1. Introduction (5-10 minutes):
Start by talking briefly about
the first paper, which was returned to students during the last
class period. Acknowledge that students may have felt discouraged
by the volume of problem areas pointed out in the paper. Explain
that while they've probably talked many times about the types
of problems, they have not had many opportunities to examine why
problem areas occur. To lead into the "why" of writing
problems, ask the students to answer the question, "Why do
writing problems occur?" Discuss the answers as they are
given, but do not evaluate them; you want students to get out
whatever misconceptions they may have about the topic.
Once the list has been generated,
say something to the effect of: "Problem areas do not come
out of nowhere. Nor are they indicators of lack of intelligence
or talent. In fact, they often have nothing to do with writing
ability. One of the things I hope to teach you throughout this
semester is that problem areas have a logic behind them. Problem
areas occur because we have developed a faulty logic about something
or we have misapplied a logic from something we've done in the
past to something we're doing now." Give a personal example.
2. Group activity (20-30 minutes):
Hand out the "Finding the Logic Behind Problem
Areas" question sheet along with a packet containing selected
problem areas from your students' last paper. (The selections,
which would obviously have to be approvd for use by the student
writers, should reflect some of the most frequent student errors.
Because the task is identifying the logic behind errors
and not locating errors themselves, the errors on the samples
should be clearly marked and explained.) Give groups twenty to
thirty minutes to read and answer the questions for all of the
examples.
3. Class discussion (10 minutes):
Put up the attached "Correcting the Logic Behind
Problem Areas" chart. Fill in the second column with student
answers. Then, take some time exploring answers for the final
column.
4. Conclusion (2-3 minutes):
Use the final column to re-emphasize the earlier point
that to correct a problem area permanently, one must identify
and fix the logic behind it. Compare correcting a problem once
to giving a hungry person a fish and correcting the logic behind
the area to teaching a hungry person how to fish. To connect this
theme to future classes, mention that the ability to identify
and correct the logic behind problem areas, as students have done
today, will come into play throughout the semester in their progress
as writers and as evaluators of writing.
5. Homework assignment:
To reinforce the lesson and encourage students to
begin the revising process, ask them to choose one problem area
from their last paper, identify the possible logic behind it,
and create a new logic that will allow them to avoid that problem
in the future. Have them bring a process note describing what
they did to the next class (or assign process writing on it during
next class).
GROUP
ACTIVITY WORKSHEET (Word file)
STUDENT
WRITING EXAMPLES
(Word file)