Drawing upon each other's literature reviews for your final essay

I wanted to follow up with Gabe's idea that you could use this space to converse about your final essays and share resources. Please comment to this post if you'd like to make your previous research available to your classmates or ask others for possible sources.

Here's the email that Gabe sent all of us yesterday:

Hey y'all I don't want be one of those students that emails everyone, but based on todays class I think it could be useful if some of us communicated. I know many of us are pursuing topics that intersect with the original lit review and we could use each others sources. I am doing gender stratification and inequities in homeless public policy if anyone has scholarship related feel free to email me at gabriel_rusk@hotmail.com or 303-905-7893 ( I got rid of my facebook). What could be more practical is opening a discussion on blackboard or a blog entry. Ill do both if I can! - Cheers, Gabe

Reflecting on our service-learning experiences

Before class on Tuesday, I’d like you take a few minutes and reflect on the service project that we completed for The Gathering Place on Thursday. First, describe your role in the open-mic event and tell the rest of us what you did in preparation for the event. Second, if you attended the event on Thursday, please describe it from your point of view. What happened? Who attended? What struck you as meaningful or significant?

Last, step back and reflect on our overall service to The Gathering Place and how it relates to our course. What impact do you think we’ve had on this community? What have you learned from this experience thus far? How would you say the service component has impacted your experience in this course? What have you learned about writing or research from our experiences with The Gathering Place?

Reflecting on writing for The Gathering Place

Now that you’ve completed (or nearly completed) your project for The Gathering Place, I’d like to you reflect on your process researching and writing this piece.

First, explore what it was like for you to interview the women at The Gathering Place. What did you learn about gathering people’s impressions, stories, and/or self-reflections about their experiences at this organization? In your experience, what was challenging, interesting or unique in conducting qualitative research?

Second, describe what it was like to write this piece. How would you describe the differences between producing this text versus writing the first essay? What did you do differently as a writer to accomplish this particular task?

Last, reflect on this assignment as a form of service. What did you learn as an engaged writer or as a member of Denver’s community?

Integrating other voices into a piece of writing

After viewing the videos from the Denver Post on Sun Valley and reading Tina Griego’s series on this neighborhood, I’d like you reflect on what you think the main argument or the main focus (implicit or explicit) of this special feature is. As you explain to the rest of us what you think the main point is, point to a few specific examples (from either the videos or the writing) to illustrate your discussion and explain how they support this main idea. As well, explain how you see the video and/or Tina Griego using and shaping the voices of the residents of Sun Valley to emphasize and convey the main message.

Posting three additional summaries

Before class on Thursday, please post three additional summaries of your scholarly sources for our current project. (I would encourage to write more than three, but you can just post three for class. As you continue to draft, though, I think you'll find that the process of summarizing each of your sources will help you as shift to synthesizing them for this current assignment.) Please follow the previous directions on what to include your summaries. You may find that you need to include just one summary per comment.

Understanding Kozol’s research methods

To begin class today, I would like you to get into groups of three and discuss Kozol as a researcher, using the following questions:

Overall, how would you characterize the way he goes about conducting the research he does for this project? What kind of evidence does he make use of or have access to? More specifically, what roles do interviews and observations play in his research? What kind of knowledge does he gain about the issue of homelessness and poverty by using these methods? How does it help us understand this issue? In what ways do these methods limit our understanding?

As a group, identify three passages that somehow illustrate or relate to your responses to the questions above. When you’re done discussing these questions, post a brief summary of your discussion (one per group) here as a comment. Include the page numbers of the passages you want us to focus on, as well as the names of everyone in your group.

Posting a practice APA reference page of five sources

Before class on Tuesday, I'd like you to identify at least five (very) promising sources that you think will be useful for your literature review essay. First, I'd like you to practice putting together a References page using APA style guidelines and post this practice page as a comment to this post.

In a second comment to this post, I'd then like you write a (substantial) summary of one of these sources. In this summary, you should clearly state the main findings, conclusions, or claim of this study. Then, describe succintly the methodology of this study or how this source substantiates its claims. Then, identify a key example that illustrates the main finding or conclusion. Last, conclude by explaining why this source is significant (or how it sheds significant light on ythe larger topic you're exploring) and how it will contribute to your literature review essay. Your summary should be 250-350 words long.

Generating discussion questions for today's class

Before we start discussing the first half of Jonathan Kozol's Rachel and Her Children, I'd like you to take five minutes and reflect what you've read so far. What do you think the most important issue is so far in Kozol's discussion? Why do you think it is important for us to talk about? Second, come up with at least one open-ended question about the reading that you think will engage your peers and generate a robust discussion for today's class meeting. Identify a passage or section from the text, too, that you think will help us answer your question.

Identifying possible sources

Before class on Thursday, please post a quick update on how searching for sources went for you during Tuesday's class. What questions do you still have about this assignment and the kinds of sources you need to find? How successful have you been so far in finding sources that will work for your focus? Last, identify the three most promising sources you've found so far that you think will be useful for your literature review essay. You can just list the author, article title and journal title for now. Please bring them with you to class on Thursday, as well.

Responding to Kozol, generating ideas for first essay

Before class on Tuesday, I would like you to do two things: First, after reading the first section of Jonathan Kozol’s Rachel and Her Children, I would like you to reflect on your initial response to this text. What do you find interesting so far? Or, what issues strike you as significant? Or, what do you find engaging about Kozol as a writer?

Second, share your initial thoughts with the rest of class about what topic or issue you’d like to focus on for our first assignment. Don’t worry, you don’t have to choose yet or be absolutely certain, but I’d like you to explore the issues that you think are the most promising at this point. What sub-topics in relation to gender and homelessness interest you? Which ones would you like to explore further? Feel free to sketch out a few ideas or ask questions about potential issues. The point is to get you moving towards a focal point so that our research seminar with the librarian will be as productive as possible for you on Tuesday.

Responding to Dorothy Allison’s Two or Three Things I Know for Sure

As you read and prepare for class on Thursday, take note of the passages from this text that you find especially engaging or provocative. Underline or mark them as a reminder of what captured your attention. Sketch out brief notes, as well, about what you were thinking as you read. Use these notes to help you generate your response to the questions below.

Identify a passage (or two) from Two or Three Things I Know for Sure that you think most powerfully captures the main point of this piece. Then, write a paragraph or two in which you explain what you think Dorothy Allison is trying to persuade her readers to think, believe, or understand through her writing. Use the passage(s) you identified to support your analysis and integrate it into your paragraph, taking time to explain what these passages or brief quotations mean and how they relate to Allison’s overall purpose and argument. Post your response here as a comment and aim for about 250 words.

Welcome to WRIT 1633! Post a profile of your classmate here as a comment.

For your first post to our course blog, I’d like you to get into pairs and interview one of your classmates. Using the questions we generated together as a class, take about ten minutes to ask your classmate more about him- or herself. In addition to the usual questions about who he or she is, where she or he is from, or what he or she does for fun, please pay particular attention to this person’s past experiences as a writer. What does your classmate remember about his or her previous writing instruction? What kinds of writing appeals (or doesn’t) to your classmate? Why? What meaningful or significant experiences has he or she had with writing? As well, ask questions about your classmate’s previous experience or interest in service-learning or volunteering for community-based organizations. Perhaps most importantly, try to learn more about this person’s experience with the issue of homelessness and what he or she hopes to learn as a writer, researcher, or civically engaged person by taking this course.

Once you complete both interviews, spend the next 20 minutes writing a profile (aim for 250-350 words) that vividly represents your classmate. Whatever issues you focus on, take care with this short piece, for it is our first impression of you as a writer, as well as the first impression of the person you interviewed. Have fun with this piece—make it interesting! Use quotes, brief stories, and any other vivid details you can discover to enrich your profile of this person.