Lesson Thirty: Assorted Computer Lab Activities

Today is another “alternate” day in the computer lab when students do not have an in-class writing assignment.

During the second half of the semester, my favorite use of these alternate lab sessions is for revising the paragraphs that were written the previous Friday in the lab. I graded these essays and returned them to the students on Wednesday, so the material is still relatively fresh. The students will be reminded how to use their packet of grammar handouts to identify the cause(s) of their grammar errors. Then, students will open their document in Word, and using the grammar packet and the marked paragraph, they can correct their grammar and/or content errors.

Next, I will provide a very brief review of pronoun errors, looking comparatively at three sample sentences, each containing a different type of pronoun error. Then, the students will take a pronoun “master” quiz. The master quizzes are difficult because each “question” lists three separate sentences, and the student must identify all the sentences containing a pronoun error. (This could be none, one, two, or all three of the sentences.) This exercise is very challenging, so I want students to interact with one another--sharing ideas and questions--while I provide assistance as well.

While the students are working on these activities, I will move around the classroom and meet with one student at a time to go over his or her progress in the class. I will ask the student to click on the MY PROGRESS feature of the class website, and we can examine the individual’s scores and performance in the class. Since I may not have time to meet with all the students, I will begin with those whose performance has been inconsistent. In some cases, this exchange may serve as a prelude to the eventual failing grade the student will receive for the class; in other instances, this may be a clarion call to a struggling student to make-up some missing work in order to eventually pass the class.