Practical Composition: Exercises for the English Classroom from Working Instructors

Practical Composition: Exercises for the English Classroom from Working Instructors

Practical Composition: Exercises for the English Classroom from Working Instructors

Practical Composition: Exercises for the English Classroom from Working Instructors

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Overview

For English instructors at every level, the task of producing a worthwhile, workable plan for each class period can prove challenging. This invaluable work offers a vast compilation of writing exercises and in-class activities collected from professors, graduate students and lecturers from colleges and universities across the United States. Step-by-step instructions guide teachers through class discussions and exercises on topics ranging from invention, argumentation, formatting, thesis development and organization to rhetorical situation, visual rhetoric, peer review and revision. From high school teachers and first-time teaching assistants to experienced writing professors looking to enhance their courses, anyone who teaches English will appreciate the fresh ideas found in this indispensable volume.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780786476961
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date: 08/14/2014
Pages: 248
Product dimensions: 6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Russell Brickey has taught composition for more than a decade. He lives in Youngstown, Ohio. Laura L. Beadling teaches English, film studies, and screenwriting at Youngstown State University. She lives in Youngstown, Ohio. Evelyn Martens is retired from the University of Wisconsin–Platteville and now works as a freelance writer and editor in Louisiana.

Table of Contents

Preface
How to Use This Book
Argumentation, Research and Analysis
Generating “Because” Statements: Using the Conjunction to Reason Through Arguments (Becky ­Adnot-Haynes)
Finding That Weak Link: Supporting an Argument Exercise (Laura L. Beadling)
Meat Eaters’ Manifesto: Research and Argue the Politics of Consumption (Russell Brickey)
Analyzing Creative Sources: Moving from Emotional Response to Critical Analysis (Rita D. Costello and William Lusk Coppage)
“Patriotism”: Four Definition Exercises (Rita D. Costello)
An Essay That Bridges Narrative with Research (Christine Cucciarre)
Investigative Research Essay: Exploring Local Issues (Melissa Dennihy)
Argument Analysis and Evaluation Essay (Martin J. Fashbaugh)
Argumentation and Logical Fallacies: Headlines as Inductive and Deductive Examples (J.D. Isip)
Assignment Sheet: Literacy Analysis Assignment (Tessa Mellas)
Special Issue: Collaborative Writing and Editing to Produce an Academic Journal (Lauren Matus)
Narrowing the Argument: Finding a “Researchable” Topic (Lauren Matus)
Underlining the Plot: Using Movie Clips to Teach Analysis (Alexandra Oxner)
A Trip to McDonald’s: An Introduction to Basic Research and Argument (Dana Washington)
Audience and Mode
Essay Exam Exercise: Practicing Taking an ­In-Class Test (Laura L. Beadling)
What People Are Seeing: A Lesson on Composing for Diverse Audiences (Christina Boyles)
Code Switching: Appropriate Language, Situation, and Email Etiquette
(Rita D. Costello)
Letter to My Body: An Exercise in Poetry (Gerardo Del Guercio)
From Written to Oral: Using a Venn Diagram to Teach Modality (Josh Herron)
Using Twitter in the Composition Class: Writing Collaboratively Through Digital Technology (Josh Herron)
Narrative Structure of Storytelling: Using Freytag’s Triangle to Teach Audience (J.D. Isip)
Class Database Project: Extended Project on Writing Presentations
(Denise ­Landrum-Geyer)
The Art of Incorporating Sources and Discussion of “Slant” in Writing (Debra Rudder Lohe)
“Where in the Heck Is Matt?”: Evaluating Global Cultures Project and Writing “Context” Papers (Lauren Matus)
“Post-Secret” Rhetorical Analysis: Knowing Your Audience (Alexandra Oxner)
Bibliography and Citation Style
In-Text Citations Exercise: Working Through Incorrect MLA Citations to Learn Style (Becky ­Adnot-Haynes)
A Works Cited Group Exercise (Rita D. Costello)
Constructing a Works Cited Page: For Group Work or Homework (Rita D. Costello)
Annotated Bibliography and Beyond: ­In-Class Critique and Development (Roslyn Reso Foy)
Avoiding Plagiarism: Integrating and Citing Sources (Debra Rudder Lohe)
Citing Together: Plagiarism and Source Exercise (Ben P. Robertson)
Idea and Thesis Generation
Silent Discussion: Method for Generating Class Discussion (Laura L. Beadling)
Creating Personal Profiles: Five Prompts for Developing Persona (DeMisty ­Bellinger-Delfeld)
From Topic to Position: A Thesis Statement Exercise (Rita D. Costello)
From Image to Thesis: Description and Observation Exercise (Martin J. Fashbaugh)
Liberating the Conversation at the Start: Narrative Freewriting Exercise (Martin J. Fashbaugh)
Moving Beyond Summary: Ten Prompts for Critical Reading and Analytical Writing (Priscilla Glanville)
Introducing the Conclusion: Writing the Final Paragraph to Focus the
Opening Thesis (John P. Hazen)
Journaling the Headlines: Finding Paper Topics in the News (Kathleen Maloney)
Jump-Start Your Introduction: A ­Getting-Started Checklist (Christine Photinos)
“Complainstorming”: Brainstorming with Complaints (Nichole E. Stanford)
Grab Bag: ­Free-Writing Order Out of Chaos (Beth Walker)
Following “The Black Cat”: A Descriptive Essay Assignment (Dennis A. Yommer, Jr.)
Language Usage and Grammar
Teaching Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation and Citation Through
Unintentionally Humorous (Anonymous) Student Errors (Svetlana Bochman)
Mapping Language: A Metadiscourse Exercise (Christine Cucciarre)
Digital Diagramming: Adapting a Tried and True Pedagogy to a Digital
Environment (Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill)
Practical Punctuation: Applying Grammar Rules in Context (Laura Beadling and Russell Brickey)
Meaningful Text Assignment: Short Paragraphs Explaining the Importance of Writing (Lauren Matus)
Making Connections Between “Like” and “Dislike”: Effective Transitions (Alexandra Oxner)
Your? You’re? There? Their?: Spelling Exercise (Christine Photinos)
When Ethos, Pathos and Logos Are a Crime: Rhetoric Scene Investigation (Gary Vaughn)
Organization
Division and Classification Exercises: Learning the Process of Classification (Rita D. Costello)
The Paragraph Game: A Collaborative Game to Teach Paragraph Structure (Francesco Crocco)
Structure as Shape: Using Poetry to Teach Reader Response (Chad Engbers)
Descriptive Outlining, or Fun with ­Post-Its: Students Learn Essay Reorganization (Kathleen Maloney)
Deciding Their Own Fates: Facilitating ­Student-Created Rubrics (Chelsea R. Swick)
“Trimming” the Information: Reassembling Student Papers with Scissors and Tape (Virginia Tucker)
Peer Review
Double Take Peer Review: Checking Revisions Between Drafts One and Two (Mary Jo McCloskey)
Three Versions of Peer Review: Worksheets for the Classroom (Mike Farmer)
Peer Review Postings: Understanding Organization from the Reader’s Perspective (Brianne Howard)
Reflection Roundtable: Students Evaluate Their Writing Experience (Afaf (Effat) Jamil Khogeer)
Linguistic Exfoliation: Student Writing ­Self-Evaluation (Debra Rudder Lohe)
Six Peer Review Strategies: Prompts for ­In-Class Review (Tessa Mellas)
Visualizing Causality: A ­Peer Review and Poster Exercise (Lori Mumpower)
Composition Exercise Text: Peer Review Exercises (Abigail G. Scheg)
Alone in a Crowd: An (Anonymous) Peer Review Process (Chelsea R. Swick)
Revision
Revision in Practice: Review and Rewriting Intros in Class (DeMisty Bellinger-Delfeld)
Lessons in Revision with the Beatles and the Declaration of Independence (Rita D. Costello)
Kick Ass Paragraphs: Using Stronger Language to Bring Writing to Life (Tessa Mellas)
A Spatial Approach to Style: Using Tag Clouds for Revision in Narrative Writing (Kristin Mock)
Thinking Like an Editor: Revising Across Media (Martha A. Webber)
Genre Bending: Teaching the Radical Revision/Multimedia Project (Alexandra Oxner and Geoff Bouvier)
Writing Process and Paraphrase
The Letters to the Editor Exercise: Teaching Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle (Leslie Batty)
Creating ­Tailor-Made Handouts (Homework) (Laura L. Beadling)
Exhaust All Questions: Interrogating a Topic (Rita D. Costello and
William Lusk Coppage)
Show, Don’t Tell: A Description Exercise (Rita D. Costello)
Cultural Literacy vs. Personal Literacy: Using Lists as Evaluation (J.D. Isip)
Direct, Indirect and Impressionistic: Crafting Good Essay Openers (Debra Rudder Lohe)
Summary the Second Time Around: Forging the ­Reading-Writing Connection (Joseph McCarty)
Interactive Lecture/Practice: Sentence Cohesion and Paragraph Development (Maria L. Soriano)
Paraphrase to Avoid Plagiarism: Diagnostic and Assessment (Rick Williams)
Composing Comics: Writing Description and Dialogue (Dennis A. Yommer, Jr.)
Visual Rhetoric
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Arguing from Close Observation of a Photograph (Catherine Gubernatis Dannen)
Reading the Magazine Ad: Ethos, Pathos and Logos Group Activity (Martin J. Fashbaugh)
Visual Analysis ­Warm-Up: Learning Cultural Influences Through Imaginary Advertisement (Becky ­Adnot-Haynes)
Their Own Visual Rhetoric: Using Student Photographs to Teach Ethos, Pathos, Logos (Courtney Hitson)
Assignment: Photo Essay (Fred Johnson)
Assignment: Critical Analysis of a Documentary Film (Fred Johnson)
Reading the Opening Credit Sequence: Visual Analysis Assignment Sheet (Tessa Mellas)
About the Contributors
Index
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