Principle of Transparency in Learning and Teaching

Discussion

Tasks
Each week you will participate in a discussion about course materials.

Tips for Success
Many weeks, the majority of the learning that takes place in the course will happen on the discussion board. This isn’t an undergrad class. You need to move beyond perfunctorily making the minimum number of posts that are just barely long enough to achieve full credit and move to treating this assignment like a graduate course assignment where you are invested learning.

Question to consider in your post
What are you struggling with the most as you learn about the principles of TiLT? Tell us about it.
How do you envision using TiLT in the classroom? What about this approach excites you?
What are you confused by? What do you need help understanding? Tell us about it.
Share your quiz questions, discussion prompts, and argumentative essay TiLTed assignment to workshop them with me and your classmates to get feedback (constructive criticism and encouragement). Asking specific questions about the parts you post will help you get the most useful feedback. Be sure to list which textbook and which essay you used to generate your writing assignments; you’ll get the best feedback if your classmates and I are able to read the essay before commenting.

You do not have to answer all these questions in your discussion posts.
 

2. Week 5 Reflective Journal

Task
Each week you will write a 300 word minimum reflective journal for the week that summarizes what you learned this week from lecture material, assigned readings, participating in class discussions, and any independent research you may have conducted.

Tips for Success
• Your journals are reflective. That means these journals are not intended to replace the notes you should be taking on lectures and assigned readings. They shouldn’t merely summarize an article, for example. Instead, these journals might deal with some of the following questions:
• What do you already know about this week’s topic? How does this week’s course content confirm or challenge your prior knowledge?
• What surprises you about this week’s topic? What confuses you? What do you want to know more about?
• How do you see yourself using this week’s course content in a future course you will teach?
• What information have your classmates shared this week that enriched your understanding of course content? If you disagree with a classmate’s approach to course content, why do you disagree, and how does that disagreement help clarify your understanding of yourself as an educator?
• How has this week’s course content help you understand what is important to you as an educator?
• This is not an exhaustive list of the kinds of topics you might address in these journals.

Criteria

1. Your journal must be 300 words minimum to receive full credit. You may write more than 300 words.
2. Your journal must be reflective and deal thoughtfully with the course content for the week to receive full credit.
3. Your journal must use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar (SPAG) to receive full credit. 
4. Sample Writing Assignments

Purpose
This assignment has multiple functions–to teach you best practices for designing writing assignments, to teach you the principles of Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TiLT), and to help you generate writing assignments for your Teaching Portfolio that you can modify for job application and job interview purposes.

This assignment satisfies all but the third student learning outcome listed on your syllabus ( students will apply composition theory to the teaching of composition, students will design course elements appropriate for a composition course, and students will exhibit self-reflection and independent thought).

Tasks
You will choose one of the following free, open access textbooks (this is the textbook on which you will also base your Syllabus and Teaching Presentation, so choose wisely): A Writer’s Guide to Mindful Reading or Thematic Reading Anthology.

Pick one essay from the book you have chosen and generate one quiz question, three discussion questions, and one TiLTed Argumentative Essay Assignment based on that single essay.

Tips for Success
The lecture material for this week provides numerous examples of all three assignments plus general information about designing these assignments. Please take advantage of those resources.

You might also want to check out some of the Teaching Guides about designing writing assignments at the WAC Clearinghouse for inspiration.
The lecture material for this week provides two templates for creating TiLTed assignments; in addition, the assignments for this course are TiLTed to give you examples for what TiLTed assignments look like.

The discussion board for this week is designed to help you workshop your writing assignments. Please take advantage of this opportunity to receive feedback (constructive criticism and support) from your classmates and me on the discussion board.
Please be supportive of your classmates on the discussion board, but don’t be afraid to offer suggestions for revision or expansion that are worded in a constructive manner.
When you initially turn in the Sample Writing Assignments document, it will not be for a grade. I will give you feedback on it, and you will have a chance to revise the document before turning it in for a grade as part of your Teaching Portfolio at the end of the course. You might want to continue to revise/expand this assignment between turning it in and receiving feedback from me based on what you continue to learn in the course. You might also want to ask for me additional feedback on the document before turning it in as part of your Teaching Portfolio.

Criteria

1. You will create one quiz, three discussion questions, and one TiLTed Argumentative Essay Assignment based on one essay chosen from one of the two textbook options listed above.
2. The TiLTed Argumentative Essay Assignment will follow the TiLT Template and other guidelines for TiLT in this week’s lecture and reading materials and contain all sections of a TiLTed assignment.
3. Keep in mind the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) listed on my ENGL 1101 Sample Syllabus as you craft these assignments. Your assignments each need to meet at least one SLO on that list.
4. You can turn in all three writing assignments in one document or in three separate documents.
5. Please put the title of the textbook and the title of the essay on which you’re basing your assignments at the top of the document (or at the top of each document if you turn in three separate documents).
6. Your Sample Writing Assignments must use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar (SPAG) to receive full credit in the Teaching Portfolio.

Sample Writing Assignments Provided by Professor

Quiz Questions
• Based on “What Is Academic Writing?” by L. Lennie Irvin: List two of the myths about academic writing and explain them. This should take a paragraph of writing to answer
• Based on “Six Short Essays” by Karen Anderson: Describe what annoys Anderson in the last story “Togetherness” and what cures this annoyance. This should take a paragraph of writing to answer.

Group Discussion Questions
• Based on “How I Celebrate Life on the Day of the Dead” by Linda González: How does she celebrate the Day of the Dead? What is the purpose of the Day of the Dead for González? What is the main idea of this essay, the point of the story, idea that González is reflecting on? Where are some places you think she is particularly effective at being descriptive and using sensory language? What rituals do you and your family have to honor people who have passed away? How do you keep their memories alive?
• Based on “Why Good People Turn Bad Online” by Gaia Vince: Who do you imagine when you think of an online bully? What does this person look like? What is his or her life like? Were you surprised to learn that most people who behave badly online are just normal people? Have you ever behaved badly online? What did you do? Why did you do it? Has anyone ever treated you or anyone you know badly online? What happened? How did you deal with it? What are the effects you’ve seen of online bullying or harassment? Why do people behave badly online according to Vince (multiple factors)? What does Vince suggest can be done to prevent people from behaving badly online (or at least mitigate the harm when they do)? What else do you think can be done to prevent people from behaving badly online?

Argumentative Essay Prompts (Just the Task Portion)
• Write a 1000 word essay on the following topic:
o For this unit, you’ve read two essays about the uglier side of the internet, specifically the proliferation of misinformation and the way that the online environment encourages bullying. Using these articles as a starting place, write an essay arguing for or against the role of social media in our lives. To write the best essay, you probably want to pick one or two effects/consequences of social media (such as bullying) rather than choosing multiple aspects of the technology to discuss. We did not read an essay about the positives of social media, but we talked about them on the discussion board; draw on that discussion to help you write a pro-social media essay. Parts of this essay will almost certainly be narrative as you will be using your own experience as the foundation for your argument.

• You will write a 1,000 word argumentative essay on ONE of the following topics:
o Using “How a Green New Deal” and/or “Capturing Carbon” as models, argue that richer nations should or should not bear most of the responsibility, including financial, for combating climate change.
o Using “Does Recyling Actually Conserve?” as a model, argue for or against the merits of recycling.