College Writing lesson plan with strategies for revising Unit 2: Responding to a Text. Includes activities for rethinking organization, developing critical analysis of quotes, and revising introductions.

3. PLAYING WITH STRUCTURE
 Cut up your unit 2 draft by paragraphs and number the back of each
paragraph with the original order, then shuffle the paragraphs up.
 Trade cut-up drafts with your peer response group. Share the main
argument of your essay.
 Put your peer’s draft in the order you think it should go, then number it
on the front. Put a question mark on any paragraphs that seem like they
don’t belong, keeping your partner’s argument in mind.
 Trade back, discuss. Compare the order your partner chose with your
original order. What is the same? Different? What does that tell you
about your essay? How can you use this feedback to revise,
rearrange/cut/clarify?

5. ANATOMY OF A PARAGRAPH

6.  Conduct interviews in peer
response groups:
 1 person asks the questions listed to the
right and raises follow-up questions
 1 takes notes
 1 answers questions.
 Repeat twice, switching roles
each time.
 At the end, give the notes you
wrote to the person who
answered the questions, to use in
expanding their analysis.
 You should plan to spend a full
10 minutes per person discussing
these questions.
 Why did you choose this quote?
 What is it saying, to you? What do
you interpret it to mean?
 Do you agree with what it’s saying?
Why or why not?
 What questions does this quote
raise for you? What are you left
wondering about, or confused
about, after thinking about this
quote?
 What is the author’s tone in this
quote? How does their tone make
you feel? Does their tone help or
hurt their argument? Why?
 How do the ideas expressed in this
quote relate to your argument?
 What else does this quote make
you think of? How can you relate it
to personal experiences, or issues
in contemporary culture, or other
things you’ve read/seen/heard?
DEVELOPING ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

7.  Read the notes that your peer
wrote down during your
interview.
 Draft some additional
analysis of your quote based
on your interview discussion.
You don’t have to use
everything that you
discussed; just use it as a
jumping-off point.
 If you have extra time, start to
brainstorm more analysis for
another quote based on the
same questions.
 Why did you choose this quote?
 What is it saying, to you? What do
you interpret it to mean?
 Do you agree with what it’s saying?
Why or why not?
 What questions does this quote
raise for you? What are you left
wondering about, or confused
about, after thinking about this
quote?
 What is the author’s tone in this
quote? How does their tone make
you feel? Does their tone help or
hurt their argument? Why?
 How do the ideas expressed in this
quote relate to your argument?
 What else does this quote make
you think of? How can you relate it
to personal experiences, or issues
in contemporary culture, or other
things you’ve read/seen/heard?
DEVELOPING ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

9. BASIC STRUCTURE OF INTRODUCTIONS
1.General idea to ease readers into your
essay
2.Connection to article you’re responding to
3.Your specific argument or contribution

10. REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: PART 1
1.General idea to ease readers into your
essay
Let’s revise or draft this ^ part of your intro by
re-writing it three different ways

11. Start your introduction
by writing a
generalization about
your topic. Could be a
general statement of
fact, a statistic, an
observation, etc.
Example:
“The deep infiltration of
digital information into
our lives has created a
fervor around the
supposed corresponding
loss of logged-off real
life.” (Jurgenson)
REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: GENERALIZATION

12. Start your introduction
by writing an
anecdote that relates
to your topic. Could
be a personal
experience, or an
anecdote from
something you’ve
read, seen on TV, etc.
Example:
“On the evening of
February 12, 2009, a
Continental Connection
commuter flight made its
way through blustery
weather between
Newark, New Jersey,
and Buffalo, New York.”
(Carr)
REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: ANECDOTE

13. Start your introduction
by incorporating a
quote from your
article that
exemplifies the ideas
you’re responding to.
Example:
“Happiness is consistently
described as the object of
human desire, as being what
we aim for, as being what
gives purpose, meaning and
order to human life. As Bruno
S. Frey and Alois Stutzer
argue, ‘Everybody wants to
be happy. There is probably
no other goal in life that
commands such a high
degree of consensus.’”
(Ahmed)
REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: QUOTE

14. Share what you
wrote in peer
response groups.
Which version of
your opening do you
like the best?
Choose one version
to stick with. (It’s ok
to use the one you
started with.)
• Generalization
• Anecdote
• Quote
SHARE REVISED PART 1 OF INTRODUCTIONS

15. REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: PART 2
1.General idea to ease readers into your
essay
2.Connection to article you’re responding to
Let’s work on this ^ part of your introduction
now.
3. Your specific argument or contribution

16. Create a transition
between your revised
version of step 1 and
step 2. Step 2 should
include a mention of
the author whose
work you’re
discussing, and a 1-2
sentence summary
of their article, so
incorporate those
details if you don’t
already have them.
1. General idea to ease
readers into your
essay
2. Connection to article
you’re responding to
3. Your specific
argument or
contribution
REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: CONNECTION TO ARTICLE

17. REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: PART 3
1.General idea to ease readers into your
essay
2.Connection to article you’re responding to
3. Your specific argument or contribution
Let’s work on this ^ part of your introduction
now.

18. REVISING INTRODUCTIONS: THESIS STATEMENT
Sometimes our best ideas come at the end of
the writing process, and good thoughts get
buried in the conclusion. Try to find 1-2
sentences from your conclusion that would be
better in your introduction (especially as a
thesis statement) and move it to the beginning
of your essay.

19. Reflect on the changes
you’ve made to your
introduction. What
changes will you keep?
What will you leave the
same? What further
adjustments do you
need to make to your
introduction?
1. General idea to
ease readers into
your essay
2. Connection to
article you’re
responding to
3. Your specific
argument or
contribution
REFLECT ON REVISED INTRODUCTIONS

20. OTHER STRATEGIES FOR REVISING
• Use highlighters to color-code and
point out statements, concrete details,
analysis,
• Read your essay out loud
• Look at the rubric
• Go to office hours, the writing center
• Read model essays in Student Writing
Anthology