<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Two reminders for folks still wrapping up
syllabi:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. We have a departmental wiki (collaborative Web
site) at <A
href="http://ucrcomposition.pbwiki.com">http://ucrcomposition.pbwiki.com</A>
where you can find boilerplate for common syllabus components, assignment ideas,
book lists, and other stuff handy for instructors. If you'd like to add
materials to the site to shore up its light areas (or you'd like to change
something that you think is hopelessly screwed up), you'll need to log in -- the
password is rivera (the name of our library, lower-cased). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. I'm still looking for instructors willing to
help me out with the research described below my signature. If you're teaching
1A this quarter and willing to help, I'd love to hear from you.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gray</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=gray@scotts.net href="mailto:gray@scotts.net">Gray Scott</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=gsa-english@lists.ucr.edu
href="mailto:gsa-english@lists.ucr.edu">TA ListServe</A> ; <A
title=englecturers@lists.ucr.edu
href="mailto:englecturers@lists.ucr.edu">Lecturer ListServe</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 13, 2006 4:17
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Gsa-english] An exercise, in
search of 1A instructors</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Are there any experienced instructors out there
who are 1) teaching English 1A this fall, and 2) willing to fit a 45-minute,
in-class, collaborative writing exercise into their class schedules for
some research I am doing? The exercise would be followed in a later
class session by a 5-minute survey. You would not need to grade the
exercise. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If you're interested or just have questions, feel
free to contact me by phone or email (see contact info below). Also, if you
have a quid-pro-quo in mind (like subbing for you on some date), go ahead and
fire away, and we'll see what we can work out. I'm hoping to recruit about 12
classes, to help ensure I have a good sample size, and given the lateness of
this announcement (I've hit some speed bumps setting this up), I'm in a
pretty agreeable mood. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If you express interest, at some point later I
will need to send you an "informed consent" statement to read and return, once
my statement has been approved by the university's research board. The
gist of the statement, however, I will share with you now: You may change your
mind at any time, even in mid-exercise. Participate for as long as you
are comfortable with it. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Additional details appear below my signature, and
a draft of the exercise prompt is attached.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thank you,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gray Scott</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:gray@scotts.net">gray@scotts.net</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>(909) 394-0979</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><U>ADDITIONAL DETAILS</U></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Timing</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The exercise would need to be conducted toward
the beginning of the quarter, preferrably before students start working on
remembered event essays. The exercise combines elements of the personal
narrative and the profile interview, and would probably work as a kind of
ice-breaker. (See the attached document.) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Procedure</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>Part 1 -- The Exercise</EM>: You'll need to
read the students an informed-consent statement, break them up into teams,
distribute the prompt, and then, at the end of class, collect the responses.
That's pretty much it for you at this point. During the exercise, you may
read, grade other papers, or whatever. If students have questions, tell them
to interpret the instructions as best as they can. Put the responses in my
department mailbox; I'll photocopy them and return the originals to you for
dart practice or class discussion, your choice.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>Part 2 -- The Survey & Debriefing</EM>:
I'd appreciate it if you'd also complete a quick (5 minute) online survey
for instructors and, in the next class session, administer a 5-minute
multiple-choice survey to the students who participated. After collecting the
survey, or after the exercise if you choose not to distribute the survey, you
should read a short debriefing statement to the students and give them my
contact information in case they have questions. Put the surveys in my box. At
some point, after I've gone through the responses and scored them, I'll return
the scores to you, which you may then shred, ignore, interpret, criticize,
share with the students, or any other such thing. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Research Goals</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This research comprises a small but
key piece of my dissertation work. I want to test the effects of grading
approaches on the performance of students who are writing in groups. In short,
does it matter significantly whether group writing is graded or simply
recorded as credit/no-credit? (I have some expectations, based on decades-old
research into the impacts of grading on individual work, but there's very
little work on the impacts for groups. My goal here is to test my assumptions
and see if they're on target.) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Among other things, this means that if you
participate, your class will be assigned to one of three groupings, which will
be compared against each other in my analysis: a graded group, an ungraded
group, and a credit/no-credit group. Put another way: One group of classes
will tell students that the assignment is being graded on an ABC scale, and
that it counts about the same as a quiz; one group will tell students that
they'll be given credit on the assignment as long as they participate; the
third group will administer the assignment as an ungraded exercise.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Of course, once the exercise is completed, you
don't have to actually count it as part of the student grade, though you
may if you wish. (I personally would not. It's not an easy exercise,
particularly for students at the beginning of the 1A quarter.) The debriefing
statement that you'll read to students afterwards will explain why some groups
were told they were being graded, and students may contact me if they like.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You may, of course, also contact me, using the
information above. Thank you. </FONT></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>_______________________________________________<BR>Gsa-english mailing
list<BR>Gsa-english@lists.ucr.edu<BR>http://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/gsa-english<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>