Monday, February 29, 2016

PB3A

        For the WP3, the scholarly article I chose is “Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool” by John Dawkins. The article thoroughly describes the rules and regulations and the value and significance of punctuation in writing. Dawkins further explains the flexibility that punctuation allows and the hierarchy of functional punctuation marks. Similar to how genres and rhetorical conventions change based on an intended audience, punctuation changes based on how you want to present your ideas/information. For example, one could write “Today John went to school.” Another way this could be written is, “Today, John went to school.” That being said, in the second example, the author would be choosing to add the comma, placing a pause after the word “today.” Although the sentences don’t differ much, there is a difference in the way the information was presented. Adding the comma affects the flow of the sentence and how one would read the sentence. Like I mentioned before, Dawkins explains the flexibility that punctuation allows and the way each writer chooses to use a specific punctuation mark is entirely based on how they want readers to perceive it.

        To turn this material presented in this scholarly article into a genre for children, I will make it into a song. Using the rules and regulations presented, I will give my best efforts in creating rhymes and patterns within the song that I think would catch the attention of a child. I will attempt to simplify the hearty details and information given to be better understood by the mind of a child, as they are not used to digesting advanced language and concepts. I will have a chorus, as most songs do. Although I’m not entirely sure if this will work out the way I want it to, I’m hopeful that my lyrics will start to flow once I get into it. Do you know of anything that could strengthen this part?? If so, please comment!

       To turn this scholarly article into a genre for adults, I will make a teacher’s lesson plan. Specifically, in this lesson plan I will focus on Dawkin’s “Hierarchy of Functional Punctuation Marks.” As I don’t have any prior experience with writing lesson plans, I did my fair amount of research and decided that I will stick with a fairly simple lesson plan following a very basic format. It will be separated into columns, the first one being learning context. The learning context would be “an intermediate level writing course; a unit on effective grammar and punctuation”. The next column would be learning goal. The learning goal would be “by the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognize and employ multiple uses of punctuation marks”. The next column would be development. In this column I would write don that I would be giving a handout to all students with the basic rules and examples of how to use each punctuation mark. I will actually make the worksheet and attach it to the lesson plan. This part will be the most effective in helping myself learn/touch up the specific rules associated with the punctuation marks and their uses. The next column will be activity. In this column I would again write down that I will be handing out another worksheet. This worksheet is an assignment for students to practice using the punctuation, rather than just reading about it from the previous worksheet. This one will consist of a few different types of questions, testing their grasp on the subject. I will also provide a key with the answers and explanations for that. For student interaction I would call on volunteers to read off answers, and reward them with candy.


       Although this took a lot of out of the box thinking, I am feeling more and more confident (which always happen the more we discuss the writing project) and am excited to see the final outcome of my paper. Planning it all out this way and writing about it seemed useless to me at first but I realized that this is going to make writing the actual WP3 so so much easier.

5 comments:

  1. J-Rey,

    My eyebrows just went way up when I read “To turn this material presented in this scholarly article into a genre for children, I will make it into a song.”
    What a fantastic way to get kids thinking about punctuation. As you mentioned, you need to think about what the conventions of a (kid’s) song are—to do that, I suggest doing some light background research on similar genres (specifically tailored to real little kids). Think about what, exactly, you want kids to get out of that song: will you laid down a few comma conventions/rules/possibilities? If so, which ones? And why those? The chorus gives you an opportunity to have something “stick” in their heads, so what ONE specific part of the scholarly article do you want to stick in their heads? Also, will you be actually be performing this tune? You can—and, uh, definitely SHOULD!—though you don’t need to. One way to do that is through Garageband, and if you want some guidance on that front, I can show you before/after next class.

    A lesson plan is also a genre that’s tailor-made for transforming this piece. My one question is: what do you mean by “adult students”? And in what physical (or online?) educational setting are you imagining? What kind of course will this lesson plan exist in, and why? Also, lesson plans take on different shapes and sizes, so I’d do some background research on that if I were you. The ones that I use in our class, for instance, aren’t the same as ones that I had to formally submit when I worked in the Phila School District. On another note: a follow-up practice worksheet is a neat idea—would this be in addition to the lesson plan?

    The more you can situate your genres within specific, actual, could-be-“for-real” audiences, the better this project will be. Try to picture the people who will ultimately be **using** the genres that you can create.

    Cool ideas, J-Rey. I’m looking forward to seeing the final project.

    Z

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  2. I thought you did a great job summarizing the article, maybe after learning in our summarizing activities in class, and you seem to have a great grasp on the topic! I love the idea of the song, especially for this topic. In elementary school I actually had a song on punctuation and grammar in 5th grade and I remember it started “ a sentence, is a complete part, with a subject and a predicate. It begins with a capital and ends with a punctuation.” Haven’t thought of that song in probably 10 years so that was funny haha. Anyway, I think having a lot of repetition of ideas and lines of the song would be good for this age group! I really liked the lesson plan idea as well. How will you make the plan specific? Will you base the information around a specific topic for examples? Everything looks great so far and I think it will turn out really well!

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  3. Hi J-Rey
    What a coincidence! In the last PB I read, the writer also wants to turn the academic essay into a song for children because he thinks that songs are more attractive to younger students than textbooks in term of learning. Once you have a really creative idea, the next thing you want to do is to consider which part of academic essay or which specific ideas do you want to put in your songs. In addition, what exact “moves” will you employ in your song? As for lesson plan whose intended audience is adults, I think lesson plan definitively is a great genre, but compared with children’s songs, you maybe do not have much space to create your work, because lesson plan is a limited type of writing. However, I also decide to transform my essay into textbook. My suggestion is that you can also be creative when you make lesson plan. Try to think some different ways to present a lesson plan. Good luck!

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  4. Hello J-Rey!
    This is such a dope idea! I love it! I think a song would be very unique to do since it is technically in an academic way that you have to create it. If I understood the article correct it is kind of like saying the same thing but changing the punctuation to alter the meaning or reaction right? Like "Amy let's go to the store" and "Amy, let's go to the store" it kind of made the readers pause to indicate that we needed to get Amy's attention. If so, maybe look up a few rap songs? I've noticed that many songs do this in their music.
    Also, I like the lesson plan idea because I am doing something very similar :)

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  5. J-Rey

    I applaud you for deciding to write a song, I don’t think I could! One suggestion I have would be to focus on one specific rule/tool. A main convention of children’s songs is repetition. This is key in getting kids to learn and remember what the song is teaching. In focusing on just one concept, it will not only make your job easier, but also be a more authentic and legit children’s song. Another option you could consider would be a “repeat after me” song. This could possibly take away the element of rhyming but still include repetition. I can tell you put a lot of thought into the lesson plan. Something maybe to consider would be writing the lesson plan not necessarily for students, but for other teachers to use and implement in their own classroom. I think that could be a unique perspective to take! Great job though. I can tell you have put a lot of consideration into this WP! Good Luck!

    -Taleisnik

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