Syllabus Letter

22 January 2012


Dear Students:

I am still on South Africa time waking at two and four in the morning. The time difference is about 10 hours between here and there. It was great when I needed a bit more time to complete something, I could go to bed and wake up in the same day—different time zone. I got up today at 4 a.m. went to sleep yesterday about six or seven in the evening. Today is my granddaughter’s birthday. She is nine. Her mother is a graduate of COA: psychology, with a BS in psychology and women’s studies from Cal State East Bay (2011).

This morning I completed a wonderful book, might I say, a mighty work (smile), entitled, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, A Memoir, by Leyman Gbowee with Carol Mithers.

When I watched the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker, produced by Abigail E. Disney, I marveled over the courage of the Liberian women to defeat the Charles Taylor war machine with prayer and nonviolent resistance. The women assembled along the road where the president’s caravan passed twice daily. Dressed in plain white garments, these women, from the city, from the countryside, rural women, educated and uneducated women, Christian and Muslim women, women who called on the ancient indigenous spirits and goddesses, sat or stood together in the oppressive heat and in the summer storms getting wet and growing dark and weak as they became the key voice for peace in a country that was violently spinning out of control. The film is on-line at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/full-episodes/pray-the-devil-back-to-hell/ There are also links to other films in the series: Women, War and Peace, as well as to interviews with Ms. Gbowee.

Unlike her memoir, the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, is a heroines’ story, the story of a nation which is confronted by its most vulnerable population, its women. It is a story, Liberia’s quest for peace is a story, a story which ends as it begins. The film could be a miniseries; the culminating event is not the end, rather the beginning, which we’d never know unless we read 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Gbowee’s tale of triumph and personal sacrifice. I am happy Abigail Disney told me about the memoir when we last spoke in a radio interview—what a wonderful journey is has been this weekend. I am just disappointed I wasn’t able to meet Ms. Gbowee when she was here on tour last year.

I bought the book at the college book store Thursday where I have it listed as required. I assigned it for my English 1A class, along with Half the Sky, the Pulitzer Prize winning book from the married team, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Students either hate the book or love it. I never know what to expect from Spring semester to Spring semester over the past three years. One criticism is the formulaic nature of the book and the fact that men are not key characters and when they are, they are often the villains.

I assigned this book after seeing the authors and a woman profiled in Half the Sky on Oprah. You can imagine my great surprise when a student told me its authors were hosting a global event for International Women’s Day in theatres throughout the country. We attended of course. Locally our event was in Emeryville. Students bought tickets and I got some free ones from a sponsoring organization in San Francisco and we went. Students said they found the film and discussion inspiring.

We will start with Gbowee and then shift into the Kristof WuDunn land where all women are suffering— Yes, it would be depressing without evidence of triumph. Gbowee’s success is not singular, that is why her story is so remarkable. However, Half the Sky is unable to go into such depth, this is why we are reading her story first.

Students in English 1A will look for a woman entrepreneur in Northern California to profile in an essay. Students will also chose a book about the woman entrepreneur or a book by a woman to write an essay exploring the memoir, autobiography or novel’s themes and topics as relates to women’s empowerment or peace. These are the major essays for English 1A. We will write a series of short essays and post on the blog, these cyber-assignments will often start in class. All cyber-assignment are interactive and students have to respond to minimally 1-3 students posts for credit for the assignment. The first cyber assignment is a response to this letter, the second is a response to the syllabus. The second response includes a private response to me. My email addresses are: coasabirenglish201@gmail.com, coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com, coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com, coasabirenglish5@gmail.com

I love memoirs and autobiographies that cover political, social and historic movements, like this one does. The Warmth of Other Suns does a similar job, except Isabel Wilkerson didn’t live it, as Gbowee does. A short book, just under 250 pages, Gbowee’s work addressed in the award winning film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, doesn’t start until the book is nearly two thirds finished. I thought of all the murder mysteries I love where the crime is solved in the last ten pages; was this one of those reads?

Each Spring in honor of Women’s History Month in March, I have used women’s issues as the theme for the semester. So here we are again. In English 5 we are looking more are the criminalization of a population in California and in America, poor people of color, more specifically black people. California incarcerates more youth as adults than any other state and more women. I am concerned about this. I am a member of an organization called, California Coalition for Women Prisoners. We are an advocacy organization. I serve on its board.

Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, looks at the criminalization of a population and how this tale is not new when one looks at the historic Jim Crow polices of America’s south, instituted at the end of enslavement of an entire race for four centuries. Cornell West’s forward to the paperback edition is quite provocative as he raises questions and issues you might not be familiar with. As English 5 meets for 1 hour and 15 minutes. We will have to do a lot of preparation at home and come to class ready to talk and discuss what we have read, the theories we have explored in our text book or in other readings I will supply on other argument forms: Toulmin and Aristotelian. Writing Logically, Thinking Critically only uses the Rogerian argumentative form.

We will write four arguments using these forms. The last argument, which takes its theme from Alexander, will be an opportunity for a student to craft an argument using one of the three explored. There might be an opportunity for the “super students” to craft an argument taking on a topic they disagree with arguing its merits. Since this is an election year, it will be fun analyzing campaign speeches, looking for examples of logical fallacies or flawed logic in ads, op eds and other media.

All arguments are both written and oral. Students will present their written arguments for critique. Each of three arguments will take their topic from one of the texts. We will start with Yummy, then move to Mosely, and end with Alexander. Alexander is a hard read, so if you are a slow reader, start it early.

We are leaving Alexander for last, as I’d like to get through much of Writing Logically, along with its exercises, before we start the book. I love Walter Mosely’s work. He is one of my favorite writers since the Easy Rawlins’ series of detective novels, to his science fiction work, and lately his protagonist Socrates Fortlow novels, Fortlow who is just as thoughtful as Ezekiel "Easy" Porterhouse Rawlins, perhaps more.

One of my students in English 1A Fall 2010, shared the title with me and I checked it out from the Oakland Public Library. I read it in a day and a half and immediately decided to use it this Spring Semester. The argument is classic. How many of you ever thought the destination “hell” as negotiable (smile)? Well, Mosely’s character disagrees with his sentence and gets sent back to earth to work it out with his angel. There he meets the devil or Lucifer himself. It is a great story that makes the reader rethink her notion of right and wrong, good and evil.

When I was in Los Angeles last year in November to say good bye to a good friend who was dying, I went to the Holocaust Museum that Sunday, where the author of Yummy was receiving a book award. I hadn’t known the story of the child in Chicago. After reading Yummy, I decided to make it one of our texts this semester as it is an easy read and a story—those of us who live in urban communities can undoubtedly, unfortunately, relate to.

I also like films and in the classes longer than 50 minutes, we watch a few (smile). For English 1A, we will definitely watch, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, even if it takes two classes or I might assign it as homework (we’ll see).

Sandra Cisneros’s House on Mango Street, first, Yummy, second, and last, Always Running. Students will also read a book, a memoir of their own choosing. I suggest the sequel to Always Running, It Calls You Back.

There will be a Social Entrepreneur Essay for English 201 and English 1A students.

In English 201, we will take our freewrites in response to House on Mango Street and make a book. We’ll have a book release party with refreshments (smile). There will be five major essays, three tied to assigned textbooks, one tied to a memoir you choose, the last on the social entrepreneur.

Four of the five essays involve presentations: House on Mango Street, Always Running, SE Essay, Book Report Essay. The response to Yummy can be a graphic essay for the artistically inclined (smile). In English 201 we might read the play, Elephant Man. I see this play and its character as a metaphor for what happened to the protagonist in Yummy and what happened to Luis Rodríguez in Always Running.

I chose Always Running after many years of not teaching it, because of the recent by the author, whom I had the opportunity to interview when he was in town last November on a book tour. I loved teaching his Always Running, a classic tale similar to Down These Mean Streets by the late poet and author, Piri Thomas, Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land, Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wideman, and more recently, The Pact by Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt with Lisa Frazier Page, and The Color of Water by James McBride. These coming of age tales about young men, are stories where growing up is not a given for the men who tell these stories, so how they survive proves instructive then and now.

In English 1A we will read the Greek play, Lysistrata. I also have a collection of poetry with the theme, war, which we will look at in English 1A in March as well.

I hope we can attend at least one play or author event as a community of writers. I will let students know what is opening and where. You can let me know of events you are attending as well. Films are also great, especially when the director is present or there is a discussion before or afterward.

Some students are not receiving this communiqués from me, which means, said student has no email address on file with admissions and records. Correct this omission immediately. Add an email address to your application. Make sure the phone numbers listed are the ones you are able to be reached at.

I have be using the book Stewart Pidd Hates English for too many years to recall when I started exactly, but suffice it to say over the years, “The Pidd Experience,” which many students hate as well as Pidd, has become a trademark text I have become well-known for on this campus and perhaps in the District (smile). It is a book that through a series of prescriptive exercises and essays covers many of the more salient errors writing students make which give their college teachers the most grief. The errors reviewed are both grammatical and mechanical, with an overview of summary and paraphrasing most third semester students have forgotten, not to mention a mind expanding section on plagiarism, which some scholars are not serious enough about, a slight which often comes back to haunt many a student as he or she crams at the end of the semester.

Deceptively simple, SPHE grows steadily more complex until the student who has been simply gliding along runs into major difficulty. This is around the third or fourth essays, Pronoun Case or BeVerbs. The fictional character, Stewart Pidd, supplies all the course work and students act as his teachers, grading his essays and offering comments on how he can improve by naming the errors and giving an example(s) of how he can correct the essays. These corrective essays are written as templates, which means there is little space for creativity, rather, the correct essay looks like everyone else’s, with perhaps originality in the title or often in the concluding paragraph. Many students cannot believe how simple the task is, until this simplicity is shattered by failing grades.

The essays are nonsense essays, which enable students to focus on the writing, rather than the content. This to fosters in students a false sense of competence failing grades quickly shatter. It isn’t the difficulty that gets students; it is the attention to detail that gets them over and over again.

Last semester, for the first time, I had students write an essay called, “The Stewart Pidd Experience.” I also had students write an essay where they evaluated their two grammar exams in an essay. This was a part of the class portfolio which is our final assignment. There is no sitting final in this class.

I have decided to not require Pidd for Spring Semester, except as a recommendation for all students who have never used the book before. The only class where this is not true is English 201 where I am making SPHE required. For everyone else, if your essays include errors covered in Pidd, students will have to write a correction essay outlining their errors, how to correct them and a revised essay.

The errors covered in SPHE are: confused words, sentence punctuation, pronoun agreement, pronoun case, be-verbs, possessives, verb tense, parallel structure, MLA, plagiarism, paraphrasing, summarizing, ellipsis use, signal phrases, works cited pages.

I plan to give students the quizzes and the exams, just so you can know if you need to get the book and run the exercises. Beginning Week 2, I will host a six week workshop on MW mornings (10:30-11:30) for students interested in “The Pidd Experience.” I could possibly host a meeting also on M or W afternoons, after 3 p.m., let’s say, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., if more than 5 students are interested. Students do not have to be in English 201 to attend. One has to commit to the entire six weeks though. The workshop is open to all Sabir students. Students in my English 1B class last semester who did not buy a grammar style book and made many errors up to the portfolio in MLA from works cited pages to ellipsis marks, received Bs instead of As in the course. For English 1A, it was crucial that students cited correctly. This is a key goal of Freshman composition. After English 1A, students are expected to know how to cite their sources and understand the importance of scholarly research when proving a point. Students are also expected to know the difference between free and literal paraphrasing, summarizing and plagiarism. It is that serious that students who are scholars know this information, so if you don’t look at the book—SPHE, and think about this short refresher workshop. Here at the College of Alameda students can enroll in Grammar 6 in the ESL department.


I am teaching four classes: English 1B, 21792, 8-8:50 AM, MTWTh in C211; English 1A, 21757, 9-9:50 AM, MTWTh, A-202; English 5, 21763 & English 211, 21777, 11-12:15 AM, TTh, A-202; English 201A 21768 & English 201B 21774, MW, A 202, 1-2:50 PM. (The two classes ENG 201A & ENG 201B, as well as ENG 5 and ENG 211, run concurrently.)

As usual, I am looking to hold one class a week in a lab with computers so students can learn to navigate the blog and how I want essay portfolios sent to me.

If you do not have technology at home, use the computers here on campus in the LRC. There is the Open Lab and the Writing Center for your use. All you need is a Student ID, which is free. Make sure you get on early on. Students also need to sign up for a special LRC course, which is also free. Do this early in the semester as well.

For first year students, I suggest you fit College Success at COA into your schedules: Counseling 21739, MW 12-1:15, 3 Units, in C-113, with Cobb or Counseling 21738, MW 9:30-10:45, in CV-205 (portables) with Nakmo. Similar classes are offered at Laney and Merritt colleges (Peralta Colleges 2012 Schedule of Classes 96). There is a Grammar class at Laney: 20428 6-8:50 PM, Eng. 206A, English Grammar, 3 units (Peralta Colleges 2012 Spring Schedule of Classes 107).

In all except the English 5 or Critical Thinking class, I am using a new book, I hope students like or at least find useful, They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Oh, no, students might cry, another book that uses templates?! What is wrong with Sabir, doesn’t she trust original thought (smile). You won’t believe this, but this book has been sitting on my desk for at least five years, maybe more and it wasn’t until a former student of mine, now professor, Maria Acuna, shared it with me last semester, did I decide to try it.

I have been reading it this weekend as well and I like the premise the authors use to explain why they wrote it. Granted, templates can get tiresome, but for those who are familiar with Stewart Pidd Hates English, these templates are nothing like the ones Pollitt and Baker use. Rest assured there (smile). Instead, this book helps students enter the discourse or conversation, often one which has been raging or simmering or bubbling over for a short or long while, a conversation you have never entered, however, one which affects your life in profound ways. Why haven’t you joined in? Often, the reason certain communities are not called to the table or invited to participate is intentional. The reason is, to do so doesn’t serve the interests of the body politic at the table.

Whether one is invited or not, whether one has a chair or not, whether one has the proper suit or proper language with which to engage those at the table using one’s life as a ping pong, the conversation is open in a democracy and it is yours to join even in an assignment for a class such as ours. I have students who have used their writing here to launch careers in politics. I have had students publish writing completed here in class in newspapers and respected journals. We are working in a laboratory where results can actually change lives beginning with our own. What you learn here is not “academic” if academic means useless. Each of you is a change agent; that is why you took time out of your life to show up.

Showing up is important. We all showed up for different reasons, some not as lofty as others, but you are here and because you are here, I expect great work from you. That is my goal and that is why and I am here and when you start hating me, remember, the promise I made to you here: meritocracy will never get a reward in this class. There is no grading on the curve. Everyone is held to a high standard and while I set the bar, well the State of California sets the bar and some of you will not reach it this time— keep trying and you will eventually.

The class might appear disorganized and I smile a lot and seem easy, this is an illusion. I am not easy. I demand a lot from each of you, but this is college—and you expect huge demands right? Don’t worry, I think you will get your money’s worth and then some. I do not assign writing assignments because I have nothing better to do. I can think or many tasks I love more than reading first drafts of students’ papers—you think they are final drafts, but they are not. I am a professional writer and I know what I am doing, so trust me when I tell you something is wrong. It is not personal, rather it is the writing not you I am critiquing. Some students enter the class with more skill sets than others. Some expect success in high school to tide them over here, and have rude awakenings. My suggestion is to come to class awake and sleep at home the night before.

I hope students surprise me and actually know a bit about the writing process and can read with comprehension and most importantly, are not lazy. You can enroll in this class not knowing everything, but if you do not exert yourself and fill in those spaces where perhaps time or preparation left you under-ready then, I expect you to get the extra help needed, whether that is attending my “Pidd Experience” workshop or a getting a tutor or both.

Be honest with yourself and do what you need to do to be successful here. Do not waste your time or your classmates. I will not let you waste mine or theirs or use my brain as your own. I do not suffer fools at all. Some students say I am rude, perhaps I am; however, when students are not prepared and want to waste the time of those who are, I cut them off. I am not interested in anything an unprepared student has to say. If you ever come to class unprepared, keep silent. Do not open your mouth except to tell us you are not prepared and are just observing that day.

I have to pay out of pocket for an assistant to help me with record keeping. I haven’t had a student aide in years to help students with their essays, so it’s on me and you. If you need help I can help you to a point—there is no magic. I am a great writer because I write and I kept writing when I got failing grades, had to take remedial writing classes at UC Berkeley, and got failing grades on first drafts at Holy Names.

Believe it or not, I didn’t know what a thesis sentence was until graduate school Teaching Writing course. I do not have hours to spend with one student a week, but you can get assistance, so ask when there are questions. I think faster than I write sometimes and I am an awful speller. No one is perfect. Learn what your strengths are. I have an almost photographic memory. Writing things down is a way for me to record them in my mind almost verbatim. I don’t hold hands and after last semester, a deadline is a deadline even if only one student makes it, so keep the due dates in your calendar, just in case I forget to remind you when something is due.

The blog is a place where reminders tend to go, but if you have limited access to the web, take good notes from the white board and get a few students phones numbers just in case. I suggest students hold study sessions to discuss readings and assignments. The library (first floor in the LRC or Learning Resource Center) has classrooms students can use for discussions.

Each class has varying requirements for the writing, which is about 6-8,000 words. I tend to assign more writing. In English 1A, students will have several short research essays, rather than one long essay. Each essay in English 1A will be about 3-4 pages, 250 words a page. In English 5 3-4 pages per essay. This is minimally. Essays can be a bit longer. In English 201 essays will be between 2-5 pages depending on the level. English 1B, 3-4 pages. This excludes the works cited page.

I am giving you all this in advance so you can drop the course and find a better fit.

Recap on textbooks. Find your class:

1. English 5: Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow; Walter Mosley's The Tempest Tales; Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, and Writing Logically, Thinking Critically 6th Edition. Recommended: Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary.


2.English 1B:

Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. Second Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.

Grover, Linda Legarde. The Dance Boots. Athens, Georgia and London: The University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print.

Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead Books, 2010. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. Pantheon Books, 2007. Print. ISBN 0375714839

Bannerjee, Neelanjana and Summi Kaipa, Pireeni Sundaralingam. Ed. Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian Poetry. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2010. Print.


Recommended: Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers, 4-7th editions. American Heritage Dictionary.

3. English 1A: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn; Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee, Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary. They Say, I Say, Second Edition, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein.

Recommended for students who have not taken my classes before: Stewart Pidd Hates English.

4. English 201A: Stewart Pidd Hates English*, Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Always Running: Gang Days in LA by Luis Rodriguez. American Heritage Dictionary.

English 201B: for Pidd Alumni: Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers and They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein. If a student has not had me for English 201A then Pidd is recommended.

Sincerely,

Wanda Sabir
English Professor, College of Alameda

Course Materials for Spring 2012

Greetings Students:

Welcome to English 1B!

Course materials for all Sabir courses Spring 2012. Find your class:

1. English 5: Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow; Walter Mosley's The Tempest Tales, Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, and Writing Logically, Thinking Critically 6th Edition. Recommended: Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary.


2. English 1B: The Dance Boots, Girl in Translation, The Complete Persepolis, Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian Poetry, Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. Second Edition, Janet E. Gardner. Recommended: Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary.


3. English 1A: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee, Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary. They Say, I Say, SE by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein.

Recommended for students who have not taken my classes before: Stewart Pidd Hates English.


4. English 201A: Stewart Pidd Hates English*, Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Always Running: Gang Days in LA by Luis Rodriguez. American Heritage Dictionary.


English 201B: for Pidd Alumni: Diana Hacker Rules for Writers and They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein. If a student has not had me for English 201A then Pidd is recommended.

Portfolio Checklist with Cyber-Assignments (listed)

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 by Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, 12 noon. Make certain you paste and attach the document. Include the assignment in the subject line: COA Sabir Fall 2011 Portfolio for English 1B w/Course Code (or a variation) and send to: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com


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, 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 (2), 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. Most of the cyber-essays were collaborative.

4. Literary event essay

5. 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.


6. 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.

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

8. Evaluation and Extra Credit


PORTFOLIO

DANCE BOOTS 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__________


RUINED 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__________


Persepolis 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 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 Essay Unit:
Group Project
Lesson Plan________
Activity_______
Comments from peers_______
Self-reflection on the process_________

Poetry Related Cyber Assignments________
Peer Comments_________
Visit with Maria Acuna________



Independent Project
Planning________
Outline_______
Abstract________
Grade on Essay_______
Grade on Presentation _________

Correction essays or narratives (How many?) __________
Peer Comments__________
(There were no self-reflections or comments).

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_________

The following is a list of all the cyber-assignments. Locate yours and put in the appropriate section(s) above. Again, do not post an assignment twice. Put headings on each section and start each section with a new page. Essays should look like essays, each page starting at the top of a page. This includes the last page or Works Cited and Bibliography.

Cyber-Assignments, etc.

Monday, August 22, 2011
Response to Syllabus for Fall 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Dance Boots Cyber Assignment
We spent the first meeting introducing ourselves to one another, answering questions about the syllabus. I gave students my cell number, so if you left early make sure you ask me for it. Students also exchanged phone numbers with peers.

I gave students copies of the title story in the collection, The Dance Boots. We spoke for a bit about literature and how it's defined. We all agreed that it was an art form with various genres.

In the Portable Guide in the section on fiction, it speaks to ways to analyze or think about fiction. For homework, students were to write a 250 words analytical response summary looking at themes raised in the story along with characters, plot, scene, themes, etc.

If the story references a period in American history you are not familiar with, do some background research. If you have the book, read the author's preface. I forgot to give you a copy. Students can also skim the section on Writing about Fiction.

I am interested in how well students capture the author's intent in their writing. After you post your response, please respond to at least two student responses. Mention the students by name. These comments can be short (smile).

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Recap
Today we reviewed the short story: The Dance Boots. In groups students developed a character analysis of the protagonist Artense. Post a reflection on the discussion process at the link for the assignment. Also post the group narrative there along with everyone in the group's name.

Other homework is to read: Three Seasons and the first section of The Portable Guide (1-42). Don't forget to annotate the selections. I let you go early by mistake--don't worry, it won't happen again (smile).

Thursday, September 1, 2011
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.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
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.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011
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.

Thursday, September 8, 2011
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.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Cyber-Assignment
Post your reflection on the poem: "A Moment of Silence" here.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011
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

Tuesday, September 27, 2011
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).

Tuesday, September 27, 2011
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?

Thursday, September 29, 2011
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.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Cyber-Assignment on Ruined
Homework is to think about the characters in Ruined, Mama Nadi and the women in the brothel: Salima, Josephine and Sophie; Fortune, Salima's husband, his friend, Laurent, the military, Christian and Mr. Harari and lesser unnamed characters.

Write a brief recap and analysis of where we are in the story now and the symbolism Nottage captures in her characters and the setting, of the horrors of war. Later we even notice subtle irony in Nottage's choice of names for the characters as well, esp. Fortune, Salima's (which means "peace), husband. Is the brothel a kind of "Eden"?

If so, then who or what is the snake?

Post reflections here. Reference "Elements of Drama" (92) and "Literary Criticism" (143) specifically interpretive analysis looking at Formalism and New Criticism and Feminism and Gender Criticism, Post-colonial Criticism (a little), and Psychological Theories like archetypes (148-149). Marxism works as well, but I think LC and FNC provide a better framework for this analysis.

We will write this essay at the end of the month and start the Poetry unit towards the end of the month as well. We will have a special guest, Maria Acuna who will talk about her work and give us a writing assignment. Students will also team up to make presentations on Elements of Poetry per Writing about Literature.

Thursday, October 13, 2011
Today in class there was a complaint that though the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell was a great film, what was the connection between watching a film and writing an essay about literature or art?

Good question.

Some students are struggling with MLA and citations because they don't have materials in their possession and others are just rusty. In any event, no assignment is a throw away assignment. To make a film one has to be able to write and in a critique we look at themes, thesis or plot, character, etc., many of the same elements we have been looking at for fiction and plays, not to mention the social/political psychological aspect of the tale.

The theme is: Women and War. What makes one's writing compelling and interesting is what one brings, as in experiences, to the topic. The film I showed you is a award winning film that expands the story in Ruined. It is also topical, as in Liberia there is an election now.

If anyone finds the information about Layman Gbowee's book tour, please post it.

We spent a moment developing a potential opening sentence in a short response to Ritcker's film. We stated that it is about a peace movement started by a woman, Gbowee which is remarkable in that it united women cross culturally and cross other ethnic, religious and economic lines.

We started to draw parallels between Laymah and Mama Nadi looking at how sex is used as a tool to stop war and establish peace, even if their motivations are viewed similarly by all.

Safety for the women and their families, safety for the patrons in the brothel--safety for the nation are places where the two stories also overlap.

Not many students saw altruism as a characteristic of Mama Nadi, except Nick who mentioned Mama Nadi's agreement to let Sophie stay. Other student countered this with Mama Nadi's dependence on Christian for girls and goods and how she needed to continue to cultivate his favor.

Ruined
Ruined is also topical as next week is Congo Week.

We read up to Scene 5 and a part of Scene 6. We will finish the play on Tuesday and talk a bit about poetry. Students should also bring in their books they are reading, the point of reading a play aloud was to give students an opportunity to read their book.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Completing "Ruined"
Today we looked at Topical Invention, a questioning strategy to develop: analogies, definition, consequence, testimony.

When using this strategy, students are to reference the topic in each sentence.

The questions are:

Definition: What is it/What was it?
Consequence: What caused it/Did it cause?
Analogy: What is it like or unlike?
Testimony: What does an authority say about it?

We incorporated these questions into a three paragraph essay: Thesis or Pro-Argument, Antithesis or Con-argument, Synthesis or the mediation point between the two polarities.

We didn't complete the essay; however, we did complete it via discussion. Please post your reflections on this process, both topical invention and the 3-part essay.

Homework is to bring in the book or work you plan to use for your final essay. Also, bring in the collection of poetry: Indivisible. Bring in earplugs too.

Lastly, bring in a question you'd like to explore re: Ruined. We spoke about several angles and read the student essay in The Portable Guide.

We will have a freewrite connected to Ruined.

Thursday, October 20, 2011
Freewrite
Ruined Thoughts (smile)

Ruined Topics

POETRY
Why one needs poetry in war times

Poetry as a symbol in Ruined

DEFINITION
What does it mean to be ruined?

RAPE as a metaphor for capitalism and neocolonialism, Western Cultures over consumption.

SOBRIETY
Why does Christian value his sobriety? What does the FANTA REPRESENT?

CHARACTER(S)
Character names: Christian, Fortune, Salima or Peace, Mama Nadi, Sophie (symbol of wisdom. Wisdom comes from suffering. Are Sophie and Mama Nadi two aspects of the same character or persona?

What about Salima and Josephine, are they aspects of the same composite character, a woman who is both victim and survivor in warfare? How does she survive? How does she transform the situation into a life which is while not opportune, somewhat bearable? )

SCENE
Scene: Eden turned in on itself. Congo is rich and deadly like the apple (Colton) can change one’s fortune forever

SYMBOLS
Colton—snake or is the snake or temptation greed

Love—how even in the worse situations there is love, there is a place for love and thus a place for hope

Fortune's iron pot.

BLOOD AS sacrifice, blood as cleansing, blood as renewal, blood as hope.

SOLDIER'S BOOT on Salima's chest, on her baby's skull and her comparison of it to something sweet (Nottage 46).

LANGUAGE
We looked at the language of the play and the dialogue. One can look more closely at how what is said doesn't always mirror what is done.

In Class Writing
Students spent a significant time exploring a topic, theirs or one of mine in an extended freewrite. No one wanted to do any collaborative writing (smile). Post your musings here for feedback. This is optional.


Monday, October 31, 2011
Poetry Group Presentation

Students will make presentations on poetry per: Writing about Literature (82). The sections are: Elements of Poetry: The Speaker & The Listener; Elements of Poetry: Imagery; Elements of Poetry: Sound and Sense; Elements of Poetry: Form, Elements of Poetry: Meter.

Jay, Jacqueline, June and Tia: Imagery
Joseph, Ade, Al: Sound and Sense
Melvin, Angela, Nick: Form
Ajmand, Igor: Meter

We will go over: Elements of Poetry: The Speaker & The Listener together in freewrites.

We had a guest last week, Thursday, October 27, 2011, Maria Acuña. She performs with the Quijeremá, which has a performance at "Strings," November, 2, 8 PM in Berkeley on San Pablo near Alcatraz.

Students were very quiet and didn't engage Maria much. In fact, she didn't even share any of her own work. Today, as a freewrite, write a response to Maria in the form of a letter. Tell her what you took from her presentation and ask her a few questions in retrospect you wish you had asked.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Cyber-Assignment
In three paragraphs respond to a poem(s). Look at the Listener and Speaker, rather implied or stated and what this relationship reveals about how one reads the poem (82-83). Use literary language in the analysis.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Poetry Presentations Thursday, Nov. 3 & Cyber-Self-Reflection on the process
Thursday, Nov. 3 we will make our presentations. There are 3 groups presentations and one individual, Ade. His partners didn't show up today. For absent students we'll have to figure out a make up assignment. I am open to ideas.


Monday, November 14, 2011
Something to think about?
Last Thursday, Nov. 10, we watched most of Persepolis. Tuesday, Nov. 8, we watched a panel discussion with the author, producers, actors and artists re: Persepolis the film. Students were to write their poetry essays in class Tuesday, but elected to email them to me before class Nov. 8, 2011.

Food for thought

When thinking about the graphic novel Persepolis, how does the story of the Iranian revolution parallel that of the protagonist? How is the process of growing up, that is the maturation process; childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, a revolution of sorts? Think about Kimberly in Girl in Translation. How are the two protagonists similar?

Talk about the various allies Marji uses to test her theories on. How are they her conscious? I am thinking of God and her grandmother? However, there are others.

How specifically does the visual language of the work add to the narrative? Does the visual device ever become more or bigger than the thing, in this case, novel, itself?

How does art push the story and perhaps even the genre into another realm? What would you call this realm?

Is is poetry? How so? Why not?

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Cyber-Freewrite
Today we watched a film, A Brush with the Tenderloin. Reflect on how muralist Mona Caron uses her art to paint into view a hidden part of San Francisco's landscape. How what she does similar to Marjane Sarapi's art in The Complete Persepolis?

How is one's imagination sometimes inadequate in depicting certain realities? How does the art help one conceptualize unspeakable or unimaginable realities like poverty and war, homelessness and alienation?

In three paragraphs, minimally, reflect on the art and the artist and the way artists tell stories. Is this a different kind of narrative? What do the two genres share?

http://abrushwiththetenderloin.com/

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Post your abstract for the Independent Study Essay here. We will present our essays on Thursday. The essay is due by then as well. Presentations will be 3-5 minutes long. Post your self-reflections here as well and comments to classmates on their presentations.

Portfolio Submission Guidelines
Don't forget to include in the subject line in the email: your name and the assignment: COA Sabir English 1B Portfolio Fall 2011

Email by or on Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, 12 noon to: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com Paste and attach the one word document.

I have added the rest of the assignments to the portfolio draft to make it easier to check their inclusion.

Today in class we reviewed the portfolio process. Students were given two handouts on the Revision Process, "Chapter 7 1/2 Office Hours: Revision: Help from the Audience" (Skwire 217-218)and Chapter 8 1/2 Office Hours: Revision: The Psychology of It All" (251-252).

Feel free to use this information to write Portfolio Narrative Essay 2.

Skwire, Sarah E. and David Skwire. Writing with a Thesis: A Rhetoric & Reader. 9th Ed. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth. 2005. Print.

Each essay is a real essay, in that it needs to be scholarly and you have to cite your essays and include the references in a bibliography.

Portfolio Checklist (draft)
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.

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, so you can update that part of the portfolios.

All the essays included in the portfolio are graded essays: Short Fiction, the Novel (2), 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. Most of the cyber-essays were collaborative.

4. Literary event essay

5. Extra credit. If you have written any essays this semester for extra credit they would go in this section.

6. Evaluation: There is a course evaluation for the class which is optional. I also ask if I can use any of your work for academic research.

This is a preliminary checklist.

Post your abstract for the Independent Study Essay here. We will present our essays on Thursday. The essay is due by then as well. Presentations will be 3-5 minutes long.

All the revisions are due by Friday, Dec. 2, 2011.

Cyber-Freewrite

Today we watched a film, A Brush with the Tenderloin. Reflect on how muralist Mona Caron uses her art to paint into view a hidden part of San Francisco's landscape. How what she does similar to Marjane Sarapi's art in The Complete Persepolis?

How is one's imagination sometimes inadequate in depicting certain realities? How does the art help one conceptualize unspeakable or unimaginable realities like poverty and war, homelessness and alienation?

In three paragraphs, minimally, reflect on the art and the artist and the way artists tell stories. Is this a different kind of narrative? What do the two genres share?

http://abrushwiththetenderloin.com/

Something to think about?

Last Thursday, Nov. 10, we watched most of Persepolis. Tuesday, Nov. 8, we watched a panel discussion with the author, producers, actors and artists re: Persepolis the film. Students were to write their poetry essays in class Tuesday, but elected to email them to me before class Nov. 8, 2011.

Food for thought

When thinking about the graphic novel Persepolis, how does the story of the Iranian revolution parallel that of the protagonist? How is the process of growing up, that is the maturation process; childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, a revolution of sorts? Think about Kimberly in Girl in Translation. How are the two protagonists similar?

Talk about the various allies Marji uses to test her theories on. How are they her conscious? I am thinking of God and her grandmother? However, there are others.

How specifically does the visual language of the work add to the narrative? Does the visual device ever become more or bigger than the thing, in this case, novel, itself?

How does art push the story and perhaps even the genre into another realm? What would you call this realm?

Is is poetry? How so? Why not?

Poetry Presentations Thursday, Nov. 3 & Cyber-Self-Reflection on the process

Thursday, Nov. 3 we will make our presentations. There are 3 groups presentations and one individual, Ade. His partners didn't show up today. For absent students we'll have to figure out a make up assignment. I am open to ideas.

Teachers

Prepare a lesson plan to hand out to me and an assignment as well. The class doesn't have to have anything printed unless the exercise or evaluative tool is printed. If there are copies you can get them made here if you arrive early.

Self-Reflection

The assignment after the presentation will be to reflect on the process of preparing a lesson, teaching it and then seeing through an evaluative tool, how well the class does.

How well did your students do? What would you change, if anything? What did you learn?

Student Audience Reflection

Students, respond to the other presentations specifically, that is, what was the lesson presented and what did you like about how it was structured. Were there any surprises from the teacher or from the class, yourself included?

Do you have any unresolved questions? If so, ask them here. You can be anonymous on the peer-teacher(s) feedback.

Cyber-Assignment

In three paragraphs respond to a poem(s). Look at the Listener and Speaker, rather implied or stated and what this relationship reveals about how one reads the poem (82-83). Use literary language in the analysis.

Poetry Group Presentation

Students will make presentations on poetry per: Writing about Literature (82). The sections are: Elements of Poetry: The Speaker & The Listener; Elements of Poetry: Imagery; Elements of Poetry: Sound and Sense; Elements of Poetry: Form, Elements of Poetry: Meter.

Jay, Jacqueline, June and Tia: Imagery
Joseph, Ade, Al: Sound and Sense
Melvin, Angela, Nick: Form
Ajmand, Igor: Meter

We will go over: Elements of Poetry: The Speaker & The Listener together in freewrites.

We had a guest last week, Thursday, October 27, 2011, Maria Acuña. She performs with the Quijeremá, which has a performance at "Strings," November, 2, 8 PM in Berkeley on San Pablo near Alcatraz.

Students were very quiet and didn't engage Maria much. In fact, she didn't even share any of her own work. Today, as a freewrite, write a response to Maria in the form of a letter. Tell her what you took from her presentation and ask her a few questions in retrospect you wish you had asked.

Visit her website first and read more about the ensemble, if you have not already done so: http://www.quijerema.com/home.cfm

Born and raised in Venezuela, Maria Fernanda Acuña specializes in a variety of drums and Latin American percussion instruments such as the Peruvian Cajon, Afro-Venezuelan hand drums and Maracas. For her work with Quijeremá she has developed a unique drum-set incorporating folk instruments from around the world combined with traditional cymbals, snare and kick drum. She also is an accomplished Cuatro player. Her unique approach and wide range of instrumentation plays a major role in defining the sound of Quijeremá.

Acuña began her musical training on piano as a child, and as a teenager, trained on trapset with noted Venezuelan percussionist Jose Matos. She studied composition and arranging in Caracas with Maria Eugenia Vera, and percussion with Itabora Ferreira (Brazil), Alexander Livinali (Venezuela), and Alex Acuña (Peru), as well as studying at the Jazz School in Berkeley, California.

Acuña has worked with a variety of artists including Alex de Grassi, Rafael Manriquez, Jackeline Rago, The Venezuelan Music Project, and Eduardo Mendelievich with Creative Voices.

Acuña has a degree in Latin American literature at Mills College, with an emphasis on the historic and cultural development of Venezuelan music as it relates to the African diaspora, and is presently in a Master’s program in English Literature at Mills College. She also teaches Spanish through music to children at “Viva el Español” and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Recap Continued
Besides deciding which students would present which poetry lesson, we also read a few poems, from Indivisible. Again, not much response from the audience (you). Verbal participation is a part of the class.

Students are worrying about grades. One student mentioned she needs an A in the class. It's too bad that knowledge is not an end in itself; it is the grade which is as I mention in the syllabus, not a true measure of one's skill, conceptual success, progress, or understanding, let alone one's ability to demonstrate this mastery once the incubation or class has ended.

Getting the A is the easy part. Identification and application of these skills in the real world is where the difficulty lies.

Take your vitamins before you show up tomorrow.

Assignments, Homework and Cyber-Assignments

Today in class we discussed the essay on Ruined which is due, Thursday, October 27, 2011 before 12 midnight (smile). Melvin shared his essay this morning on Girl in Translation. He got an A on the essay. Each meeting we will hear from a student writer. I think this will help students measure where they are regarding what a passing sounds like.

Have an essay in mind so when you are invited to share, it is handy (smile).


Homework

Watch this video on Indivisible and respond here. It is an hour long, so give yourself time. It needs to be watched before class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8faRwFvqLHU&noredirect=1

Bring your book to class, we will take one of the poems as a freewrite and talk about the language of poetry.

We will have a guest for the remainder of the class, unless she is chosen to serve on the jury.

Poetry Group Presentation

Students will make presentations on poetry per: Writing about Literature (82). The sections are: Elements of Poetry: The Speaker & The Listener; Elements of Poetry: Imagery; Elements of Poetry: Sound and Sense; Elements of Poetry: Form, Elements of Poetry: Meter.

Jay, Jacqueline, June and Tia: Imagery
Joseph, Ade, Al: Sound and Sense
Melvin, angela, Nick: Form
Ajmand, Igor: Meter

We will look at The Speaker & The Listener together

I will give out the assignments Thursday, October 27, 2011. Students will have an opportunity to get together and plan the presentation on Tuesday, November 1 and Thursday, Nov. 3. Students will develop a lesson plan with goals and objectives and teach a lesson as well.

It should be fun. All participants will share the grade. Students will give me copies of the lesson plan and have copies of the exercise(s) for students where applicable.

Poetry In-class Essay

We will write the poetry essay in class on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, the entire essay. You will have an hour. Figure out what poem(s) from Indivisible you would like to analyze in an essay beforehand. Bring in an essay plan, with an outline and a thesis.

Persepolis In-class Essay

Consider it a midterm. We will write the essay on Persepolis in class as well. Consider it a final essay (smile).

Bring Persepolis to class Tuesday, Nov. 8-10, 2011. We will do a little background research on the film. I will show students some of the film, especially the interview with the writer. Students will have an opportunity to discuss the novel in class. It is not an essay read. We will write this essay in class on Nov. 17.

Final Essay

Your final, final essay is on your book and will be due Nov. 22, for a peer review. Bring it to class electronically. The presentations begin, Nov. 29 and continue Dec. 1. We will work on portfolios on Dec. 6. Students should bring all their assignments to class electronically that day so we can assemble them.

More later re: specifics, that is, the portfolio checklist.

This is the semester. Put these dates in your calendar. We have no sitting final. Thursday, Dec. 8 is an optional class. The portfolio isn't due until December 16, 2011. Grades aren't due until January 2012. I can let you know your grade if you need it to transfer or meet a requirement.

Literary Events

Quijerema performs at: Cafe Leila, Thursday, October 20 7 p.m., 1724 San Pablo Ave Berkeley CA Visit http://www.quijerema.com/

Maria, one of the members of this ensemble, is going to visit the class at some point this semester (smile). If you attend this evening, say hi to her and mention our class.

Desdemona (Wed.-Sat., Oct. 26-29)

Also think about attending one of the workshops for Desdemona next week: October 27, 5 PM and Friday, October 28, 12-2 PM. Visit http://www.calperformances.org/performances/2011-12/theater/desdemona.php

Cal Performances brings you the U.S. premiere of an extraordinary theatrical collaboration!

In response to Peter Sellars's 2009 Othello, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison, singer/songwriter Rokia Traoré, and Peter Sellars join forces to create an intimate and profound conversation from beyond the grave between Shakespeare's Desdemona and Barbary, the woman Shakespeare identifies as the African nurse who raised her. After centuries of colonialism and racism, the two women share stories, songs, determination, and hope for a different future. Morrison has written an unforgettable, incisive, and compelling script, and writing the music and singing the role of Barbary is Rokia Traoré, one of Africa's greatest vocalists. Traoré plays off the griot tradition, transforming and extending classic Malian music into a "truly mesmerizing" (USA Today) sound. Peter Sellars, the creative, penetrating, and influential voice in the world of opera and theater, directs.

Freewrite

Ruined Thoughts (smile)

Ruined Topics

POETRY
Why one needs poetry in war times

Poetry as a symbol in Ruined

DEFINITION
What does it mean to be ruined?

RAPE as a metaphor for capitalism and neocolonialism, Western Cultures over consumption.

SOBRIETY
Why does Christian value his sobriety? What does the FANTA REPRESENT?

CHARACTER(S)
Character names: Christian, Fortune, Salima or Peace, Mama Nadi, Sophie (symbol of wisdom. Wisdom comes from suffering. Are Sophie and Mama Nadi two aspects of the same character or persona?

What about Salima and Josephine, are they aspects of the same composite character, a woman who is both victim and survivor in warfare? How does she survive? How does she transform the situation into a life which is while not opportune, somewhat bearable? )

SCENE
Scene: Eden turned in on itself. Congo is rich and deadly like the apple (Colton) can change one’s fortune forever

SYMBOLS
Colton—snake or is the snake or temptation greed

Love—how even in the worse situations there is love, there is a place for love and thus a place for hope

Fortune's iron pot.

BLOOD AS sacrifice, blood as cleansing, blood as renewal, blood as hope.

SOLDIER'S BOOT on Salima's chest, on her baby's skull and her comparison of it to something sweet (Nottage 46).

LANGUAGE
We looked at the language of the play and the dialogue. One can look more closely at how what is said doesn't always mirror what is done.

In Class Writing
Students spent a significant time exploring a topic, theirs or one of mine in an extended freewrite. No one wanted to do any collaborative writing (smile). Post your musings here for feedback. This is optional.


OUTLINE from the board
& Cyber-Assignment
1. Find a scholarly article connected to a theme you'd like to explore in your essay or connected to thematically to the play. Use the COA library database. Post a summary of the article here.

Read it and summarize it. When you have finished the summary, compare to the abstract. Where if at all do the two interpretations differ? How so?

Other HOMEWORK Outline continued

I gave a brief overview of the chapter on poetry. Students are to read it and bring in the text Tuesday.

2. Indivisible

3. Revisions (Look for mail from me re: essay revisions).

4. A Reading (Students are to look through their body of work for this semester and be prepared to share an essay next week: Short Fiction, the Novel, Grace Paley.) I shared a student essay, which got an A+.

5. Read Writing about Poems (82)

6. For Tuesday, bring in a thesis sentence you'd like to explore in an essay on Ruined and clear examples and ideas on how you plan to accomplish this task. Be prepared to write for half an hour in class, to finish the essay for Thursday.

We will also explore revision strategies (video).

7. I passed out a handout on Topical Invention. I want students to use one of each type of sentence in this essay on Ruined.

Completing "Ruined"

Today we looked at Topical Invention, a questioning strategy to develop: analogies, definition, consequence, testimony.

When using this strategy, students are to reference the topic in each sentence.

The questions are:

Definition: What is it/What was it?
Consequence: What caused it/Did it cause?
Analogy: What is it like or unlike?
Testimony: What does an authority say about it?

We incorporated these questions into a three paragraph essay: Thesis or Pro-Argument, Antithesis or Con-argument, Synthesis or the mediation point between the two polarities.

We didn't complete the essay; however, we did complete it via discussion. Please post your reflections on this process, both topical invention and the 3-part essay.

Homework is to bring in the book or work you plan to use for your final essay. Also, bring in the collection of poetry: Indivisible. Bring in earplugs too.

Lastly, bring in a question you'd like to explore re: Ruined. We spoke about several angles and read the student essay in The Portable Guide.

We will have a freewrite connected to Ruined.

Today in class there was a complaint that though the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell was a great film, what was the connection between watching a film and writing an essay about literature or art?

Good question.

Some students are struggling with MLA and citations because they don't have materials in their possession and others are just rusty. In any event, no assignment is a throw away assignment. To make a film one has to be able to write and in a critique we look at themes, thesis or plot, character, etc., many of the same elements we have been looking at for fiction and plays, not to mention the social/political psychological aspect of the tale.

The theme is: Women and War. What makes one's writing compelling and interesting is what one brings, as in experiences, to the topic. The film I showed you is a awardwinning film that expands the story in Ruined. It is also topical, as in Liberia there is an election now.

If anyone finds the information about Layman Gbowee's book tour, please post it.

We spent a moment developing a potential opening sentence in a short response to Ritcker's film. We stated that it is about a peace movement started by a woman, Gbowee which is remarkable in that it united women cross culturally and cross other ethnic, religious and economic lines.

We started to draw parallels between Laymah and Mama Nadi looking at how sex is used as a tool to stop war and establish peace, even if their motivations are viewed similarly by all.

Safety for the women and their families, safety for the patrons in the brothel--safety for the nation are places where the two stories also overlap.

Not many students saw altruism as a characteristic of Mama Nadi, except Nick who mentioned Mama Nadi's agreement to let Sophie stay. Other student countered this with Mama Nadi's dependence on Christian for girls and goods and how she needed to continue to cultivate his favor.

Ruined
Ruined is also topical as next week is Congo Week.

We read up to Scene 5 and a part of Scene 6. We will finish the play on Tuesday and talk a bit about poetry. Students should also bring in their books they are reading, the point of reading a play aloud was to give students an opportunity to read their book.

"Women and War" Freewrite and Essay

We watched video a couple of weeks ago on a PBS series: Women, War and Peace, which kicked off Tuesday, October 11, 2011. See http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/

The film Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a part of the series. Reflect on an essay on the topic of Women and War. Connect to Ruined.

Use 3 citations in the essay (250 words). Post here.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Film Synopsis
"Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

"A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations" (http://praythedevilbacktohell.com/synopsis.php)

Announcements
Next week is International Congo Week. There will be activities happening throughout the world to bring attention to what is happening there, esp. to the women. If you go to an event, and write about it, you can have extra credit. Visit http://congoweek.org/why-congo-week.html and http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/



This weekend is also Litquake Weekend, October 7-15. Visit http://www.litquake.org/

Cyber-Assignment on Ruined

Homework is to think about the characters in Ruined, Mama Nadi and the women in the brothel: Salima, Josephine and Sophie; Fortune, Salima's husband, his friend, Laurent, the military, Christian and Mr. Harari and lesser unnamed characters.

Write a brief recap and analysis of where we are in the story now and the symbolism Nottage captures in her characters and the setting, of the horrors of war. Later we even notice subtle irony in Nottage's choice of names for the characters as well, esp. Fortune, Salima's (which means "peace), husband. Is the brothel a kind of "Eden"?

If so, then who or what is the snake?

Post reflections here. Reference "Elements of Drama" (92) and "Literary Criticism" (143) specifically interpretive analysis looking at Formalism and New Criticism and Feminism and Gender Criticism, Post-colonial Criticism (a little), and Psychological Theories like archetypes (148-149). Marxism works as well, but I think LC and FNC provide a better framework for this analysis.

We will write this essay at the end of the month and start the Poetry unit towards the end of the month as well. We will have a special guest, Maria Acuna who will talk about her work and give us a writing assignment. Students will also team up to make presentations on Elements of Poetry per Writing about Literature.

Girl in Translation Essay Assignment

Today students wrote their essays on Girl in Translation. This was an extended freewrite. Make sure you use 1-2 sources outside the book for your essay. If you only site from one source the other can be a bibliography.

Develop a question or statement to guide the writing. If students want to expand on the freewrite already posted, this is certainly okay.

The essays can be submitted via Internet today or by tomorrow if students needed more time to finish. Send to: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com

Cyber-Field Trip Sign-up for next Thursday, October 13, 2011

Let me know if you are interested and bring your $5 to class Monday-Tuesday, October 10-11, 2011. I want to buy the tickets in advance. The venue will not hold tickets for us, but I doubt that they sell out. However, one never knows, Marc is famous here and well-loved.

We can meet at West Oakland BART at 6:30 PM and travel together. YBCA is on Third and Mission Street, 701 Mission Street in San Francisco.

YBCA is pleased to present the world premiere of Joseph’s newest project, Red, Black & GREEN: Marc Bamuthi Joseph/ The Living Word Project October 13 - 22 7:30 p.m. Admission $5 You can buy as many tickets as you like. Invite friends and family.

Overview

It is a hard and obvious truth that people of color are under-represented in the environmental movement. It is also a hard and obvious truth that violent crime and poor education pose more of an imminent danger to most poor neighborhoods than environmental crisis. I personally am of the belief that the movement for social change and environmental accountability are one and the same, that focusing on steps to sustain the planet ultimately forces us to envision a pathway to sustaining humanity. — Marc Bamuthi Joseph


YBCA has had a long and fertile association with Bay Area artist and director Marc Bamuthi Joseph whose artistic work reflects an evolving aesthetic that integrates spoken word with contemporary movement to produce performance works that are populist, experimental and that challenge formal models from both a cultural and environmental.

Today students shared reflections on Grace Paley's body of work. All of the poetry and stories were outstanding. Many students had similar selections like Alex and Nick, Angela and Jacqueline. The two women spoke of loving the eroticism in a poem about an older woman (smile).

Tia's poem elucidated a lot of conversation as we tried to figure out who was speaking--we looked at motives and regret in light of a tragic character's suicide. It was interesting how often one's ability to empathize with a character might be constrained by one's inability to see their dilemma. The conversation was wonderful as well. I found Nick's comments quite moving and insightful. I liked his personal reasons for choosing the work he did and connecting the poem he shared with the themes from the prose poem.

We then read Act 1, Scene 1. With nontraditional casting, the reading was fun.

Students then shifted back to Paley and read and commented on each other's essays and gave them a grade. Some students had to take the essay home and revise it, others turned them into me.

Homework is to read the chapter on writing about plays in Writing about Literature.

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.

Film and Theatre in the SF Bay Area

Beginning Sept. 1 and for consecutive Thursdays in Sept. at 7:30 PM there will be a hip hop film festival presented by Fist Up! Productions. Visit http://www.lapena.org/. There is a $5 donation, but it is optional.

On Sept. 29, also at La Peña Cultural Center, in Berkeley near Ashby BART, Dennis Kim performs excerpts from "Tree City Legends," I saw this really wonderful work in the Hybrid program at Intersection for the Arts about two years ago.

The San Francisco FRINGE Festival starts next week too. Visit http://www.sffringe.org/

I noticed that students are not using proper MLA for their posts. Writers need to have a heading and a works cited where appropriate.

To post:

Click on "comment." Post response in box, then click anonymous, make sure you have included a heading: student name, course and time, date, my name.


Student Name (first and last)
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 A (or B) 8-8:50 AM or 1:30-3:20 PM
24 August 2011


Title

Content

Recap

Today we reviewed the short story: The Dance Boots. In groups students developed a character analysis of the protagonist Artense. Post a reflection on the discussion process at the link for the assignment. Also post the group narrative there along with everyone in the group's name.

Other homework is to read: Three Seasons and the first section of The Portable Guide (1-42). Don't forget to annotate the selections. I let you go early by mistake--don't worry, it won't happen again (smile).

If there are any questions, call me (smile).

The Dance Boots Cyber Assignment

We spent the first meeting introducing ourselves to one another, answering questions about the syllabus. I gave students my cell number, so if you left early make sure you ask me for it. Students also exchanged phone numbers with peers.

I gave students copies of the title story in the collection, The Dance Boots. We spoke for a bit about literature and how it's defined. We all agreed that it was an art form with various genres.

In the Portable Guide in the section on fiction, it speaks to ways to analyze or think about fiction. For homework, students were to write a 250 words analytical response summary looking at themes raised in the story along with characters, plot, scene, themes, etc.

If the story references a period in American history you are not familiar with, do some background research. If you have the book, read the author's preface. I forgot to give you a copy. Students can also skim the section on Writing about Fiction.

I am interested in how well students capture the author's intent in their writing. After you post your response, please respond to at least two student responses. Mention the students by name. These comments can be short (smile).