A key component to writing effective nonfiction is the ability to make connections between events, characters, stories, and concepts in your writing. Ultimately, you are hoping that the reader connects with you and with your essay through the descriptions you include.
We are going to practice the art of making connections in our first discussion.
To complete the first discussion board, first read your classmates' posts. You can add to the discussions for any of your classmate but engage closely with at least two classmates, as well as with any classmates that respond to your original post.
To continue your first discussion, engage your classmates in discussion of the passages/elements they chose as their focus for the first essay. Identify areas where you connect with the elements that they chose and add additional and related areas from other readings that they don't mention in their initial post (i.e., if you see a connection between a section they quote from Ramsdell's text and a section that you read in the Atwan piece, post the quote from the Atwan piece that makes the connection and describe how you see the two pieces connect).
In order to effectively complete this discussion, you will want to practice Mike Bunn's reading strategies on all of the essays for the first two weeks. The closer you read the texts initially, the easier this discussion board should be.
Be sure to subscribe to your initial post, as well as the initial posts of any of the students you engage in discussion so that you can be notified via email when someone makes a new post in the discussion (to actively engage in the discussion on a daily basis).
We are going to practice the art of making connections in our first discussion.
To complete the first discussion board, first read your classmates' posts. You can add to the discussions for any of your classmate but engage closely with at least two classmates, as well as with any classmates that respond to your original post.
To continue your first discussion, engage your classmates in discussion of the passages/elements they chose as their focus for the first essay. Identify areas where you connect with the elements that they chose and add additional and related areas from other readings that they don't mention in their initial post (i.e., if you see a connection between a section they quote from Ramsdell's text and a section that you read in the Atwan piece, post the quote from the Atwan piece that makes the connection and describe how you see the two pieces connect).
In order to effectively complete this discussion, you will want to practice Mike Bunn's reading strategies on all of the essays for the first two weeks. The closer you read the texts initially, the easier this discussion board should be.
Be sure to subscribe to your initial post, as well as the initial posts of any of the students you engage in discussion so that you can be notified via email when someone makes a new post in the discussion (to actively engage in the discussion on a daily basis).