Writing 1 Task 13 - 13 May 2016

Dear students,

Based on the interview that you have done, draft the first two paragraphs of your Biography and send it to your respective lecturer to get some feedback before Monday, 16 May 2016, 3 P.M.

Your final Biography is to be submitted as a hardcopy on the day of the Writing 1 exam (supposedly Monday, 23 May 2016). Attach it to your writing exam paper. You are also expected to publish the full Biography project at the latest Monday, 23 May 2016, 7 A.M.

Also, during the class meeting, publish your last journal before 10 A.M.


Good Luck!

Writing 1 Task 12 - 6 May 2016

Dear students,

While enjoying your holiday, read 2 - 3 of your friends' posted stories part 2 and give constructive feedback for each.

Then, continue to write the last part / ending of your narrative. Publish it as a new post on your blog no later than 13 May 2016, 7 A.M. 


Good Luck! 

Biography

Dear students,

Below are useful links for you to read:

For your interview

• Biography Interview Questions
• Biographical Questions

For writing your biography

• Tips about Biography
• 5 Tips on How to Write a Biography
• How to Write a Biography
• 8 Steps on How to Write a Biography

Writing 1 Task 11 - 29 April 2016

Dear students,

Read 2-3 of your friends' posted stories part 1 and give constructive feedback for each.

Then, continue to write the second part of your narrative in no less than 300 words. Publish it as a new post on your blog no later than 6 May 2016, 1 P.M.


Good Luck!

Writing 1 Task 10 - 22 April 2016

Dear students,

Having drafted the narrative, you are to develop the first part of the story. Try to make it no less than 300 words and publish the first part before 29 April 2016, 7 A.M.

During the class meeting, publish your third journal before 10 A.M.


Good Luck! 

Writing 1 Task 9 - 15 April 2016

Dear students,

We will welcome Narrative as a focus on this second half term. On the addition of Unit 10 of your textbook, you are strongly recommended to visit the following links:

• What Makes a Good Story
• Writing: Narration

 Having read those articles, please proceed to the following assignment of drafting characters of your upcoming narrative, its theme, setting and plot.

Print out your draft to be submitted and discuss with your respective lecturer on the following time:

• Monday, 18 April 2016, 11 A.M. - 1 P.M.
• Tuesday, 19 April 2016, 8 A.M. - 10 A.M. or 1.30 P.M. - 3 P.M.

Good Luck! 

How to Give Feedback

Structured Commenting Protocol

When you comment on your peers’ drafts this semester, please follow these steps:

1. Read the essay through once, without marking it. It can be helpful to take a few notes while you read.

2. After you’ve done this, identify the two or three most important “higher order” things you think your peer needs could improve.

[Note: “higher order” concerns may include aspects of course content, conceptual understanding, argument, complexity, analysis, use of evidence, development of ideas, organization, understanding of audience, and sometimes diction and tone.]

3. Construct a head comment—a comment that you will paste at the beginning of your peer’s paper—that does the following: 1) offers a brief but specific description of general strengths, and 2) explains the two or three things to work on in a way that frames your remarks in terms of techniques and strategies to improve for subsequent drafts and assignments (e.g., “you’ve done an excellent job of…, but two central things to continue to work on are…”). This comment will probably be fairly detailed in presenting and discussing these two or three focus areas. It may be helpful to think of this head comment as a kind of “roadmap” to the marginal comments you will insert.

4. Finally, go back through the paper and, writing in full sentences, insert selective marginal comments and/or praise to reinforce and exemplify your head comment (e.g., “This point is unclear because…” or “You do a nice job here of…”). Give explanation and/or examples when you note both areas to improve and areas of strength.

It’s fine if the marginal comments reiterate points made in the head comment; indeed, they might specifically reference a moment in the head comment as a way of reinforcing it (“As I noted in my opening comment, here is a place where…”). Since your head comment will be fairly detailed, you will probably need relatively fewer marginal comments to highlight the relevant examples.

5. If you wish, additionally, to comment on “lower order” concerns (e.g., style, grammar, and/or punctuation), please focus on just one or two patterns encountered throughout the essay, explain these in a separate paragraph of your head comment, and mark up only a single representative paragraph in the essay to model corrections.

Taken from: Using Peer Review to Improve Student Writing

Writing 1 Task 8 - 8 April 2016

Dear students,

Do you recall the time when you attended "International Culture Festival and Celebration"?

Every one of you certainly has different impression and experience toward the event.

For the following post, please write a 250-word composition telling what you have experienced in the respective event. Using past tenses mode, share the story about the event, the audiences, and your feelings.

Publish your composition before April 13th, 2016, 11 P.M.

After that, read 2-3 of your friends' stories and give constructive feedback for each before April 15th, 2016, 7 A.M.

Check the useful links on your lecturers' blog to find out more about how to give feedback.

Good Luck!

Writing 1 Task 7 - 1 April 2016

Dear students,
Welcome back! I hope you are satisfied with your midterm scores. Now, are you ready to write again?

For today's assignment please write a 200-word composition about New Zodiac that you have created. First, you need to think about the characteristics and the sign of your "New Zodiac". Then, using those characteristics, you can begin to write the description.

Below are some useful links that you might need:

• Zodiac Signs and Meanings
• 12 Zodiac Signs 

 After you have finished, please publish your composition on your blog before April 8th, 2016, 7 A.M.


Good Luck!

Writing 1 Task 6 - 11 March 2016

Dear students,

After you got feedback from your lecturer and your friends, please revise your draft of Autobiography about Important Events in Your Life (Task 5). Then, you can publish it in your blog.

For the last assignment, please read some of your friends’ Autobiography (at least 5) and give comments to their writing. Your comment should be at least 50 words and contain your feedback about their style of writing (grammar, choice of words/vocabulary, organization, flow of writing, etc.).

Good luck!

Journal 2 Task

Dear students,
After finishing your Autobiography Task, it's time for you  to reflect on what you have done and learned during Writing 1 class and what you will do next. You are to write your second journal entries which covers these questions:

1. In this writing class, what have you learned? 
2. What do you believe you still need to work on more?  
3. How/can you use what you have learned in other contexts?
4. What will you do in preparing your Writing midterm test?

It also should contain your reflections and impressions about the weekly writing classes. Express yourself freely about the progress you get if there is any and why, or if you feel you don't get any progress then write about it along with the reasons and suggestions to overcome the root-causes, if there is any.

Your journal entries should be freely written without worrying about making mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation marks. 
Write your journal in about at least 150 words and publish it.

From your previous journal, there are some of you who wrote an outstanding and reflective journal. It's good for you to peek on their journals to get inspired. :)

They are: Yosephine (Class D), Gisel (Class D), and Jeremy (Class C)

Good luck!

Writing 1 Task 5 - 4 March 2016

Dear students,
After you got feedback from your lecturer and your friends, please revise your draft of Auto Biography about People around You (Task 4). Then, you can publish it in your blog.

Now, for the next writing for your Auto Biography, write a 200-word story about important events (the day you were born, the day you started your school, your engagement, etc) in your life. Make sure that you write the story in a chronological order.

E-mail your work to your lecturer's e-mail before Wednesday, 9 March 2016.

For your references, you can open your Writing book Units 2, 3, 9 and 12.

Good luck!

Writing 1 Task 4 - 26 February 2016

Dear students,
After you got feedback from your lecturer and your friends, please revise your first draft of Autobiography. Then, you can publish it in your blog.

Now, for the next writing for your Auto Biography, write a 400-word description about people around you, such as family and friends.

E-mail your work to your lecturer's e-mail before Wednesday, 2 March 2016.

For your references, you can open your Writing book Units 4, 5 and 7.

Good luck!

Autobiography Sample

What I Look Like

             For a man, I consider myself as a short guy. My height is only 168 centimeters. And I weigh around 47 kilograms. So, you can imagine how skinny I am. I have a short half-wavy half-straight black hair, but I have dyed it in dark-brown. I used to have a long hair, but I had it cut because my mother always complained about it. She said that I looked like a gangster.

            I have slit eyes because I am Chinese by origin. The color of my eyes is dark-brown. I have a minus on my eyes so I have to wear glasses. But I never wear it again at this moment. The lenses are no longer matching with the minus on my eyes. There is no difference whether I wear them or not. Besides, I have a sharp nose. My parents often consider me as a Jewish because my nose looks like the nose of Jewish people.

The Way I Am

            I am just an ordinary guy who has many bad characters. I think I have a bad temper too. I can be angry easily when I am annoyed by something or someone. Instead of all, the worst character I have is, I am a very lazy person. Even when I am asked to hang out somewhere by my friends, I would rather sleep than go with them. That is why my friends always complain about it. I am also a moody person.

            Just like the Chinese belief called Ying-Yang, even the worst person in this world still has a good side of him or her. I still have some good characters too. I am an easygoing person. I can make friends with everyone. I am open-minded and outgoing. I have a good sense of humor too. My friends always like it when I make some jokes to them. But I hardly ever make jokes on them. I have a principal not to humiliate my own friends because I do not want to be humiliated too.

Writing 1 Task 3 - 19 February 2016

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Write a 200-word description of yourself, mentioning the physical and non-physical features.

E-mail your work to your lecturer's e-mail before Wednesday, 23 February 2016.

Good luck!

How to describe a person | Using descriptive words

How to describe a person 

Journal Sample

This class this year has done so much for me. But the main thing that this class has done for me is help develop a new writing sense. As I have written essays and have gotten peer responses back from others, I have learned more on how to think as I write. I have trouble so many times with just writing what is on my mind, but I never come to the realization that to others, it makes absolutely no sense, or it does not have a clear point. One essay that helped in this aspect was the Reader and Writers essay. As I read my peers suggestions on what they liked to read, it became the beginning of a new thought process I was to go through. Another essay that helped in developing this writer sense was our family stories. As I finished "Two Pole," my paper was critiqued and responded to by my peers. This was probably one of the most influential essay's that we wrote. Thinking of the story was fairly easy, but it became a little more difficult when we were forced to show and not tell what we wanted to get across. As I adjusted my paper according to the need of my peers, I began to notice that my point was a little more clear and I attracted my audience a little better. I have not even come close to being perfect, but I still have so much more to learn. The main thing that I have to continue to learn is how to think of a way to attract my audience and also to narrow my audience down. In my proverb paper, "Hope for the Best, but Prepare for the Worst", I was informed that my audience was too broad. This is a huge problem that can be easily fixed, I just have to think about the exact audience I am trying to reach. All of these things I have learned, I plan to use in every paper that I write, whether it is a letter to a friend or a petition for a specific audience. Even the little things, like to make sure my quotation marks are after the period, I will use to further advance my writing skills in days to come. I believe that writing only gets better when you practice, and that's why I think that we are all collectively getting better as a class in our writing abilities.

Taken from:

Journal Sample 

Journal 1 Task

I cannot believe we have made it halfway through before the midterm test starts. Now, it is a good idea to reflect on what you have done and learned during Writing 1 class and what you will do next.
Today, you are to write your first journal entries which covers these questions:

1. In this writing class, what have you learned? 
2. What do you believe you still need to work on more?  
3. How/can you use what you have learned in other contexts?

It also should contain your reflections and impressions about the weekly writing classes. Express yourself freely about the progress you get if there is any and why, or if you feel you don't get any progress then write about it along with the reasons and suggestions to overcome the root-causes, if there is any.
 
Your journal entries should be freely written without worrying about making mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation marks. 

Write your journal in about at least 150 words and publish it.

Good luck!

Writing 1 Task 2 - 12 February 2016

On coming Monday, 15 February 2016 (from 1 to 3 p.m.), please see us to have our feedback. Revise the first assignment accordingly and publish it in your blog to replace the first one. Be sure to include more various adjectives and adverbs, and proper use of preposition in that revision.

Please publish your work before Thursday, 18 February 2016, 09.00 a.m.

Good luck!