Social Entrepreneurs Brainstorm:

Lateefah Simon, Center for Young Women's Development
Visit http://www.newday.com/films/GirlTrouble.html

Favianna Rodriguez, artist and activist
Kamala Harris, CA Attorney General
Alameda has a woman mayor, check her out (smile)

WISE -- Women's Initiative for Self-Employment
http://www.womensinitiative.org/index.htm
You could find women who have come through this program or profile its founders

Women's Initiative for Self Employment is a Bay Area non-profit which provides high-potential, lower-income women the training, resources and on-going support to start and grow their business. The business management training, technical assistance, and financial services we provide — in English and Spanish — improve the quality of life for the women we serve, their families and our communities.

Youth Radio, was founded by women. It is run by women directors or used to be.
Youth Radio trains young people in broadcast and media skills. Through hands-on practice, working relationships with industry professionals, and production of award-winning programming, Youth Radio students learn the basics of broadcasting. In the process, they are exposed to a broad spectrum of media-related careers. Youth Radio also offers training and classes at Camp Sweeney, a juvenile detention facility in San Leandro, California. To hear Camp Sweeney radio shows about Proposition 21 and incarcerated youth, visit www.youthradio.org/about/sweeney.shtml.

Poor Magazine & Poor News Network was founded by a mother/daughter team

The Youth in the Media program is an extension of POOR Magazine's Youth Mentoring program and The Po' Poets Project. Each internship includes extensive creative arts and media training as well as media activism and advocacy focused on addressing and creating media on issues affecting low- and no-income youth. PoorNewsNetwork.org is an online news service of POOR Magazine, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to providing media access, advocacy and education to very low- and no-income adults and youth locally and globally resisting race and class oppression.

The last two came from http://www.kqed.org/w/juvenilejustice/mediasociety/organizations.html

Homework is to complete your Book Report essay. We meet in A-232 Monday, maybe Tuesday. We will decide next week.

We will also complete the Be-Verb essay. Continue with Pidd--Possessives. This is a review, however, if anyone is struggling with a concept or exercises, speak up in class and we can review sections in the book.

I returned old assignments today. If I returned a Grammar Exam or Essay Exam 1 a month ago, bring it in on Monday, so I can record the grade.

If I left something out, read the more thorough explanation of where we are going below. Book Report presentations are next week as well. I gave the wrong date for Thursday, April 7, 2011. Correct it please, also note that we might have a second peer review on Thursday, depending on how Monday and Tuesday go.

Students can present in teams. I need an abstract for the team before the presentation. If you want me to print a copy, bring it in on Monday-Tuesday.

Cesar Chavez Reflection

Today and yesterday we looked at revision strategies (handout). We looked at global revisions as a way to approach a draft that needs to be revamped for a better grade. When looking at the term "revision," we noticed that at its most basic means "to see again."

We also looked at ways to develop thesis sentences using "topic invention." We talked about "invention" and that that means: developing ideas to write about--what one does when he or she freewrites, clusters, lists, maps, and diagrams.

Topical invention involves asking questions about a topic to develop sentences. these questions develop sentences that are analogies, consequences, definitions and testimony.

Students practiced this in class and for homework, were to develop four sentences, one for each type of question. Homework was also to keep reading and to bring in an essay plan--even if students are not finished with the book. Obviously one can't create an outline--well it wouldn't be complete, but the IPS is certainly possible if students are more than half-way through the book, which you should be. This is week 3.

The essay is due next week.

Email me the Be-Verb essay by Friday. We will take the quiz tomorrow and even if students object, I happen to like freewrites, poetry and other writing that might seem unrelated to the topic or assignment; however it is.

The next essay is an in-class essay which should be easy. Possessives and then Parallel Structure. We will also write the Subject-Verb AGR essay in class, so you are as of the Be-Verb Essay finished with Pidd, except for the exercises and if you are one of the anointed ones then you can just take the exams and hope for the best (smile).

Remember, if you make any of errors covered in Pidd, your grade of the essay drops accordingly after three errors depending on what they are.

Narratives for Revisions
The Half the Sky revisions are due via email a week after graded or sooner. Make sure you include the history and tell me what changed between the two drafts, that is, write a narrative cover page.

Cyber-Assignment, March 24, 2011

Post a summary of the book review. After you complete the book, return and analyze where or not you agree with the writer's conclusions. The review needs to be scholarly and minimally one and a half-two pages long.

If you review doesn't meet the criterion, find another one. The summary needs to be comparable to the article. Do it justice. I am thinking minimally 150-200 words for a one and a half, to two pages, review.

Homework

Bring in a published review of your book. Read it and prepare to summarize it in class for the freewrite.

Bring in a headphone to watch a Frontline World program.

Bring in your POV essay. We are skipping the peer review this essay. I am grading them. Some students are turning in rough drafts, drafts they have not completed the self-check on. This is a waste of my time to read and your classmates. Other students did not follow directions on the title for the essay.

If you need help with formatting and spacing, visit the Open Lab in LRC.

Read the books. They are not hard to read, one just has to open them and do the work. This class is a reading and writing class.

March 23, 2011

Dear Students:

I gave students time to meet for the Lit Circle in both classes and perhaps half the class did not have their books. Only two students had their book reviews, and students meeting in one group were all doing separate activities. One student was looking up the book on-line.

One student stated in his freewrite that Lit Circles were a waste of time, because students do not come prepared to discuss the book. We don't have time to waste, so if the majority of students are not prepared then students can read their books on their own and bring in the assignments as stated in the assignment sheet. I can certainly fill the time otherwise with more writing activities. Students might not know when we'll have time for the Book Report Lit Circles, so stay prepared just in case. I am fitting this in. Normally, we do not have Lit Circles for this essay, because everyone is reading a different book. Students also complained about the time allotted to read the book. How long ago did students complete Half the Sky, 1-2 weeks?

I will give you one, perhaps two opportunities a week to meet and produce collaborative writing. I told students today, they could divide the reading logs between them, but if only a few students are prepared then, students who have done the work, should opt out of said collaborations.

The Lit Circle premise is: discussion helps one clarify his or her thoughts. Perhaps not, especially if we are thinking different things.

Other comments were some students are behind. There are quite a few of you. No, you cannot make up Cyber-Assignments attached to an essay or an in-class assignment which is past. If you are unclear what you can make up, ask. I withhold judgement pertaining to student writing until students have developed a body of work, as you have with Half the Sky, then I can offer suggestions on improvement.

My teaching style is unorthodox and if one needs clarity all you have to do is ask. Some students have been asking. Others are silent.

I am sitting here in A-232 for the next two hours and two students have come by, no one asked for assistance with writing. If you are lost, my assumption is you enjoy the absence of light, because I have batteries.

This is not heaven can wait, because it can't. I dropped my UC Berkeley Extension Class in French (I can't teach 4 classes and study 2-3 hours a day). I got too far behind and even though I threw away $450, I could not go back. I tried and had an anxiety attack in the car and turned around. That was two weeks ago.

I understand time management, how there are often not enough hours, no matter how one works it. I also understand life, as in family, getting in the way. I had a relative arrested unjustly, then during the course of the arrest hospitalized for chest pains and then when released from the hospital under police guard, taken to prison. My sister-in-law's son was killed December 20, 2010; he was 19. At the funeral last year there was a scuffle and my niece's former boyfriend was threatened. He was killed two weeks ago.

I have been wearing an orthodontic device in my mouth almost daily so I can function despite the stress, none of it my own. On International Women's History Day, March 8, 2011, I had a muscle spasm and couldn't move. This was the day my sister-in-law was to appear in court. It was also my French class . . . . I couldn't go. The next week I went and couldn't get out the car. I felt lost and even though my daughter told me to go anyway last night when I finally decided I am not going back. I still feel a bit of despair.

It isn't fun sitting in class not understanding what the class is doing because one is not prepared.

I understand how one can miss class, miss class and then, well drop out: 9 hours of class gone. I understand how one can become overwhelmed, but you work through it, if you can. If you can't, you drop the class and re-enroll when life is a bit less complex. I say less complex, because there is always something going on--that is the nature of this journey our spirit is on.

If you are familiar with a jazz musician riffing along the edges of a band member's staccato comment dropped into the kind of silences felt in grave sites, then you have a glimpse of my process and how I work.

No, I am not inviting you to visit a cemetery (although I love cemeteries, a child of Oya from New Orleans) . . . just to hang out in the solitude . . . peace, writers experience when the work is going well.

Students in my classes have to trust the process and go with the flow, even when the music sounds like noise, even when one is confused with the messages the soloist is sending.

Trust the process and trust what you know. I am very good at what I do. Google my name. If you are not getting what you need, tell me what that is. Some of you already have the tools to pass the course and are in this class because the institution requires it. This is beyond your control.

There are certain ventures we enter willingly where we surrender aspects of our freedom and wonder if captivity ever worth it. Ask someone in love as he or she navigates the margins of compromise and regret and second thoughts.

If you are interested in where we are going, it is already documented: Just search the blog, Spring 2010. At this point in the writing process, English 1A, the assumption is students know how to write an essay and know how to read at a high school, if not college, level. I have been wrong in this assumption, so I introduced Pidd.

Some students expressed outrage that a peer was reading their Pidd essays and grading them for me. The students who have completed the Pidd essays (English 201)are doing all the tests (as a review). There is nothing to be done about this. I requested a TA this semester and last semester, Division 2 does not have any money and I need help with this aspect of the class (which is a review or refresher). Pidd for all its simplicity is not easy to grade, so I hired your classmate. I generally hire former students for this job; they have all graduated or transferred to universities.

For privacy students can put their student IDs on the essays instead of their names. Indicate the course.

Many students cheated on Essay Exam 1. I find this ironic. If SPHE is so easy, why cheat? Students should be able to talk about their writing and produce writing intentionally. A great essay should not happen accidentally.

I don't hold students hands or call students who stop showing up. I might send a student an email, but we are adults and the institution is just one aspect of a multifaceted life we are juggling. It is not easy for anyone, so I try to have compassion even when things do not work out between us.

That said, I hope we can continue this ride to the end of the course and that this juncture in the journey is full and complete and rewarding.

Peace and Blessing,

Wanda Sabir

PS One student is mad because I lost an essay. Print another copy of it and I will grade it again. Bring your graded essays to class Thursday so I can record them while you are completing the freewrite.

PSS One never has everything one needs, so one makes the best with what one has. I am speaking of money and time and energy and skill.

I am still working on the HTS essays. The three I have read on-line are majority plot summaries, not much analysis. If students get a No Pass or NP, said student has to revise the essay. You have a week.

Today in the first class, students told me we are moving too fast. I gave students the plan at the beginning of class and we are behind. Pidd is a review. Everything in Pidd was covered in English 201 A/B. Students who have taken English 201 with me or my colleagues here at the College of Alameda have learned these skills. For some, these concepts might be ones covered in high school.

If students are having trouble, he or she should come to my office hours. I was here until 6 PM last Thursday, 5 PM Monday. I am available. Only a few students take advantage of my offer of help.

I suggest students, especially freshman take College Success. It is a three unit class for students new to higher education to learn about the culture of academia. English 1A is a foundation course. It is actually a class that will determine how well one does in his or her career. Success in English 1A equals an easier journey through other disciplines, because one needs to know how to read and write, think critically and apply one's analysis to situations familiar and unfamiliar.

I am not an easy teacher, and my classes are not ones one can slide through. April 24/25, 2011 (check), is the final date to drop with a W. After that, I have to give students a grade. If you have a load which is too heavy, then drop the class until you have time, especially if life is going to get even busier as we head into half time and then the final quarter, where hopefully one will have a touch down.

Teachers have their styles and a good teacher/student relationship is like all relationships--some work and others don't. There are no secret assignments. Everything was laid out at the beginning of the class. I am flexible. The reason we are running Pidd is so that students write passing essays the first time. Students will not be able to revise all essays for a higher grade, because we are behind. The only revisions will be for failing grades.

Pidd is not hard, one just has to keep up. Well, I don't think it is hard. If students have suggestions on how to survive English 1A, Spring 2011, please post suggestions (smile).

Homework is to complete the Pidd essay for Wednesday. Bring it in.

We then watched one of the programs from The New Heroes. See http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/

Mimi Silbert, Delancy Street, is the program we watched. Examine what we know about her and the organization in relationship to what we define as social entrepreneurs per Robert Redford, program series host. At the series website there is a brief description of the program and a bio on Mimi Silbert. If students are interested in Delancy Street Foundation, visit the foundation website.

Cyber-Assignment
Write a three paragraph response to the episode in response to the question: what is a social entrepreneur and how does Mimi Silbert, Delancy Street Foundation, exemplify this?

Start doing your research re: the person you want to profile in an essay on a social entrepreneur. I will give students a copy of the assignment Wednesday, March 23, 2011.

Students were asked to bring their books: The Pact, The Kite Runner, Sula, to class today, bring your books in tomorrow.

Frontline World: Engaged Citizenry Cyber-Assignments
Visit http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/socialentrepreneurs.html

Respond to 3 stories from Thursday, March 24 to April 18. Bring in headphones for the computer. Post your Frontline World Responses (3) here (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?
5 Why did the person decide to address this issue?
6.What is the local component?
7.How does the community own the process?

The plan in the morning for both classes is to watch a New Heroes video and talk about Social Entrepreneurship. We might just watch the film and talk about SE Wednesday. I want students to have enough time to discuss the books.

I have posted the two remaining essay assignments. The book report essay is below, along with the homework assignment for March 21, 2011. I'll give students a paper copy of the assignments.

We are still completing SPHE essays and one more Grammar Exam. We are behind in Pidd.

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.

Define "social," "entrepreneur," and "philanthropy." This should be a part of your introduction. Use the library handout to flush out the difference between the two philanthropist and social entrepreneur and to assist you in your research process tomorrow.

Body paragraphs

Background on the social entrepreneur and what brings him or her 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 does 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 a woman. 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 5-10 years (the length of time is negotiable; see me).

You need to locate 5 sources on your subject to form a bibliography; you only have to cite three (3). The sources can be published or broadcast interviews, books, articles, and films. You can also interview the subject 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 4 pages (English 1A); 3 pages English 201. This does not include the works cited page or bibliography.


English 1A Social Entrepreneur Due Dates:

List of sources (5) minimum in MLA format due Monday, April 25 (share in class)
Essay: Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis due Tuesday, April 26 __________
First Draft Thursday, April 28 (peer reviews)__________
Second Peer Review, Monday, May 2 __________
Final Draft due via email, May 4, (during class time: appointments with professor to check off essay______________

Presentations: May 9-11

Supplementary Assignments

On-line Frontline World (on-line responses 3) Start Thursday, March 24-finish by April 18 _______

Library Research sheet: Tuesday, March 22-Monday, March 28_______________
Website Evaluation completed (worksheet) April 14 (in-class) _____________

Published Book Review Cyber-Assignment

Bring in a published book review for your book Wednesday, March 23, to share with your group. The cyber-assignment will be to post a summary here, after class. If anyone wants to post the assignment early, this is fine as well. If the review or interview with an author is on NPR, they transcribe their broadcast interviews.

Book Report Assignment

The theme is friendship. How does each story define and defend the notion of friendship: its responsibilities and its benefits.

Usually I let students chose their own books, this time I gave students a choice between three titles: The Pact, The Kite Runner, and Sula.

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. If you would like the college to make copies, give me a copy of the abstract Monday, April 4, 2011. We will meet in A-232 on Monday, April 4. Make sure your essay and all support documents (planning) are digitized.

Book Report

Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis March 31___________
First Draft Monday, April 4___________
Final Draft due Thursday, April 6 via email____________
Presentations: Tuesday-Thursday, April 5-7___________

The presentation is a quarter of the grade for this assignment

Extra Credit Assignments

Post any extra credit assignments here for March. I'll try to remember to post a link for assignments in April and May as well. Students can post extra credit assignments from January and February here as well.

Cyber-Assignment: The New American Soldier

Today we watched the film NAS. Students are to respond to the film in a three paragraph essay. What price is American citizenship worth for the three immigrants profiled in the film? What it mean to defend freedoms one doesn't have at home? (Taken from the film).

The film was a part of the United Nations Association Film Festival 2010 www.unaff.org
Visit http://www.newday.com/films/newamericansoldier.html and http://www.newamericansoldier.com/New_American_Soldier/HOME.html

SPHE
We reviewed POV. The essay is due Wednesday. We are taking the POV Quiz tomorrow. As soon as you complete POV start working on Be-Verbs. It is not as easy as POV.

Bring your books to class tomorrow for discussion: The Pact, The Kite Runner, and Sula.

If anyone is having trouble keeping up in SPHE come see me or go to the Writing Center and/or see a tutor. Often tutors are not helpful with SPHE. They don't always understand how the prescriptive exercises work. Your best bet is to see me, or get together with classmates who are doing well (smile).

We will talk about the final essay tomorrow as well: Social Entrepreneur Essay. Bring your headphones on Thursday.

Today in class we reviewed the Half the Sky essay. Some students turned in their hand written notes, others gave me the entire package printed out, still others told me to ignore emails sent to me Wednesday evening. If you sent me an assignment and want me to ignore it, tell me in the subject line (and call me).

We also met in groups to talk about the next assignment: The Book Report essay, first task, reading the book (smile). In the second class there is no group for Sula, there is for the first class (8-8:50 AM); in both classes students are reading, The Kite Runner and The Pact.

If students did not divide the reading up, then email each other or call before Monday, we will break into Lit Circles on Tuesday. The books need to be read in two weeks at the most.

SPHE
We are completing exercises in the section on POV in SPHE. How many POVs are there? Which POV is best for academic or scholarly writing? Bring SPHE to class on Monday with exercises completed. We will have a quiz on Monday for POV and complete the essay for Tuesday for the peer review.

We'll start the Be-Verb exercises on Tuesday as well, identify the errors on Wednesday and the essay will be due on Thursday in class. Email it to yourself and bring a copy to class for the peer review. We'll do the be-verb quiz on Thursday.

Play Reading in Class
Ruined, the play by Lynn Nottage is at Berkeley Rep. I think we will read it aloud and I'd like to take a group of students to see it. It is up through April 10, 2011.

We were to read Lysistrata, but since no theatre, I know of, is performing Lysistrata, let's read the play we might have an opportunity to see. The play runs Tuesday-Sunday. What days work for students. Post your availability here. Check the website first: http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1011/4526.asp If you'd like to hear an interview I conducted this week with cast members from Ruined, listen at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2011/03/15/wandas-picks-radio-special-broadcast(Tuesday, March 15, 2011)

Other Announcement: Free Medical Check-ups

April 1-4 in Sacramento
April 9-12 at the Oakland Coliseum

Free medical, dental and vision services. Details on-line at RAM website: http://www.ramusa.org/expeditions/schedule.htm

Remote Active Medical, an organization that provides free services to the unemployed, under served, uninsured, under insured, and those who cannot afford to pay for these services.

Arrive at 3:30 AM to get a number.

Patients will be seen from 5 AM to late afternoon, early evening. The organization can also use volunteers.

Cyber-Freewrite

Post you responses to a poem from the War Poems package here.

Today we completed the second peer review using the questions on the peer review worksheet. Tomorrow bring in electronically your essay and support documents.

Include:

The final draft
Initial Planning Sheet
Outline
Peer Review
Cyber-Assignment
Reading Log

E-mail to me at coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com

Paste and attach and copy yourself. Number the document after you have assembled it. If your reading log is in a notebook, you do not have to type it--make copies or I can make copies.

Don't forget to bring in the book you plan to read: Kite Runner, Sula or The Pack.

Today in class we reviewed student essays. Bring a copy of your essay to class tomorrow. We will meet in the classroom. Bring the questions for discussing essays as well, along with your supporting documents such as the Initial Planning Sheet and the Outline.

Oh, bring Pidd and the Poems about the War package I gave students a while back.

Today when I arrived at 8 AM students were boarding the buses headed for Sacramento. I hope the Lobby Day and Protest went well. We look forward to report backs and further actions.

Back home on the ranch our heads were buried in Half the Sky, some students contemplating thesis sentences, while others read the book-- I spoke briefly about complete vs. open thesis statements and passed out a handout. If you were absent ask for it.

We developed a complete thesis on the board. I told students who liked it they could have it for their papers. A few students completed their essays and used Microsoft Comment to give feedback--at least that was the plan.

Example of a complete thesis

Although women and girls are treated poorly all around the world, there are many who rise out of socially sanctioned oppression, because people like the authors care.

Open thesis
There are many women, according to authors Cheryl WuDunn and Nicolas Kristof in Half the Sky, who rise out of socially sanctioned oppression.

Although women and girls are treated poorly all around the world, there are many of them who rise from obstacles such as: sexual abuse, poverty and illiteracy.

Some students hadn't seen the requirement to chose two (2) articles from the library database to find a scholarly articles to support the thesis. I changed the two articles to one (smile). Students who didn't see this were told to find an article while in class. For each essay students need to use at least 2-3 outside sources. For this assignment and the next one, The Book Report Essay, the book, in this case, Half the Sky counts as one.

Bring the book you plan to read for the book report essay to class on Thursday. You have three to choose from: The Pact, Sula and Kite Runner. The theme is friendship.

While you are reading the book, we will be talking about the Social Entrepreneur essay. We will also read a play, Lysistrata, and complete a collection of poetry, with the theme of war. We also from time to time read from We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For by Alice Walker.

Oh and we can't forget Pidd. I will return your essays tomorrow with grades. Keep working on the next essay; it is Point of View.

Homework is to bring in a completed essay with the Initial Planning Sheet completed and an outline.

For more information about Marilyn Buck and Wild Poppies, the collection of her work where her poem, "Rescue the Word," read by poet Ginny Lem is shared: http://www.freedomarchives.org/wildpoppies/index.html

For extra credit, listen to a poem and respond here.

Watch Films By Women in the Muslim World

http://womensvoicesnow.org/watch These films reinforce themes in Half the Sky. If you want to use any of these films as evidence to support your claims, feel free to do so. We'll have to talk about how to cite multimedia sources.

Thursday, March 10, we will individually watch a film to inform our freewrite. Bring headphones to class.

Today we met in Lit Circles and discussed Half the Sky and topics students were considering as an essay topic. We also reviewed writing outlines. I gave students a handout a few weeks ago with bubbles for mapping and a form for developing an outline.

The essay is due Tuesday, March 15. If students are not going to Sacramento, bring drafts of this essay to class. Monday we will meet in A-232 and also on Tuesday for the peer review using Microsoft Comment.

Today we completed Essay Exam 1: Synthetica. In the early class, most students had not emailed the essay to themselves as instructed. (See post Thursday, Marcy 3, 2011>) The consequences of this was that students had to type the templates and many ran out of time.

Those who ran out of time (in either class) have to make an appointment to complete Essay Exam 1 and Grammar Exam 1.

This is not homework and the exam or its instructions are not to leave the class. We have three-four more Essay Exams and one more 50-question Grammar Exam. The protocol is always the same, email the templates as an essay to yourself, all the templates unless instructed otherwise (as you were for Essay Exam 1).

For each exam, students will email me and print the essay out.

Homework:
1. Review Half the Sky Assignment Sheet. Decide on a question.

2. International Women's History Day, Tuesday, March 8--Students can share Essay 1--the essay about a woman you admire.

3. We can have the party at the end of the month, if tomorrow doesn't work. We haven't had much time to plan. Could students form a planning committee? Make sure there is a scholarly or academic aspect to the activities. Perhaps a brief history of the day and maybe a skit showing how women have contributed to world or global culture?

Let's have the party and skits on Wednesday, March 30, 2011. Students can use Half the Sky as material for the skits; if this is the case we should talk so students are not repeating the same examples. We could have 3-4 presentations, as many as we have Lit Circles.

Half the Sky Essay Assignment
Spring 2011

We have been reading Half the Sky for over a month now and have had many discussions in the class about the issues raised about global gender equity. It is now time for students to formulate their thoughts and develop a question to answer in a persuasive essay.

If students like some of the topics we have already explored and their freewrite responses, certainly they can expand on previously contemplated topics such as microfinance as a way to purchase freedom for many women in the world of Half the Sky, the benefits of education, and the power of alliances with other women and men within and without one’s society.

Other topics we have explored are the semantics of freedom—what is “power” or “empowerment”? Does the definition change when we compare regional change in the worlds of the women we meet in Half the Sky, or is the definition relatively consistent?

Is there a prototype or archetype for this philosophical empowered woman? What does she look like? Can we do selective breeding and mass produce these women so that the world changes overnight? Can we inject girls with a serum to prevent oppression once and for all?

Cultural traditions supported by women often continue oppressive practices many men are opposed to. How do women participate in their own oppression and disempowerment (if this is a word)?

Half the Sky is a sobering look at women abroad. It is written, however, in a way which makes all readers look for inequities at home, gender-based inequities at home. Yet, despite the huge job in front of us (empathetic readers) the writers seem to balance despair with hope. How do they accomplish this task? Look at the text’s organization for clues.

Rape is one of the worse forms of violence against women. In societies which have centered its core values in the chastity of its women, a rape mares the reputation of the entire family. Rape dishonors the family name and often causes irreversible harm to the woman’s status thereafter—no one will marry her. These women and girls are often tacitly encouraged in some cultures to end their lives. In Half the Sky, though, we are introduced to women who do not think their vagina is a symbol of their worthiness. Who are these women and how are they fighting back?

Feel free to develop your own questions to explore. We will talk about this further next week. Each question needs to look at Half the Sky as a resource, of course, and then use two articles outside the book to support the movement (thinking) of these issues outward. Students could also try to find a local or western or first world nation connection in your search for related materials. Use the library database where possible. Students do not have to cite the source in-text, just read it.

The essay will be between 3-5 typed pages long. This includes a works cited page. Each essay will include 3-5 citations (1 per page); one of the 3-5 citations, 1 should be a block quote and another, a free paraphrase. Students will also have to use ellipses in their block quote or in-text citation.

NOTE: The 3 page essay can only have 3 citations. 1 citation per page. English 201 students need only write a 500-750 word essay.

If students cannot develop their own question, so by all means use one of mine. If you want to develop your own, let me see it first, perhaps when you bring in the Initial Planning Sheets March 9, 2011.

Questions (Choose 1)

1. Identify three women who prove the authors’ thesis or purpose for writing the book. Be sure to state that thesis in your argument.

2. How do WuDunn and Kristof define empowerment using the lives of women in their book, Half the Sky?

3. Choose one or more of the successful interventions in women and girls lives that save and improve lives WuDunn and Kristof cite in Half the Sky. Use profiles of women cited by the authors to prove your point.

4. Though Half the Sky is a book that is uplifting and oppressing at the same time. This is one of the criticisms students have cited in the past when critiquing the text. Talk about the authors use of emotional appeals to convince. Do you ever feel manipulated and if so, where in the text is this more evident than elsewhere? Is manipulation ever fair to an audience? Why or why not?


Half the Sky DUE DATES:

1. Essay Initial Planning Sheet due: March 9
2. Outline due: March 10
3. First draft due: March 15 (meet in A-232 for peer review)
4. Final draft due: March 16/17 via email

In the Half the Sky package include freewrites and reading logs. Turn all of this in with essay. Students can email me the essay and print a copy of the essay for me as well.

Check your sentences against the errors recap:

1. ". . . Ditch wanted to come with Camper and I . . ." (1).

2. "the General attacked two of the hill divers, Camper and
I . . ." (1).

3. ". . . Ditch was smarter than Camper and me . . ." (1).

4. "Me and Camper laughed . . ." (2).

5. "It was me . . . " (2).

6. "you are almost as pretty as her" (2).

7."[I]f the Pidd men, Sid and me, can do a little camping . . . (2).

Today we are practicing using ellipsis marks.

In Lit. Circles: Paraphrase the author's thesis or purpose for writing the book, Half the Sky.

Secondly, find 3 long citations--- 5+ lines of text (block quote) to support this claim.

Use ellipses in the citation.

Post on the blog. Do not omit page numbers.

Homework: Prepare Synthetica essay for Monday's exam and review grammar exercises for Grammar Exam 1. Email the essay to yourself. Choose three templates you feel represent your competency.

Check the ellipses marks with what I have given you.

Students will have 50 minutes to complete both. We will grade the Grammar Exam on Tuesday before the International Women's Day Party. Don't forget to bring in music and a poem or inspirational saying to share or something you've written about a woman you admire, different from the first assignment (smile).

These reflections will go into an International Women's Day blog post. If anyone wants to send photos of these women, I will post them as well.

Cyber-Assignment Group Essay

What does an empowered woman look like?

In the 1st paragraph introduce the character
2nd paragraph-- Details of problem or struggle
3rd paragraph--Overcoming obstacles --again details

Use 3 different types of citations (1 per paragraph): free paraphrase, in-text citation, block quote (5+ lines of text)

There should be 5 sentences per paragraphs.

Post the three paragraphs here (early class 8-9 AM). The second class will post tomorrow.