September 2, 2017
Mid-Process Literature Review Presentations
Literature Review Presentation Preparation
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August 24, 2017
Assignment to Read a Literature Review
When I first introduce the literature review assignment, I ask the students to find, read, and analyze a literature review in their discipline. Since I can’t track down a model review for each major, I make the students do the work to find their own model of the genre. I ask them to pay attention to form, citations, authorship, etc. You can find the exact questions and instructions in the attached assignment sheet. When they have completed the assignment, we discuss some of the expectations of this genre.
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February 8, 2017
Critical Reading Assignment
Below are two possible assignments.
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April 21, 2016
Ethics Discussion Groups
1. Divide the class into groups of three (I choose the group members).
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April 21, 2016
Muscle Memory – Teaching the Presentation
To teach the poster presentation assignment, I create a poster from the rubric that I will use to grade them. In class, I then present the poster and lead a discussion on the elements of a powerful presentation. The students have already worked on their posters–the media and the message–so I spend a lot of time on the messenger portion. Some students don’t really know what to do with their bodies or voices while presenting. I help them practice right there in class: everyone stands up and practices a strong stance (planting their feet, not shifting weight too much), natural hand gestures, orienting toward the audience, appropriate smiles, etc.
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April 21, 2016
Resume workshop
This resume peer review is based on Johnson-Sheehan’s revision discussion–the idea is that based on the time you have to revise, you need to approach it like triage: the most vital issues first.
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April 21, 2016
Resume Workshop
Most employers give an initial resume read about 15 seconds.
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April 25, 2016
Menu Activity
1. Pair up students.
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April 26, 2016
Bomb Shelter Negotiation Exercise
This is an old classic, customized for our area, culture and a class of 20 students, but you can always add more judges. I use this exercise when we are talking about persuasive writing, as we are discussing the proposal assignment (chapter 8 of Technical Communication Today). It can be seen as bigger group version of the elevator pitch (p. 223). It takes 35-60 minutes, depending on how many questions are asked.
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April 26, 2016
Proposal Panel of Experts–In-Class Proposal Peer Review
1. Assign each student to become an “expert” on a specific section of the proposal (I divided them into 1. Memo format, Introduction Paragraph, Definition and Research Procedures; 2. Outline and Schedule; 3. Literature Review; 4. Preliminary Bibliography, including style guide) by reading about the requirements of that section and finding good examples. If they are working in teams, have each team member become an expert on a different area of the proposal.
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