Case Clusters

“It is not possible to extricate yourself from the questions in which your age is involved.”     – Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Resources:

• Description.doc: Description of assignment 
• Pre-writingOrganizer.doc: Pre-Writing Graphic Organizer
• Instructions for Peer Revision
• Model of Peer Revision
• ModelResponse.doc: Model of Final Post
• FinalPostChecklist.doc Final Post Writing Checklist 
• FinalPostRubric.doc Rubric to grade your finished piece

Deadlines:

• First Post:       (A-day)  November 9              (B-day)  November 2                 
• Second Post: (A-day)  November 30            (B-day)  November 16
• Third Post:      (A-day)  December 14           (B-day)  December 7

Process:

• Choose a topic. Check out the links below for ideas on current issues or problems:

          > Kingwood College Library Online

          > Social Issues from Multnmah County Library

          > Hot Topics and Issues

          > Hot Paper Topics from St. Ambrose University Library

          > Project Vote Smart

          > RAND Public Policy Research

• Turn in your top three topic choices.

• Locate and print an article from a reliable source. The article must be a persuasive one. 

          > EBSCOhost  (See me for User ID and password.)      

          Consider searching for editorials or opinion pieces in magazines or newspapers.

          > Check out some of the online magazines and newspapers on the Good Reads page.

          * Don’t forget to get the source information needed to create the MLA citation. You can use easybib to create your citation.

• Read and annotate the text.

          > Come to class each Monday, prepared to discuss the article with your team. This means you need to have read

             and “marked-up” the text BEFORE coming to class.

          > LEO (Literacy Education Online) provides helpful tips for highlighting and identifying the key ideas. They also

             explain exactly how to write a summary of a text.

          > Bucks County Community College explains how to annotate a text and gives an example of a text that’s been annotated.

• Discuss the text with your team.

          > Each Monday, you’ll meet with your team to discuss each other’s texts.

• In class Monday, complete the Pre-Writing Graphic organizer.

          > The organizer will help you pinpoint and organize your ideas for your written blog post.

• Write your rough draft.

          > Come to class Wednesday with a completed rough draft.

          > In class, you’ll work with a partner to complete a peer analysis and to revise and improve your draft.

• Post your final written piece on your blog.

          > Come to class Friday with a polished, finished piece.

          > You’ll have about 45 minutes in the computer lab to type and publish your post. If you prefer, you can word

             process your piece at home and bring it with you. Then, you can simply copy and paste it into your blog.

          > Create a POST (not a page) on your blog. Assign it to the Case Clusters Category.

• Read the posts of your team members and comment on their posts.> After publishing your post, you should have time to read the posts your team members have written.> Be sure to read and comment on at least two other posts.