Welcome to The Labor Unit! (11/10)

A. Leftover from last week:

You will have one hour to type and revise Practice CAT #3. Your revision will be Blog 14.

From Ergonomic Success in Meatpacking by Dan MacLeod

B. Labor Conditions

Remember the slaughterhouse workers getting injured for the sake of profit in The Meatrix II 1/2?

The evil Con-Agra Agent replies to Moopheus' concern for the workers by saying "meat packing is the most dangerous job in the nation--but just like you, my friend, our workers are expendable."

Today we will learn a bit about these "expendable" workers, one third of whom will likely suffer from injuries such as "torn muscles and pinched nerves,...broken bones, deep cuts and amputated fingers and limbs" (Sustainable Table).

So, for Blog 15: The New Industrial Migrants please

1. read the two excerpts from Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation on pages 30-31 of your class packet.

2. summarize each reading separately (Part I and Part II).

3. write a response of at least 250 words to what you have read/summarized. 

If you want more details on the conditions surrounding work at slaughterhouses, click HERE.

For Sunday: Blog 14-Reflection on Media Unit

From ClaudiaM Publications

Blog 14: Reflection on Media Unit

For this blog entry please look back over 1) my blog entries and 2) your work for the Media Unit. These include blogs 11-13 as well as your work summarizing and discussing The Truman Show and The Matrix and practicing writing responses using claims, reasons, and evidence in Google Docs, Groups, and Forms. It also includes any progress you have made on your vocabulary page.

Now think about what you have done well and what needs improvement. What challenges are you facing? What do you think you need to know right now to move ahead? What can you say about your response to CAT-W #2?

Please write about 400+ words reflecting on your experience and work in this second unit, giving specific evidence from your blog entries, work in Google Docs, Groups, and Forms, and your Vocabulary page. My feedback for the Media Unit will be a response to this reflection.

Peer Evaluation; Reflection; Self Assessment (11/11)

Welcome, Dr. Van Slyck!

PART I
To continue our study and reflection of successful writing strategies, today we will evaluate four of your classmates' responses to CATW 4. I will model what to do using the first response, and then each group will evaluate two more responses. You will only have 15 minutes per response, so pace your work carefully!


INSTRUCTIONS
One person in the group should read the response out loud. Then, using the Peer Evaluation handout, discuss

1. what are some good strategies evidenced in the response  ("We like...)
2. what could be approached differently  ("We recommend...")
3. what is not working ("You must...")

Once you have decided as a group what your advice to the writer is, type it up in the Google Docs below that corresponds to your group number.

Repeat for a second response.

Towards the end of the hour, we will come together as a class to listen to your advice and perhaps add some more of our own.

Lastly, go back to Blog 14: Ideas for Improving My Performance in the CATW (or start Blog 14 if you missed last class) and write a short explanation of what you have learned about the CATW from doing this exercise. Did this exercise give you new ideas of what to do or what NOT to do when writing the CATW? If you feel that you have learned nothing new, what things that you already knew were emphasized by doing this exercise?

Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6

PART II
Now check your response to CATW 4 in Blog 11 for a comment left for you by a reader from Dr. Kristen Gallagher's Seminar for Teaching Writing.

After reading the comment, go to Blog 14 again and write a few more lines: What did you learn from reading the feedback from Dr. Gallagher's student? If you feel that you have learned nothing new, what facts about your writing were emphasized by the student's feedback? Are there any things that the student said that do not make sense to you? If so, what and why?

Last but not least: SELF ASSESSMENT

Working with a partner, use the Peer Evaluation Sheet to figure out how well you did in CATW 5 (Blog 13). Read one partner's response first, evaluate it, and then repeat for the other partner. Be honest.

Now go back to Blog 14 and write a few more tips to yourself.

If there is any time left, we will do the exercise on page 24 of the CATW Student Handbook. 

Copy of "Let Them Eat Fat"
Copy of the Peer Evaluation Sheet

Blog 13: Typing CATW 5; Comparing Your Reponse to the Model in the Student Handbook ; Blog 14: Ideas for Improving My Performance in the CATW (11/9)

 PART I

• Type your CATW 5 exactly as you wrote it on Monday. This will be Blog 13.
• Change the settings of the Comments on your blog to "Anyone." Keith, Michael H., and Christian, please turn off your "captcha" also.
• Check your Comments page.

 PART II

I will put you in groups of 3 to do the following:

1. Compare your annotations of the CATW 5 reading with those of page 15 of the CATW Student Handbook. Quickly write down any ideas that the comparison gives you. Is there any way you could improve your annotation of the reading? 
2. One person in the group read the Sample response on page 16 of the CATW Student Handbook.As a group, identify: 

• the summary
• the writer's thesis (it may be more than one sentences)
• an example that develops the thesis

Now compare your answers to those on page 17 of the CATW Student Handbook. Quickly write down any ideas that the comparison gives you. Is there any way you could improve your response to the reading?

3. Now we will look at the ideas about structure and connection on pages 18-19 of the CATW Student Handbook. Now look at the list of transitions on pages 13-14 of the packet. Quickly write down a few transitions that would help you organize your CATW better.

Type the ideas you have written down as Blog 14: Ideas for Improving My Performance in the CATW.