Teaching Philosophy

THE DAILY - WHAT'S NEWS.

This assignment is intended to be part of your daily reading and writing tasks. It is linked to your Personal Journal Workshop. You are required to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal (online). This business publication will introduce you to current world events and allow you to maintain a focus on issues, trends and multicultural topics written in English. Articles in the Wall Street Journal are written in a variety of relevant genres. You should be prepared to discuss, analyze and response to topics with an emphasis on critical thinking.

Writing Assignments

1. The Investigative Reporter:

A. Students work in pairs or small groups. Each team has two objectives. First of all, students read and familiarize themselves with a pre-existing news article with the understanding that they will be interviewed by reports as if they were themselves involved as active participants in the articles' topic. Role playing and character trait research is important.

B. Students acts as reporters to gather evidence, conduct interviews, and make assumptions about the topic they will write about. They will create finished copy as if they were journalists.

Purpose: What is lost or gain in translation?

By becoming a character in a news article, students analyze the character while enriching their vocabulary and articulating a descriptive narrative.  The goal is to capture the essence of an existing written work and portray it in a way that will allow the audience to have a clear understanding of person, place and theme.

Student Objectives:

The students will

·         review the characteristics of adjectives.

·         define the literacy term "character trait" and explore how to provide details that support their inferences.

·         research resources to find accurate and descriptive word choices.

·         plan strategies for questioning and detailing important references related to reporting the topic.

·         outlining the investigation to create a logical explanation for the assumptions that the article will make.

Outcome:

Students will compare their finished article in two ways.

As the characters described in the article; how did their role playing contribute to the writers opinions and assumptions? How did their use of language and word choice benefit or aid the writer in creating a true description of the topic?

How well did the writer identify and capture the essence of the topic?  What strategies did the team use to create an honest or biased description of the topic.

Conclusion:

Compare the pre-existing article to the writing completed in class. Identify similarities and differences in styles, word choice and meaning. How did the role playing affect the article? How do the pre-existing and classroom written articles differ, and why?

THE TEAM BLOG.

Classroom attendance is mandatory. However, the demanding schedule of business appointments, out of town travel, and important company deadlines will interfere with our regular meeting times. To compensate for these inevitable conflicts, we will incorporate an online TEAM BLOG as part of our classroom activities. Consider the TB as part of your daily journal writing requirement. Blogs promote self-expression---a place where the author can develop highly personalized content.

Students collect articles that are of general interest to the class. Each student edits and reshapes the story with their own personal perspective. The stories are circulated until everyone has had an opportunity to blog on all the articles.

·         Update the TEAM on your daily activities. Expect to give and receive feedback.

·         Share challenges and successes that can help the TEAM. Be accountable.

·         Upload pictures and articles for meaningful discussion. Stay current.

·         Review important written assignments as a TEAM. Create a sense of Urgency.

A Company Newsletter.

Lesson Plan 1

Purpose: Writing short articles/interviews for a mock company Newsletter. The assumption being that at any given time a variety of reports and reviews are expected to be written as part of company planning and analysis.

Workshop Model: Class will be split into pairs or trios. Each group will choose a topic for an article.

Scope: The idea for this lesson is to create condensed "newsletter.dot" format articles. The goal is to teach writing that might be found in newsletters and/or newspapers e.g. short articles, reviews, interviews etc. Subject material may coverr a wide range of topics.

The Plan.

Introduction: Students will collaborate on what the newsletter will be called. A list of possible topics will be generated through classroom discussion.

Step 1: Teams plan article outline. Research information, interview questions, compile data.

Step 2: Write a rough draft with strict limits on word count. Emphasis on sentence structure and vocabulary. Create short meaning phrasing

Step 3: Peer view and proof reading with an emphasis on editing for a deadline, just like a newspaper publication.

Step 4: Present finished articles to the class with explanation of method and style.

Overview: Repeat the lesson numerous times depending on the length of the course. Shrinking the timeframe for completion as the class becomes better prepared to meet a deadline.