Ashley Vivarelli's Mini Lesson

Engage: I will talk to the class about Chicago Style and give them more insight to what it consists of.

Explain: I will give a power point presentation over Chicago Style Citation and Bibliographies.

Extend/Explore: Give examples of the formatting of Chicago Style and also insight on how to write using Chicago Style.

E-Search/Evolution: I wasn't able to find a quiz online for this specific material, but I will be passing around a study guide of how Chicago Style should look.

Mike Murphy's Upcoming Mini Lesson

Engage: I will begin the mini lesson by allowing students to look over two web sites explaining the basics of verb tenses.
--Site 1 --Site 2

Explain: I will give a PowerPoint presentation going over the twelve types of verb tenses.

Extend/Explore: I will have many examples in the PowerPoint presentation that shows different uses of verb tenses.

E-search/Evaluation: I will give students a ten-question quiz to assess their knowledge of verb tenses.

Sam Hollis Mini lesson for 11/18

Not only, but also; Neither, nor; Either, or.

Engage- I'll show the class a video that will give them some insight on my topic
Explain- I'll then show my power-point and further explain my topic after video
Extend and Explore- I have plenty and plenty of examples that should help make my topic more clear to the viewers.
E-Search/Evolution- I then have a small quiz to give out that will further everyone's understanding of topic

Here is quiz:
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-too-either-neither2.html

Should Who Be Singular & Plural

I understand the point that the author was making about how Webster referred to "who" as a singular pronoun as well as a plural one, but I think that who should stay singular. I wouldn't have a problem with it being used plurally (although maybe only because I'm used to hearing it this way), but I think that "who" being used singularly sounds better than it being used plurally. A sentence like "who are coming" does not sound like it is proper grammar even if grammar rules ever were changed to make it a correctly used sentence.

Mandie Davis mini lesson on articles Monday 11-16

I will first show a video on articles
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMuaJ6EsbSE
There are three articles.
I will then discuss different reasons to use and not to use articles.
After I am done explaining how and why to use articles I will ask students questions to see if they fully understand.
I will then give the students the following quiz to end my mini lesson.

Check Your Knowledge
http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_articles1.htm

Homework for Monday, Nov. 16th

Solutions for our pop-up quiz from Monday, Nov. 9th:
According to the prompt in the email, you had to find ONE pronoun-antecedent disagreement:

WRONG sentence: "I mean, who in THEIR right mind would make such a claim if it wasn't true?"

RIGHT sentence: "I mean, who in HIS or HER right mind would make such a claim if it weren't true?"

(You only needed to spot the pronoun-antecedent disagreement; not the "was/were" mistake!)

The rule behind it: "Who" is always singular, like "anybody," "nobody," "somebody," "someone," "anyone," and "no one."


With regard to our most recent pop-up quiz, there is one person, Sylvia Chalker, who argues against the "right grammar rules." Here is a link to one page of a review article where this person gives good reasons for why one might need to rethink a "correct grammar rule."

The rule is: "WHO is always singular." After reading this critique's statement, how do you personally think about this issue? Is Sylvia Chalker right? Is she wrong? If you could change the grammar rule, would you do so, and why? Or, why not?

HOMEWORK: Post a short comment to this blog (or, if you cannot blog for some reason, email me, or bring a print-out), giving your personal opinion. Due date: Monday, Nov. 16th, at class time. This post is worth 5 points and makes up for the 5 points missed if you didn't spot the mistake in the pop-up quiz. If you did spot it, you'll get 10 points altogther!

In-Class, Nov. 9th: Conclusion

How to Write the Conclusion:

• must be the best-written part of the whole research essay
• must answer your research question (you can restate it!)
• must relate to your Literature Review (example: if one of your article in the Lit Review was against marijuana, and listed reasons for it, but your own survey found out that most people were in favor of it, write about the differences.)
• must contain MAJOR findings (Unlike your Results section, which talked about ALL your findings from ALL your questions step by step, the Conclusion only contains the main findings in %.)
• must contain speculations/assumptions WHY your findings were like this. You don't need to be "right", since you only assume certain reasons for the answers you got. Example: If you found out that 90% of your surveyed students do not participate in off-campus activities, you might assume that their university work load and their job hours make it impossible for them to participate in off-campus activities....)
• must contain implications/recommendations for the practice. Example: If you found out that texting really makes students' grammar worse, you could recommend that teachers instruct their high school students in code-switching, so they become aware that texting lingo is appropriate in informal settings, but not in academic papers.

In-Class, Nov. 9th: Introduction

Today, we are composing the Introduction and Conclusion, and then, our papers are finished - yay!!!

Below are the guidelines for how to compose the

Introduction

• don't use the words FACT, PROVE, and TRUTH!!!!!
• don't use "the writer brings his point across." Say directly what the message is.
  
• stay general
• no quotes
• no personal opinions (non-evaluative)
• some facts and the status quo of your topic in society today
• can (not: must!) include statistics (%) that you got from the Internet. If you use statistics, you need to mention who found them out, and in which year, so that we know if they're still valid. Example: "According to a study of the Ministry of Health Education from 2006, 80% of the U.S. women who get an abortion are white...."
• if it is "common knowledge," you don't need to cite your sources. That means, if you get ideas from the Internet that could be common knowledge (i.e., could have been your own perception), then it suffices to say, "according to many students' view, the drinking age in the U.S. should be lowered because...", and then you list reasons you find on the Internet.
• last sentence: justify why your research was needed, and what GAP in existing research literature it filled. (Example: all your three sources were from the 1940s-1960s. Your research is from 2009 and gives an up-date on the situation. Another example: your three sources only talked about English students. Your research talks about other content areas, like History, as well.....)
• Stay in passive voice; no personal pronouns!!!
  

Ashley Burks Mini Lesson Me/My

• I will engage the class be informing them of my topic and how I will present it.
  

I will explain the lesson by giving the class some rules, I will apply ask them to apply the rules to some practice questions.
I will extend and explore the the subject by clarifying any concerns.
E-search/evaluation- I will provide the class with an interactive quiz.

Style in Grammar

My presentation on "style" is for college level students.

• I will first Engage the class with a quick introduction of what style in writing is. After teaching briefly, I will ask the class to help with incorrect sentences.
  
• I will Explore the topic by showing a quick youtube video.
  
• Explaining the subject will come when I present the my powerpoint.
  
• To Extend, I will give an online quiz which will also help me Evaluate the students.
  
• The students will E-Search the web when they go to take the online quiz.
  

Click the URL below for the grammar quiz. I only am asking for students to do one of two of the questions since the quiz is quite extensive. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/primer_quiz.htm