Friday, December 13, 2013

Final Portfolios Due by 12 noon

Today, student semester portfolios are due. This document includes all your work for the semester. It is arranged according to the guidelines stipulated in the check-list.

Make sure the document is easy to read, that is, all essays are to start on their own page(s). Cover sheets between sections help, but are not necessary. Make sure the final drafts are posted first followed by the previous graded drafts.

Include grades on the checklist and notes for me, for instance, "final draft included, but not read."

If you submit a graded assignment from another course, include the prompt for the assignment and the grade and anything I need to know to understand the context.

For those students who missed the Portfolio Workshop, look for a response from me. I am asking students who attended the Workshop to mentor or model the correct way to submit the final portfolio for me. If you know someone who attended, seek them out.  

I have been around all week. My grades are due Friday, Dec. 20. I will be grading the portfolios next week. I will send you your final grades which will not be available until Jan. 3, 2014 I believe at the District.

Have a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. It was great meeting all of you. Good luck and much success in all your pursuits which bring joy to your hearts and make the world brighter because you are in it.

Next semester I am teaching an on-line English 1A, a short term English 1B, a Hybrid-English 1A and a Saturday, English 1A. In the English 1A classes, the topic or theme is Happiness. I will be using 50 Essays, Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, Hacker's Rules for Writers and They Say, I Say.

In the English 1A on-line class, I might do a few things differently. I am not certain yet. Maybe not (smile).

In the English 1B we will read the historic novel Sugaree Rising by local novelist, J. Douglas Allen-Taylor and/or Virgin Soul by Laney College Professor Judy Juanita; Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, along with other poetry, the play, I and You by San Francisco resident Lauren Gunderson, I am looking at 40 Short Stories by Beverly Lawn and perhaps The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (I am looking for a play where there is a film version). Any favorites? We will use the No Fear Shakespeare publication.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-merchant-of-venice-no-fear-shakespeare-series-william-shakespeare/1104989360?cm_mmc=googlepla-_-book_5to14-_-q000000633-_-9781586638504&cm_mmca2=pla&ean=9781586638504&isbn=9781586638504&r=1


The Merchant
was recently performed by men at San Quentin State Prison. They did a marvelous job, then wrote a play using this one as a frame to talk about their lives.

Students will have to attend a play and one other literary event for credit in this class. I will propose field-trips but if no one can attend with me or cares for my recommendations, the assignment still holds (smile).

Out textbook for English 1B is Writing about Literature Second Edition by Janet Gardner with the 2009 Updated MLA
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/writing-about-literature-with-2009-mla-update-janet-e-gardner/1100925024?cm_mmc=googlepla-_-textbook_instock_under26_pt109-_-q000000633-_-9780312607579&cm_mmca2=pla&ean=9780312607579&isbn=9780312607579&r=1

Monday, December 09, 2013

Reflective Essay on the Academic Query of the term REBEL

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 students reflected on their query into the scope of the term: REBEL. We shared these reflections in class in a roundtable discussion. Students also pulled these ideas together in an essay. Post that essay here in the portfolio. This discussion was in place of the final exam meeting (smile). Students were encouraged to speak more about the social entrepreneur here as we do not know who students chose for this aspect of the work and this is always a fun and engaging aspect of the final or seminal step in the closing of the circle (or triangle, since there are three essays-- smile). 

This essay can be substituted for Essay 1. All the essays presented seemed to cover the questions asked. 

I added a check __________ where Essay 1 is listed per the Finals Salon. 

Monday, December 02, 2013

Class canceled Tuesday-Wednesday, Dec. 3-4, 2014 Meet in classrooms Dec. 5

Today we did the peer reviews. I have canceled the finals for next week. Instead students will present their research in class over the next two days. Class is canceled tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday. I am interviewing candidates for the FT faculty position we have in our department Wednesday-Thursday, Dec. 3-4, 2013, 9-4.

Reflective Essay

Prepare for discussion a reflective paper on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, where you think about your query this semester--Rebels and Resistance to the Establishment, and how this query shifted, shrank or was enlarged as the terrain developed and changed as well over the course of three distinct compositions, Mrs. Rosa Parks as rebel, the Book Report where you profiled a rebel and the Social Entrepreneur essay where you profile a person locally who is doing the work like Mrs. Parks did in Alabama and Michigan.

This reflective essay is due Thursday; bring a copy with you to class for me. I will return them Tuesday with grades  It can be about 2-3 pages not including the works cited. Cite from the three essays in the reflective piece, show how the definition shifted or changed over the course of your intellectual query.

Add it to the portfolio. I have included a spot for it (smile). 

You do not have to prepare an abstract, as we already know the first two essays. For the conversation or salon, you can spend more time in your discussion on the read time application exemplified in your final analysis.