Turgeon 1

Low Stakes Lesson Plans

Most classes began with a video for students to rhetorically analyze in practice for their
Rhetorical Analysis paper. I would then have them free write about some question or prompt
related to our topic for the day.
As the Writing About Writing text provides discussion questions at the end of each chapter, most
days I would split the class up into groups and have them discuss the questions together before
bringing the class together to talk about their responses. Sometimes I would make each group
look at only one question. I rarely have them take sections of a text and analyze the main point,
only when it is difficult to understand the text. When beneficial, they must also look for and
analyze certain vocabulary words important to the text and their learning.
Teaching Discourse Communities through Gaming Lesson
Accumulate at least five different gaming forums with links that student can use to browse
through the forums. Put the class into groups. Have students answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Find out what kind of game each of the forums is talking about.
What game platform is used to play?
Who is the intended audience by age and gender?
What company makes the game?
Can you find who the moderator of the forum is?
What do you notice visually about them?
What are some keywords to know when participating in the gaming community there?
Rank each forum by quality of: Visual Appeal and Information Relevancy

Teaching APA Format

For teaching APA format, I had students read the chapter from Everyone is an Author because it
is in a very convenient layout for understanding and finding specific aspects of the format. Using
a paper that they have currently worked on in class, have them create a cover page and format
the paper in APA. They can use their readings and/or Perdue Owl. After going around and
checking their progress, give out multiple types of texts. I typically bring anthologies, books,
texts with multiple articles by different authors, articles, and journals. Have students write the
citation for whatever they are given first. Then have students switch so they have a different kind
of text to write a citation on. After each time making a citation, have students write their citation
on the board, one per type of text, and go through it with the class for accuracy. I usually do this
process three times.
Teaching Discourse Communities Students are a part of
1. Number off into 5 groups. Have each group get 1 section of the chapter. Pick out main
points of the section.
2. Group them up by major via assigned groups. Define out the discourse community of
their major based off of Swales Six Characteristics. After 10 minutes, have groups make
new groups with people who were not in their previous group. Talk about the parameters
each made in their groups. Note any similarities and differences. Discuss as a group.

Turgeon 2
Teaching Argument and using Sources
Host a debate using a question for which students can easily find sources. For example, I had
students in my RC 2001 course debate for or against technology use in the classroom. Instead
of letting students pick a side or making the choices feel arbitrary, put all of the students
names in holder of some sort. Pick the first two names and make them team captains for one
side or the other. Then let them take turns pulling names out of the holder. Teams are allowed
30 minutes to find solid scholarly sources and create an argument. Each team then gets five
minutes to present their argument. Each team gets 2 minute for rebuttal. This lesson is one of
the most successful each semester.
Teaching Internet Writing
In assigning the text Fanfiction, Poetry, Blogs, and Journals: A Case Study of the
Connection between Extracurricular and Academic Writing by Marissa Penzato, students
are also asked to find and read a fanfiction on their own. This allows for them to find
something within their own interests. While having them journal about it before class, they
were able to have a lively discussion about what they found and read online. It opens their
eyes to a new kind of discourse community and way of practicing writing. Allow them to
consider whether this helps individuals become better academic writers. Then have students
consider the ways they write on the internet (websites, apps, etc.). They will typically come
to the consensus that academic writing has to be the intention when writing online, otherwise
you are not educating yourself in writing. Allow students to create a thesis sentence for a
future paper by using the 140 character limit Twitter uses. This small activity allows them to
try and be concise and to the point for something important, even if it is the internet they are
using.