| Just for the sake of curiosity, I decided
to use the in-class assignment that was used for the pre-course writing
sample. Because I have no intention of claiming that this study is "comparative,"
i.e., that it "proves" (or disproves) the effectiveness of instruction,
I need not explain in detail what we did during the course. The following
is a very brief summary. After reading and grading the pre-course sample (a grade that did not count), I returned the papers, and we discussed in detail what I got compared to what I expected. None of this discussion concerned grammar or sentence structure; rather, it involved theis, paragraph structure, etc. We also spent a lot of time discussing the fact that many students had jumped into the essay without reading the question, i.e., they tended to take sides without considering what might be relevant issues. We discussed, at length, what might be relevant. One of the things I was curious about was how much of this discussion would be retained fifteen weeks later. During the course, we spent approximately nine class periods on syntax and sentence structure. After a presentation on how the mind processes language, and a presentation on how to use the computer program CASA (which teaches students to recognize prepositional phrases), we spent most of the remaining time analyzing passages of students' writing for prepositional phrases and clauses. We also briefly discussed clause-bondary errors (fragments, comma-splices, and run-ons). The final class on syntax was devoted to group work -- the students worked in small groups to check their analysis of a sample of their own writing. |
In-class essay
The news recently included a story about two women who were reprimanded by their supervisor, a male, because he said that their skirts were too short. The women work for the city planning commission, and the supervisor said that their dress was too distracting. (Their skirts were about three inches above their knees.) The women said that, if there is a problem, it is the men's. The two women are suing their supervisor for sexual harassment.
Write an essay in which you explain the issues that might be relevant to this case.