All the Homework assigned so far....through end of second week.

This is all the homework that has been asked for up through the end of the second week. There are 6 assignments.  I may have neglected to mention one or more of these homework assignments in your particular class, but please do them now.  As far as when each of these is due, it depends on which class you are in, so check your class notes. (If all this gets you totally lost, or you unsure about something, pls email me. My email address is on the syllabus.)

1. 

What does Tuning the Voice seem to be saying about Community (or lack of it)?

What does Tuning the Voice seem to be saying about Passion (or lack of it)?

For each question you will write 3 paragraphs. (6 paras total)—Try to explore one idea per paragraph.

2. 

Norton Grubb, who studies Community college teachers, found that many teachers tell him that “students just aren’t ready, and just cant do what I ask.” We find in Tuning the Voice, around minutes 27-32 that students talk about their difficulties in getting their work done. However we begin to see that many students actually DO know how to get things done, and can talk about how to do what is asked.  Given what Josh and the other students are saying, you have two questions:

What if anything should college/teachers do differently?

What if anything should students do differently?
Please generate at least 3 answers for each question.

 3.

A professor we interviewed once said, “What looks like internal motivation is actually a side effect of the environment a person is in.” What he seems to be saying is that simply TELLING someone to try harder or get some discipline most likely wont work unless there are others supporting factors in play. (It turns out that there is some research in Psychology that supports this theory.) For this homework assignment you will do the following: Write about a time where you felt like you were kicking ass in doing something, and really felt motivated about it. What support systems, if any, did you have in play around you? (2-3 paras of writing.)

4.

Please watch “The Passion Project.” Here is the question to write about: How does the movie speak to you? (3 paras of writing.)

5.

Here is a claim: If you are pursuing a passion that requires you to go to college, you should plan on and be ready to critique education. Do you agree or disagree with this claim. Support your opinion.  (2-3 paras of writing.)

6.  (this is new homework for a couple of the classes...)

Come up with 3 short answers for each of these questions:

Why do some students have a lack of passion?

How does it feel to be without passion?

How might a person go about finding their passion?

What should a person do once they find their passion?

RULE OF 3

RULE OF 3

A crucial part of college involves coming up with and then shaping/controlling an idea or concept. When students first try to answer questions posed in class or on essay prompts, almost always their ideas are too big, too general--with the result that it appears clichéd. Students can’t handle these big ideas—they get over whelmed or lost or jumbled. Our job is to help them take control of their own mind. (One thing I do is to let students know it is GREAT that their ideas are too big. Because Student Capacity can be honored and put into play.) Like Goldilocks trying to find the right bed, we talk about an idea being too big/too small/just right. By “just right” we mean an idea that is just right for dealing with inside of one single paragraph. Soon this becomes a mantra type question in the class. A student offers a response to a question or raises an idea and we ask “too big/too small/just right?”

As we said, most of the time a student’s first concept choice is TOO BIG. The “Rule of 3” is one very powerful way to get a handle on an idea, carve it into smaller more easy-to-handle ideas that can then be turned into a paragraph. “Rule of 3” means when you have a concept, you should see if it can be broken into 3 (sometimes 2 or 4 can work too) smaller concepts. Similarly, when you are asked a question, see if you can give more than ONE answer by offering 3 (sometimes 2 or 4 can work too) concepts in response. When students practice doing this they are amazed how powerful their brain is and how much content is really IN THERE! Why do Rule of 3? Doing so gives students more ideas to work with. Doing so allows students to see that that bigbigbig paragraph probably has a bunch of smaller ideas jumbled inside. That is a problem because we want only ONE specific concept per paragraph.

(Below are notes from a class discussion—the underlined concepts were “too big” and so the class did “Rule of 3” on them.)

Relationship: love, family, friend   Responding to mistakes: Repent, Move on, Try it again

NOT Responding to mistakes: Regrets, Do it again, People angry, Punishment

Analysis of mistakes: Why did I make the mistake, Why am I still making mistake, How to stop, Lessons learned       

Areas in my life where I am making mistakes: Office, social world, school

This Rule of 3 exercise below came out of a discussion around “Into the Wild.” We were talking about Chris and what he values in life and someone said “Nature.” The class quickly realized that Nature is too big of a concept----how can we RULE OF 3 it?

• Living off the land
• Spiritual connection with nature
• Push himself and be tested by nature
• Nature as place for Adventure
• Nature’s rhythms effect Chris: Emotionally, Mentally, Physically (You can Rule of 3 a concept that was already created by a previous Rule of 3 exercise!)

Of course 3 is just a number. In this case the class generated 5 or so smaller concepts. These concepts were much more “handleable” for students when it came time to write paragraphs. Once students get a right sized idea, they need to know how to talk about it, how to spend time developing it inside an academic paragraph. Below is a paragraph template that can help them “package” the concept…

Features of Typical Academic Body Paragraph

Features of Typical Academic Body Paragraph

1. Paragraph Topic Sentence(s)—one single sentence isn’t enough—your goal is to create 3-4-5 sentences that set up ONE specific (right-sized) concept. You can explain/explore/define (but don’t use Dictionary)/discuss the concept. You must include Keyword/Keyword Phrases. These keywords are found in the questions you are being asked to answer. If your essay doesn’t have questions for you to answer, you’ll need to create your own keywords. You don’t want a quote to start—or end—your paragraph. You want your voice to come first and last in the paragraph. The focus of Topic Sentences is to set up the concept; explain what it is; how it works; describe what you mean when you say_______; explore its different attributes.

2. Support—The most common type of support is quotes, but you can bring in stats/data/graphs/pictures/photos/paraphrase/evidence/stories. Whatever you bring in, the goal here is for the support to make your paragraph’s concept be more persuasive, more clear, more “supported.” Quote length for a 5 page paper should be rather short, no more than a sentence or two.

3. Commentary—This is the part of the paragraph where you bring in your opinion/POV/analysis/response about 1 and 2 above—the concept and the support--you have already presented. Your goal is to create 3-4-5 sentences of commentary. Commentary is more about evaluating; judging; critiquing; assessing the value of ________; deciding how you feel about __________. Students sometimes don’t feel comfortable including their opinions, or may feel they don’t know what to say. Rest assured that we (college) DO want to know what you think, and that it doesn’t have to be the “world’s greatest insight” every time you offer a commentary. It is important, however, that all—or most—of your paragraphs include your opinions. If you aren’t sure what to say, you might consider using the following questions to help get your ideas flowing. There are other questions you can ask. These can serve as a start:

How does this make me feel?
What does this remind me of?

Why is this important or significant?  
Who or what is to blame here?

What is the problem here?   
What is the solution here?

What can we learn from this?
Why does this happen?

What can this be compared/contrasted to?
Why should anyone care about this?