UIL Ready Writing Workshop

Workshops for Ready Writing Coaches

Dr. Thomas Barker, TTU UIL RW Contest Director

Dr. Rich Rice , TTU Assistant Professor

Technical Communication

Training Exercises for Ready Writers

Lay the groundwork

Teach the nature of exposition Exercise

Focus on prewriting and organizing strategies ExerciseUse winning ready writing essays

Responding to Ready Writers

This workshop segment is an activity.

1. Read the sample essay

2. Respond using the rubric

3. Compare responses with others

4. Compare responses to “suggestions”

Recruiting Ready Writers

Select the best Ready Writing candidates– Highly intelligent– Well read– Distinctive writing style– Involvement in other extracurricular activities– Love of challenge and competition– Reliability

Limit writers to 6 per yearBuild subject-area files: “sociology,” “education,” “the nation,” “family and lifestyle,” “science and the environment”

Teaching Elements of Exposition

1. Have students write a thesis2. Exchange and critique:

“How would you revise the thesis to make it clearer?”“Where do you expect the essay to go after reading this thesis?”“What words seem strong or weak in the thesis?”

Exercise: What questions would you ask about the “outline,” the “development” the “language”

Training Exercises for Ready Writers

Prompt for the Day

“An Athenian citizen does not put his private affairs before the affairs of the state; even our merchants and businessmen know something about politics. We alone believe that a man who takes no interest in public affairs is more than harmless—he is useless.”

Pericles’ Funeral Oration Athens, 5th century BCShaping an EssayTraining Exercises for Ready Writers

Shaping an Essay

What three or four ideas do you see associated with the prompt?

How do the ideas relate to one another?

What’s the progression from one to another?

What shaping strategies might apply? growth of a plant, climbing a mountain,

spreading of a disease, downhill slide, gathering storm, quest for a holy grail,

sin/redemption, lost/found, tension/release? Other?

Prompt for the DayTraining Exercises for Ready Writers