Monday, March 23, 2009

Welcome to Cycle 5

Today is the beginning of Cycle 5. You are now aware of how this class operates and what you need to do to succeed. Daily attendance is crucial. Make every effort to be here everyday. Use Lunch to makeup or to continue work. Work from home or the public library. Your success is all about you and what you do or don't do. Make this cycle better than the last one.

Friday, March 20, 2009

End of the Cycle

You should be proud of the work you have done for Cycle 4. The development of your webpages has been a wonder to watch as you discover your skills and make your pages attractive. You have discovered the power of good "Form." In addition, the "Contents" on these pages is very very good. You should be proud of how hard and how well you have developed these webpages and the content on these pages.

Be sure go to your online Journal and attend to expressing what grade you believe you deserve for the work you have done this Cycle. I am proud of your work this Cycle and so should you be proud of yourselves.

Well done!

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Peer Review

Now that you have posted work on your webpages, it is time to review your classmates' pages and to comment on them. It is called peer review. You will select the 2 classmates that follow your name on the list and any other classmate's page to peer review. You will do three peer reviews of the Irony essay. If there is no Irony essay, go to the next classmate.

We will use the following peer review protocol: I heard, I noticed, I wondered.

One way to avoid the pitfalls of peer review is to use the "I heard, I noticed, I wondered" method. With these prompts, you can provide useful feedback to a writer without being too biting in your criticism.

I heard...
As a reviewer, first try to summarize what you think the piece was about. This is the easy part. Tell the writer what you saw as the story or the main idea. As a writer, listen to this section, and try to hear whether or not you communicated what you were trying to communicate.

I noticed...
As a reviewer, tell the author about some of the things that attracted your attention. What worked well? What details seemed especially vivid or striking? What will you remember about this paper? As a writer, think about why the reviewer noticed these things, and how you can make all your writing as effective.

I wondered...
As a reviewer, did you have any questions when you finished reading? Did you not understand what something meant, or why it was included? Did something bother or disturb you? Did you suspect something might have worked better another way? This section is your chance to ask the writer all these questions. As a writer, try to answer the reviewer's questions. Look at your writing again, and see if there is any way to make those points clearer to a reader.

You will be writing your comments in WORD and then copy and paste them on this blog as per Ted's instructions.