Course Recap for Friday, December 2, 2016

End of the Semester Assignment List

• Revision Project (Extra Credit) Due Monday December 12th- You can revise one of your Project 1 or Project 2 papers for a higher score.  That means one of your two narratives or one of your two analysis papers. There are two catches:
• The revised paper must have 50% new material.  This can come in the form of expanding the narrative longer or reworking large sections of the paper or a combination of both.
• You can only revise a paper that you actually completed.  So if you did not submit a narrative or an analysis paper you cannot revise that project.
• Logical Fallacy Assignment (Extra Credit) Due Friday December 9th You can repeat he Logical Fallacy Assignment 5 more times to receive 30 extra credit points  The first one you do will be worth 10. The other 4 are worth 5.  You will receive points based on how accurately you identify the Logical Fallacies
• First Draft of Research Paper(MANDATORY) Due Friday December 2nd- You will be submitting this via Google Docs and ELI Review.  I want you to break your paper into 3 sections about 1.5 to 2 pages long each. If your piece is longer than 6 pages you will be allowed to have more pages in each section.  You can mark them Part 1, Part 2, etc or you can give them actual subtitles like The Dangers of Smoking or How to Quit just break your paper up.(We'll discuss next class exactly how subtitles should be formatted)  In Google Docs highlight the section you want me to review for you.  You will also be submitting each part into ELI separately.
• Genre Project (MANDATORY) Due Friday December 9th-Instructions will be sent to you individually via email
• Final Draft of Research Paper(MANDATORY) Due Friday December 16th

Course Recap for Friday, November 18, 2016

Annotated Bibliography

You are creating an annotated bibliography of 10 sources.  For each source you will include an APA reference entry and then an annotation, a paragraph where you summarize and evaluate the source. Check the example in the APA Formatting Guide under Class Documents.

You are going to do this for 10 different sources. Here are some tips for creating a good annotated bibliography.

• Start your search with the WMU library website. You have to have 2 scholarly articles but it won't hurt to have a few more. Once you've exhausted this resource, check out Google. This is a good way to ensure that the majority of your sources are valid.
• Check out the questions on page 37 of your EasyWriter book under the Analysis section to determine what types of things you should discuss in your annotation.
• Use your annotation to help yourself gather all of that source's useful information in one spot. Include any useful quotes or statistics so that you don't have to go searching for them later.
• Make sure when you quote from a source that you use proper APA formatting.
• If you use a citation creator like EasyBib or KnightCite, make sure that what that site generates is the same as the formatting provided in the APA Formatting Guide I created or the APA Formatting Guide located in your Easy Writer book (starts on pg 263).
• If at anytime you feel confused, referring to your EasyWriter book about APA formatting will be really helpful. It's what I use to determine how to format sources in APA. It has a very detailed guide on APA from how to quote sources to how they should appear on your reference page. If you weren't here, or if you forgot what I taught on Thursday or if you find my guide a bit confusing (I added a lot of notes in there), this could be the next best route.
• Please put in effort. I will know when you haven't done so and you will be graded accordingly.

Homework

• Completed Annotated Bibliography (Due Tuesday Nov 22 at midnight via Google Docs)
• Enjoy your break!!!

Forgive the weird formatting of this post.

Course Recap for Friday November 11, 2016

Logical Fallacies

Logical Fallacies are errors in logic. People present claims that appear true but aren't because of lack of information or incorrect info. The arguer presents the information as clear evidence that their claim is true,  but on closer examination,  we will see that their reasoning is faulty. When you determine your own arguments,  you want to avoid this type of faulty reasoning.  You also want to avoid sources that depend on that kind of reasoning. 

Homework

• Topic Proposal for Project 3: Tell me the community your are writing about, the problem or issue in that community, and any possible solutions you have thought up. Due Monday November 13 at midnight 
• Logical Fallacy Assignment (see Class Documents) The editorial you pick can be about anything although it would be good idea to pick one that's related to your Project 3 topic. Due Friday November 18 in class *You don't have to include the MLA citation. 

This Week's Conference Schedule

If you do not have a conference time, email me ASAP.  Your conference is required.  If you don't attend a conference this week you will receive an absence.

Course Recap for Friday October 14, 2016

How to Determine a Good Thesis

Your thesis is the most important part of your paper.  It gives your paper structure.  Determining what the thesis of your analysis paper is will help you determine what details from the piece you should include in your paper and which ones to exclude.  I had you guys answer several questions about the movies you are thinking of analyzing.

1. What are the larger issues or topics your piece talks about?  For Carrie this would include bullying, religion, abuse, sexuality, high school, etc.  Then I asked you to ask what you feel the piece says about those topics? For Carrie I could say that the piece talks about how bullying can turn people into monsters or that sexuality especially in women is a bad thing.  These would be potential theses for an analysis of Carrie.
2. Next I asked you to consider the type of conflict you have.  There are 5 archetypal conflicts that are usually present in most stories. Man vs Man, Man vs Self, Man vs Nature, Man vs Technology, Man vs Society.  Determine which of the conflicts you have. Then think about who wins the conflict and why, what does that say about that thing?  For instance, nature wins in Titanic, why?  Because humans underestimated it.  They thought they built something indestructible but nothing is indestructible. Or in Carrie we have man vs man and everyone loses, why?  Maybe because everyone who refuses to stand up to bullying is just as complicit as the bullies and so everyone suffers in the end.
3. Next think about how the societal descriptors like race, class, gender, sexuality for the characters in your movie and how they may affect your character and the piece.  In Carrie, Carrie's religious background and her gender has an effect on the piece.  A potential theme could be how these things affect her.
4. How does the history surrounding the piece affect your interpretation of it?  What real life events might the piece be influenced by?  The feminist movement was hitting it's stride in the 70s when Carrie was released, and so it is pretty significant that de Palma made a movie with a mostly-female cast where just about every woman is crazy.
5. Know your director.  Know who they are and know some of their other work.  Sometimes a good way to find a theme is to spot the reoccurring images or themes throughout their body of work.  If nothing else, this information can provide you with good background  info that you can use to support whatever your thesis is.

Song Analysis

We analyzed a few songs together.  We looked at how the lyrics, the music, the time period the song was written, the background of the artist, etc all can be used to help us determine the meaning of the song.  The two things I want you to keep in mind as you choose your own songs is the fact that a set of lyrics can mean different things to different people depending on who's listening and to pick songs where some of the lyrics are up for interpretation.

Blurred Lines

Extra Credit: Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke is a song that faced a lot of criticism after it's release.  People accused the song of being misogynistic, promoting rape culture, and disregarding a woman's right to consent.  My challenge to you is to defend this song by coming up with a positive interpretation of the song.  After all, lots of people like it, so there must be something positive in it.  Briefly right up how you interpret the message and defend your interpretation with lyrics and other elements from the song.  If it is useful, you can also use the video, but remember your main point is to defend the song.

Homework

• Outline for Movie and Song of your choice. 2 separate outlines Check out the Sample Analysis Outline underneath Class Documents and there is also a Blank Analysis Outline in case you lose or mess up the one you received in class. Due Fri 10/21 in class
• Read Sonny's Blues,The All-Girl Football Team and Virgins -PLEASE GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO COMPLETE ALL THE READING  (underneath Class Documents) Due Fri 10/21 in class

Course Recap for Friday, October 7, 2016

Homework

• Read Cult Movie Review: Carrie by John Kenneth Muir and Horror, Femininity, and Carrie's Monstrous Puberty by Shelley Stamp Lindsey.  As you're reading these articles, take notes on the different themes these writers saw in the movie Carrie.  What did they feel the movie had to say about the world, about high school, about womanhood, and any other topics the movie addresses?  Also make note of what things from the movie they believe help illustrate these themes. (The Horror, Femininity, and Carrie's Puberty is a VERY dense piece.  Please give yourself enough time to parse through it.  The intro in particular can be a bit hard to understand but it becomes less so as you continue.  Do not give up.  Summarize it the best that you can.) Due Friday October 15 in class
• If you could analyze two movies for your next paper, which movies would they be?  Have them in mind when you come to class Friday.

Course Recap for Friday, September 30, 2016

Revision

We did peer review today in class.  You received feedback from two students on one paper, and one student on the other.  I will also be giving you feedback over the weekend.  You should receive feedback from me by Wednesday night.

Your task now is to revise your two papers using both the feedback you received and your own intuition as a writer.  There is always some aspect of our piece that can be improved.  Revision is more than just going in and correcting grammatical mistakes.  It means re(en)visioning certain aspects of your piece to shed new light on the topic and improve the quality of the piece.  Rewriting a short passage for clarity or adding details to a description, adding a section of dialogue to better illustrate a scene, these are examples of revision.  Taking away from a piece can also count as revision.  Maybe you have too much information in some places.  If your original draft is 750 words, I will not mind if your final draft is a bit shorter if the sections you eliminate help to improve your narrative.

Some technical aspects you want to make sure you don't forget:

• Make your changes directly in the original Google document you shared with me.  This will allow me to track your changes and see just how much (or how little) you have revised.  
• Make sure you are formatted correctly, double-spaced, 12 point font, MLA Header, with MLA running head.
• Give your piece an actual title (not just personal narrative).
• Make sure you have five lines of standard dialogue in both narratives.  Please review Hills Like White Elephants if you need a refresher on how dialogue should be formatted.

Homework

• Work on revising your Narratives.  Final Drafts are due Friday, October 7 (at the beginning of class)  Any papers submitted after 10:15 will be considered late.

Course Recap for Friday, September 22, 2016

The Power of Dialogue

Today we looked at Hills Like White Elephants and looked at the different ways we can convey different information via dialogue. Dialogue is a great way to practice showing and not telling and a great way to start a specific scene in your narrative.  Presenting the words that people actually say allows us to provide our narrative with a higher level of specificity.  We can reveal things like character, setting, the conflict, the relationship between two characters, the mood of the piece, time period, background, etc.  

Conflict

A story isn't a story without conflict.  A character overcoming an obstacle is what drives a story.  Again think about our activity in class as you write.  Remember how you had to use different tactics to attempt to get what you want.  Remember that you weren't given what you wanted easily. You want to show your character working hard for what they want.  Also if it's another person preventing you (or your main character) from getting what you want, try and provide them with a reason while they're doing so (remember how your classmate always denied you for a reason).  This keeps us from having flat stereotypical villains.

Theme/Thesis

What do you want to say to the world with your story? That is the thesis of your piece and should be your guide as you write.  Try and answer this question: If people do nothing else they should come away from my piece thinking/feeling/believing/wanting....what?

Stories can help us illuminate the things we find important in life.  We can increase the empathy people have for one another.  We can use that empathy to change minds and behaviors.  We can make others feel less alone.  I know that the narrative assignment can sometimes feel like a fluff piece for some, but being able to tell a story that teaches a lesson, or reveals an important part of your identity,  is an important skill to have.

In "Mother Tongue" Amy Tan aims to change the way we think about "broken" English and those who speak it.  There is so much importance placed on "proper" English that we fail to understand the things we can learn from other ways of speaking English.  She actually uses storytelling to start a conversation about a bigger issue.

Sherman Alexie does the same with his narrative.  He uses his life experiences to show how people stereotype him because he is Indian and the effects of those stereotypes.  He explores what it's like to be a member of both worlds, Indian and American, and how Indian life is American life, just an aspect of it that is rarely explored in literature and other forms of media.

What bigger issues do some of your life experiences speak to?  How have your experiences shaped the way you see the world? The way you see yourselves? The way your fictional characters see themselves?

As you write, please be mindful about stereotypes and assumptions.  Don't assume that everyone is going to see the world through the same lens that you see it.  Help them to understand where you and your characters are coming from.  BE SPECIFIC.  SHOW DON'T TELL.

Here is a video about the dangers of stereotyping and a "single story."

Make sure you don't depend on generalizations to carry your story.  Avoid statements that say or imply that all college students do this; all girls do that.  Specificity is what make our stories interesting. 

Homework

• One Page Dialogue via Google Docs (due Monday 9/26 at 11:45pm) You can use your dialogue to either further your personal narrative that you started over the past week or you can use it to start your fictional narrative.
• Do the Review Task- Character/Setting Description Review via ELI Review (due Monday 9/26 at 11:45pm)
• Do the Review Task - One Page Dialogue Review. (due Tuesday 9/27 at 11:45pm)
• First Drafts of Narratives (due Friday 9/30 in class) Please review the Narrative Assignment Sheet for requirements.

Course Recap for Friday, September 15, 2016

Characterization and Voice

In class we looked at two different stories and explored how the writers created and developed interesting characters.  In "Me Talk Pretty One Day" specifically we looked at how the narrator revealed aspects of his personality through the voice he uses to tell the story (a very light-hearted, sarcastic tone).  The same thing happens in "The Lesson." Sylvia's tone of voice is very hard, aggressive, full of bravado, a voice, we as readers realize she is using as a front to hide her feelings of shame and vulnerability.  Also in both The Lesson and Me Talk Pretty One Day, we are able to learn things about the narrators based on how they interact with others.  Because we see David cower underneath his teachers scrutiny, we know he is sensitive to criticism but we also know he doesn't give up easily because he continues to work even though the teacher makes him feel so insecure.  We know Sylvia is a bully not because she tells us so but because of the way she interacts with her cousin Sugar.  Also keep in mind the ways that Bambara is able to quickly introduce and characterize a huge cast of characters in The Lesson, through what they do and what they say.

We did an exercise today where I had you write all of the things in your bedroom and then had your classmates try and guess things about you based on the contents.  The point of this exercise is for us to practice showing who a person is instead of just telling the reader who they are.

Here is a video of David Sedaris reading another essay from his book, Me Talk Pretty One Day, titled "Jesus Shaves."

Setting

We looked at setting in Face by Alice Munro and the techniques she uses to establish the setting of the piece.  She doesn't directly tell us it's a mostly white, upper-class town with traditional values, but we can gain that from her descriptions of the people there and their customs.  She shows us the difference between the cottage and the main house not only through physical description but also by describing the various activities that occur in each place and the feelings that are present in the characters when they are in each dwelling. I also wanted us to see how a place that may seem ordinary to others (the old shed that used to be a cottage in a backyard) but can have great significance for others and the story of how that place became significant to you could be a great jumping off point for your narrative.

The main lesson of this week is SHOW not tell.  How can you show what's it like for you (or your character) to grow up in your neighborhood?  How can you show how great or how awful of a person a character is?  What moments can you provide us that illustrate your point so you can keep your readers engaged in your story?

Homework

• One Page Description of a Person or Place that has been very Influential to You (Due Friday 9/23) via ELI Review (if you missed today please email me for the class code so you can get setup in ELI)
• Read "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway underneath Class Documents (Due Friday 9/23)
• Read "The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me" by Sherman Alexie underneath Class Documents (Due Friday 9/23)
• Read "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan in Readings for Writers (Due Friday 9/23)
• If you missed today, you want to read over the Narrative Assignment Sheet.  There you will see the requirements for your first major papers.

Here is a helpful link for those of you who may need help getting setup on ELI or who are having trouble submitting your one page description on ELI.  Also remember I am always available via email. http://elireview.com/learn/tutorials/students/

Course Recap for Friday September 9, 2016

Rhetorical Situations

Today we discussed the elements of rhetorical situations.  A rhetorical situation is any set of circumstances that involves at least one person attempting to communicate information with another person  (including a future self).  Every rhetorical situation involves the following elements:

• Purpose
• Audience
• Medium
• Design
• Context

For more information, check out The Norton Field Guide's take on Rhetorical Situations.   These elements help us determine the rules for how we should communicate our message in any given situation.

We then examined these elements in the communications we frequently share on a regular basis in groups. For every piece you write in this class (or every piece you write ever truthfully), you will have to take into consideration the above elements. We examined these elements in blogs on our favorite subjects, which should give us some ideas on how we want to write our own blogs for this class.

Homework

• Write your first blog post.  Since it is your first post, you might want to introduce yourself and let your readers know what they can expect from your blog. Check the Blog Assignment Sheet for more information.  Due Saturday, Sept. 11 by midnight. (Your first blog is the only post that will be due on a Saturday, every blog afterwards should be posted by Friday.)
• Read "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris (page 14) and "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara (page 28) from Readings for Writers. Due Friday Sept. 16
• Read Face by Alice Munro (posted underneath Class Documents) for Friday Sept. 16 in class (it's a bit longer than the other two pieces, so you might want to get a head start).

Welcome to Thought and Writing!

Hello I'm Mickey Moses, and I am your instructor for ENGL 1050.  Welcome to the class, and welcome to our blog.  This blog is our class's central hub.  Here you can find class recaps, homework assignments, readings, and helpful links.

Our class syllabus is located to the right of this post underneath Class Documents.  It lists the rules and expectations for this course.  We will read through the entire document in class, but some of the major points you want to remember are....

1. Come to class everyday.  Attendance is important and necessary in order for you to pass this class.
   
2. Complete all your assignments.  You cannot get points for work you do not complete.
   
3. Be respectful of me and your classmates. 
   
4. Don't cheat. 
   
5. Ask questions and participate in class discussions.   

How you should be in class.





I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you.