Introductions and Syllabus Review
Lesson Materials: For the student-facing pedagogical materials needed to teach today’s class, please open the following page: Introductions and Syllabus Review Lesson Materials.
Lesson Objectives: 1) Students will get to know the instructor, their classmates, understand the purpose of the course, course policies, and texts; 2) Students will learn to write formal emails
Connection to First Major Paper/Project: Today’s diagnostic writing is about a significant positive or negative experience students had that influenced their experience learning to write. This activity is related to the first major paper in which students write the story of how they learned to write in English and any other languages they know.
Connection to Course Goals: Course goals are explicitly discussed. Getting started with the literacy narrative by doing the diagnostic writing activity emphasizes the point that writing is a process spanning a period of time.
Sequence of Activities: 1. Introductions; 2. Attendance; 3. Scavenger hunt/share out; 4. Syllabus review and course goals; 5. Challenges with writing; 6. Email Etiquette; 8. In-class writing sample
Activities:
1. Instructor introduces themselves and the course (5 minutes): Put course number, section, and instructor’s name on the board and be sure that students are in the right course and section. Welcome students to the course.
2. Take attendance (10 minutes): Call on students in the roster and ask how they prefer to be called; ask unlisted students not to leave after class, and have them give their names and ID numbers; if a student thinks they are enrolled but this must be confirmed through the registrar, send them to the Writing or ESL Director.
3. Scavenger Hunt and Share Out (30 minutes): Sequencing Note: It is recommended to do this activity early in the first lesson to avoid the potentially static and didactic nature of the first day as soon as possible. Instructors should feel free to place this activity where they like within their own lessons. However, keep in mind that if the first activity is one that requires to get out of their seats and interact with one another, the implicit suggestion is that this is the dynamic much of the class will rely on. Furthermore, by giving students the opportunity to speak first, they may be more likely to speak in the future when there are teacher-centered activities. The students will be given the opportunity to get out of their seats and ask one another a series of questions related to reading/writing. Example questions include:
- Find a student who reads the news at least once a week
- Find a student who knows more than two languages
- Find a classmate who prefers reading non-fiction to fiction
- Find a classmate who prefers reading fiction to nonfiction
- Find a classmate who reads for pleasure
The purpose of this exercise is threefold: a. Develop a classroom culture of sharing and mutual understanding, b. Provide the instructor an informal understanding of the group’s personalities and knowledge of literacy concepts (useful for scaffolding, and differentiating purposes) c. informal instruction on a number of basic literary concepts (fiction vs. nonfiction, etc.). Students will share out their findings from the surveys. Before they do, the instructor will write a large letter “S” on the board or have it prepared on a slide. The instructor explains that the “S” is related to the third person singular inflection for present simple verbs. The instructor explains to students that despite being a simple grammar principle missing the “S” on verbs such as “he/she reads” is a common mistake. If students make a mistake when introducing a classmate “who read fiction for pleasure” (for example) the instructor will point to the S, as a way of eliciting a self-correction.
4. Syllabus Review and Course Goals (30 minutes): Have policies on projector while going over them; attendance and lateness; grading for major assignments and class; grading for homework and low stakes assignments; ask what students consider to be good participation and discuss what the instructor considers to be good participation. Discuss the Reader as a required textbook and make sure students do the reading for the next class.
Engage in creating a collaborative code of engagement in the courses, identifying and negotiating what students want and what the instructor wants, finding a balance. Revisit this code throughout the semester.
6. Emails (15 min): Go over email writing etiquette with students, discuss differences between the two email samples. Have students practice sending email as they learned from the email etiquette activity. Walk students through the Google Docs Guide, helping them set up Gmail accounts/email me their address. Make sure they know where to find the reading/response homework.
7. Writing prompt (50 minutes): Write about a positive or negative experience learning to write. Have students write on the computer and submit on Google Drive so that they can easily use this writing in their first literacy draft.
Ending class (5 minutes): Summarize the main points that were covered today and remind students of the assignment for the next class.
Homework: Remind students to click on the link in the course schedule for the next class day, preparing the reading/response homework. The instructor should designate 4 or 5 teams with 3-5 students in each. All students should have the same major or closely related majors. Each team will have a shared folder called, for example, Team 5. Each folder will have a Drafting Doc where every student will post their first draft of the narrative assignment with their bolded name centered at the top of a page. See Google Docs Guide.