English 505

So we dug into the RUG reading today. Nobody dug the RUG reading. However, we discussed it for about 25 minutes, and managed to extract some interesting/important ideas from it. My class, myself not excluded, is waiting for RUG to GET TO THE POINT. They've spent a lot of time comparing this and that to Rhetoric (baseball, fast food, legal proceedings, architecture, etc...) and it's always a little too convoluted and philisophical for my tastes. Hopefully, RUG will get to the point sooner than later.

Having that said, I began what will be our work for the next two weeks. We are going to write a 3-5 page paper. I am experimenting with the concept of the students choosing their own topics- an idea Phillip and I discussed in 505 yesterday (no teacher showed up!).

Bonuses of the students choosing their own topic:
1. We can spend classtime discussing HOW to choose and narrow down a topic.
2. Their writing will be better because they are writing about something they care about.
3. I won't have to read 20 papers about the same thing.
4. Another bonus about this project is that they will have 2 weeks to complete this project. They were nervous about 3-5 pages, so they'll have plenty of time to get it done.

Having that said, it isn't complete anarchy. There are 3 requirements:

1. There must be a thesis statement, and all content must orbit around the t.s.
2. The students are required to bring in a counterpoint. Bringing in someone else's opinion on their topic will strengthen their paper and make it more interesting. I figured I'd get them started on this strategy nice and early so when our research paper comes up, they'll be ready.
3. As they must bring in a counterpoint, they must have at least ONE citation. I believe Phillip is requiring more, but I don't think my class is ready for more than a minimum of one.

The reaction:
Deer in headlights. The freedom was a little much for them to swallow all at once. The guidelines I listed above comforted them, but they are nervous about picking their own topics. I assigned them to all come to class tomorrow with topics to talk about. We'll go through 'em and deal with 'em case by ever-loving case.