Archive | October, 2011

YOUR MID-TERM CLASS EVALUATIONS

29 Oct

Y’all,

Thank you very much for your hand-written feedback from Oct. 21. As always, it’s incredibly helpful to me as a teacher. Here are two generally common themes that I noted from them:

  • By and large, the relatively relaxed nature of the class is a good thing. I’m pleased to hear that, and that approach will continue.
  • You’d like more instruction on grammar and sentence-level issues. I can certainly accomodate that. We’ll have some punctuation lessons (semicolons, colons, M-dashes, commas, quotation marks, etc.), as well as discussions of run-ons, comma splices, complete sentences, fragments, and spiffing up otherwise dry sentences in the coming week or two.

Again, thanks for the feedback. I’m almost done with your celebrity obituary essays, and overall, they are a pleasure to read; you seemed to have a lot of fun with them. You’ll have them returned to you on Nov. 4.

You’re QOTW prompt for Week 9 is posted below.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK – WEEK 9

29 Oct

Y’all,

We here about political activism among celebrities quite a bit, particularly those who tend to be more liberal. Sometimes, good can come of it — see: Sean Penn’s help in Haiti which, by all accounts, has been hands-on and not done with publicity in mind — but so can bad. And here’s, actually, the more pressing issue: What does it matter what these celebrities, whether they are musicians, actors/actresses, TV hosts, or others, have to say about a given political issue?

So here’s the question: In this QOTW response, argue one way or the other about whether celebrities should, in most senses, just keep their mouths shut about political issues.

Your response to this QOTW is due by class time on Friday, Nov. 4.

WHOOPS!

28 Oct

Y’all,

I know I said last week that I would post a QOTW that would be due by today, Friday, Oct. 28, and I had one all written up that I thought I had posted here, but obviously that’s not the case. Therefore, don’t worry about having a QOTW response for today.

I’ll just reuse the one that I was originally going to post last week. That will be up tonight.

Sorry for any confusion!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK – WEEK 7

15 Oct

We’ve either seen it or experienced it ourselves before — bullying. It’s been documented, cinema verite-style; it’s been dramatized and made humorous in movies. It’s been written about in books and articles. Musicians have written ballads and hard-rock anthems about it. And it’s an incredibly serious issue, as we’ve seen with things like the Columbine High School massacre and, more recently, the suicide of Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi last year when he jumped off a bridge after his roommate videotaped him in a sexual situation with another man.

So here’s the question: Explain how, if at all, the media has affected the way bullying is portrayed or, conversely, our understanding or perception of it. You may, but don’t have to, use specific movies/books/songs to demonstrate your perspective or argument about this particular issue.

Your 150-200 word response needs to be posted by class time on Friday, Oct. 21.

FOR NEXT WEEK – OCT. 14

9 Oct

As those of you who were in class on Friday, Oct. 7 know, you need to bring in a copy of the print advertisement that you will be analyzing for your print advertisement analysis essay that is your next major assignment.

See the assignment sheets page for a list of links that you can visit for several websites that archive decades of print advertisements that you can use for your analysis. Be sure to read the assignment sheet and take a look at the example essay I wrote that is also on that page for an idea of what I’m looking for.

If you don’t bring a printed copy of your chosen ad next class on Friday, Oct. 14, you won’t get in-class credit for the day. No exceptions.

In addition, remember that your final draft of your celebrity obituary essay — including your rough draft and your peer review — is due next week.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK – WEEK 6

8 Oct

We had a brief discussion on this during class, but I figured it was a good topic to address with more prep time to think about it. So as we talked about, Steve Jobs, the genius behind Apple — makers of iPods, iPhones, iPads, and other revoluntionary products — died last week. He was 56 and had been sick for some time. For awhile he had been regarded as somewhat of a pariah in the business world, never really being able to lead Apple. But all that, as you can guess, changed when the new products started coming out, starting with the iPod.

So here’s the question: In this 150-200 word QOTW response, talk about Jobs’ impact on the world — whether that impact is positive or negative — with the technology that his company pioneered during his tenure.

Your response to this QOTW is due by class time on Friday, Oct. 14.

STARTING SENTENCES WITH CONJUNCTIONS

1 Oct

Y’all,

As you remember, we got into a bit of a discussion about starting sentences with “and” and “but” and “because,” etc. I know there are English teachers out there who rail against that tactic, but here are links to two lengthy articles for the Spinal Column Newsweekly I wrote in the past three months and demonstrate ways to incorporate that strategy. Notice how such sentences can keep the momentum of an essay or article — even long ones such as these — running smoothly and therefore make it so the essay/article/paper doesn’t seem to flag at all. They maintain energy.