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:

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.

Epilogue. . . Ten Years after That Reflection

Post your reflections on ten years after Kimberly "took a breath, got off the bed and opened the door" (Kwok 303).

Respond to a classmate's post too.

Homework

Finish the book.

Bring in 6-7 essay questions, one or two per concept, related to literary concepts: Plot, Theme, Characters, Point of View or who's telling the story, Setting, Symbolism.

Bring the questions in electronically and print a set when you arrive and post them (smile).

We'll write a short essay in class, one individually as a freewrite and one as a group.

Lecture: Kimberly as super hero. Writing from a feminist perspective.

Notes: Immigration as a theme. Matt as antithesis or antihero or is he? How does choice effect Kim's life and its overall outcome? Is happiness or even a realistic goal? Is Kim's mother selfish?

Information Literacy for Changing Audiences

Cyber-Freewrite

Recap, review and reflect on research. Why is research important in this information saturated age? How does research or weighing one's options help scholars develop cogent theories? is research just limited to the academy? What specifically did the librarian share with you today that you didn't know? what was different from other orientations you've attended in the past here or elsewhere? What if anything did he leave out?

Visit the librarian, Steve Gerstle's webpage at the College of Alameda (peralta.cc.ca.edu).

Cyber-Assignments, In-class and for homework

Today in class I reviewed each essay before students sent the assignment to me to make sure it was correct. Some students came in later and missed this long process (smile). If you got to class afterward, ask a classmate to show you theirs before you send your assignment into me.

We then got into "Lit Circles" to discuss Girl in Translation.

The in-class Cyber-Assignment is to look at themes in GIT and write a three paragraph-essay about it. use 3-citations, one per paragraph. Post here and respond to a classmate's post (group post).

Homework

1. Read chapters 6, 7, 8 (up to page 182).

2. Cyber-Assignment: The book lends itself to a hero's journey. Imagine Kimberly with her cape and sword.

What is her kryptonite(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptonite)? Are there villains and other heroes in the story? Who is the love interest? What challenges does Kimberly face of her own creation and that of others like her aunt and her teacher(s), her mother, American of western cultural values vs. Chinese or eastern culture?

Reflect on Kimberly as the flawed heroine in three paragraphs. Respond to a classmate's analysis.

As an aside think about how character development in a novel differ from that in a short story? Don't forget to respond to Tuesday's cyber-assignment re: review and reading the author's website for background information. I had an interview with Jean Kwok. I will post a link here later. It was on my radio show when she was on a book tour: wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org or blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks

Peer Reviews, Girl in Translation

Essays are due Thursday, Sept. 22. Bring them in electronically already set up to email. Students will email them to me from class.

Homework is to read chapters 4-5. The discussion was really sparse, really sparse. Only a few students shared passages from the book. Makes me think students didn't read the book (hum).

Come to class prepared Thursday.

Cyber-Assignments

1. Post a reflection on the peer review process from the point of view of the recipient and the advisor. What did you enjoy about the process? What did you gain? What did you learn about yourself? What will you do differently next time you have such an opportunity?

2. Secondly, students are to find a published review for Girl in Translation and review the author's website. Read the review and post a response. How doe Kwok's life experience inform her material?

Try out the COA Library Database (smile). There is more to research than google.com

Essay Assignment

1. Discussion: Essay 1, Short Fiction

What is the question your essay will answer?

2. Composition

3. Homework: Bring in the completed essay to class Tuesday electronically. Bring in Girl in Translation. Read up to page 63. Students can always read ahead. Write a reading log with character descriptions, a short summary per chapter, any questions.

We meet here.

Future calendar items: On Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, 9 AM we will meet in the library, behind the reference desk for an orientation with Professor Steve Gerstle.

Cyber-Assignment

Post your reflection on the poem: "A Moment of Silence" here. Today we started in C-212 and ended up in A-232. There were quite a few trees felled (smile). Handouts galore: 3-Part Thesis, various invention worksheets, and Questions for Discussing Essays.

Homework is to bring in a completed Initial Planning Sheet and an outline, which should include a thesis.

Students are to chose one story or look at a device across the landscape of multiple stories for the essay we will start on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011. The essay will use one citation per page: 1 free paraphrase, 1 block quote and 1 shorter citation. The fourth or last page is the works cited. If the essay is longer than 3 pages then the writer can use more citations.

Students should review literary devices associated with fiction like plot, character, point of view or narrator, diction, imagery, setting, theme (smile). The stories chosen should be ones we haven't written about already, although if one is looking at a character across multiple landscapes then of course one can reference earlier stories.

Students are to bring in a completed or polished essay Tuesday for a peer review in class. After the peer review, students will email the entire portfolio to me. It will include: The polished draft, the peer review, the initial planning sheet, and the outline, oh and all the cyber-assignments associated with The Dance Boots. Students can compile these assignments. All of these documents will be submitted in a word document.

There is a Pow Wow at Evergreen College this weekend, Sept.17, 2011. I'll post more later.

Homework Recap and Cyber-Assignment (smile)

Today students discussed "Refugees Living and Dying" and "Shonnud's Girl" (59 and 77). In class students are to post a three paragraph response to a story (1).

Today's homework is to write a response to "Ojibwe Boys." Tuesday students will have an opportunity to discuss the entire work and talk about essay ideas.

Handouts: Intial Planning Sheet, OWL guide to Thesis Sentences, Literature Circles.

One of your classmates, Tia is reading poetry this weekend at Webster Street Jam Festival at 10 AM. It is the festival's 10th anniversary. She was invited by Alameda's Poet Laureate Mary Rudge.

Free Write: September 11, Ten Years later

We'll listen to Michael Jackson's song, "Heal the World."

For a while when September 11, rolled around people asked, where were you? I don't think any of us have ever forgotten. Seated among us are many young men and women who have been overseas fighting a war begun by President George W. Bush after 9/11.

President Saddam Hussein is gone--a literal off with his head. President Obama got Osama bin Laden, but without a body who's to say that was really him. The man eluded us for years. One hung the other shot and buried at sea.

With the "bad guys" gone, why is peace seemingly farther away that before? Is the sun rising in the west? Have I been praying in the wrong direction, is that how I missed the rising sun and its brilliant decline all these turbulent days since?

So what are your thoughts? How can we as Jackson sings, "Heal the world? Make is a better place for you and me and the entire human race?"

Post your responses here.

The plan for today is:

1. Freewrite

2. Review thesis sentence development

3. Group discussions on two stories by stories

4. Write essay 3-4 paragraph essays. Post and email them to me.

5. Homework is already stated below.

6. Extra credit: If anyone attends an art event this weekend around the commemoration of Sept. 11 and writes about it (250 words min), you can have extra credit.

Email me the extra credit assignment and post your short essays here as well. If you take photos, send them to me too.

I am still working on the annotated assignment list. I haven't forgotten. So far, most of the writing looks good. The MLA is sloppy and as advanced students, one has to do a better proofreading job.

Assignments and Cyber-Assignment on "Maggie and Louis"

Post the short essay taking its topic from "Maggie and Louis." We will complete the book this week and write an essay next week.

In class today, in small groups students looked at the story "Maggie and Louis" and discussed the elements one looks at when discussing literature from Writing about Literature. We also read a published student essay.

Some students were able to complete the essay from Dance Boots, others were not. For the collaborative essay on "Maggie and Louis," put all the names in the heading.

The essay was to look at one of the elements and write a compelling essay (Gardner 57-60). Each paragraph needs to use a citation: short quote, block quote and free paraphrase (not necessarily in that order.)

Post the essay here. Do not forget the works cited.

For Thursday, students are to read the next two stories and as a freewrite, students have a choice whether to respond to "Refugees Living and Dying" or "Shonnud's Girl" (59 or 77).

We reviewed chapters 3 and 4 in Writing about Literature (43 and 57). Purchase the book on-line by next week. Next week we will start Girl Interrupted and I will give you a more detailed assignment schedule as well by then, if not sooner.

Students can read ahead in Dance Boots. Thursday's homework will be to write a response to "Ojibwe Boys." Tuesday students will have an opportunity to discuss the entire work and talk about essay ideas.

Essay 1 on short fiction is due next Thursday for a peer review. The final draft is due either Friday or the following Monday by 12 noon. We can talk about this.

Freewrite Reflection on The Role of Good Reading

Today we met for the first time in A-232. We will meet here on Thursdays for the entire semester.

1. The cyber-assignment has to do with the premise that good reading is necessary to good writing (smile).

Write a 250 word response (3 paragraphs) to Writing about Literature:Introduction The Role of Good Reading (1-15). Please include a citation per paragraph (3).

One citation should be a paraphrase, another a short quote, the third or last a block quote (4 or more lines). See Hacker 424-425).

Don't forget to include a works cited page, that your MLA is perfect for the page set up, that is heading and header, margins, and in-text references (page numbers).

2. Students will email themselves a copy of the post. Make sure you paste and attach it and copy me: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com

3. Analyzing fiction (Chapter 4 pages 57-60; 77-81). Literary Criticism and Literay Theory (143-)

4. "3 Seasons" --Discussion.

5 Homework: Write a response to the story (250). Use three citations, one per paragraph.