18 thoughts on “Agenda MON FEB 19”

  1. – VERY VERY helpful to see how our work is graded.
    – reviewed white paper.
    – braille. examples of different letters in braille.
    – there is no letter “w” because a french teenanger invented it, and there is not a “w” in the french alphabet.
    – “why is there braille at the drive through window?”
    – essay mechanics.

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  2. Prof. explained the previous assignment because many people were confused; the second white paper should just be a revision of the first white paper, not a new post. The purpose of the second white paper is to add to your sources and change some of your earlier sources if they no longer work for your argument. In a month, the third draft of our white papers, P07, will be due. There is a machine for people who read Braille that presses against the paper and creates the bumps used for Braille. A person must write in mirror image from how the Braille will be read. The twenty six letters of the alphabet are represented by only six dots. The configuration of the dots is tricky because the cells that they are in are imaginary. The numbers are made by putting a pattern before the letters. Prof. posed the question in Braille, “Why is there Braille at the drive thru window?” An essay should have a guide process. Compactness makes brevity valuable. The ability to express complicated concepts with simple language is prized as rhetoric. Grammar rules and proper punctuation must be followed for a good grade in Mechanics. You should be able to understand a concept by the end of the argument. To obtain a good grade in the Scholarship category, you must make sure to avoid misusing their words by taking them out of context. The best opening sentence intrigues the reader by stating a claim that doesn’t instantly turn away the reader. It should be very persuasive.

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  3. Today in class, we spent a while talking about Braille, which was invented by a French teenager. The letter “w” was not invented until later as it was not common in the French language. The riddle ended up being, “Why is there Braille at the drive-through?” This was actually very interesting to me because there really is no reason why this would be true that I can think of. Then, we went on to the essay grading criteria. It is difficult to grade essays because it is based on personal opinion, rather than correctness. We are graded on argument, rhetoric, mechanics, and scholarship. The argument grade measures logic and persuasiveness. Our essays must appeal to the readers’, have a guide (step-by-step), and provide specific information rather than generalizations. The rhetoric grade measures our language abilities, as authors. Clarity, flow, and organization are important in an essay. “Complex Ideas Clearly Expressed,” is a ‘mantra’ of Prof. that he recommends. Instead of trying to sound more complex, just state what you are saying in simple terms for the reader. The mechanics grade is for grammar, punctuation, and syntax. We must strive for almost no violations of the basic grammar rules. Using complex language and ideas are important, but only if it does not become confusing for the reader. The last grade, scholarship, is based on academic research and integrity. We must use good sources to prove our thesis and comply with academic integrity standards. Citations are very important while quoting and using sources to create arguments. Accurate quotes are also very important and can easily violate academic standards. After this conversation, we discussed grade level models. Lower grades, such as a D or C, will be given to a paper if the claims are unclear and are not connected. An A or B can be given if the paper includes, for the most part, reasonable and coherent claims. Brief claims are important, as long as they achieve what they need to. When starting a paper, we want to make an argument and give the readers a clear idea of what the essay will be about. Four important parts of the first sentence are persuasion, truth, clarity, and premise. Persuasion does to equate to proof. Persuasion is appealing to the reader and using ethos, pathos, and logos. Truth is not a proof, either. We want to be truthful and definitely do not want to be caught in a lie. Clarity is very important because once we lose our clarity in our essay, the reader becomes confused and the claim becomes very weak. Premises in our writing can’t be false, but also cannot be obvious.

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  4. The second and third white paper drafts are a work in progress. We will keep adding to the first white paper during the semester. Braille can be memorized with a riddle. Grading writing can be opinionated, and the ARMS acronym is how our writing will be graded. Breif explanations with strong claims are the best sentences. Using too many words to explain an idea will only result in boring and confusing the reader.

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  5. Class opened with a braille lesson. Once you know A through J, all you need to do is add a dot to the bottom left for K through T, and another dot on the bottom right for U through Z (minus W). W has it’s own pattern. I don’t like braille and I hope I never have to use it. The riddle says “Why is there braille at the drive-through window?” It’s not really a riddle, but it’s an excellent question.

    Prof. used the analogy of a tour guide to describe the argument part of his grading process. Argument grades measure the logic and persuasiveness of the essay. Rhetoric grades measure the author’s language abilities. Compactness is important for rhetoric. Mechanics is having good grammar, complex language, and excellent usage of punctuation and syntax. The last part of the grading process is Scholarship. Scholarship is how well find, use, and cite your sources.

    Grade level models was the next topic of class. It had 4 paragraphs, each one with a letter grade assigned to it based on the Prof’s grading policy and opinion. More argument in a short amount of writing is the key to good writing to the Prof..

    The last part of the class was dedicated to making a strong opening argument. After defining what makes a good opening statement (which should be interesting without being biased), there are 4 examples of paragraphs with 4 good claims made. My table was #1 for this assignment.

    Solid class, and I really enjoyed the braille assignment.

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  6. In today’s class, we went over the grading crieteria for the portfolio essays. Essays are graded for their Argument, their Rhetoric, their Scholarship, and their Mechanics. Essay drafts will be graded for each and will be averaged for a overall grade. As a class, we also discussed how to create a good opening that is strong and makes a claim. A good opening sums up a strong argument the essay will make, but it is also an argument itself. This opening challenges the reader to think and want to keep reading. It does not need to be be true, which engages the reader. We will engage our readers and persuade them by reasonable and firm. The opening also needs truth, clarity, and premises.

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    1. Solid notes, LB. I can usually judge how well a class is progressing from the quality of the Agenda Notes. If you’ve been reading them yourself, you surely have noticed how much they’re starting to resemble short arguments. Yours are a good example.
      3/3

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  7. Don’t create a second post for the Whitepaper 2nd draft. Just revise the first post and add five sources (Preferably academic ones).
    Our drafts are graded based on four categories: Argument, Rhetoric, Mechanics, and Scholarship.
    Try to fit a lot of meaning in a small amount of words.
    It’s easy to take a quote out of context. Make sure, when using a quote, to keeps the original intent of the author clear.
    A good opening sentence does not need to be true. It should persuade readers of the truth of a clearly stated premise.

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  8. – For the white paper second draft don’t make a new post just simply add your new research/sources to your existing white paper and it to the category white paper second draft.
    – It is slim to get the same grade in each of the categories argument, rhetoric, scholarship, and mechanics. Grades are out of four categories but they are all eventually blended in the end.
    – In your essay you need to be able to persuade people to think the way you think. If you are able to persuade readers in your essay particularly your first sentence you are off to a good start.

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  9. Today in class, Professor focused a lot on braille. Braille was created by a French teenager. We learned the alphabet and discovered that it is really a series of repeated patterns adding one or two dots to corresponding letters (a-j, k-t, etc). We solved a riddle by using braille. I pray I never have to use braille because it confuses me tremendously and I feel like it would frustrate me.
    Then, we went over the grading criteria for the portfolio essays. It is based on four categories: Argument, Rhetoric, Mechanics, and Scholarship. We should focus on trying to condense our words into more meaningful things, not just adding extra words we do not necessarily need to describe ourselves. This is what makes essays effective- fewer words that get the point across and to persuade the readers into thinking in the same manner that you do.

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    1. This is very nice, AO. (I hope you never need Braille too.) To my delight, more and more our class Notes resemble Purposeful Summary. We’re all practicing the technique of crystallizing and recording main ideas. Again to my delight, I see very little “talked about” language in Notes now.
      3/3

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