Transitions, -ing, and -ly (remember find the subject and then comma before it.)

Here are some other helpful hints that may come in handy.

Pronoun Reference/Agreement
Skim your paper, stopping at each pronoun. Look especially at it, this, they, their, and them.
Search for the noun that the pronoun replaces. If you can't find any noun, insert one beforehand or change the pronoun to a noun. If you can find a noun, be sure it agrees in number and person with your pronoun.

Subject/Verb Agreement
Find the main verb in each sentence.
Match the verb to its subject.
Make sure that the subject and verb agree in number.

Parallel Structure
Skim your paper, stopping at key words that signal parallel structures.
Look especially for and, or, not only...but also, either... or, neither...nor, both...and.
Make sure that the items connected by these words (adjectives, nouns, phrases, etc.) are in the same grammatical form.

Spelling and Punctuation
Spelling
Examine each word in the paper individually.
Move from the end of each line back to the beginning. Pointing with a pencil helps you really see each word.
If necessary, check a dictionary to see that each word is spelled correctly.

Compound Sentence Commas
Skim for the conjunctions and, but, for, or, nor, so and yet.
See whether there is a complete sentence on each side of the conjunction.
if so, place a comma before the conjunction.

Introductory Commas
Skim your paper, looking only at the first two or three words of each sentence.
Stop if one of these words is a dependent marker, a transition word, a participle, or a preposition.
Listen for a possible break point before the main clause.
Place a comma at the end of the introductory phrase or clause (which is before the independent clause).

Comma Splices
Skim the paper, stopping at every comma.
See whether there is a complete sentence on each side of the comma. If so, add a coordinating conjunction after the comma or replace the comma with a semicolon.

Fragments
Look at each sentence to see whether it contains an independent clause.
Pay special attention to sentences that begin with dependent marker words (such as because) or phrases such as for example or such as.
See if the sentence might be just a piece of the previous sentence that mistakenly got separated by a period.

Run-On Sentences
Review each sentence to see whether it contains more than one independent clause. Start with the last sentence of your paper, and work your way back to the beginning, sentence by sentence.
Break the sentence into two sentences if necessary.

Apostrophes
Skim your paper, stopping only at those words which end in "s.“
See whether or not each "s" word needs an apostrophe. If an apostrophe is needed, you will be able to invert the word order and say "of" or "of the":
Mary's hat
The hat of Mary

Left-Out Words
Read the paper aloud, pointing to every word as you read. Don't let your eye move ahead until you spot each word.
Also, make sure that you haven't doubled any words.

I hope this helps.

For Tuesday:
Read James Kinneavy “The Basic Aims of Discourse” (scanned on moodle)

Post a summary and reaction to the reading
Draft annotations for Portfolio 1 (Bring copies to class).

Thanks and take care,

Kat