Spanish IV 03-05-09

Español IV
5 de marzo de 2009

• I asked for any students who hadn’t yet turned in their documentation for their writing process for the three paragraph essay due last Monday, to please do so today. (Outline/prewriting handout; Rough Draft, Evidence of Peer Editing).
I also want to (1) give them credit for their in-class work with the substitute last
week and (2) I need to see evidence of their writing process for this last essay.

• We then had a frank discussion about what is “getting help” and “using resources” versus what is “cheating”. To clarify what “help” looks like, I referred them to the guidelines for peer editing, (See Sp IV Blog, 2-27-09) where it states that an editor DOES NOT CHANGE THE AUTHOR’S WORDS, but gives a hint to the type of error the author may have committed, and also, the “Bienvenidos a la clase de español/ Syllabus handout”. I had this discussion because:
1. I have been getting some papers, or significant portions of papers, that are obviously (really undeniably) written in English and then “pushed through” an automatic translator. I had students read aloud the passage in the syllabus stating that this is cheating and results in an automatic 0 on the assignment as well as other serious consequences.
2. Some students are obviously seeking “help” from Spanish speakers who are very much more proficient than themselves, and then having these “helpers” rewrite large sections of the author’s original work. Then the author types up the “helper’s” rewrites and submits that new work under his/her own name. This is also representing someone else’s work as your own; or “cheating”.

• I want to use this as a learning opportunity, and asked anyone who felt I might be talking about his/her work, please see me after class, and we would discuss how to fix the problem this time – with the understanding the natural consequences would follow any future infractions. I explained that in the university setting this would be cause for expulsion, with no refund of tuition.

• I introduced the letter of interest in a prospective job essay – Handout: Escribe una carta que sera leída. We went through the sample letter on one side of the handout and then over the letter template on the other. We decided to apply our writing process to this assignment, and so have adjusted the deadlines. Monday you and editing circle skills to this task. So INSTEAD of the FINAL being due on Monday, you will have your: Outline (letter template) and rough draft due.

• We used the rest of today for more oral situations practice; this time in concentric (inside/outside) circles where every station had one of the 6 situations we’ll use on Monday and Tuesday for the 50 Point Oral Exam.
• Tarea: Outline (letter template) and rough draft due.