Cyber-Assignment

Revision Strategies video.

Reflect on the revision process and video. What does it mean to revise? Where does revision fit into the overall writing process? What did Norm mean when he mentioned "skilled and unskilled writers"? What did Sandra Perl mean when she spoke about "editing prematurely"?

What assumptions did Dr. Flowers mention that writers have about "good writing"? What does planning have to do with any of this? What is "perfect draft syndrome"? How is revision a way to transform the writing? What is writer-based, read-based writing?

What are the steps to revision? How are these steps confirmed by Diana Hacker in her various grammar style books in the section on revision? If you don't have Hacker, use the grammar style book you have to respond to the question.

How is keeping the reader in mind an important part of the writing process? What analogy does one of the character's use to describe the actual document?

In-class Cyber-Assignment

Wednesday, October 27, 2010, students cooperatively wrote an essay. Each student group had a position to articulate on their angle on the topic: mandatory voting. We looked at the thesis, antithesis and synthesis or pro-argument, con-argument and conclusion which looks at both sides of the issue and tries to fins a compromise. A student group was also given the task of writing an introduction.

Post these paragraphs here.

Reflect on the process and post here as well. How did looking at a topic from a variety of angles help students appreciate the complexity of the issue and think more critically about the arguments implications?

Today we watched one of the episodes from the pbs.org series New Heroes. What is a social entrepreneur and how does this person profiled fit that description? Respond in 100 words minimally.

I returned several Takaki essays. I have a few more to go. The revisions are due back within the week, unless what is to be revised is easy then I expect it back at the next meeting. Students are encouraged to visit with me in my office hour or to make an appointment to revise the essay.

Keep reading your book and thinking about the entrepreneur project.

Today we watched a film: Who is Angela Davis, directed by Angela Carroll. The response was varied. Note the works strengths in a cyber-response.

Homework is to read your book and locate your entrepreneur. Complete the Frontline World assignment.

Cyber-Freewrite & Cyber-Homework

Read the article "VA Textbook Claims Blacks Fought for South in Civil War. Source? The Internet," by JJ Sutherland (npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/). Develop three thesis sentences using the three-part thesis form. Clue: What is the article about?

FYI--for the Book Report Essay use the 3-part thesis outline for the book report essay as well.

Homework:
Choose a section from the closing acts of The Tempest which look at the topics: repentance and forgiveness and develop 5-7 thesis sentences using topical invention (definition, analogy, consequence and testimony) and the three-part thesis model on the subject of repentance and forgiveness.

For each sentence use a citation.

Post here.

I will check on the plays: The Tempest at Cutting Ball Theatre and Wicked at the Orpheum (I think), and let you know Monday-Tuesday, what the cost will be and tenative dates.

We are completing The Tempest. We practiced developing a thesis sentence using the three-part thesis formula. This is the type of thesis sentence I'd like students to use in their book report essay.

Homework is to begin reading your book and work on the social entrepreneur assignment.

Homework for this evening is to develop three thesis sentences based on themes from The Tempest. Post here.

I have posted the rest of the semester writing assignments. Read them carefully, as there are firm due dates.

Frontline World: Engaged Citizenry Cyber-Assignment

Frontline World Cyber-Assignment Post(s) http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/socialentrepreneurs.html

Respond to 3 stories by 10/18-10/31.Bring in headphones for the computer. Post your Frontline World Responses (3) on the blog.

Answer the following questions in your response to the program.

Outline:

1.Who is the social entrepreneur profiled?
2.What problem did the person profiled identify?
3.What is the name of the organization they started?
4.Describe their relationship to the community that they serve?

• Why they decided to address this issue?

5.What is the local component?
6.How does the community own the process?

Assignment: Social Entrepreneurs: Engaged Citizenry

Introduction
Open with the problem statement. Be descriptive.

The thesis sentence names your social entrepreneur as a person who is addressing the problem identified in the introduction.


Body paragraphs
Background on the social entrepreneur and what brings them to the work. You can cite statistics here to illustrate the problem

Introduce the organization or business venture. Does the work grow out of the community? How do the SE and the community interact?

Are there any partnerships with other organizations and/or government?

Are there any peer reviews or industry reports?

What are the measurable results for the community? Share a story here.

What are the measurable results for the SE. You could quote the SE here.


Narrative
Your essay needs to answer all of these questions; you can structure it like a typical problem/solution essay or cause and effect.

The person has to be alive. Try to find someone local, who is living in the San Francisco Bay Area or in California. The person has to have been doing this work for 10-20 years (the length of time is negotiable; see me).

You need to locate 5 sources on your subject to form a bibliography; you don't have to cite them all. The sources can be published or broadcast interviews, books, articles, and films or you can interview them yourself. The person cannot be a relative. You can work in groups and share data. In fact, I encourage it.

You will have three citations: 1 in-text citation, one paraphrase, and one block quote in the essay. The rest of the writing has to be your own. The essay should be 4pages (English 1A). This does not include the works cited page or bibliography.


English 1A Social Entrepreneur Due Dates:

Planning Due by Monday, Nov. 15 (share)_____________
Essay: Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis due Monday, Nov. 15 __________
First Draft Wednesday, Nov. 17 & 18 (peer reviews)__________
Final Draft due via email, Friday, Nov. 19

Presentations: Nov. 15-18

Supplementary Assignments

On-line Frontline World (on-line responses 3) Start Monday, October 18_______
Library Research sheet: Wednesday, October 20/21_______________
Website Evaluation completed (worksheet) by October 27/28 (in-class) _____________
List of sources (5) minimum in MLA format due Monday, Nov. 10 (share in class) ___________

Book Report Assignment
This semester we are looking at Privilege

Each student was asked to choose a book. The author needed to be alive and living in the Northern California and if the book is a biography, the person profiled needs to be alive and also living here, the San Francisco Bay Area. I suggested students chose a subject or author who might also work as a topic for the Social Entrepreneur profile. For example, Alice Waters is a social entrepreneur and there is a book written about her life. She lives in Berkeley. She is not 30 or younger, but that is okay. That requirement is flexible.

For each essay, students need to find three articles: a published book review or analysis, and for the author, see if there is something on the author in Literary Criticism, (on-line in the Library Database and in COA library (public libraries as well). Third, find an article that addresses one of the themes in the book. Include all of these sources in your works cited page.

The essay will be 3-4 pages and in it you will summarize your book’s major themes and analyze them. If the book is a biography, feel free to tell us something about the author and how he or she comes to know the person he or she writes about. If the book is an autobiography or a memoir tell us how the author came to write it and if this is his or her first book.


Abstract
The presentation is weighted heavily here, so prepare well, and please include an abstract which includes the title of the book, the key points you plan to make and any arguments you’d like us to consider. Bring in copies for each student.

Book Report

Planning Nov. 8___________
Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis Nov. 8___________
First Draft Wednesday, Nov. 10___________
Final Draft Friday, Nov. 12 via email____________
Presentations: Monday-Wednesday, Nov. 8-10___________

The presentation is a quarter of the grade for this assignment

English 1A Final Essay
Fall 2010

The Known World

This essay will be the final for the class and will be due with the portfolio. Included will be all the Cyber-Assignments and in-class writing connected to the book. The portfolio is due by December 17, 2010.

The essay is to be minimally 3-4 pages including a works cited page. I will be looking at the level of discourse and analysis, as well as at how well writers integrate text into the work. I will be looking at MLA mastery from ellipses which I would like students to use for one citation here as well as a free paraphrase. I am also interested in how well students give us the context before launching into a discussion of their ideas which the essay proves.

We will be using a three-part thesis and so I will be looking at that as well, not to mention inclusion of substantive examples and a variety of evidence.


The students will choose a question to answer from the following:

1. How does the novel The Known World present a scenario where what is legal is not necessarily moral? How then can one justify or at least try to understand Henry Townsend, John Skiffington and William Robbins’s actions?

2. Choice is one of the themes in the novel, The Known World. Analyze three characters and show how their choices affect both their lives and the lives of others –look at the immediate effects and those effects over time.

3. Power is another theme in The Known World. One might say that power is one of the reasons why Henry Townsend decides to become a slave owner. Look at Manchester County and analyze who has the power and privilege. Give us a profile of a few of these characters. Make sure they are representative.
Is there a symbol of power and if so, what is it? How does one join the club and what dues must one pay to stay in good standing?

4. How is Henry Townsend’s father Augustus, vulnerable even though he is free? What does this say about the notion of freedom in The Known World? Tina Turner asked, “What’s love got to do with it?” Edward P. Jones’s Known World asks: What’s freedom got to do with it if one is black and illiterate?

5. Highlight a few themes in The Known World and show how certain characters represent these ideas.

6. Alice, an enslaved woman, is an example of the fickle nature of things in Edward P. Jones’s book. Things are not always as they seem in Manchester County. Talk about the surreal nature of The Known World and to what ends are the instruments played.

In each essay incorporate text: one block quote, one shorter in-text citation and one paraphrase. Include a works cited page and if appropriate a bibliography. Include an Initial Planning Sheet and an outline for the essay.

Today in class we reviewed the essays. Tomorrow they are due. Turn in the essays tomorrow: final draft, first and second drafts with comments, the planning sheet and the outline. Also, include any reading logs, all the cyber assignments attached to Takaki. The last two items put with the final draft on top. Use a binder clip for the stack.

Essay Assignments turned in on-line
For the rest of the semester, you will submit your essays electronically. Students have this option for this assignment as well. Just let me know tomorrow that you have emailed everything to me.

I have posted the assignments and due dates for the rest of the semester. The Takaki book took so long for students to complete, we are behind. The Known World is a slow read, so complete the book report book ASAP and start TKW. It will take some time to read it.

That said, here are the rest of the assignments.

Homework is also to bring in a book written by a Northern California writer 30 years old or younger. Sources to find such writers are: The Northern California Book Reviewers Association, Before Columbus Foundation, Poetry Flash.

This is Banded Book Month, I was told and there is a book display at Laney College Library students might want to check out. Berkeley is also a participant in Banned Books Month in the past.

If there is a book you really want to read and perhaps the author is older or lives elsewhere, we can talk about it.

Today we reviewed the Takaki essays. Many students had their Initial Planning Sheets, outlines and essays. Those who brought the essays in electronically were able to use Microsoft Comment. Other students responded to the printed essays.

We didn't have any presentations today from "A Different Mirror," so we are finished.

Everyone is to turn in an essay. The essays are due on Monday, October 18. We will have one more peer review on Monday. We will also continue The Tempest.

In class today, students read the pre-writing and planning for the essay they reviewed and responded to the following:

Identify the thesis
Locate support for the thesis in the paper
Analyze the evidence
Look for analogies, testimony, consequences, definitions

Is there coherence within the essay? Does the essay make sense?
Is there unity within the paragraph? Note the transitions and the language used to connect ideas.

Conclusion
Does the conclusion adequately wrap up the discussion. Note the type of conclusion and whether is fits the form of the discourse: summary, call to action, synthesis or a conclusion where the author connects the thesis to a related topic not necessarily explored in the essay as food for continued thought.

These are some of the areas noted; however, students were free to comment on other areas. Grammar is not something students are to comment on unless the errors keep one from understanding the writing.

Use question marks as a shorthand for awkward or unclear writing passages.

Lost?
Some students are lost. Those who are lost might be lost, because they have missed too many classes and got behind on the reading.

I think the Takaki presentations, which were excellent overall, but some were not. The students who got in front of the class giving inaccurate information were noted, as were the students who didn't have outlines.

The essay is an extension of the presentation. It can mirror the presentation almost verbatim. Students do not have to write an essay not connected to the presentation. If a student made an outline for their presentation, presented cogently his or her material in concert with the team or alone as Linh did--such students were better prepared to now write the essay.

If students did not do the reading and it the group presentation was unrehearsed and or sloppy, then such students will have to do more to produce an acceptable argument on a topic.

We reviewed topics and outlines and planning sheets. If at this point you do not know how to do one of these prewriting elements, not to mention developing theses using topical invention, or how to plan using the mapping handouts then. . . .

The Writing Center is open until 2 PM daily and the Tutoring Center is open later on most days M-F (up to 7 PM I think) in the LRC (where the library is, upstairs).

Homework:

What qualities does Prospero, the ousted Duke of Milan, share with Christopher Columbus, the father of our country? Use the text from the play, Takaki and another scholarly source to write a 100-250 word response. Post here by Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 11 AM.

Cyber-Assignment for Monday, October 11, 2010
We are still contemplating privilege. Think about how Wideman uses the term "privilege" in a different way here in a three paragraph response on the anniversary of Chris Columbus's stumble, October 11, 2010. It is due 10/11/2010 by 12noon. If any student decides to go to the sunrise ceremony, this assignment is optional.


October 6, 2010
The Seat Not Taken
By JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN

AT least twice a week I ride Amtrak’s high-speed Acela train from my home in New York City to my teaching job in Providence, R.I. The route passes through a region of the country populated by, statistics tell us, a significant segment of its most educated, affluent, sophisticated and enlightened citizens.

Over the last four years, excluding summers, I have conducted a casual sociological experiment in which I am both participant and observer. It’s a survey I began not because I had some specific point to prove by gathering data to support it, but because I couldn’t avoid becoming aware of an obvious, disquieting truth.

Almost invariably, after I have hustled aboard early and occupied one half of a vacant double seat in the usually crowded quiet car, the empty place next to me will remain empty for the entire trip.

I’m a man of color, one of the few on the train and often the only one in the quiet car, and I’ve concluded that color explains a lot about my experience. Unless the car is nearly full, color will determine, even if it doesn’t exactly clarify, why 9 times out of 10 people will shun a free seat if it means sitting beside me.

Giving them and myself the benefit of the doubt, I can rule out excessive body odor or bad breath; a hateful, intimidating scowl; hip-hop clothing; or a hideous deformity as possible objections to my person. Considering also the cost of an Acela ticket, the fact that I display no visible indications of religious preference and, finally, the numerous external signs of middle-class membership I share with the majority of the passengers, color appears to be a sufficient reason for the behavior I have recorded.

Of course, I’m not registering a complaint about the privilege, conferred upon me by color, to enjoy the luxury of an extra seat to myself. I relish the opportunity to spread out, savor the privacy and quiet and work or gaze at the scenic New England woods and coast. It’s a particularly appealing perk if I compare the train to air travel or any other mode of transportation, besides walking or bicycling, for negotiating the mercilessly congested Northeast Corridor. Still, in the year 2010, with an African-descended, brown president in the White House and a nation confidently asserting its passage into a postracial era, it strikes me as odd to ride beside a vacant seat, just about every time I embark on a three-hour journey each way, from home to work and back.

I admit I look forward to the moment when other passengers, searching for a good seat, or any seat at all on the busiest days, stop anxiously prowling the quiet-car aisle, the moment when they have all settled elsewhere, including the ones who willfully blinded themselves to the open seat beside me or were unconvinced of its availability when they passed by. I savor that precise moment when the train sighs and begins to glide away from Penn or Providence Station, and I’m able to say to myself, with relative assurance, that the vacant place beside me is free, free at last, or at least free until the next station. I can relax, prop open my briefcase or rest papers, snacks or my arm in the unoccupied seat.

But the very pleasing moment of anticipation casts a shadow, because I can’t accept the bounty of an extra seat without remembering why it’s empty, without wondering if its emptiness isn’t something quite sad. And quite dangerous, also, if left unexamined. Posters in the train, the station, the subway warn: if you see something, say something.

John Edgar Wideman is a professor of Africana studies and literary arts at Brown and the author, most recently, of “Briefs.”

From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/opinion/07Wideman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Cyber-Responses to Presentations on A Different Mirror. See the post below for guidelines.

We started the Takaki presentations after a few false starts. Team Destiny Cloud Fist were first. They covered Transitions, and will complete the presentation tomorrow. So far, there are doing an excellent job with the materials and serve as a great model for other classmates.

One of their presenters didn't show up, so she has a zero on the assignment which is weighted 50 percent of the essay grade. If we have time, we might be able to let those who were absent present their section alone, but this is only if we have time. I will average your essay grade with the presentation, so let's say you get an A overall for the group project and a C on the essay, that will boost your grade to a B.

This is the only assignment where the writing and presentation are given equal weight, so take advantage of this. If there are components missing like outlines or reflections on the presentations (audience) and self-evaluations on the process--students loose points overall. I do read your cyber-assignments. If you are absent, you cannot make up the work.

Responses
Post the responses to Team Destiny Cloud Fist: Esbeyde, Patrick S., Andres. Team members once your presentation is complete, post your reflections: What worked? What didn't? Lessons learned?

Class: What worked well? Be specific. What you learned? How did the presentation transcend the pages of A Different Mirror?

Today in class we had rehearsals. I picked up a projector for the week. One group gave me their outline to make copies of, other groups are sending me their outlines to copy sometime this evening, definitely before tomorrow morning at 7:45 AM. I will not have time to copy anything once class starts.

I am looking forward to students presentations. Do not plan to read your notes or papers. This is a presentation. Make it interesting.