Final Presentations, Dec. 19, 2007 at Tillie's

I have posted a portfolio sample here in comments from a student in my Spring 2007 English 1A class. He emailed it to me, minus the paper copies of his notes and freewrites and the check-list.

We had a pleasant time this morning at Tillie's. It was a great way to conclude the semester. Al was there along with Howard, Jay, Latrice, and Chantha. Zareth dropped her portfolio off. Poor thing was very sick. Hope she rests up in Georgia over the holidays. Also, Cristina had a family emergency. Her aunt died. We want to extend our condolences to her. She turned in her work earlier this week. Her essay on E-40 has changed quite a bit Latrice. I'll post it later in the comment section here.

Latrice's presentation on the Ella Baker Center, more specifically the program geared to address the violence in Oakland and beyond, was insightful. I liked the article she clipped to share with us about the more recent program connected to the campaign--a memorial for the youth killed this year. She was knowledgeable about her topic which showed in the ease with which she talked about it. She also had an outline for us, as did Chantha.

Chantha had a lot to share. It's too bad neither Latrice or Chantha had anything tangible to share with us. It would have been nice to hear some of the music the kids are mixing at Cov records, or to see some of Favianna Rodriquez's work.

Howard's presentation on another founder of East Side Arts Alliance, Greg, was good. He didn't ask Greg where he was from, or if he was an artist, which in fact he is, although he curates art exhibits now, rather than making art.

Al and Jay will present on Friday morning at my English 201 final: 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in L-235. If you have not turned in your portfolio it needs to be in no later than 12noon Friday, Dec. 21. I'll be in my office reading. We took pictures. I'll post them later when I get home. I'm still here at the college.

I enjoyed your presence in the class and hope to see you around the campus next year. MC Super Natural will be at Slim's in San Francisco tomorrow evening. I think I might go. It's $20. Def Jam Poets will open for him. Doors open at 8 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 17 Study Hall. Don't forget, I'll be around from 10 a.m.until 2 p.m. for students who want help assembling their portfolios.

Portfolio Check-list
I handed this out to students today. Here is an electronic version. Fill out and give me a paper copy with your portfolio. I have edited the other post with the narrative information: LOOK AT IT AGAIN. If you are behind, look at the comment section here for portfolio guidelines. If you follow the instructions, you can get a C. Do not worry about all the assignments you have missed. OH, PLEASE PLAN TO SHOW UP AT THE FINAL AND PRESENT YOUR PAPER.

Major Assignments: All classes
Sabir (510) 748-2131 office; professorwandasposse@gmail.com


Name_________________________________________________________________________
Section______________________________________________________________________

Mailing Address______________________________________________________________

Phone number_________________________________________________________________

Email address _______________________

Put the grade next to the assignment. Your average is your course grade so far. Remember, your grade is based on writing passing essays – C and above. A C- is not a passing grade. Fill this out and give to me with your CD or disk on or before the day of the final completed. I will add your course grade.

The major essays are the ones based on texts we are reading, plus the final essay on a social entrepreneur. If you missed the earlier essays you can still pass the course. You do not have a chance at an A though. Check this against the blog. The more detailed description of the narrative essays is attached.

Assignments
Artifacts
Hip Hop (include a brief narrative explaining your selection)___________
American Culture (include a brief narrative explaining your selection)_______

Essays
Jeff Chang __________
Too $hort ___________
Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes_________

A Rose Grew From Concrete writing __________
Tupac Songbook writing ___________
(Some of it is collaborative, some is on the website)__________

Cyber Essays such as: such as Propaganda Techniques, Evolution of a Revolutionary…
List them:

Midterm__________
Reading Logs from Dyson ______________
Dyson thematic outlines ________________

Jena 6 ___________
PLIES/Jena 6 (English 1A)________________

Jason Young and Brenda’s Got a Baby (English 201 8-9) _____________

Reading to Write freewrites (2) ______________
Outlining and Clustering Chapter 7 from Dyson (English 201 1-3) due 10/17 _____________

Research Cyber Assignments: Social Entrepreneurs (3) _____________
Planning sheets, vocabulary and questions ______________


Library Assignments________________
Evaluating a Website____________________
English 1A Library assignments for three-session workshop on information literacy _____________

Research Essay Planning Sheet ______________
Research Essay Outline _____________________
Research Essay Peer comments _________________
Research Essay Grade_______________
Research Essay Abstract for day of presentation ________________
Bring an outline or short summary of your research paper for classmates to have as a guideline to comment on about your paper and give you feedback.

Research Essay presentation grade _____________________

Cyber Essays for Evolution of a Revolutionary (3-5)________________

Play (English 1B)_______________

Elephant Man (English 1B) Cyber assignment _______________
Blood Beats Assignment (English 1B)________________

Portfolio Grade__________
Course Grade____________


Narrative: I will email it to you.


Anything else?

Last Day of Instruction
We had our last meeting today and it was nice. Howard, Latrice, Chantha and Jay were here. We watched a recorded presentation of a couple of students presenting essays about their social entrepreneur, Mother Mary Ann Wright. Afterwards students reviewed portfolios and we closed the afternoon session with poetry. We read work from A Rose Grew from Concrete. Our final is next Wednesday, Dec. 19, 10 a.m. to 12 noon. We plan to meet here in the L-235 (Writing Center Lounge), where students will drop off their digitized portfolios and then we'll head over to Tillie's for brunch.

Students should be sending me research essay drafts, if you haven't already. You need a graded essay for your portfolio. We are not reading important essays for the first time on Wednesday.

Monday's Class
Today, Latrice, Zareth, and Chantha came to class. We decided to meet again on Wednesday, those who want to do an extra credit essay. I shared digitized portfolios with students. Wednesday, definitely Thursday, students will get a hardcopy of the portfolio checklist. Latrice is going to post her research essay here, so students can see what an A paper looks like. I will be around from 11-12 noon for those students who would like to come by my office. Cristina and Howard, your essays need revising so come see me so we can talk about them.

Dinner Party
Thursday, Dec. 13, I have made reservations for dinner at Delancey Street Restaurant, 600 Embarcadero @ Brannan in San Francisco, for 6 p.m. The restaurant is located on the San Francisco embarcadero, just down the street from Pac Bell Park. We will catch the BART and get off at the first San Francisco Station, Embarcadero, walk over to the street car platform and take a F-train and get off on Brannan at the restaurant.

The two entrees I ordered are: Rotisseried Rosmary and Garlic Chicken, served with grilled vegetables and Serious Soulfood Gumbo with crab, chicken, shrimp, sausage and rice. We could only have two entrees so I didn't choose the vegetarian option. I hope this isn't a problem. If it is, we can talk about a possible solution.

Let me know what entree you'd like and for how many. You can email your choices to me, no later than Tuesday early afternoon. Send it to: professorwandasposse@gmail.com.

The four-course meal, for $20.00 also includes: Appetizers: Corn chips and Salsa Cruda and a Basket of Onion Rings; a Salad: organic Field greens with balsamic vinaigrette, served with baskets of assorted breads. Dessert is Vanilla Bean ice cream with homemade chocolate dipped biscotti. Drinks are an additional cost.

We'll meet at Lake Merritt BART Station at 5 p.m. to ride over together. Others can meet there.

I'm having your essay grades emailed to you, no later than tomorrow. I'll see you in class Monday, Dec. 10.

The portfolio narratives

1. The narrative will look at the 18 weeks, the themes we looked at this semester, the poetics of hip hop and Tupac Shakur. Talk about what you've learned and discovered this semester about writing and yourself, college and life, which have transformed or changed you.

What have you learned about yourself this semester? What have you learned about the discipline you are studying here: reading and writing that you plan to carry forth into your lifelong pursuit of learning.

Please also comment on the texts and whether or not they were helpful in this process. You can also talk about the instruction, culture of the class and the teacher.

2. The second part of the narrative looks at the writing process and what you have been learning about yourself as a writer. Take two essays and talk about the planning, research and revision strategies you used. It helps to choose an early paper and compare to a later paper. Often you can more easily see the differences in your writing and a better example of mastery of certain concepts. Also discuss skills you need to improve and how you plan to address that.

Besides the two essays, I also want you to include the midterm essay and research essay. We will work on the narratives together next week, Monday, Dec. 10, in the Writing Lab. We will meet in the smaller lab, L-235.

You have a copy of the assigned essays this semester. The check-list is the same with grades posted next to the assignment. We will look at this the last day of class. Our final is Wednesdsy, Dec. 19, from 10 to 12 noon. We will meet in the Writing Center, L-235. If you need technology, let me know next week.

Extra credit essay. The extra credit essay assignment will be posted to the blog by next week so you can read the prompt in advance. You will have 50 minutes to write the essay. This essay can replace the Hip Hop essay if the grade is higher or just serve as more practice. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE THE EXAM.

I really wanted to read a play this semester, so we’re going to start reading the Bluest Eye or The Elephant Man Monday and continue through Thursday. Yes, our days will be full.

Your portfolios are due Wednesday, Dec. 19, the day of the final. They are to be digitized. No exceptions. The only paper copies are the freewrites. Do not give me your originals. I can make copies, if you can’t. Oh, there are no regular class meetings after next week. You come to class only on the date of the final.

I will give you an updated essay assignment check-list. Look for it later this week.

DECEMBER 13, 2007 UPDATE. THINK ABOUT INCORPORATING THESE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS INTO THE NARRATIVE, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. IT IS NOT MANDATORY THAT YOU DO SO.

Essay 2 has students look at the writing process and discuss their own writing process: the topics chosen, the information used, revision strategies, writing as a process. This should include a definition of the difference between editing and revising and a value statement on the place for both in composition.

I am really interested in discourse about audience and how that shapes or determines how the writer approaches her topic.

I am also interested in discussion of the revision process, and whether or not seeing writing as a work in progress or a draft, liberates or stagnates the creative process. (Students are to use examples from their writing to illustrate these points.)

I'd also like students to think about and give at three specific ways how they have grown as writers and thinkers this semester. Each essay should be minimally 1-2 pages (250-500 words).

Grade
What grade do you think you earned in the course? Your essay and the attached copy of a completed grading sheet are the evidence.

Do you have any questions about writing or anything else? _____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Teacher Research
Can I use you writing in teacher research projects? I will give you full credit and inform you of its use. Indicate Yes or No. Please circle one.

Evaluation
In a third response evaluate the semester: teacher, textbooks, assignments, methodology, etc. Please be frank and feel free to offer suggestions.

Today in class Latrice and Cristina came in. Howard arrived as they were leaving. We decided to cancel classes until Monday of next week. Students will respond to the following questions related to Evolution of a Revolutionary. I will be here if you need one-on-one consultation tomorrow. If I haven't seen you in over a week, please call me. I have not dropped you from the course, which means I expect you to complete it :-) with a passing grade, so I need to hear from you: Al, Jay, Samili, Zareth, Chantha.

We are planning a dinner party for all my classes next Thursday, NOv. 13, 6 p.m., at Delancey Street Restuarnt in San Francisco. However, we can have our final presentations over lunch at a near-by resturant for those who can't make the dinner party. Let me know. That would be fun.

Weeks of December 3-12, respond to 5 of the following questions in separate essays here. Each essay response should be about 250 words (at least three paragraphs with a clearly stated thesis). Please edit your essays before posting them. Use Evolution of a Revolutionary to support your claims with page numbers (MLA).

Oh, if there is something you'd rather comment on that I have not listed here, please send me an email with your recommendation and I can add it to the list.

Essay topics
1. Talk about the structure of the book and whether or not you think it works given Guy's purpose. Hint: read the preface. Use examples.

2. How does the author use her life to help tell Afeni's story? The two women seem so different: Guy is a new mother, Afeni's children are grown, one is dead; Guy had a good relationship with her parents; Afeni didn't; Afeni grew up poor; Guy did not. Yet, the two women are also the same. How does getting to know Afeni, help the author, Jasmine Guy, get to know herself?

2. Evolution of a Revolutionary is the story of a friendship. There are many examples of friendship given in the book, that between the two women and elsewhere. What is friendship as defined in the pages of Evolution of a Revolutionary?

3. How is Afeni a product and a victim of her environment both historically and presently?

4. Talk about how the similarities between Afeni and her son Tupac Guy are uncovered as she converses with her friend.

5. One of the themes in Evolution of a Revolutionary is family. Related to this are the themes: forgiveness and responsibility. Talk about the theme family and forgiveness, family and responsibilty. Do you think Afeni will ever be able to forgive herself? How is telling this story theraputic?

6. Evolution of a Revolutionary is also a story about self-love and acceptance. Talk about how the Black Panther Party allowed Afeni the space to be herself in all of her black majesty. Who was she prior to this transformation.

7. How does Afeni's name change reflect a new outlook? Who was she prior to this transformation? What remnants are left of the old self?

8. Choose a chapter or two and discuss what you liked, what worked and also what didn't work.

9. Guy is an eloquent writer; share a few passages spanning 3-5 chapters that you felt captured an idea beautifully and tell us why. Talk about Guy's writing style.

It has been Latrice, me and Cristina for the past few meetings. I saw Samili, Howard and Chantha on Thursday, but today no one is here. Jay and Al have been missing in action. Hum? I presume everyone is busy completing their research essays. Homework is to keep reading the Guy book and to complete the McClintock essay assignment. You can post the essay response to Propaganda Techniques here.