Turn-it-in Discussion Board

English 10B 3rd Trimester

Why are we doing this?

-To engage central themes from readings -To craft responses to dense questions-To practice MLA in-text citations-To learn from one another through discussion

*These are critical thinking skills needed for the ACT, college, and life!

* “2O Most Common Mistakes in Undergraduate Writing”

Qualities of Strong Posts and Responses

Posts:-Met or exceeded the minimum length requirement

-Answered all parts of the question

-Cited the text

-Made text-text, text-self, and text-world connections

Responses:-Agreed or disagreed with the original post and explained WHY

-Posed a new question to be addressed

-Cited the text (book or post)

-Made text-self, text-text, and text-world connections

Text-Self

Definition: Making a connection between the text and a personal memory, experience, or knowledge

Example: I like how you used the strict beliefs of the Puritans. That would be a very hard to live in that time period.

The Crucible personal experience (Puritan beliefs)

*how/why would this lifestyle be hard?

Text-Text

Definition: Making a connection between the text (The Crucible) and another book, movie, song, etc.; making connections within the text

Example:  The Crucible reminds me of the movie The Village. The villagers also had strict rules and a pure way of life.

The Crucible movie

Text-World

Definition: making connections between the text and events, news, or history

Example: It seems like something like the Salem Witch Trials could not happen again, but it did during the McCarthy era .

OMM Historical context*give more details about the time period/similarities

Other strong discussion responses:

Were the girls really lying? There may have been a chance that the girls were poisoned from food during that time period.

Strengths:*politely disagrees

*explains WHY

*questions invite further discussion

Other strong discussion responses:

I did not think of their conflict to chase their dream. That is a good one. It is interesting that you considered it a physical conflict. I would not have, but I can see how it makes sense. When I think of a physical conflict, I think more of people actually fighting.

Strengths:

*considers the writer’s point of view

*positive/respectful

Areas for improvement:

*“I can see how it makes sense”—explain how it makes sense!

*What other kind of conflict could it be?

Other strong discussion responses:

You mention Lennie's mental disability. Have you tried to guess what it may be? I think it may be autism.

Strengths:

*references the text (original post)

*text-self/text-world connection between OMM and outside knowledge

Areas for improvement:

*offer evidence from the text as to why it may be autism

Tips-Write in MS Word/Google Docs first

-editing, word count, technical difficulties

-Headers and the discussion question don’t count towards the minimum word requirement

-PROOFREAD

-Of Mice and Men, Lenny/Lennie, random capitalization (Moral, Intellectual, Physical)

-Write as if the reader doesn’t know the topic

-In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, …

-When responding, focus on content, not grammar/style

-In-text citations/quote integration

In-Text Citations: Review

-the final punctuation (usually a period) goes AFTER the parenthetical citation

-the parenthetical citation looks like:“….” (Author’s last name pg number).

Definition

Quote bomb: (n). 1). a quote that has been randomly dropped into a paper without proper contextualization and/or explanation, therefore explosively obliterating the writer’s credibility and grade

2.) Ms. Sherburn’s biggest pet peeve

#rookiemistake #epicwritingfail

dwiches

Solution to Quote Bombs: Quote Sandwiches

Top layer of bread: Lead-in Statements

-Signal that a quote is coming -Give quotes context and credibility -often use transitional words or action verbs

-for instance, for example, in fact -writes, argues, asserts, claims, illustrates,

demonstrates, says, points out

The Meat: Quotes

Pick quotes that are: -short and succinct -directly relevant to your point

*Quotes longer than four typed lines need to be in block format -see Purdue OWL

Bottom Layer of Bread: Explanation/Analysis Statements

-makes the connection to the significance of the quote EXPLICIT

-connects the quote to the writer’s own ideas/points

*necessary even if your quote seems self explanatory!

Example:

For instance, Dr. Willy Weather, a weather specialist at Standford University explained that "Sandy has claimed more lives than any of us expected, and seems to be continuing to do so" (Smith 72). In fact, not only has the storm surpassed most climatologists’ expectations, but it has also caused more deaths than both Hurricane Irene and Katrina.

Example:

Curley is portrayed by Candy as " 'Well . . . tell you what. Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he's mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy. You seen little guys like that, ain't you? Always scrappy?' " (Steinbeck 26) Because of his bigger size, Curley sees Lennie as a threat, and therefore picks on him ruthlessly. 

Colbert: Quote Master

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/409087/february-23-2012/wheat-thins-sponsortunity

Context: Wheat Thins “Sponsortunity” Quoting Wheat Thins company memo

*Listen for quote introduction/analysis

What did Colbert do well?

Quote Sandwiches!

-Gave context and lead-ins-Short, relevant quotes -explained importance *could’ve used more analysis, but he wasn’t

writing an academic paper

Don’t throw away your grade, too.

Discussion Board Grade Breakdown:25 points

Discussion Post: (17.5 points)

Content: (10) -Answers all parts of the question -Is a minimum of 250 words -Makes a text-self, text-text, or text-world connection

In-text citations: (5) -Contains a minimum of two textual references -(minus 1 pt for every original error)

Grammar/Mechanics: (2.5) -Adheres to conventions of Standard English

Discussion Response: (7.5 pts)

Content: (5) -Directly replies to/references the discussion post -is a minimum of 50 words -makes a text-self, text-text, or text-world connection/poses a new question

Grammar/Mechanics (2.5) -Adheres to conventions of Standard English

New Discussion Question

Write about power. What is power? Who has power? Who has power and does not use it? You do not have to specifically answer these questions, but you must write about power.