Handling ESL Assignments

E. Siler

Differences in Assignments: 101/105

• Directions will be more detailed.• Simplified English should be used.• Actual “production” of the assignment will be

“front-loaded” before a submission date.• Revision, if any, will be minimal after a

submission.

A Typical 101 Assignment• Choose one of the following themes below, and respond to it with your own argument. In your essay, you

must make a claim and support it with evidence (from the required readings, from your own research, and perhaps from your own experience). Your audience for this essay is an educated, public audience—the audience that Nicholas Carr and Steven Johnson address in their writing.

• •Learning: Digital technology has changed the way that we learn, read, and write. In what ways do you think digital technologies will continue to influence how and what we learn? Will digital technology lead to more complex thinking and learning? Will these technologies erode our ability to think deeply? Do our educational institutions reflect these changes in learning?

• •Intelligence: Both Carr and Johnson make assumptions about what intelligence means. How might digital technology expand traditional definitions of intelligence? Does digital technology obscure or highlight certain ways of knowing or thinking? What is potentially gained and lost as we think about intelligence in new ways?

• •Identity: Digital technology first raises questions of agency and power—do we use technology, or does it use us? How does digital technology influence what it means to be a person, both individually and in community? Digital technology also raises questions of identity. Both Carr and Johnson make assumptions the people about who use technology, but do people from different communities use technology differently? Is age, class, and/or gender significant?This assignment may be interpreted in a variety of ways. You will begin with the required sources to become acquainted with the issues. Through class discussions and other activities, you will develop a specific focus and claim for your essay.

• http://www.xavier.edu/english/documents/2012_13CommonAssignment.pdf

Revised: SimplifiedChoose one of the following themes below.

Answer the main question and all the other sub-questions in a multi-paragraph essay. Present your own ideas in your answers. Your answer to the main question should be clear and should show your opinion. Support what you say with evidence from the required readings, from your own research, and perhaps from your own experience. Write this essay is an educated, public audience—the same audience that Nicholas Carr and Steven Johnson write to in their article.– LEARNING: – MAIN QUESTION: Digital technology has changed the way that we learn, read,

and write. In what ways will digital technologies continue to influence how and what we learn?

– SUB-QUESTIONS: Will digital technology lead to more complex thinking and learning? Will these technologies erode our ability to think deeply? Do our educational institutions reflect these changes in learning?

Another Assignment

• Watch the documentary earthlings and analyze how the director uses the rhetorical strategies of pathos, logos, and ethos in the film. Your final paper should have a clear thesis and should be 3 - 4 pages double-spaced in MLA documentation style.

A 101/105 Visual Comparison

105: Week 1 • Assume a full two weeks of in class work before the final submission

date. Week 1 Activities:– Reading the assignment in class and asking if there are questions.– Assigning the movie for out-of-class viewing– Quizzing to be sure the movie had been watched.– Assigning (for homework) a reading of a handout from the OWL at PURDUE

on rhetorical strategies,– Doing an in-class exercise in which students find examples of p/e/l strategies

in advertisements to “get a feel” for what p/e/l strategies are.– Doing a mini-lecture on paraphrase and then having them paraphrase the

definition of one of the strategies to ensure comprehension.– Having them look up the rules on MLA format (in whatever handbook/online

source you are using) and have them work in class to cite the paraphrase they did.

105: Week 2

Week 2 Activities:– Bringing a full draft to class and having a highly

controlled workshop of the draft to look for very specific features/problem areas.

– Reviewing in lecture format problems identified in the workshop with specific reference to a chosen 1-3 “blind” copies of student work.

– Redrafting the assignment and making a blind copy for class.

– The teacher randomly choosing two or three blind copies and critiquing those copies in front of the class.

105: Submission

• Submission would be in week 3.• Revision would be limited and highly

regulated. There might be no revision allowed in most cases.

Revision

• Best practices– Limited number of papers that can be revised (not all)– Limited number of times a paper can be revised (usually once).– Limited time period in which the paper can be revised after the

final submission date.– Clear understanding that a paper could get a lower grade on a

revision.– Clear understanding that certain terms must be met to do a

revision (e.g. meet with the teacher, get the paper signed at the Writing Lab, etc.).

– Clear understanding that the teacher will not “pre-grade” the paper prior to the submission of the revision.

– Clear understanding that you want revision, not just editing.