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Finals

Today we met and reviewed essays. If you need more time to prepare your portfolios ask before Wednesday for an extension. I'll see everyone in L-226 for the final Wednesday, Dec. 17, 10-12.

LOST?

Some students are confused. This is what happens when you skip class. Read the blog. The checklist I handed out today can be picked up from my office. The assignments are taken from the blog. If you don't remember the assignment, just read the blog. It is there, go back to August 2008. The syllabus is there too along with my email address: professorwandasposse@gmail.com

Your final essay is due ASAP, no later than 9 a.m. Monday, Dec. 15. I might not be able to give you feedback. Some of the essays I am reading are pretty drafty. Students need to edit their essays before submission and if it is a research essay, include the works cited. You should have no more than one citation per page. Each essay should be minimally 4-5 pages long, this includes the works cited page.

This course is about the research process, so your works cited page and bibliography has to be correct, no mistakes.

Get help on your essays today, tomorrow and next week. The writing center is open and tutoring is available. My eyes should not be the first professional eyes that have seen your early draft. I don't have time to spend three hours with one student going back and forth on drafts. What you turn in should be as polished as possible.

The goal is a passing grade the first draft.

Some students are really behind...really behind, other students stopped coming and then showed up today LOST. You get out of the course what you put into it and many of you didn't take advantage of academic resources. If you pass the course, learn from this close call and use the Writing Center, Tutoring services and of course, your professor's office hours for one-on-one consultations.

I have been very available this semester and only a few students came to see me, none of them on a regular basis. This will show in your grade.

Come to the study hour Monday, Dec. 15, 9-1, L-226, with your papers digitized.

Portfolio Essays and Narrative Questions

Well, this must just be a semester where students don't have time to visit professor office hours. You final is Wednesday, Dec. 17, 10 to 12 noon. We'll meet in L-226.

We meet in L-202E on 12/11 to write our essay on the Coldest Winter Ever. Decide what question you'd like to respond to so you can ask clarifying questions tomorrow. We'll meet in L-226 tomorrow morning.

Oh Monday, 12/15, I am hosting a study hall from 9-12 noon. If you have a final that ends at 12 noon, and want to come by my office, I can stay, just let me know in advance. I will also be around 12/16 after 10 a.m., if you need to talk.

Portfolios
The portfolio narratives for English 1A
There is an example of a portfolio in the comment section below. You can see more examples, just ask, I have lots of them.

Each narrative is 250 words minimum

1. The first narrative essay will look at the past 18 weeks of study, and the themes we looked at this semester as we explored hip hop culture and its impact on American society and the global community. 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 the discipline you are studying: 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.Essay 2 has each student look at the writing process and discuss his or her 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.

What have you learned 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.

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).


Essays
The essays should include all of the essays on your progress report, specifically: Change, Dyson/Hurt, Africa Bambaata, Can't Stop, Won't Stop Loop, Dyson reflections from Know What I Mean, research essay on a "Woman in Hip Hop" and the Coldest Winter Ever. The portfolio will also include a section for the freewrites, ancillary essays, and any extra credit essays like a graded research essay from another discipline. It needs to be this year, not necessarily this semester.

Extra Credit essay
Students can submit a graded essay from another discipline this semester if the other instructor doesn't mind to exchange for an assignment. You have to talk me me first. This essay has to be one where you used research and has to be minimally 4 pages long plus a works cited page (5 pages).


Presentations
Your presentation the day of final is on your "woman in hip hop." Make sure you bring in an abstract for your classmates. I can make copies for you if you give it to me (via email) in advance.


Final essay
The last essay is the one that takes it's topic from The Coldest Winter Ever. We will write that essay on Thursday, Dec. 11. You can come to class early. I have the room reserved from 8 AM to 12 noon. It is open book, open notes. You need a planning sheet, an outline and at least scholarly source, plus the novel, outside the book. Adam Mansbach's essay in Chang's Total Chaos works. (I might have left some essays out, this list is not exhaustive. If you need other essays, let me known in advance.


Narrative practice
We will work on the narratives during the optional Study Hall, Monday, Dec. 17, in the smaller writing lab, L-226. We will also practice this as a freewrite tomorrow.


You have a copy of the assigned essays this semester. See below. The check-list is the same with grades posted next to the assignment. I'll post one later. We will look at this the last day of class. Our final is Wednesday, Dec. 17, from 10 to 12 noon. We will meet in the Writing Center, L-226. If you need technology, let me know ASAP.

Final
Your portfolios are due 12/17 unless other arrangements are made in advance. Students who do not turn in a portfolio with the portfolio essays fail the class. I guess if you had an A on everything, if you missed the final, you'd probably get a C. I'd have to do the math, since the presentation is not optional. I say this because I've had students skip their final exam.

They are to be digitized and saved on a CD or diskette or travel drive, emailed (MS Word 2003). No exceptions. The only paper copies are the freewrites and reading logs. Do not give me your originals. I can make copies, if you can’t. Oh, there are no regular class meetings next week. You come to class only on the date of the final.

We talked about the final, watched a little of the film, Slamnation, and read the Outro by Nas in Michael Eric Dyson's Know What I Mean. Tomorrow we will practice writing our narratives in class.

If you have not finished reading The Coldest Winter Ever, and need more time, I have a substitute essay you can write 12/11, but you need to pick up the essay in advance and prepare your planning sheet and outline. It is by Nathan McCall and it's about Gangster Rap. The Sister Souljah essay is will be due then 12/15 or 12/16 via email and phone call. You could write it Monday, Dec. 15, while I am here. I need to have time to read it and get back to you, just in case it needs revision.

Remember, to pass the class, you have to write passing essays: C,B or A.

Here is a link to the Rules of the Game essay by Amy Tan.
http://www.literacymatters.org/content/lessons/tan/rules.pdf

It's from this site: http://unjobs.org/authors/amy-tan

For a critical analysis of Ralph Ellison's King of the BINGO Game visit http://fajardo-acosta.com/worldlit/ellison/bingo.htm for analysis.

You can also visit http://www.questia.com/app/direct/SM.qst

On the author: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/ellison_r_homepage.html

We are meeting in L-226 for the rest of the semester. On Thursday, we will meet in L-202E. Your final is next week, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. We'll meet in L-226 for the final presentations, unless otherwise noted.

I don't have any finals on Monday, Dec. 15, so from 9-12 students can come by my office and work on their portfolios. Bring all your assignments digitally.

The portfolio consists of two essays and your work for the semester. You will turn this in on a CD, diskette, travel drive, or via email attachment (Word for Window 2003).

I can email students a sample and we will look at student portfolios Tuesday, Wednesday and Monday next week. Your portfolio is due the day of the final, no later than Friday, Dec. 19.

I ran into Professor Dawn Elisa Fisher last night and for those students who chose her as their woman in hip hop, I got her phone number, email address and website for you.

We can meet in L-226, the smaller lab today. Next Thursday, we are back in L-202E and the following week, probably L-226.

Research Essay and Questions for Final Essay: The Coldest Winter Ever

We spoke about the research essay. Only one student was able to share, Derek. We listened and offered feedback. His is on Goapele. Bring your essays in tomorrow for feedback. We will be writing our Coldest Winter Ever essays early next week. In the meantime, keep reading. We will talk about chapters 4-6 tomorrow, 7-10 Wednesday, and 11-15 Thursday. Monday, Dec. 11 we will conclude our discussions 16-20. I have a discussion section at the end of my book, which I will give students copies of next week. We'll write the essay on Tuesday-Wednesday in class.

Thursday we'll focus on the portfolio essays and assembly, essay revisions and last minute questions about the writing process. These classes will be more workshop in orientation.

Each essay needs to be minimally 4-5 pages long with a bibliography and a works cited. (I have included this in the 4-5 pages count.) There should be no more than one citation, in text or paraphrase, per page. If you use a block quote, then for a short essay (3-4 pages), just one block quote for the entire essay. If the essay is 5-6 pages long then I could see two, especially if you were citing poetry or lyrics from a song.

The questions I am looking at are:

1. Sister Souljah's characters, Winter and Midnight, have a lot in common, yet are very different. Just on the surface their names, Midnight and Winter, ice, cold, darkness, are similarities both share. Winter is the harshest time of the year, it has the shortest days and its a time when one can perish easily if caught outdoors.

In an essay look at the characteristics of the winter season and compare and contrast them with the character Winter's life. The novel occurs in the years between her 16 and 18th birthdays. In a short year, a lot happens for both she and her family, also Midnight. One could say that for Midnight, the sun comes up, whereas for Winter the sunsets.

What makes Winter's life as chilly as it becomes? Initially it sounds warm, and then tragedy strikes. But within the tragedy the sun tries to peek its head, however, Winter ignores it. Is she naive or stupid?

Talk about her choices which come back to haunt her like her decision to let her pregnant friend stay in prison, her decision to steal from the church and the doctor who was helping her, and finally to live with a man who sold out her dad.

Why does she refuse to see the consequences of her actions?

2. Midnight is the nemesis to Winter. Talk about how he is dark to her light, rich to her shallow, wise to her naivete, hot or warm to her cold.

3. Why is The Coldest Winter Ever a hip hop novel? What makes it hip hop: it's themes or issues raised, characters, scenes, language? You need support from at least one scholarly article on the topic of lit hop. If you need assistance let me know. Jeff Chang's Total Chaos has an essay on Lit Hop. You can also check in the library databases.

4. Look at themes in the novel. Time is one that is mentioned a lot when Winter speaks of becoming an adult. Her father is serving time. Both Midnight and Sister Souljah ask her what she plans to do with her life and her time on the planet. This is a question she is asked at the group home too.

Time is something Winter has a lot of when her world crashes--time to think. Time's lapse is how she measures events in her life, like life before Long Island, the time before pregnancy, etc.

Another theme is drugs. It's really clear what the author feels about drugs and drug dealers.

Spirituality is a third theme. Winter seems to be digging her own grave even though her mother is the only one who actually gets laid to rest.

Child parent relationships and role models is another theme. Who is Winter's role model? is she entirely responsible for ending up the where she does? Why not?

Winter and Santiaga are a great portrait of a father/daughter relationship and why both parents are important in a child's life, and in the case of Winter, her father's absence is her ruin. And her mother's dependence on her husband and his absence and her ruin is an affirmation to Winter that she needs a man to support her. What does she say about her father's life and the "game" he is involved in?

5. The Coldest Winter Ever introduces us to a game, where there are rules, gamekeepers and consequences for those who break the rules or loose the game. Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club, has a short story called, Rules of the Game, which involves chess and a child who decides she doesn't want to play the game, a game which is an analogy for assimilation into American society. Ralph Ellison has a short story called, King of the BINGO Game which takes place in New York, just as The Coldest Winter does at a time in American history when black people are migrating from the south to the north for better jobs and economic opportunities and often, as is the case in this story, the winter is colder than the one they left.

Talk about the rules of the game as Winter understands them. What's at stake, what does her hand look like and when she looses, was the deal fair? Is the game any different than that experienced by the indigent black man in the Ellison story or the little girl in the Tan story?

If you choose this question, I have to supply you with the stories. The King of the BINGO Game is a film based on the story by the same title.

For all the essays, I want you to read a literary analysis of the book, and find biographical information about the author. This will be a part of your works cited page.