3.5 Getting ready for the short analysis project

Your group assignment to ask a question of Data Set 4, and set  up the analysis you might do to develop a research essay based on that question was our first shot at working on real-world language and the way it is used.  We started class by talking through how we might look at Data from Sample 4 in light of a particular question.

Our question was:
What are the difference between language in the beginning/end comments, and the language in the side comments?  What does each form for commenting accomplish?  How do these differences cause students to "use" these two different patterns for commenting?   And how do (or don't) these two different forms work together?

We started by characterizing the two language sets: beginning./end comments, and side comments.  This is "coding" => naming the features of the language (or whatever) you are studying.  I don't have my original notes from the board - this is what I remember

Beginning/end comments
have a beginning/middle/and an ending
beginning= positive statements/validation about what the student has done well, words like "solid framework" and "definitely steps students have to follow" indicate the project is on the right track
middle = but or however statement that idendifies particular points for the student to work on (needs a "particular view of argument" = key term in the assignment. In the Argument essay, the end comment directed the student back to conversations from class => and then pointed out 3 steps the writer should take to use the theoretical definition to develop the definition of the "concept" she would use in her paper.  The last point points out (another point from the assignment sheet) that the student needs to point out how the "writing studies" view of argument clashes with the popular view.
ending
confirmation = student is on the right track "you've got the right form here"
re-statement of overall focus for revision
=> overall the beg/end comments point out what "big moves" the student needs to make to revise the essay

Side comments
make specific references to particular pieces of language in the text=> draws student's attention to particular points in the essay
ask questions= does not provide "corrections"
are not always complete question
offer particular validations
asks for particular corrections (such as comments
=> overall side comments engage students in a kind of conversation about what is going on in the essay

Side conversation: After talking about (and looking closely at the comments) we got into a deeper conversation about how students' expectations (and the ways they read comments) might be different from the teacher's expectations.  For example, teachers DO NOT expect students to "correct" their papers based on the questions/observations/notes in side comments=> rather they are expecting students to think through what needs to be done in the essay from their own perspective, and in light of the teacher's response.

Best practices for teaching writing train teachers to draw students' attention to the concepts/ideas important to the writing task, to ask students to reflect on how well their writing meets those tasks, and to draw from language & concepts from class that addressed those writing tasks to support students in planning to revise their work.
 
Your response in class indicated that students DO NOT READ teacher comments with these purposes in mind.

So OK => now you know what my comments will mean, and that you should read them ALL before making any corrections.

So= back to the problem of writing a research paper based on this data. . . .
The above naming and characterizing of the data (with partiuclar references to language from the data you are analyzing) is what I was looking for. 

Analysis of Chat room transcript.
You made a kind of preliminary analysis of the two excerpts presented in the chat transcript in terms of:
the big "C" Conversations it connects to (children online, protecting children from internet predators, the internet as a dangerous place, particularly for girls, limiting access as a way to protect children, etc),
"Figured worlds" or cultural stories within those conversations(the assumptions=internet is dangerous, it is also frivolous and you won't meet "good" people there, values=the dangers and lack of "important learning" associated with chat make it "a waste of time" => generally, not something you will be proud about talking about unless you are a teenager) etc
and the persona for A in each of the two stories.

We spent some time analyzing the language in the first excerpt as a way to establish A's persona.  I started out by pointing out that in any interview, the speaker is both the person s/he is now, in the present - who can reflect on experiences from the past, but also s/he carries forward "traces" and signs of the self who took part in the experiences recollected from the past.  These "traces" take the form of language patterns and moves associated with word choice, verb tense and voice (active/passive), choice of personal pronoun (I, we, you, they), and so on.

As we read the first excerpt, we watched how A moved from we, to you in the story set up, and into I when she was in the story itself.  We notice how the story was set up in past tense, but the events themselves unfolded in the present.  We noticed repeated words (dangerous, scary) and we noticed the difference in the care and tentativeness in reporting the experience (I think. . .) and the directness of her statements about how she changed (I am => and other direct declarations of how she is + what she does=no "I think"). 

We didn't have much time to explore the second excerpt, but you were beginning to use the language as evidence => and that was the point of this class exercises. 

Short anlaysis project
This in-class talk was to "walk you through" the kinds of moves you will want to make in your short analysis project.  In this project you will choose on of the 5 data sets we have created/explored together as a class:

Data set 1: Shaggy Dog Stories
Data set 2: In-class ethnographic notes
Data set 3: Survey analysis posts = responses to, comments onthe survey for the writing option major
Data set 4:  Sample papers with teacher comments
Data set 5: transcripts from interviews (chat rooms + gamer)

 You will then ask a research question (usually it is a set of questions) of your data set, and use detailed analysis of the data as "evidence" of an answer to those questions.

For next class:
Blog 12: Look through the data sets and begin to think which data you want to analyze for your short analysis project.  Post some questions you might ask of the data set you are most interested in.
Re-read Gee.

In class, we will begin by creating an assignment sheet for the short analysis project.  This assignment sheet will identify the purpose of the assignment, what you need to d o to complete it, and the criteria for a grade.  You will then work on your research question and begin to set up your analysis.  By the end of class you should be prepared to work on your draft for this project.

The draft for the short analysis project is due Tuesday, March 26

NOTE:   if you want written comments from me (in addition to conferencing/in-class peer comments) you will need to turn in your draft no later than midnight, Saturday, March 23.

  
 Great class today!   And see you on Thursday.