JENGA Paper Building Activity

Purpose: To show writers how every aspect of a text, from the sentence structure to the content, must work together to achieve an overall purpose.

Materials: Jenga Game

Procedure:

1. Set up the Jenga tower where everyone can see it. Next, ask students to imagine that the tower is the best piece of writing they've ever read, whether that's an advertisement or a novel. 
2. Ask students to share a couple of their ideal pieces of writing. Then ask them to explain what makes these pieces so good. 
3. Explain that what makes all the pieces so good is that they all communicate effectively. Ask students to think of and share the message that some of their favorite pieces of writing communicate. Then, ask them to think of the pieces that make that piece so good--characters, sentences, research, etc.
4. Draw a comparison between the tower and the effective piece of writing, showing students how the tower is sturdy and how all of its pieces fit together perfectly. 
5. Now, ask students to come take out a brick from the tower one-by-one. 
6. When several students have removed a brick, stop and ask the class to observe the tower again. Ask them what effect the gaps and holes have had on the structure of the tower. Have them compare it to the piece of writing they identified in step one. What would that piece look like if it were full of holes?
7. Allow students to remove bricks until the tower eventually falls. Tell them that writing that is full of holes, that uses ineffective sentence structure, is poorly organized, uses the rhetorical appeals ineffectively, whatever you are using the lesson to emphasize, eventually falls apart.

Differentiation:

• Use this activity to discuss a piece of writing you are reading. 
• Ask students to follow up by creating a tower that represents their own writing. They should label the blocks with elements that must work together to make their writing effective.

Open/Closed Form Prose Writing Collaboration

Purpose: To help students understand the difference between open and closed form prose, show them an example of the non-linear writing process, encourage problem solving through large-group collaboration.

Materials:

·         Computer Lab

·         Google Docs

1. Ask students to read the textbook segment (or a teacher prepared handout) on open and closed form prose.
2. Before class begins, prepare two Google Docs, one for the open form group and one for the closed form group. Write the “prompt” for each group on the document.
3.   Divide the class into two groups—an open form and a closed form group.
4. Give the students a familiar and “fun” topic like lunch selections at the cafeteria or parking on campus.
5.   Ask each group to work together to create a paragraph about the topic assigned in either open or closed form prose. Each student must contribute to the paragraph, but students don't have to write in a linear way. For instance, the second person to edit the document might choose to revise the first sentence rather than add a second sentence. Together, the large groups must determine how they will complete the task using the Google Doc in the time allotted.
6.   Post the finished products on BB.

Differentiation: You can use this method when teaching any type of writing. For instance, you might use it to show the difference between the genre you just finished working in and the genre you will be beginning.

Pre-Writing/Reflection Using How-To Articles

Purpose: To introduce students to a new writing task/genre, and, after they’ve completed the task, encourage students to reflect on their experiences in a meaningful way with a real audience.

Materials: Computer Lab

Procedure:

1.       Assign for homework a chapter of your text book covering the genre that students will be asked to compose in next. Require some type of annotation.

2.       In the computer lab, divide students into groups of two.

3.       Ask students to prepare, in groups, a one-page document of tips for students in next semester's class to use when they compose this particular assignment. Assign specific sections to students based on current topics of discussion or struggle. For instance, you might ask students to write sections on methods of pre-writing, use of sensory language, and integrating narrative and analysis for an autobiographical narrative with an analysis. Allow students to choose at least two of their own sections or subheadings, and provide an example from previous classes or one that you write to guide them.

4.       After the students have written the major paper, return to the computer lab, and ask groups of students to revise their essays based on what they learned during the process of writing the paper. Ask them to add one to two sections that encourage reflections like common challenges, things to avoid, or warnings.

Differentiation:

Instead of having students write a “tips” document, ask them to write a document in the genre that they are trying to learn. For instance, they might write a personal narrative about their experiences with personal narratives or an informative essay on informative essays.

Publication:

Publish the students' documents on BB or a blog so that students in the following semesters can use them as reference materials for the major essays and this project.

Content/Context/Decisions Lesson & Rhetorical Analysis Coloring Activity

Purpose:

• To help students understand the difference between an article’s content, it’s context, and the rhetorical choices made by the author
• To guide students in conducting rhetorical analysis
• To help students learn to make decisions that consider the rhetorical decision when they write

Materials:

• Two articles on the same subject written in very different voices or in response to very different rhetorical situations
• White or chalk board & chalk
• Crayons, markers, or colored pencils for students

Procedure:

1. Ask students to read both articles.
2. Ask students to imagine that the authors of both articles are giving a speech rather than writing an article.
3. Tell students to draw the author of each article giving his/her speech. Students should draw what the author looks like, the setting, the audience, etc.
4. While the students are drawing, draw three Venn Diagrams on the board. Label the first, “What the Article is About.” Label the second, “How the Article is Written.” Label the second, “The Situation Surrounding the Writing.”
5. Explain the diagrams to the students by giving examples. Ask each students to come to the board to fill in the circles.
6. Lead a discussion comparing and contrasting the articles based on each of the diagrams. 
7. Ask students to explain their drawings. When they describe a feature of the drawing, see if they can locate it in one of the diagrams. Use the drawings to show how each of the three--content, rhetorical decisions, and context--are important when we read and write a piece of text.
8. Explain to the students that they’ve just conducted a rhetorical analysis. Erase or cross out the labels for each diagram and write:
• “Content or Subject Matter”
• “Rhetorical Decisions or choices”
• “Rhetorical Situation”
9. Explain these terms to the students by reminding them that they just defined them using the diagrams.
10. Begin a discussion about how students can make their own rhetorical choices based on a paper’s rhetorical situation and content.

Introduce Yourself as Another Activity

Overview: This activity is designed to get students thinking about rhetorical analysis by asking them to write in different situations. It is perfect for the first day of school.

Materials:

Note cards or slips of paper

A hat, bowl, or bag from which to draw the papers

Procedure:

1. Before class, cut a number of slips of paper equal to the number of students in the class.
2. On each slip of paper, write a different scenario in which people might introduce themselves. For instance: You’ve called into a radio show. You are a contestant on American Idol. It is your first day as a first grade teacher.
3. Fold each slip of paper, and put it in the hat, bowl, or bag.
4. As students to write 10 simple sentences about themselves. If you wish, guide them with specific questions, like

·         What year are you?

·         What do you like to do in your spare time?

5. Put students in partners. Ask them to switch the 10 simple sentences with their partners.
6. Have each student draw a scenario from the hat.
7. Ask students to write a paragraph-long introduction (according to the scenario they drew) of their partners by combining the 10 simple sentences.
8. Ask students to read their introductions out loud.
9. Begin a discussion regarding the differences in the introductions due to the situations that were drawn from the hat.

Differentiation: 

• Ask students to come up with their own list of situations in which a person might be introduced before you begin the activity.
• Later in the school year, re-purpose this so students are introducing authors they've researched, not other students.

The Great Debate Drama

Purpose: This activity asks students to pay special attention to a piece's rhetorical situation by carefully considering the author of a work. It also asks students to practice synthesis.

Materials: At least two articles on the same general subject by two different authors who have very different positions on the subject. These authors should be people who can be easily researched. It helps if the topics of the article are related but not exactly the same. For instance, an article on the benefits of texting and one on the dangers of Facebook to student success.

Procedure:

1. Divide the class into pairs. 
2. Give each pair a copy of each of the two articles described above. You may also choose two different articles for each group. 
3. Ask each student to choose an article that they will become specialists in. Give students a few moments to look over the articles and choose one. 
4. Instruct students to, in their partners, prepare a drama in which they take the role of the author of the article that they have chosen. The scene is a lunch room at a conference where they are eating lunch with their partners. The topic of the dialog should be the topic of the articles you've distributed. 
5. Ask students to begin by reading the articles, then doing some research to find out more about the author and his/her expertise/position on the topic.
6. Students write (in class or for homework) a 2-3 minute dialog that they will share in class. 
7. Have student pairs perform their dramas in class. 
8. Ask students to reflect via writing or discussion regarding how finding more about the author colored their view of the article and what their ability to combine two views into one drama suggests about synthesis.

Differentiation: Students can write a story or draw a cartoon instead of writing a drama.

The Sound of Silence

Overview: Silence and sounds outside of speech can play an important rhetorical role in movies, plays, and spoken word pieces. This activity asks students to think about the decisions that composers of visual and aural texts make when they choose to use silence and then consider how they can use "silence" and other techniques effectively in their writing.

Materials: A video or audio clip from a movie, song, or speech in which silence or noises other than voices play prominently. Two good examples are the "You Can't Handle The Truth" speech from A Few Good Men and the dancing scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I.

Procedure:

1. With your students, discuss the role that silence and noises play in movies and audio recordings. Ask students if they can think of any examples where silence or noises were more powerful than speech. To get the ball rolling, you might mention newscasts in which listers here several seconds of gunfire or battle before the reporter comes on with a war update or songs which are introduced by sounds rather than music.
2. Tell students that they will be listening for the importance of silence (or noises) in the example that you are about to play. Ask students to write down the point in the example where they see silence or noises as playing an important role. 
3. Play the example. 
4. Silently, for 3-5 minutes, ask students to jot down note as to why they think the composer/director chose to use these moments of silence or sound effects.
5. In groups, ask students to compare and contrast their lists. 
6. As an entire group, discuss the moments in the example where silence and noises played an important role and why the director/composer chose to use them. Discuss pathos, audience and purpose. 
7. Pass out a student or teacher example in which the writer has managed to use silence effectively through sentence pacing and variation or description.
8. Compare and contrast the textual and aural/visual example. Discuss the effectiveness of the silence in terms of audience and purpose. Introduce or discuss tone and discuss how different tones may have had different effects on the audience and purpose of the piece. 

Differentiation:

1. Have students act out a short drama. Each group gets the same drama, but each group gets different instructions regarding sound effects or moments of silence.  Compare and contrast the effects of the different uses of silence and non-verbal sound. 
2. As a follow-up activity, ask students to revise a part of their current papers or to write a new scene/segment paying special attention to tone, especially silence.