Details about daily assignments will be posted here and announced at class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Check the website as you prepare for each upcoming class period. See the schedule posted in the syllabus for the tentative course outline.

Assigned September 1
For Friday, September 3: Read pp. 19-30 from Kolln & Gray Ch. 2, “The Structure of Sentences,” and complete the even problems from exercises 4 and 5A (in the same manner as the authors).   [Note that the page numbers for the reading have been corrected from what I stated at class.--Dr. Z.]

Assigned August 30
For Wednesday, September 1: 

1.   Create your field notebook research team and e-mail me your proposal by 8 am Tuesday (see step 1 of the instructions).  [Yes, this is later than the original due date.]

2.   As you read Kolln & Gray Ch. 1, “An Introduction to Words and Phrases,” note the form class definitions of noun, verb, adjective, and adverb. Other terms to define (and to identify examples of within sentences): noun headword, determiner, preposition, prepositional phrase, adjectival, adverbial, form class, structure class.

3.   Complete the even-numbered problems for Exercises 1-3 in Chapter 1.  Some notes about this process:

• For all exercises, type your answers in the same format as the authors do for the odd-numbered problems at the back of the book. You may handwrite lines and labels.

• Note that grammatical terms can vary from one book or author to the next.  It may be helpful for you to keep a list of equivalent terms (e.g., “headword noun” = “simple subject”).

• Write down any questions you have so that you’ll remember them for class.

4.  Find your share of the mentor texts to be used along with your field notebook (see step 2 of the instructions, and create MLA works cited entries for those texts to share with your team. Remember that beginning Friday, September 3, you should always have photocopies of at least one of the mentor texts (or excerpts) with you at class.

Assigned August 27
For Monday, August 30: 

1. Read (actively!) the following texts.  Note the various definitions of grammar that are presented.  How do they relate to each other? 

o  Kolln & Funk, “The Study of Grammar” (coursepack pp. 23-36 or Courses@Dordt)
o  Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar front matter—table of contents, preface, & introduction

2. Create your field notebook research team and e-mail me your proposal by 5 pm Monday (see step 1 of the instructions).  Start looking for mentor texts for step 2.

Assigned August 25
For Friday, August 27:

1. Read Ray, “The Craft of Writing” (coursepack or Courses@Dordt) to gain more insight about what it means to approach grammar as a resource or as a tool for crafting writing. As always, read actively: add your margin notes about the connections you make, about the questions you have, and about the ideas that you find especially interesting, insightful, confusing, or debatable.

2. Try Ray’s approach to careful reading. Read Meachem, “Don’t Wait for a Thank You, Mr. President.” Choose five notable aspects of Meachem’s grammar. For each, name the technique (use the technical name if you know it), provide an example(s), and explain the effect that the writer achieves by using this technique.

3. Review the syllabus and read the instructions for the Field Notebook assignment.