January 24

Today, we did a writing into the day about the Cizek quote.  After that, we talked about the expectations and purposes of the blog.  First, we read and analyzed examples of readings responses and blog comments.  Then we talked about what makes a "good" response and comment.

What makes a "good" reading response:

• Not superficial, goes in depth
• Thoroughly discusses each of the four bullet points on the "Responding to Readings on Your Blog" handout
• Stays on topic

What makes a "good" comment:

• Points out the good or bad things in the post
• Keeps the writer thinking
• Shows the writer a different point of view
• Asks questions
• Gives opinions
• Organized thoughts

After this discussion, we talked about the persuasive appeals: ethos, logos and pathos.  After looking at and discussing an example of each, we broke into 6 groups.  Each group was assigned to write a paragraph either in favor of or against standardized testing in one of the three appeals.  We will be reading these next class to see which ones are most persuasive.

Homework:

Read "In the Basement of the Ivory Tower" and post a reading response to your blog.