Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus Writing a Personal Narrative and the Writing Process

Course Introduction:
This course, Writing a Personal Narrative and the Writing Process, is a course for 8th Grade students for Language Arts credit. This course introduces students to the writing process (plan, draft, revise, edit, publish) and helps students to create their own personal narrative. Students will learn how to identify critical small moments from their own experiences and be able to write about them. This course will demonstrate different styles of writing and help students to understand there is not necessarily a wrong or right way, but help them identify details that should help write a creative and meaningful story. Students will examine different styles of authors and different types of works that all portray a personal narrative. From short stories to poems, an author can describe a critical moment (a short period in time in which something significant and memorable happened to them. These stories can be positive or negative, but life changing from just a short moment. Students will learn how to identify their own moments and create a story based on that. Throughout this course, students will be required to collaborate with their peers and provide feedback. This will help students become critical of their own work as well as assisting other students with theirs. Students will use Web 2.0 resources like Blogger and other resources that allow them to communicate with one another and to create presentations for their class. These collaborative efforts are part of the writing process in helping other edit and revise their own works as well as helping to identify problems in ones own w ork. This course will be delivered through Blackboard and students will use the Collaborate module in order to synchronously present their final projects. A class time will be set up at the beginning of the class that will be required for all students to participate in to complete their final projects. Blackboard will be used for a discussion post as well as for class announcements.

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus Writing a Personal Narrative and the Writing Process Fall Semester 2013 English Language Arts, 8th Grade English 08

Instructor Info:
Mike Lichtenauer Office: Middle School Building, Room E22 Phone: +57-316-347-6140 Email: mike.lichtenauer@gmail.com (preferred form of communication) Skype: mikefljr Office Hours: Tuesday 2:15pm to 3:30pm, Wednesday 2:15pm to 3:30pm, Thursday 2:15pm to 3:30pm, and by appointment Support: Instructor will respond to students via email within 48 hours. For any technical support, please refer to the following webpage: https://sites.google.com/site/cngtechnologyintegration/

Course Info:
Course Delivery: Online (Blackboard) Course Time: Asynchronous meeting; Students should Expect to spend 7-10 hours per week on course work Prerequisite: English 07 PreAP Course Description: This course will introduce students to the writing process and identify the major steps. Students will create a personal narrative based on the research they complete into mentor texts and different styles. Students will learn how to revise and edit and participate in the peer review and feedback process. Students will create a final project that demonstrates their writing ability and allows them to be creative in the visualization of their story.

Course Objectives:
1. Students will identify the writing process 2. Students will demonstrate different writing styles based on mentor texts 3. Students will demonstrate how stories do not have to be long; they can be based on a short period of time, a small moment 4. Students will apply knowledge of revision and editing 2

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus 5. Students will apply strategies from established writers 6. Students will create a short story, personal narrative with visual emphasis

Required Resources:
Required Resources: Computer: Mac or PC, with capability to connect to the Internet Blackboard https://blackboard.ttu.edu List of Stories (Short, Poems, Excerpts) http://www.teachervision.fen.com/literature/printable/54582.h tml Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) https://owl.english.purdue.edu Google www.google.com Blogger Account http://www.blogger.com Suggested Resources: VoiceThread https://voicethread.com SimpleBooklet http://simplebooklet.com/index-sb.php

Learning Activities:
Organization: This course will be taught entirely online using Blackboard, https://blackboard.ttu.edu, to turn in assignments, participate in discussions, find class announcements, ask questions (of peers and the instructor), and to send emails. Participation Standard: For each discussion question (in Blackboard, on Blogger, or on the class Wiki), a student will be required to post one original message. The posts should be no longer than 150 words. The students post should clearly indicate that they have read the required weekly information. For each discussion post, each student will be required to respond and comment on at least 2 other students posts. Posts should not ne simply I Agree. Student Responsibilities: It is the responsibility of the student to participate I discussions, turn in assignments on time, and ask questions as needed. Technical issues with Blackboard or any of the 3

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus other programs should be immediately relayed to the instructor. Internet issues are not a reason for late work.

Course Policies:
Reading: Complete weekly reading assignments posted in the schedule. Readings will consist of online resources as well as the textbook. Each week, students will be required to create posts and responses based on the readings. Participation: Participation will be key to the success in this course. You will complete discussion posts (in Blackboard), create blog entries, and participate in our class wiki: (https://lichtenaueredit5370.wikispaces.com) Participation will count at 15% of your overall grade for this course. Late Assignments: Late assignments will be allowed. However, students will incur a 10% penalty for each day the assignment is late. Student will be required to turn in assignment, even if late, in order to pass this course. Student cannot skip an assignment with the expectation of receiving a zero. Homework: Student will be required to complete homework individually unless it is part of a group project. Student is expected to complete homework by the due date listed in the activities section. Penalties for late work are described above. Special Needs: For any student requiring special accommodations please let the instructor know at the beginning of the semester, preferably within the first 3 days. Requesting these accommodations are the students responsibility. They will be provided upon request. Please refer to the schools website for assistance: http://www.cng.edu/files/CNG%20Community%20Handbook.pdf Grades: Assessments: Assessment Characteristic Chart Small Moment Table Graphic Models Points 5 10 15

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus First Story Second Story Stylized Third Story Final Project Participation/ Peer Feedback Total Points 5 10 10 30 15 100

Overall Assessment:

90 100% 80 89% 70 79% 60 69% 59 and Below

A B C D F

Instructional Activities: (Described Below)

Week Week Week Week Week Week 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: Personal Narrative: Reading Mentor Texts Identifying a Small Moment in Mentor Texts Developing Ideas as a Writer Addressing Style in Writing The Writing Process Publishing and Celebrating

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus

Instructional Activities
Week 1: The first week of this course will help the students to understand what a personal narrative is and help to identify key characteristics within a mentor text. Students will be assigned to a group to complete peer feedback and comments throughout the course. The students will choose two each of short stories, excerpts and poems. The students will also research the OWL Purdue online site for defining personal narratives and memoirs (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/753/02/). Students will note that personal narratives and memoirs have key characteristics; they will identify these characteristics by using textual support (quotes from the readings they have selected) and create an online chart. Student created chart will be uploaded to personal Blog. Students will provide feedback to other group members on these characteristics. Students will then choose one more story/excerpt/poem based on the other students information. Based on posts and feedback, students will answer the following questions on the Blackboard Discussion Board. What do you think is the most important element? What makes the best story and why? Students will respond to two other posts. Week 2: Students will learn how to identify small moments in mentor texts. Instructor will define what a small moment is, that it takes place in a short time and has significance. Students will identify a small moment from each of the three types of writing from the mentor texts they chose 6

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus in the previous week. Students will justify by identifying what the timeline of the story is with textual support. Students will then pinpoint what the critical moment is. They will create a table for each story that includes a timeline and the critical moment. They will post to their blog and comment on each others. They will comment on whether they agree or disagree with the other students findings. This lesson will help students demonstrate their knowledge of details and vocabulary to convey a story. Week 3: Students will begin to develop their own ideas as a writer by identifying small moments within their own lives. Students will create a mind map or mindscape that identifies a minimum of 5 ideas. These graphic representations that include: people; issues; and moments. These graphic representations do not have to make sense to anyone else. These are representations to help the students visualize the ideas behind their stories. The student will choose their best 3 ideas and write a lead paragraph for each. The lead paragraph should contain dialog, sound,

flashbacks, and other devices to hook the reader and lead into their critical moments. From these 3 leads, the student will choose 1 to develop into a story. (The story will be less than 500 words; the student will write in the timeframe of a small moment, ex: no more than an afternoon). The student should pick something they are comfortable sharing with the world. The student will share on their personal blog so that group members can comment on them. Each student will comment

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus on all other group members. Peer feedback will include whether a small moment has been identified and a plus, delta response where students identify one positive thing about the story and one thing they would change and why. Week 4: Students will address their artistic style within their writing. Students will go through their blogs and read all the comments from their group members. Based on suggestions and reading the works of others, students will decide whether to keep or abandon their original story idea. They will post on their blog what they have decided to do, be it revise or try another lead or a whole other critical moment. Each student will then write a second story from his or her graphic representation. They can add small moments based on their new knowledge or utilize what they have. The students will go through the steps on their own. Once completed they will post the new story to the blog and go through the feedback process again with their group. Finally, students will decide whether to use one of the first 2 or complete a 3rd to create a polished publishable piece. This will introduce students to the revision and editing process to writing. Week 5: The students will be able to identify and demonstrate the writing process (plan, draft, revise, edit, publish). Students will have completed step one and almost half way to the finish! Students will utilize OWL Purdue site for revising their papers to understand the steps (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/05/). (Ex: Editing is

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus like cleaning up your room before a friend comes over; revising is rearranging your room when you are tired of how it looks). Students will receive an online quiz assessment in Blackboard that evaluates their understanding of the writing steps. Quiz will show steps of the process and students will be required to demonstrate which steps they have done so far and how they applied it to their story. Students will copy and paste their stories from their blog into Word to begin editing. They will look for grammar and spelling mistakes. However, they will learn that they should not just accept any changes based on suggestions. There are stylistic uses in dialog and imagery that may not be grammatically correct. Students will return to the mentor texts they read at the beginning. They will choose a style of writing they feel is appropriate for their story and revise their stories to fit that style (ex: using Sandra Cisneros Eleven to show repetition or imagery. Students will rewrite their stories in that style and post their story to their blogs showing the revisions. They will post the first comment on their own work to explain the changes and the mentor text. Based on all versions, peers should help each other pick the best version of each story for the student to publish and complete. Week 6: This is the final part to the story creation, publishing and celebrating. The students should continue to edit until they feel their story is the best version and could be shared with the world. They will develop their style, using dialog and imagery. Based on final version, students will

Mike Lichtenauer EDIT 5370 Module 8 - Syllabus create a final project to be shared with the entire class. Students will use Blackboard Collaborate to synchronously present their project and answer any questions the class may have. The students will have two options to choose from: they can either create a version where they read the story out loud and include picture that go along with the narrative (like VoiceThread), or they can turn the story into an eBook (like SimpleBooklet) where they create a virtual picture book. Final portion will be for students to embed these files into their blogs for review. Students will be required to make plus comments on 3 students blogs letting them know what they liked about the story.

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