5th class
meeting, Spring 2005
Class Activities: Chris covered choosing examples for paragraphs that fit best because they are specific and distinct from one another. He continued working with outlines via PowerPoint presentations.
Chris continued today to examine sample outlines to determine whether reasons fit with the topic sentence and whether the details supported the reasons specifically. After walking the class through numerous PowerPoint examples (with a variety of possible errors in organization) and revealing to them the look of a correctly organized paragraph outline, he had them scrutinize their own outlines (begun last class) to see if they could find errors in their own work (the idea being that their eyes had become sharper through practice on so many examples). He emphasized to them that doing these practices carefully and mindfully, they would be building their awareness. He encouraged them to take the practices seriously and not space out. It appeared the entire class was engaged.
He reminded them to highlight the clues available to them in the prompt (reasons they could use in their own papers). Again, he revealed the steps to take to get from the clustering to the outlining, had them cluster a topic on their own (while soft music played), and encouraged them to think longer even when they believed they were done thinking.