2.10 Workshop for summaries; writing a response

Over the weekend each of you should have received an email providing feedback on the baseline essay (+ your scoring for your work and your reflections on what to work on) and on the Ungar summary.  We started class with some general comments in terms of what I am seeing that we need to work on as a class.  The most important issue (which is not a surprise) => is that you need to work on using acadmic forms: making the They Say/I Say moves described in your textbook, and using the kind of language and phrases they suggest for making those moves.  OK!   We will work on that.

The second most important issue seemed to be development.  You seem to do well at identifying a focus and setting up some points.  Which is good!   But we need to work on what you say to develop your point.  Developing ideas is about invention writing: listing, freewriting, associating to your topic, writing random ideas, talking to friends/classmates (anyone!) searching the internet = connecting to some of the stories you can tell, "studies"  you can describe, examples you can refer to, and so on.  So we will work on that, too.

What have we learned about writing summaries, so far?

We have learned that summaries condense and select material from an article = they provide a shortened overview.  We also talked about how summaries can be written for different purposes - and you have written summaries for 2 different purposes.  Your first summary was to provide an overview of Carey's main point + his supporting points; your assignment for Hacker and Dreifus was to write a focused summary.  A focused summary sets up what you will say in reply to the text you are summary; it says what the author says, but in a way to set up what you will say back.  

We made a list on the board of what a focused summary should do that looked something like this.
A focused summary should:

• Statesthe overall focus of the text it is summarizing at the very beginning (does TS first)
• Name the author and the title for the textit is summarizing 
• Use academic forms + language-names the author by first & last name at the first mention, by last name for every mention after that; puts the title of the essay in quotes; refers to the nonfiction as essays, readings, texts, articles (not stories); uses the language from the templates.
• Briefly set forward the most important supporting points of the essay 
• Elaborate (spends more time on) the points which are the focus of your reply
• Conclude with a transition to a statement of what you will "say back" to the text you summarized.

Another way to put this might be to put it like this:

• A summary is a conversation between the writer and the text.
• Using language from the templates can set up for a particular focus for the summarys.
• A summary needs to make references to the material from the text that you will reply to.
• Use your summary to set up a relationship between the They Say and the I Say of your essay
• What you summarize (which points you refer to) depends on what you will write about (your purpose).
• Summaries need to be developed by making specific references to points in the text.
• Writers use summaries in different ways.

Revisiting Hacker and Dreifus

We spent the next part of class reviewing Hacker and Dreifus' overall point (that colleges need to do more to ensure that students get a good value for the money they pay for their college education), and listing/discussing the supporting points for this argument.  

They state six points (listed in bold text), and as we discussed the essay we noted that these points could be grouped into two kinds of arguments.  The first argument was about how students need to be taughte (engaged, with room to explore); and the second was about how colleges/universities need to change their administrative/teaching staffing and responsibilities.  

After we talked over the points these authors made, I reminded you how in the TS/IS text the authors point out that there are 4 ways to respond: agree, disagree, agree with some things but disagree with others (be on the fence); and open up the discussion by pointing out what the authors failed to consider, didn't develop fully or etc (adding a new perspective).  

Gathering ideas for a response:  I asked you to write a "focus" for a response for each of these perspectives.  There are several important reasons for spending some time thinking about AND writing about what you will say back to a text BEFORE you begin summarizing it.  First, you will summarize a text differently, depending on what you are going to say back to it.  

And second, and just as important, you need to explore some of the things you MIGHT say, before deciding what you WILL say.  If you choose the first idea that comes into your head (with out testing it, or thinking about what you might say about that idea=> you might discover it is not such a great idea after you have put considerable time into it); also, if you try to find the language to write your response at the same time you trying to open up your ideas => you are engaged in two very different kinds of mental tasks. One requires you to be precise + choose the  right language; the other requires you to open up and let the ideas flow.  Trying to write your "thesis" (what you will say) at the same time you are trying to figure out what you will say - can lead to writer's block.  So give yourself a break.  Do some brainstorming BEFORE you start to write your essay.

Summary workshop

During the next part of class you workshopped your draft summaries of Hacker and Dreifus.  You worked in groups of 3 and in each group there was: a facilitator; a notetaker, and a timekeeper.  The notetaker wrote down the role of each participant in her notes; the facilitator kept dicussion on topic (followed the list of tasks stated below); and the timekeeper made sure each author got a fair share of time on his/her summary.

After you were in groups and decided roles for each participant, you did the following.

Decide on the order you want to present your writing, then each author (presenter) should do the following.

1. Talk to the group about what you think you did well

2. State the focus of your summary + what you want to say back to it

3. State what you want feedback on

4. Read your summary out loud to the group

After the author has presented his/her work, the group should do the following.

1. Say back what is going well in the summary

2. State what you hear as the focus of the summary

3. Talk back to the author about what he/she said s/he wanted to wrok on

4. Create a list of what to work on/what to revise make the summary stronger.

To earn credit for the workshop, the notekeeper should turn in the list of what each author should work on.

You did a great job on this for a first try!   Good work on this and we will be doing lots of work like this.  The better prepared you and your classmates are for the workshops, the more you will benefit by them.

Writing response essays:

During the last part of class we talked through the assignment sheet for response essays (posted to the right).  If you have any questions - be in touch.

For next class:

Read: Chapter 5  (p. 68)and 6 (p. 78) in TS/IS.  These chapters offer suggestions for writing response essays.

Write:  1) a plan for revising your summary on Hacker + Dreifus (you do not need to revise the summary, you do need to write a plan to revise it); 2) brainstorming for a response essay to one of the essays on the cost of higher education which we have read so far (post this to the response page in your portfolio)

During class Thursday we will have a workshop where you finish up your work for the summary unit, and get started on writing a response essay.
Good class today, and see you on Thursday,