Let's write about it...
Every Tuesday I will give you a journal topic that and you will have a week to write, proofread, and print your essay. Essays will be turned in at the beginning of class on every TUESDAY. Do not let this overwhelm you and don’t wait until Sunday night. Find a set time every week for writing. I would also use a digital calendar to send reminders to myself every week. Sometimes the essays will be creative, but for the most part, they will be topics that ask you to read and write critically. You will also be given specific grammatical and mechanical areas of focus. The goal is for you to grow as a writer, a reader, and a thinker.
Did you know that the best writers are also keen readers, and reading on a regular basis is an easy way to start developing your writing skills? I don’t just mean blog posts, either – diversify your reading material. Expand your horizons to more challenging material than you typically read, and pay attention to sentence structure, word choice, and how the material flows.
Entries are to be in response to a specific topic, story, essay, article or an interview. (Do not write a plot summary.) Because the purpose of your keeping this journal is to expand your reading experiences and to encourage thoughtful responses to those experiences, I will not grade the journal merely for the way your responses are written. Instead, you will be graded for your efforts to grow as a reader and writer. A checkmark and a minus (-) on your journal entry means: I recognize you’re doing the work, but it’s not properly done. A checkmark indicates the writing shows growth or attempt at growth in writing skills. A check mark with a plus (+) suggests that the writing is exceptional. Remember: I’m looking for your efforts to grow as a reader and writer.
According to a 2007 study in The American Society for Cell Biology:
As a set of cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills provide students with tangible academic, personal, and professional benefits that may ultimately address these concerns. As an instructional method, writing has long been perceived as a way to improve critical thinking. In the current study, the researchers compared critical thinking performance of students who experienced a laboratory writing treatment with those who experienced traditional quiz-based laboratory in a general education biology course...Results indicated that the writing group significantly improved critical thinking skills whereas the nonwriting group did not. Specifically, analysis and inference skills increased significantly in the writing group but not the nonwriting group (CBE Life Sci Educ. 2007 Summer; 6(2): 140-154).
Plan ahead because this is your chance to grow as a writer and a thinker.
What do I need to know?
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Due at the beginning of class on Tuesday
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Journals should be a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 pages (12 pt, TNR, dbl sp)
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You must make grammatical/mechanical corrections each week in order to be eligible to submit the next essay
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Grades will only be given every 5 weeks (3 summative grades)
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If you turn every journal in on time for 5 weeks, the lowest grade you can earn is an 88.
