Teaching Evaluation Survey (10 min)

It is really helpful to fill out end of semester surveys for your classes. I read them really carefully and they help me make changes in future classes–which is also why I like to survey you all during the semester!

With any kind of feedback, it is always good to be constructive, like you have done in your writing groups. When you get to the open-ended part, please offer up things that worked just as much as things that don’t work (it is useful to know about things that work so I know to keep doing it!).

Further, explaining why something worked or didn’t work can be really helpful, so I get a little more insight into what the constituent parts of the thing need to be adjusted (rather than a binary: keep vs. not keep).

To fill out survey, you can follow the link in your email from the Baruch College of Teaching and Evaluation or go to Student Course and Faculty Evaluations – Enrollment Management (cuny.edu) and log in there to fill it out.

So, try to navigate there now. I’ll give you a minute to do that. After that minute, please acknowledge that you are good with a thumbs up. (if you already completed this survey, also give me a thumbs up).

Once we are all there, I’m going to mute myself and turn off my video. You’ll have 10 minutes to complete the survey.

 

Writing with Sources Examples (10-15 min)

I wanted to highlight some examples from your writing of some good work for integrating sources into your writing. Some of it is from your first drafts and some from the activity in Learning Module 10.

APA Paraphrase Connects Back to Argument:

Physical plastic is constantly discarded and spread around the world. You can be in a
river or on a mountain and find pieces of plastic everywhere. This poses a big problem
for wild and marine life. Many animals can be killed or severely injured by ingesting or
getting stuck in plastic waste. This can lead to already endangered species becoming
extinct. On top of this many of the world’s Oceans carry up to 3,520,000 plastic items on
just the surface, meaning there are still tons of plastic under that surface (Thompson et
al., 2009). All of that plastic in the ocean ends up destroying marine life and killing fish. In
a study done over 260 species of different types of fish, turtles and invertebrates have
ingested or become stuck in plastic waste (Thompson et al., 2009). In beaches all
around the world you can’t help but find plastic waste, for example about 50% of beach
litter in Europe is made up of plastic cups (Narancic & O’Connor., 2018). Additionally, if
an animal were to ingest tiny plastic substances, they can pass on that toxic material
through the food chain harming other species. After analyzing and dissecting Cat fish in
northeastern Brazil it was found that somewhere between 18 and 33 percent of them
had plastic waste in their stomach (Verma et al., 2015).

MLA Paraphrase Connects Back to Argument:

Although the second quarter’s GDP was quite gloomy, things have started to pick up. In
the third quarter of 2020, the US GDP has increased by 33.1% – a record high percentage increase
in our economy’s history (Bureau of Economic Analysis). Why is this the case? Firstly, because the
increase in third quarter GDP reflected continued efforts to reopen businesses and resume
activities that were postponed or restricted due to COVID-19 (Bureau of Economic Analysis). The
second reason could be attributed to the fact that the unemployment rate has dropped down to
6.9% in the month of October from 14.7% in March (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Since more
people have jobs, there is more discretionary income amongst consumers. This increases
spending, which in turn raises other people’s incomes, putting us in the self-reinforcing direction
of economic growth.

 

Integrating Direct Quotes into Grammar of Sentence:

While news agencies can verify their sources and information with fact-checks, a 2019 survey by Pew Research Center of 5,107 U.S. adults reported that 55% of them get their news often or sometimes from social media, with Facebook as the most significant source. Also, 62% of them believed that social media companies have “too much control over the news people see”.

 

Problematic smartphone use is “related to depression and self-esteem” (Pera).

 

Introducing a quote with signal phrases:

Fred Travis, Director of at the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition, at the Maharishi University of Management states that Transcendental meditation is also reported to decrease the effects of previously stressful experiences and helps individuals perform better under stressful situations (170). In his study, Travis found that “Transcendental Meditation practice seemed to buffer effects of the high stress of finals’ week” (174).

 

Author Matthew Schwartz expresses the idea that “Studies have shown that bilingual employees can earn between 5% and 20% more money per hour than those who speak only one language. Bilingual employees have a useful skill that can translate into increased revenue for the company, and as a result, some companies will compensate these employees accordingly.”

 

 

Writing Time vs. Writing Groups (20-30 min)

I thought we would leave the rest of the time to get some work in, together, on the research paper draft (or, if you prefer, your ELD or another paper you are revising–or even something else you are writing for another class or for something else).

What would you prefer?

• Time by yourself to write with the opportunity to ask questions to people in your writing group
• Time to read over drafts of other people in your writing group for feedback

Things to consider:

• How does the organizational structure of your paper relate back to the central argument?
• How do you use sources to fit into your argument? How do you avoid dropping sources in your writing and then quickly moving on?
• How are you using this draft as an opportunity to work on areas of your writing that you want to work on?

 

Questions for Spring (10 min)

I wanted to do this earlier, but kept forgetting. A colleague of mine, Dr. Harold Ramdass, makes time in his first-year writing classes to just talk about things like registering for classes and other logistical work for getting ready for the spring and beyond.

So, how are you all doing with picking classes? I realize you may already be done at this point, but does anyone have questions on this? You all have each other as resources.

Other logistical questions around majors, class requirements, paying bills, etc.?

 

 

 

Next Time (2-5 min)

• WE HAVE CLASS ON DECEMBER 8th from 3pm to 4pm. Doing synchronous, at the Zoom link you are on now.
• Make sure you submit your Research-Driven Writing Project draft by 11:59pm tonight, BUT if you need an extension, that is fine, too. Let me know.
• No office hours on Tuesday, December 8th from 1:30pm to 2:30pm, but, as always, I’m available by appointment. Send me an email to check in!
• Get to work on your Experiential-Learning Document. You already have! In Learning Modules 9 and 10 you have started this work. Keep going. This is due by 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 15th. Submit it to Blackboard.
• If you want to revise any of your three major writing assignments again (Literacy Narrative, Rhetorical Analysis, Research-Driven Writing Project), you can do so by 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 15th. With any revision, also include 300-500 words in a separate document that describes what you changed and why you changed it. You can just email me your revision.