TA e-meeting: November 11 , 2011

Hi Ladies.  Hope everyone had a fantastic week!

I.                    New lectures

II.                  Jordana Lenon’s talk

III.                Meeting with Don

IV.                Next week’s lectures

I.                     My students are really taking to the revised lectures.  I did an informal survey in my class, and almost every student liked the idea of shifting our current lecture format to one that that incorporates daily applied exercises and group activities.   What have been some of the reactions from students in your respective sections?

II.                  What did your students think about Jordana’s talk?  My students were pretty engaged and they asked several questions at the end.  They also seemed to make the connection that Jordan was the embodiment of what we are trying to teach them in the persuasive unit…Jordana said after my class that she was going to modify her talk for each section.  How did things go when she gave her talk to your students?

III.                I took from the email thread the meeting with Don was productive! I like his suggestions. I’m game for using Google Doc to brainstorm new ideas for the class.  It’s probably a more effective tool than the blog…Also, Haley mentioned that Don suggested some texts/activities for the class.  I’d like to hear more about those!

IV.                So, this week’s lecture:

i.                     From the email thread, I gathered that we all want to do the same thing on Monday, which is to have the students peer-review their outlines, and then have the students complete a brief activity.  Molly suggested a persuasive argument exercise (page 7 of the document http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cedwards/Teachingmodules/modules/Teaching%20Persuasive%20Speaking.pdf).  Do we want to go with this?

ii.                   We have Wednesday and Friday to show/discuss example of good/bad speeches.  I envisioned using Wednesday to discuss the “famous” speeches; on Friday,  we I thought we could cover a few of the “not-so-famous speeches” and then briefly discuss presentation tools.  We have a PP presentation in the TAC about PP presentations; however, Haley said that Don gave her a great book about visual presentation that she wanted to adapt in a brief tutorial for the students.  Haley, is that still the plan?

OK, I’m off to enjoy my Saturday…by doing homework.  Have a good one

Camille

TA e-meeting: November 7 , 2011

Hi Ladies,

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I.                    Open floor

II.                  Meeting with Don

III.                Monday (Nov 7)

IV.                Wednesday (Nov 9)

V.                  Friday (Nov 11)

VI.                The blog

I.                    Questions and/or comments?

II.                  Haley, thanks for organizing this meeting with Don on Nov 10.  As I said last week, I have class at 2:30 that day, so I will be unable to attend.  I’m looking forward to hearing about what ideas arise from your discussion!

III.                On Monday, we will discuss how to effectively structure a persuasive composition.  This presentation is text-heavy; however, I like it because it provides several concrete examples of well-crafted (also, not-well crafted) theses/introductions, organized body paragraphs (using the stacked or one-by-one method, and reflective conclusions.  I was thinking about turning the slides about thesis statements into an activity—maybe giving the students a worksheet with the various non-effective thesis statement examples and asking the students to tell me the flaws in the statements?  Thoughts?

IV.                On Wednesday, we will have our second guest speaker—Jordana Lenon, who is communications director for the UW Primate Center.  Jordana was one of our speakers last semester and she did a fantastic job—her talk was timely and fit nicely into our persuasion unit….Usually, when we have a guest speaker, I try to stick around all day and play host.  However, on Wednesdays I have a seminar from 12-2:30; it’s a once-a-week class so I can’t skip.  Can each of us try to be accommodating of Jordana before and during our sections?  Also, I typically offer to buy the guest speaker lunch.  Heather or Molly, could one of you please offer to buy Jordan something from the café next door.  I’ll pay you back!

V.                  I feel like this entire lecture is repetitive, because we’ve already addressed emotion appeals and audience types in previous lectures.  I was thinking that we should use this day to review persuasive concepts or discuss anything that we may not have had time for in the previous week’s lectures.  Or, we could come up with some practice activities for the students. Thoughts?

VI.                FYI:  From now on, I will email everyone a notice whenever I post meeting notes to the blog.  I know it’s sometimes difficult to remember to check the blog (especially on weekends), so hopefully this will help.

See you tomorrow!

Camille