GSE English Logic and Writing

GSE English Logic and Writing Week 11

Today’s Class • Information about: • Portfolio Part 2 • Your paragraph essay • Analogy • Writing Time

Portfolio Part 2 • Due June 5th(week 14) in class or via email (if you have practicum) • Choose two writings to edit and revise (at least one has to be from weeks 9-12) • Edit = fix any spelling, grammar or mechanics issues • Revision = clarify your thesis, work on the cohesion, and organization of your paragraph • I expect you to add some additional information (1-2 sentences) to your paragraph in order to revise it

Revision Questions • will my purpose be clear to readers? Have I achieved it? • What are my readers’ expectations for this kind of writing? Have I met them? • What is my thesis? Have I supported it for readers? • Is my writing unified? Can readers see how all parts relate to the thesis? • Have I developed my points well? Have I supplied enough details, examples, and other specifics so that my readers can understand me and follow my reasoning? • Is the writing coherent? Can readers see how the parts relate? • Is the organization clear? Can readers follow it?

5 Paragraph Essay • Due June 5th (Week 14) or June 12th (week 15 but we’ll have to make special arrangements so you can pick it up) • At least 3-4 pages in length • Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced • Name, student number, class and date at top • APA Citation (if necessary) • Topic = Your Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Statement of Teaching Philosophy • Also called… • Philosophy Statement of Education • Teaching Statement • Philosophy of Education • Teachers in English speaking countries have to write and update over the years • Sometimes required for Colleges of Education • Sometimes required for job interviews • Generally 1-3 pages in length • Explains what you as a teacher think about teaching, learning, student goals, professional development, etc. • Changes over time

Chism’s Five Components of a Teaching Statement • In other words… • How do people learn? • How do I facilitate that learning? • What goals do I have for my students? • Why do I teach the way that I do? • What do I do to implement these ideas about teaching and learning in the classroom? • Are these things working? Do my student meet the goals? • How do I know they are working? • What are my future goals for growth as a teacher? • Your conceptualization of learning • Your conceptualization of teaching • Your goals for students • How you plan to Implement your philosophy • Your professional growth plan

Let’s Brainstorm A little: Group Discussion • What is learning? How do students learn? • What is teaching? How should teachers teach? • What are your goals for your students?

Task for now: brainstorm your topic • think about your audience • Who will read your work? • What do readers need to know? • think about your purpose • decide which paragraph development methods will be most effective • discover ideas by doing some journal writing or free writing on the subject

Analogy

Analogy • The process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject • an atom to a solar system • a person is like a rock • a person is like a fish out of water

Analogy • Draws comparisons between items that appear to have little in common • Differs from comparison and contrast paragraphs because: • only deals with comparison • tends to compare very different things • You can draw analogies between People/ Places/ Ideas/ Events, etc.

The Bedford Reader (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013), explains the difference: Analogy is similar to the method of Comparison and Contrast. Both identify the distinctive features of two things and then set the features side by side. But a comparison explains two obviously similar things – two Civil Ware generals, two responses to a mess – and considers both their differences and their similarities. Analogy yokes two apparently unlike things (eye and camera, spaceflight and golf, guaranteed human rights and bad checks) and focuses only on their major similarities. Analogy is thus an extended metaphor, the figure of speech that declares one thing to be another – even though it isn’t, in a strictly literal sense – for the purpose of making us aware of similarity: “Hope,” writes the poet Emily Dickenson, “is the thing with features/That perches in the soul.”

Ants are like humans Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. The families of weaver ants engage in child labor, holding their larvae like shuttles to spin out the threat, and sews the leaves together for their fungus gardens. They exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. -Lewis Thomas, “On Societies as Organism”

A Soccer Player’s moves are like the theory of monetary policy The "great Argentine footballer, Diego Maradona, is not usually associated with the theory of monetary policy," Mervyn King explained to an audience in the City of London two years ago. But the player's performance for Argentina against England in the1986 World Cup perfectly summarized modern central banking, the Bank of England's sport-loving governor added. Maradona'sinfamous "hand of God" goal, which should have been disallowed, reflected old-fashioned central banking, Mr King said. It was full of mystique and "he was lucky to get away with it." But the second goal, where Maradona beat five players before scoring, even though he ran in a straight line, was an example of modern practice. "How can you beat five players by running in a straight line? The answer is that the English defenders reacted to what they expected Maradona to do. . . . Monetary policy works in a similar way. Market interest rates react to what the central bank is expected to do.“ • (Chris Giles, "Alone Among Governors,“ Financial Times, September 8-9, 2007)

Pupils are like oysters Pupils are more like oysters than sausages. The job of teaching is not to stuff them and then seal them up, but to help them open and reveal the riches within. There are pearls in each of us, if only we knew how to cultivate them with ardor and persistence. (Sydney J. Harris, "What True Education Should Do," 1964)

"For some people, reading a good book is like a Calgon bubble bath--it takes you away. . . .“ (Kris Carr, Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor, 2008) "To me, patching up a heart that'd had an attack was like changing out bald tires. They were worn and tired, just like an attack made the heart, but you couldn't just switch out one heart for another. . . .“ (C. E. Murphy, Coyote Dreams, 2007) "Falling in love is like waking up with a cold--or more fittingly, like waking up with a fever. . . .“ (William B. Irvine, On Desire, 2006) "Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo." (Don Marquis)

Ways to start a metaphor _____ are like _____ The resemblance between ______ and _____ is… _____ are more like _____ than ______ Instead of ______, (your subject) is more like _______ ______ is not usually associated with ______ but…. Grading papers is like going for a jog. It’s really hard to get started, but once I do, the benefits strongly outweigh any initial discomfort. To be able to read my students’ ideas and to get a sense of their English ability is as useful in both making plans for my class, as well as figuring out what kinds of lessons my students need most…

Homework • Write an analogy paragraph of 5-7 sentences by reading and reflecting on Junot Diaz’s essay “The Dreamer,” and thinking about your own life. • Bonus points if you cite the essay directly • Make an analogy about: • Education • Teachers • School • Students

GSE English Logic and Writing