English 1B Syllabus for Spring 2014 at the College of Alameda Professor Wanda Sabir

Class code: 23974

Class Meetings: Tuesday-Thursday, March 20-May 22 except: April 1, May 13. Holidays: 3/31; 4/14-20; 5/16

Final Exam Week: May 17-23 (Portfolios due via e-mail by Saturday, May 24).

Drop date: May 3 (w/W)
http://web.peralta.edu/admissions/2013/09/spring-2014-academic-calendar/

Syllabus for English 1B: College Composition and Reading Course
http://poeticsrapandtothersocialdiscourses.blogspot.com/

English 1B is a transferable college writing course. It builds on the competencies gained in English 1A with a more careful and studied analysis of expository and argumentative writing based on readings of selected plays, poems, novels, and short fiction.

Writing is a social activity, especially the type of writing students will be doing here. We always consider our audience, have purpose or reason to write, and use research to substantiate our claims, even those we are considered experts in.

We’re supposed to write about 8000 words or so at this level course. The 8000 words over the semester (not per essay) include drafts. What this amounts to is time at home writing, time in the library on campus and public libraries too. Students will be researching, and reading documents to increase his or her facility with the ideas or themes he or she is contemplating, before he or she once again sits at his or her desk writing, revising, and writing some more.

Writing is a lonely process. No one can write for you. The social aspect comes into play once you are finished and you have an opportunity to share.

We are practicing skills which you developed in English 1A. The difference is we are looking at literature and analyzing other genres, in our case: poetry, fiction, and dramatic literature or plays. In order to do justice to the topics you chose to explore, the writer cannot ignore the history of the genre nor its current discourses or new roots.

I will be looking at the writing, but more than this I will be paying attention to the scholarship, which is why each essay has to include a citation from a scholarly article—4-10+ pages.

Your essays can use multiple styles . . . be creative. However, I need to know that you know how to write an essay, so save the creative work for last (smile). And if you plan to deviate from the norm, don’t surprise me, share the idea with me first.

We are going to read a book or play every week. We start with plays, then short fiction and then move into a novel, weaving poetry throughout the semester as this class the two plays happen to reference poets.  We will conclude with a formal look at poetry. I am going to show you film(s) about writers. We finish the class with students selecting writing outside of the assigned readings and writing a research analysis based on the work. The selection can be two short poems or a longer one, a novel, another play or a short story.

On Thursdays we will have critiques when an essay is due. We will practice writing research analyses. Students will grade each other based on a rubric. Here are links to general rubrics for college level composition:

http://www.elcamino.edu/faculty/jjung/eng1b/rubric1b.pdf

http://www.sjsu.edu/people/julie.sparks/courses/engl1Bspr2012/s2/English%201B%20Rubric%20filled%20in.docx.

Office Hours

I am a phone person, so when I give you my telephone number, use it. My office is D-219, located in a suite of offices numbered from D-216. My office phone number is: 510-748-2286.

We can set aside time in class for office hours, either before or at the end.

If you are a poor writer, get a tutor. We will have minimal revisions, like none unless the essay is horrible—students only get 1-2 BAD ESSAY DAYs (and the penalty is writing a correction essay, plus revising the essay). We will do peer reviews. I want to see polished work.

Methodology

We will use Reading and Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide, Third Edition, Bedford St. Martin’s (ISBN: 978-1-4576-0649-6) by Janet E. Gardner in the class. There is a chapter for each genre of literature we will examine. We will review a chapter a week or two. The first section of the book reviews the writing process.

Keep a reading log/journal/notes containing key ideas outlined for each discussion section, along with vocabulary and key arguments listed, along with primary writing strategies employed: description, process analysis, narration, argument, cause and effect, compare and contrast, definition, problem solving. I will collect these typed notes electronically with the completed essays. The essays will be submitted electronically. Type all your notes and in-class writing assignments.

I repeat: each book or play will have a corresponding essay. There will also be a series of short 250 word essay responses posted on the class blog pertaining to each piece of literature. Students have a choice of writing a new paper or expanding the cyber-assignment into a longer work. Each research paper will be between 3-4 pages long. This does not include a works cited page. Each essay will have three (3) sources. The piece of writing examined plus two other sources, one a scholarly article.

Again, the final is an oral presentation of one’s paper or a defense of one’s thesis. You choose what the final essay is on. The student portfolio is the FINAL for the class. We will talk about this more. If any students are creative writers and want to lead a workshop, let me know (smile).

This semester, each student will have to attend a literary event of his or her choosing: lecture or author event, play or film. We can attend an event together or separately. The writing assignment will be an analysis/critique, like a review . . . but a bit deeper. I suggest students read published reviews beforehand to prepare for the task. This essay will be minimally two (2) pages or 500 words, not including a works cited page with minimally two (2) sources. All essays have to have 1 citation per page, so in the case of a two page essay, that is two citations (period).

Essay research requirements

Each essay needs to use at least 2-3 outside sources which should include at least one (1) scholarly article along with other material (taken from the COA on-line Library Database (if possible). Each essay should also include one (1) direct quote, one (1) free-paraphrase and one (1) block quote—one citation per page—no more, no less (well I we can negotiate, but don’t let the citations get out of hand, that is, overwhelm the paper).

Each essay also needs to include a works cited page and a bibliography. The works cited page needs to be perfect. We will practice this in class. We will write many of the shorter essays in class or for homework. The task should be simple once students decide which four (4) elements they’d like to respond to in depth. Since this is an eight hour a week class, expect eight hours of homework (smile). 1 hour per unit is the calculation.

I am making an assumption that students know how to correctly document their sources using MLA. Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers or a similar text is required (the MLA is up to 2009 now). At this level, I expect students to know how to write passing essays at the first submission. Submit your best work the first time. Don’t submit drafts, masquerading as polished work. I am serious.

Midterm

One of the essays will be the midterm, possibly fiction maybe poetry (smile).

Jot down briefly what your goals are this semester and action steps to get there. Separate into what you can do alone or have control over and what you might not have control over and why.

List them in order of importance.

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.

Homework Assignment 1: If you missed class, e-mail an introduction to me by Thursday, March 27, 2014. Send to coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com  This is our coursework email address.

Writing Homework Assignment 2:
(Everyone respond to the following same due date, by Thursday, March 27, before class):

What strengths do you bring to the class? What do you hope to obtain from the course – any particular exit skills? What do I need to know about you to help you meet your goals? What books have you read lately (2-3) that take your breath away?

What is literature? Some say, literature feeds one’s soul. What do you think of that? Could you imagine a world without poetry or stories, theatre or literary arts? Do you ever find yourself craving a play or a museum visit, a trip to the theatre or a film?

Homework Assignment 3:

Respond on the blog to the syllabus, so I have a record of your reading it. Make sure you include examples from the syllabus to support your points. The response is due by Tuesday, April 1, 2014.

Write a comment to me regarding the syllabus: your impressions, whether you think it is reasonable, questions, suggestions. This is our contract, I need to know you read it and understand the agreement.

Grading
Essays: 55 percent of grade

Short Story
1. 40 Short Essays: A Portable Anthology 4^th Edition, Beverly Lawn, Bedford St. Martin’s (ISBN: 978-1-4576-0475-1. Each unit includes the definitive essay, plus in-class writing, group writing and blog assignments.

The Novel
2. Virgin Soul: A Novel by Judy Juanita or Sugaree Rising: A Novel by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor (1 essay). You only have to read one book.

Dramatic Literature:
3. I and You by Lauren Gunderson (loan) and perhaps W;t (also Wit) by American playwright Margaret Edson which won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

You will have to purchase this book. (I saw it on Amazon for under $.40). Students will also need a copy of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. It’s on-line.

Poetry Unit

4.  The poetry and dramatic literature fold into one another well this semester, so we will look at the Whitman, the American freeverse tradition and the Romantic poets. Students will have an opportunity to read a collection by a Northern Californian writers of his or her choice. I will give you a list of authors.

5. Final essay –student choice

Portfolio: 25 percent

Participation: 20 percent

What do I mean by participation? This includes preparation and active participation in group assignments, blog responses and posted comments; discussion group preparedness, attitude and leadership. To post comments students will need a Gmail account.

To encourage participation, and for this, students have to be prepared, I weighed the preparedness and participation strongly which means I will be taking notes when students do not do their homework. If you are in a group where students are pretending to be prepared when they are not, drop me an anonymous note. If a student is absent, he or she cannot make up in-class assignments such as group work, freewrites, presentations, etc.

Portfolio Suggestion

Students can start a personal blog for the class and send me the link for your portfolio at the end of the course. This is not the only type of portfolio. The other is to submit a word document with the semester's writing.

Quizzes

I am not above pop quizzes on readings. Remember, this plan can change in a twinkling of the eye, if we find it isn’t working.

Writing Center

The Writing Center is a great place to get one-on-on assistance on your essays, from brainstorming and planning the essays, to critique in areas like clarity, organization, clearly stated thesis, evidence or support, logical conclusions, and grammatical problems. In the Writing Center there are ancillary materials for student use. These writing programs build strong writing muscles. The Bedford Handbook on-line, Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers on-line, Townsend Press, and other such computer and cyber-based resources are a few of the many databases available. There is also an Open Lab for checking e-mail, a Math Lab. All academic labs are located in the Learning Resource Center (LRC) or library.

Again, students need a student ID to use the labs and to check out books. The IDs are free. Ask in Student Services (A-bldg.) where photos are taken.

Have a tutor of teacher sign off on your essays before you turn them in; if you have a “R,” which means revision necessary for a grade or “NC” which means “no credit,” you have to go to the lab and revise the essay with a tutor or teacher before you return both the graded original and the revision (with signature) to me. Revise does not mean “rewrite,” it means to “see again.”

When getting assistance on an essay, the teacher or tutor is not an editor, so have questions prepared for them to make best use of the 15-20 minute session in the Lab. I will give you a handout which looks at 5 areas of the essay you can use as a guide when shaping your questions for your peer review sessions. Please use these guidelines when planning your discussions with me also.

For more specific assistance, sign up for one-on-one tutoring, another free service. For those of you on other campuses, you can get assistance at the Merritt College’s Writing Center, as well as Laney College’s Writing Labs.

Correction Essays & Essay Narratives

All essay assignments you receive comments on have to be revised prior to resubmission; included with the revision is a student narrative to me regarding your understanding of what needed to be done, that is, a detailed list of the error(s) and its correction; a student can prepare this as a part of the Lab visit, especially if said student is unclear over what steps to take. Cite from a scholarly source the rule and recommendations for its correction.

Students can also talk to me before or after class. Do not leave class without understanding the comments on a paper. I don’t mind reviewing them with you.

Student Learning Outcomes

Reading:

Recognize the relevance of the power of story in the public and private sector

and use this understanding to shape the outcomes of various situations and

projects.

Identify logical fallacies in written materials in order to make effective decisions

and express ideas clearly.

Critical Thinking:

Evaluate and use evidence to support assertions, enhancing effectiveness as a

team member.

Writing:

Write coherent, organized reports, summaries, evaluations, and records.

Articulate ideas clearly so that all team members understand, thus moving a

project or a program forward.


Last words on Grades

We will be honest with one another. Grades are not necessarily an honest response to work; grades do not take into consideration the effort or time spent, only whether or not students can demonstrate mastery of a skill – in this case: essay writing. Grades are an approximation, arbitrary at best, no matter how many safeguards one tries to put in place to avoid such ambiguity. Suffice it to say, your portfolio will illustrate your competence. It will represent your progress, your success or failure this semester in meeting your goal.

Office Hours

I’d like to wish everyone much success. I am available for consultation on TTH before class 11-12:30 by appointment. If you are very rusty with grammar, I using Stewart Pidd Hates English. We can review the assignments in the book before class if you buy the book. You can also rent it in the COA bookstore which has ordered a few of the textbooks.

My office is again in the Suite D-215. This door is unlocked during class hours. You can always call me if it is locked and we are meeting.

My email again is: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com. Let me know the day before, if possible, when you’d like to meet with me. I am more of a phone person. Texts are fine. Ask me for my cell phone number. I do not mind sharing it with you.

Take time to exchange email and phone numbers with classmates (2), so if you have a concern, it can be addressed more expeditiously. Again study groups are recommended, especially for those students finding the readings difficult; don’t forget, you can also discuss the readings as a group in the Lab with a teacher or tutor acting as facilitator.

I really am more a phone person than an email person, so you can call me if I don’t respond to an email. I do read your blog posts.

These two months will fly, if you don’t buckle up (smile). Study groups are recommended, especially for those students finding the readings difficult.

Keep a vocabulary log for the semester and an error chart (taken from comments on essay assignments). List the words you need to look up in the dictionary, also list where you first encountered them: page, book and definition, also use the word in a sentence. You will turn this in with your portfolio electronically.

I do not expect students to confuse literal with free paraphrase (a literal paraphrase is plagiarism). Students should also not make confused word errors, sentence fragment errors, comma splice errors, subject verb agreement errors, errors in parallel structure, subject verb agreement errors, MLA citations errors, errors with ellipses, formatting an essays—margins, headings, etc. If you are not clear on what I mean, again I suggest drop the class and take it over the 18 week semester at a more leisurely pace.

Students are expected to complete work on time. If you need more time on an assignment, discuss this with me in advance to keep full credit. Again certain assignments, such as in-class essays cannot be made up. All assignments are to be typed, 12-pt. font, double-spaced lines, indentations on paragraphs, 1-inch margins around the written work (see Hacker: The Writing Process; Document Design.)

If you have a laptop, bring it to class.

In class writing is to be written in ink—blue or black, then typed for inclusion in portfolio or posting on blog: http://poeticsrapandtothersocialdiscourses.blogspot.com/

Cheating

Plagiarism is ethically abhorrent, and if any student tries to take credit for work authored by another person the result will be a failed grade on the assignment and possibly a failed grade in the course if this is attempted again. This is a graded course.

Homework

If you do not identify the assignment, I cannot grade it. If you do not return the original assignment you revised, I cannot compare what changed. If you accidentally toss out or lose the original assignment, you get a zero on the assignment to be revised. I will not look at revisions without the original attached – no exceptions. Some student essays will be posted on-line at the website. Students will also have the option of submitting assignments via email: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com

Textbooks Recap:

Allen-Taylor, J. Douglas. Sugaree Rising. San Francisco: Freedom Voices, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-0-915117-21-5.

Gardner, Janet E. Reading and Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. Third Edition.    Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-1-45-0649-6.

Edson, Margaret. W;t (or Wit). United Kingdom: Faber and Faber, 1999. (Any publication is  fine 1995-on). 

Juanita, Judy. Virgin Soul. New York: Viking, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-0-670-02658-6.

Lawn, Beverly. 40 Short Essays: A Portable Anthology 4^th Edition. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-1-4576-0475-1.


Recommended:

Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. Sixth or Seventh edition. Bedford/St. Martins. (If you don’t already have such a book.) Make sure the Sixth has the 2009 MLA update.


A college dictionary. I recommend American Heritage.

Daily/Weekly Schedule

Thursday, March 20—Free Day; Introductions

Tuesday-Thursday, March 25 &27:

This week we will review the basics of essay writing: thesis sentences, organization, introductions and conclusions, topic sentences, rhetorical structure, evidence, invention strategies such as topical invention, argument, exposition and narration.

1. Common Writing Assignments: Summary Response, Explication, Analysis, Comparison and Contrast, Essay Exams (Gardner 51)

2. The elements of dramatic literature: plot, character and theme, diction; melody and spectacle, setting (Gardner 111).

Literature:
I and You by Lauren Gunderson (handout read in class)

“Song of Myself” from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (print and bring to class) http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174745

Listen: http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/orson-welles-reads-from-whitmans-song-of-myself.html

Homework: Listen to Susan Glaspell’s Trifles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzPQ5tgg9qQ

To read: http://www.wolaver.org/literature/trifles.pdf

From Reading and Writing: Read Sample paper, an analysis (Gardner 126)

Week 3
April 1-3

1. Read “Writing about Plays” (Gardner 111); Common Writing Assignments 51-71.

2. In class on Thursday, April 3, students will apply one of these methods to an essay about W;t by Margaret Edson. The essay will be 3-4 pages and will include examples from the text.  Also include a works cited page.

Discussion questions: http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~charris/Drama%20Study%20Questions/Wit2.doc

3. Watch the film W;t – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0PPvYlGqL8

4. Questions and Writing Assignment due Thursday, April 3: http://web.mnstate.edu/provost/death_dying_wit.pdf

3. Read this analysis of John Donne poems (read before you write the essay): http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-donne  Write a summary analysis of it. Post on blog. You need a gmail account.

For your edification, read more about Donne at the following links.

http://suzettenaples.hubpages.com/hub/Death-be-not-proud-John-Donne-and-his-Holy-Sonnets

http://suzettenaples.hubpages.com/hub/John-Donne-Englands-Great-Metaphysical-Poet

http://suzettenaples.hubpages.com/hub/For-Whom-the-Bell-Tolls-John-Donne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poets

Resources

Watch: MLA for Essays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Y31UrG2q4&list=PL4917D9E21FA6EDFF


Works Cited
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaFcJ3f4fJk&list=PL4917D9E21FA6EDFF


See http://libguides.pstcc.edu/content.php?pid=24540&sid=1751573 and

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-0011.html

Thematic Content & Reading Assignments

Introduction to Reading and Writing about Literature; The Role of Good Reading; The Writing Process (Gardner 1-50)

We meet eight (8) hours a week except where noted. This means you have eight (8) hours of homework as this is a condensed or accelerated class. Good writers are also well read, so you will be doing a lot of out of class reading. Read ahead, read more than what is assigned. For the short stories, students will read 3-4 stories in addition to the ones in Gardner's R&W about Lit. and Lawn's 40 Short Stories. 

We will decide together which novel we want to read as a class or read both (smile).

April 8-10 Short Fiction (Gardner 72) 40 Short Stories (Lawn 545-562).
April 15-17 Spring Break
April 22-24 Short Fiction (Gardner 130; 166) 40 Short Stories (Lawn 504; 514; 439; 484)
April 29-May 1 The Novel (Gardner 72)
May 6-8 Poetry (Gardner 96)
May 13-15 Independent Assignment Presentation
May 20-22

We will have student presentations each week, that is, students will review for the class key elements and theories with examples and exercises. We will also have guests. Students will write an essay in class each week for each genre. The first is dramatic literature.  

Students will also have a corresponding essay assignment for homework.  We will practice the analytical skill in class whenever possible and then students can try it alone at home.

There will be two essays per genre. The final essay is the Independent Assignment where students can select a book or poem to write their final analysis. It can be short fiction, a novel, a poem or a play. Students will present the work the last day of class.

Portfolio Checklist

This checklist can serve as the table of contents. Put a check next to the items to show inclusion in the portfolio. Use as the second page to the portfolio, after the cover sheet. Where there are questions for the section, students can post the answers to the narrative there.

Number the pages with a header.

The portfolio is due between Friday, Dec. 14-Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, 12 noon. Make certain you paste and attach the document. Include the assignment in the subject line: COA Sabir Fall 2012 Portfolio for English 1B Class code: 40009 Lec 09:00-10:50 AM TTh Sabir meets in A 200 at COA: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com

Class Meetings: August 21-Dec. 6; Holidays: 9/3; 11/12; 11/22-25
Final Exam Week: Dec. 10-14 (Portfolios due via e-mail by Dec. 18 12 Noon)


Name ______________________________
Date ______________________________
Class including class code and semester ____________________
Address _______________________________________
Phone number __________________________________
Email address__________________________________


Portfolio Narratives (250 words each, minimally).

1. The fist narrative will look at the 18 week semester, the themes we discussed: immigration, family, assimilation, alienation, genocide, disenfranchisement, colonization, war, violence against women. . . . Talk about what you've learned and discovered about writing, college and life, which have transformed or changed you.

What have you learned about yourself this semester? What have you learned about the discipline you are studying in this class: composition and reading 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. Use two essays as evidence to discuss your revision process. Don’t forget to include it in the works cited page. Use a scholarly source as well to talk about the revision process. I gave you two handouts at the start of class. Also use your grammar style book (Hacker, etc.) There will be at least two sources, perhaps three used for this essay.

Checklist

The checklist will list all the assignments, but you know what they are. Post the entire portfolio for each section. On the checklist include all the assignment grades. I will get the other grades to you before Friday, May 18, so you can update that part of the portfolios. If for some reason there is an outstanding assignment, just include it in the portfolio and note that it needs a grade.

All the essays included in the portfolio should be graded essays: Short Fiction, the Novel (1), The Play, Poetry, Final Essay and Presentation (student choice re: genre).

We will toss the lowest graded essay. Include it.

Presentations:

Group presentations: Poetry and individual on favorite poem and final essay. Please include the abstract for the final essay and for the others your poem and the responses received re: presentation. For group essays: Post the essay and any responses to it.

3. Other Cyber-Assignments. Divide them into freewrites and cyber-essays.

4. Extra credit. If you have written any essays this semester for extra credit they would go in this section. If you'd like to include a graded essay from another discipline you can. Include the assignment as well.

5. For all the Cyber-Assignments already included with essay portfolios, do not post them twice. This list of assignments is just a list of all that you have completed (or missed). Just a brief description of the assignment is enough.

6. After the Cyber-Assignments, type any in-class writings, such as freewrites or group work and include it here under: Freewrites and Class Assignments

7. Evaluation and Extra Credit


Essay PORTFOLIOS

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD  Essay Unit
Planning________
Outline_______
Peer Review_______
Graded Drafts (How many? What were the grades? ____________
Correction essays or narratives (How many?) _______________
Cyber-Assignments (How many?) _________
Group work___________
Peer Comments__________


GIRL IN TRANSLATION Essay Unit
Planning________
Outline_______
Peer Review_______
Graded Drafts (How many? What were the grades? ______________
Correction essays or narratives (How many?) _______________
Cyber-Assignments (How many?) _________
Group work___________
Peer Comments__________



DANCE BOOTS/Short Fiction Essay Unit
Planning________
Outline_______
Peer Review_______
Graded Drafts (How many? What were the grades? _________________
Correction essays or narratives (How many?) _______________
Cyber-Assignments (How many?) _________
Group work___________
Peer Comments__________


POETRY Unit
Poetry Related Cyber Assignments________Peer Comments_________

GUEST ARTIST: CHARLES BLACKWELL______________ (present)
Reflections and poetry writing______________

POETRY Essay Unit PresentationShare the poem(s) and your analysis____________


PERSEPOLIS Essay Unit
Planning________
Outline_______
Grade on Essay_______
Revisions _________ How many?
Revision Grade________
Narratives __________


Independent Project
Planning________
Outline_______
Abstract________
Grade on Essay_______
Grade on Presentation _________
Peer Comments_________ (how many?)


Freewrites: (Any in-class freewrites not posted on the blog, type and put in this section. How many? _________


Semester Cyber-assignments: These are any cyber-assignments not already posted with the other units. Don't post an assignment twice. How many? __________


Extra Credit Essay: Students can turn in a graded essay from another course if the other teacher doesn’t mind. It has to use research and MLA style documentation, so certain courses are not applicable.

Anything else?__________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________


Teacher research
Can I use your work in presentations and publications? Would you like to be anonymous? If I plan on using your essays or work in a book, I will let you know and share any proceeds.

Yes, I agree.
No, do not use my work.


Final Grade

Portfolio checklist _____________
Portfolio Essay 1_______________
Portfolio Essay 2_______________
Portfolio Grade_________

Course Grade_________

Final

I changed my mind. Bring a copy of your final essay to class on the day of the final to leave with me. Include the Initial Planning Sheet and outline. I will email you a grade by Thursday. Include the grade with the essay in the portfolio.

Prepare an abstract for the presentation. Bring one copy per student. I think 10 copies should be enough. Post the abstract here as well.

Our final is Tuesday, Dec. 11, 8-10 AM. We will meet in A-200. If anyone wants to coordinate a potluck brunch/breakfast let me know.

For guidelines for writing an abstract here is a link: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/
An abstract is a concise or brief summary of the key ideas you plan to present.

Yesterday in class we read all of the Persepolis essays, which were for the most part outstanding, especially those students who revised essays read last week. There was a marked improvement.

We will have a final next week. The date is Tuesday, Dec. 11, 8-10 AM. I will host a portfolio assembly workshop on Monday, Dec. 10, 9-12 and 1-3 in A-205. Drop by with your work and I will look it over.

We looked at portfolios. Tomorrow we will work on Portfolio Narratives and Revisions of essays. Bring your Independent Topic Essay to class tomorrow for a peer conference.

Today the class was small (3). We read John's paper and then students worked on either writing the Persepolis paper, revisions, or writing the Independent Research paper which is due next week. The presentation is next Thursday. Here is a link on the elements of a comic strip: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_comic_strip_unit_called

Also in Hacker, Seventh Edition, see page 83: Guidelines for Analyzing a Text: "Visual Texts."

Tuesday bring in the Initial Planning Sheet, outline and 3-5 sources in MLA. The final draft isn't due until Dec. 14-18, 12 noon. (This a flexible due date period.)

For Thursday, students will present their research for discussion and critique. After the presentation all students will comment on what worked best in the presentation (cyber-assignment). The presenters will all have to submit a self-reflection on what worked well, what he or she learned from the experience and anything they will change in future presentations.

Make the presentation interactive. You can use film, music, posters, PowerPoint, etc. Keep the presentation to 5-10 minutes. 

All presenters will give classmates an abstract which lays out the argument, a brief summary of key points and anything else we need to know. For examples of abstracts visit the librarian and ask for assistance. You can also see: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/

If you want me to make a copy of your abstract, give it to me Tuesday. We will share abstracts and you can print a copy for me in class.

All papers which did not receive a passing grade should be resubmitted by Friday, no later than Monday, Dec. 3.

Note:
I spoke to choreographer, Alonzo King about your reading his program note. He was pleased and asked what you thought about it (smile).

Persepolis Cyber-Assignment

Today we developed thesis sentences for Persepolis using the 3-part thesis form. Post your thesis sentences here.

Although the novel Persepolis by Marjane Sarapi uses graphic to tell her story, once inside the novel one loses oneself in the "colorful" illustrations often wishing for a more traditional narrative style, because the form interferes with one's ability to ignore or forget the perils and tragedy of Marji's war.

Although Iranian heroine Marji begins her story with a certain naivete, son she comes to realize neither God nor Uncle Anoosh or Grandmother is going to save her, she has to save herself, because Persepolis is falling.

We then took one of the thesis sentences and developed a 3-part essay: thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Post this here as well.

Lastly, we read aloud another student essay. Bring your Persepolis essay to class on Thursday to share with the class. Bring a paper copy--I want to make copies for your classmates.

Make sure you include the outline and the Initial Planning Sheet.

Persepolis

Homework was to read Persepolis up to "The Soup." Today we will talk about themes.

In class locate three sources: a book review, a scholarly article from the COA Library Database, and an article about the author. Suggestion, choose an article that looks at the genre "graphic fiction" or "the graphic novel."

Put in MLA format. Call me over to see the list once completed, then post. We will share sources today.

Homework for Nov. 27: Complete the book Persepolis and bring in three essay questions. Use the three-part thesis format (handout).

Happy Holidays!

Poetry Unit Continued

Today we shared poetry which spoke to various elements identified in Writing about Literature. Each students shared a poem or two or three. Most used other sources, although John took his from Indivisible. The comments on were insightful as we listened or read aloud.

I shared poetry from Indivisible as well, a few poets whose work I like, such as M. Hajratwala's Angerfish (46-50); and his Miss Indo-American dreams (51); Generica (52) and America (52-53); Chitra B.D.'s Yuba City School (54-56; Indian Movie, New Jersey; Sejal Shah's Everybody's Greatest Hits (62-63); Independence, Iowa (64-65); Maya Khosla's Oppenheimer quotes The Bhagavad Gita is also great (16-17). I like all her work. Tanuja Mehotra's Song for New Orleans is interesting (25-29); Sasha Kamini Parmasad's Burning (91-92); Ro Gunetilleke's Spirited Away (100-101); Amitava Kumar's Mistaken Identity (102-105) and Against Nostalgia (106-110); Sachin B. Patel's In the Business of Erasing History (111-112); and his The Blacktop Gospels (112-116); Busra Rehman's At the Museum of Natural History (118-119) and The Difference (119); Shailja Patel's Shilling Love (120-124); and his Love Poem for London (128); Sudeep Sen's Jacket on a Chair (131-132); Aimee's Fishbone (134-135).

I stop at Faisal Mohyddin.

Bring your book Indivisible to class on Thursday. Also bring Persepolis.

Poetry Circle Today postponed

We will have our poetry circle next week, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. Bring your poem(s) in to share that illustrate the concepts mentioned in Writing about Literature: Speaker, Listener, Sound and Sense, Form, etc.

Develop an activity based on one (1) of the elements you can share with the class. It can be a quiz or a writing exercise. Be creative. Keep the activity short (5-10 min.). You will give me a copy of your presentation.

Indivisible is a resource you can use for examples, if you like.

For the activities, make enough copies for everyone.

Watch the film: Persepolis. It is in the Oakland Public Library (multiple branches).

Work on your independent project.


Don't forget to VOTE!

Cyber-Assignment from Indivisible

Post the short essay response here from Indivisible (250-500 words). Chose a poem and using explication, talk about the poem: form, content, themes. State at the start of the essay, what you plan to explore in the poem, that is, the question or thesis.

This is a graded assignment.

Howl by Allen Ginsberg

FreewriteRespond in 3 paragraphs minimally.  Look at Writing about Literature (82-87).

Grab a line or a theme, a character or a concept. Look at the form and how it serves the theme or topic. Discuss Ginsberg's Howl. Why was it banned? What was so controversial about it?

Look at the language and imagery. Talk about poetic devices.

Howl
http://www.openculture.com/2012/06/allen_ginsberg_reads_his_beat_classic_poem_howl.html

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15308 (text of poem)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl


Here are other Ginsberg poems:

Sunflower Sutra
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/ginsberg/onlinepoems.htm

► 6:27► 6:27

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A_tDB7t5eg

America
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/america.html



America I've given you all and now I'm nothing.
America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956.
I can't stand my own mind.
America when will we end the human war?
Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb
I don't feel good don't bother me.
I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind.
America when will you be angelic?
When will you take off your clothes?
When will you look at yourself through the grave?
When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites?
America why are your libraries full of tears?
America when will you send your eggs to India?
I'm sick of your insane demands.
When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks?
America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world.
Your machinery is too much for me.
You made me want to be a saint.
There must be some other way to settle this argument.
Burroughs is in Tangiers I don't think he'll come back it's sinister.
Are you being sinister or is this some form of practical joke?
I'm trying to come to the point.
I refuse to give up my obsession.
America stop pushing I know what I'm doing.
America the plum blossoms are falling.
I haven't read the newspapers for months, everyday somebody goes on trial for
murder.
America I feel sentimental about the Wobblies.
America I used to be a communist when I was a kid and I'm not sorry.
I smoke marijuana every chance I get.
I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet.
When I go to Chinatown I get drunk and never get laid.
My mind is made up there's going to be trouble.
You should have seen me reading Marx.
My psychoanalyst thinks I'm perfectly right.
I won't say the Lord's Prayer.
I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations.
America I still haven't told you what you did to Uncle Max after he came over
from Russia.
I'm addressing you.
Are you going to let our emotional life be run by Time Magazine?
I'm obsessed by Time Magazine.
I read it every week.
Its cover stares at me every time I slink past the corner candystore.
I read it in the basement of the Berkeley Public Library.
It's always telling me about responsibility. Businessmen are serious. Movie
producers are serious. Everybody's serious but me.
It occurs to me that I am America.
I am talking to myself again.
Asia is rising against me.
I haven't got a chinaman's chance.
I'd better consider my national resources.
My national resources consist of two joints of marijuana millions of genitals
an unpublishable private literature that goes 1400 miles and hour and
twentyfivethousand mental institutions.
I say nothing about my prisons nor the millions of underprivileged who live in
my flowerpots under the light of five hundred suns.
I have abolished the whorehouses of France, Tangiers is the next to go.
My ambition is to be President despite the fact that I'm a Catholic.
America how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood?
I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as individual as his
automobiles more so they're all different sexes
America I will sell you strophes $2500 apiece $500 down on your old strophe
America free Tom Mooney
America save the Spanish Loyalists
America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die
America I am the Scottsboro boys.
America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they
sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the
speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the
workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party
was in 1935 Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch Mother
Bloor made me cry I once saw Israel Amter plain. Everybody must have
been a spy.
America you don're really want to go to war.
America it's them bad Russians.
Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians.
The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia's power mad. She wants to take
our cars from out our garages.
Her wants to grab Chicago. Her needs a Red Reader's Digest. her wants our
auto plants in Siberia. Him big bureaucracy running our fillingstations.
That no good. Ugh. Him makes Indians learn read. Him need big black niggers.
Hah. Her make us all work sixteen hours a day. Help.
America this is quite serious.
America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set.
America is this correct?
I'd better get right down to the job.
It's true I don't want to join the Army or turn lathes in precision parts
factories, I'm nearsighted and psychopathic anyway.
America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.

1. Grade Narratives for Short Story Essay

2. Poetry Reading, Sharing

3. Poetry Group Projects

4. Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 Guest -- Charles Blackwell

5. Independent Essay

6. Questions?

Art as Life

Today we read Alonzo King's essay introducing his current season "Shadow Dispersing Clarity," (17, 19, 21). See http://www.linesballet.org/company/alonzo-king/ The essay was originally published in the Spring, 2011, Mission at Tenth, Vol. 2: The Hieroglyph Issue, a publication of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

Homework is to identify an argument or several arguments and engage his views in a short essay. Tie this into, if you can, the film, Women Art Revolution. I think both King, choreographer, and Lynn Hershman Leeson, director, agree--how does art make us more authentically human? How does art make one visible, especially the women profiled in WAR?

How does art act as a vehicle for one's truth to both move and engage others, whom King says are just aspects of self?

If you do not want to combine the conversations, leave them separate, and respond separately to each in 250 words. See http://womenartrevolution.com/about_filmmakers.php

Before you start, visit the websites and read about the artists in question. Also read the essay, which I have given you.

Email these responses to me and paste here. I'd everyone to respond to at least one post.

Short Story Essay Assignment & Updated Essay Assignment Due Dates English 1B

Tuesday, October 23, 2012, students will write their short story analysis essay. Bring in a short story of your choice—I made recommendations last week, and prepare to write a three page essay during class.  Bring in an outline and any notes plus the story. You will submit this as well.

Email the essay to me: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com

Note the new assignment dates:

Homework:

1. Read the section in Writing about Literature on poetry as well as the introduction to Indivisible by Tuesday, Nov. 6. We reviewed the chapter in class last week, Thursday, October 18. Bring the anthology to class next week as well.

2. Start reading your book for the independent essay assignment.

3. Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8faRwFvqLHU

Optional:
To listen to an interview I conducted with two editors visit: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2011/04/01/wandas-picks

Thursday, Nov. 1, come on time. I am going to see if I can get Charles Blackwell or Mary Rudge to come to class this Thursday or next Tuesday to talk about poetry and lead a writing workshop for us.

We will spend next Tuesday and Thursday on the Poetry Unit, and come back to Persepolis. There will be a group poetry presentation on Tuesday, Nov. 13. The poetry essay will be written in class on Thursday, Nov. 15. You will have an hour and a half or 90 minutes to write a 2-3 page or 500-750 word analytical essay. After the essay is written, students will read other student essays and respond in a narrative grade. Both will be emailed to me.

Nov. 20 we will talk about Persepolis and watch the film. Start reading it Nov. 15. We will explore themes and topics Nov. 20. Complete the book by Nov. 27. The essay is due Nov. 29 for a peer review. The essay is due the same day.

Final essay:
Initial Planning Sheet and outline due, Dec. 4. We will review the portfolio today.

Essay presentations, Dec. 6. The final portfolio is due electronically Dec. 14, 2012 by 12 noon.  Send to coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com Make sure you send it correctly. Look for my response as well.

Grace Paley: Collected Shorts (a film)

Today we watched a film about Grace Paley www.gracepaleythefilm.com

At the library orientation students were told about various literary databases. Use at least one of them to get more information about Paley.

Homework is also to visit the film website. Read about the film and the director. Respond to the following questions in 500 words (2 typed pages). Bring a copy of the essay to class. Also bring in a Paley short story or a poem or two, maybe three to share Tuesday.

Essay assignment due at next meeting:

Who is/was Grace Paley? How did she integrate writing and activism: the writer as social change agent? Use examples from the film and from one scholarly article about the writer. Use the COA library database. Sot there are three sources: Grace Paley: Collected Shorts, directed by Lilly Rivlin, one scholarly article, and your Paley poem or story.

If you missed the film you can still complete the assignment. You'll just have to do a bit more reading about the writer and her work.

Homework is to visit the film website. Read about the film and the director. Respond to the following question in 500 words (2 typed pages). Along with your paper, bring in a Paley short story or a poem or two, maybe three. We will share out loud, so if you get nervous, practice in advance.

Today we spent the class reflecting on the characters. I call them "Femme Fatale or Heroines," not that one character cannot encompass both. This is a continuation of the conversation we had Tuesday.

Many students are behind, so it's hard to have a conversation when most of the class has not read the material. We will continue the Writing Workshop on Tuesday.

If writing is a process, this means that each writing task is an opportunity to improve. None of the students in this class come to my office hour, which I presume means that everything is going well (smile). If there is confusion, we can definitely clarify issues and concerns there. We can also go over essays in greater detail. Students can take any position on a topic they like, I do not have to agree. All I am looking for in the writing is clarity and specificity--be clear and use details. Let the characters speak, especially when it is something negative about another character.

The MLA should be perfect. This is the second transfer level course. If you do not remember how to set up you paper, we reviewed this repeatedly in August and part of September. Buy a Writing Style book and read it. I recommend Diana Hacker's Rules for Writers.

If you are attending Hamlet on Thursday, October 18, 1:30 PM, I need the $20 on Tuesday. I have to pay for all the tickets in advance to reserve our seats. Visit http://www.calshakes.org/v4/ourplays/2012_Hamlet.html

We decided to move the next paper, The Dance Boots to October 23. Bring in a completed essay. Students will grade each other paper with a narrative.

Dance Boots Query or Questions to think about from Tuesday, February 21, 2012

A Few Questions
Today we met in A-232 again. We will meet here for the rest of the semester unless someone reserves the room (smile). I passed out a lot of handouts to help students with "Invention" strategies which is the technical term for developing ideas to write about.

We listed topics or themes on the board after practicing mapping the word: "abuse." We also looked at a sample outline, one a handout, the other one I wrote on the board. Each assigned essay needs to include: a completed Initial Planning Sheet, an outline and a peer review using Microsoft comment and including a response to a set of questions (another handout).

In Writing about Literature we looked at Feminist Criticism as a lens to use when discussing this first book. Step out on a limb and try something new with this first essay. It might not work, but perhaps the experience will prove instructive (smile).

Again, I suggest students find a motif, a theme and follow it across the terrain of a few stories or a symbol and look for deeper meaning as you note the style, tone and imagery the author uses, along with characters to explore a specific theme or an overriding theme or thesis you set out to prove
Is the author telling the same story over and over again through a variety of lens? How adept is she at portraying male characters? Are there any male characters who are more symbol than flesh and blood? What is the point of this creation?

How many main characters are there in The Dance Boots? How many stories are there? What makes one story or character unique? What character(s) make you want to know more? Does the author deliver?

How is The Dance Boots a hero's story? Who are the heroes or heroines? Is the hero or heroine without flaws? What good is their super power, if they can't protect themselves from the enemy or if the hero cannot even save its young?

What do you think about Stan when his back story is revealed? Louis? Other characters who have such promise as children and then life happens and this potential is stifled, interrupted, killed or maimed.

Is there any hope offered in The Dance Boots? What is this hope? Who holds it? Who embodies it? Are there any characters who disappoint the reader with their choices? Are their any who blow their chances at a better life or is this a dream rather than a reality?

Linguistically and perhaps culturally The Dance Boots only allows readers so much access. How does this effect one's reading of the text and its interpretation? Is access difficult? Let's say LeGarde Grover intends to make her audience work, what are the benefits and/or disadvantages of an uneasy or inaccessible work?

Is mystery one of the residual outcomes? Are questions another outcome? What are your questions? Do you raise them when the answers are not evident or do you raise them and then locate the answers? Are unanswered questions okay?

To what end?

As an outsider looking in, what does this distance between the reader and the work allow to happen in the eventual interpretation of the work.

When one writes a book that has a historic context, does the reader feel compelled to do research into the era or time period? What happens when readers resist? Is the reading then shallow?

Homework

Read in Writing about Literature the section on Feminist Critique. Bring in a completed Initial Planning Sheet and an outline. Look at outlines in Hacker under "The Writing Process."

Freewrite: Ain't I a Woman

We listened to Avery Sharpe's Sojourner Truth "ain't I a woman?"  Visit http://averysharpe.com/
http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/truth.htm

1797-1883

Aint I a woman?

A found poem from Sojourner Truth's most famous speech, adapted into poetic form by Erlene Stetson click here to see the full text of the speech, in non-poem format.

That man over there say

a woman needs to be helped into carriages

and lifted over ditches

and to have the best place everywhere.

Nobody ever helped me into carriages

or over mud puddles

or gives me a best place. . .


And ain't I a woman?

Look at me

Look at my arm!

I have plowed and planted

and gathered into barns

and no man could head me. . .

And ain't I a woman?

I could work as much

and eat as much as a man--

when I could get to it--

and bear the lash as well

and ain't I a woman?

I have born 13 children

and seen most all sold into slavery

and when I cried out a mother's grief

none but Jesus heard me. . .

and ain't I a woman?

that little man in black there say

a woman can't have as much rights as a man

cause Christ wasn't a woman

Where did your Christ come from?

From God and a woman!

Man had nothing to do with him!

If the first woman God ever made

was strong enough to turn the world

upside down, all alone

together women ought to be able to turn it

rightside up again.


A Biography of Truth, from Stamp on Black History collection.

The Truth Memorial statue page

From a Women's Studies collection


(The following is quoted from an editor's note in the anthology where this poem is found)

"There is no exact copy of this speech given at the Women's rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1852. The speech is adapted to the poetic format by Erelene Stetson from the copy found in Sojurner, God's Faithful Pilgrim by Arthur Huff Fauset, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1938)."

The poem and note, along with other great women's poems, can be found in Ain't I a Woman: A Book of Women's Poetry from Around The World, Illona Linthwaite, Editor. New York: Wing Books, 1993, page 129.

Here is another link referencing the speech and its author: http://www.kyphilom.com/www/truth.html

Sherman Alexie on Forum Cyber-Assignment

1. We start the day listening to author Sherman Alexie speaking to Michael Krasney on Forum yesterday: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201210031000 

http://www.fallsapart.com/ (author's website)

Reflect on the interview, especially what he says about identity. Many of the characters we are meeting in The Dance Boots struggle with identity. What is identity per Alexie? Do you agree? Use characters we have met in The Dance Boots as a part of the discourse with Alexie.

What about his comments on colonialism? Talk about the boarding school phenomena.  Where does this fit into the equation? Reservations . . . poverty . . .  disenfranchisement. . . .

Respond in about three paragraphs and then comment on a classmate's post.

2. Literature Circles.You have a lot to talk about.

3. For homework, reflect on the themes in three separate stories you've read so far. Talk about 1-3 more compelling characters. Reflect on 1-3 scenes that perplex you or that you needed more information about.
Post here.

Today we watched the film, directed by Anne Makepeace, We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân. Visit www.makepeaceproductions.org

Synopsis from the website:

Âs Nutayuneân tells a remarkable story of cultural revival by the Wampanoag of Southeastern Massachusetts. Their ancestors ensured the survival of the Pilgrims in New England, and lived to regret it. Now they are bringing their language home again.

I find the study of language and culture fascinating. Can one participate in one's cultural reality if one lacks linguistic access? How do we speak about what we know, how do we know what we know and what others in our ethnic group knew or found valuable if we have no way to communicate with them via artifacts left or living history in the elders?

Is such a person culturally inept forever? What happens when languages disappear but the people don't, as is the case in so many indigenous communities?

When we read The Dance Boots, Linda LeGarde Grover uses indigenous language in the dialogue characters speak. Note how this language which we are not conversant in adds to the fullness of said characters who like the Wampanaog people were robbed of their culture.

Think about what the narrator says about converted Wampanaog, "I am pitiful. I loath myself." Why is there so much alcohol or substance abuse in such communities--colonized, assimilated, traumatized people?When I was in JHB, South Africa, I saw so many ads for alcohol and encountered so many inebriated adults, healers and medicine men, who were drunk on the job. South Africa, like America, was stolen from its people.

Essay Assignment

In a 250-500 word essay, look at a theme such as language and culture and discuss how its presence or absence affects a community either positively or negatively. Introduce the film in the introduction and then state your thesis after a brief summary. The essay should be minimally three paragraphs. How are Jesse and Artense similar?

How is film a great storytelling medium. How well does the director tell the story. Does her personal involvement in the story affect the product or enhance it?

What questions does the film raise which are perhaps unanswered? Are there references you are unaware of? If so, look them up and list them here in your response to the film.

 Link to my interview with director: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2012/01/27/wandas-picks

Homework: Respond to a classmate's essay and extend and expand the discourse.