English 102 and 1A class---

hey there,  so please bring your essay #1 to class on Monday...one copy, double spaced.

remember to include the Hook/Book/Cook 3 paragraph intro in your paper.

Also, I would like you to keep reading in our book, Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. (LHAS)
Part 3 of the book will be the focus of our essay #2 so you will want to finish the book over the next week.

Also, we will be using WriteLab, the essay software this week to look at your paper #1. More about that on Monday.


see you then. Have fun reading in LHAS!---


what is the deal with land walking octopus?

English 4 --class cancelled tonight Feb 25-- plus HW for next week

hey there, so i don't feel well so class is cancelled , really sorry....

pls bring your essay next week....

meanwhile , 4 things...

1. pls check back on this blog tomorrow bc there will be info about how we are going to work with that Write Lab web site for this paper #1.... (i need to talk with Eric before i tell you what we plan to do....)

2. You will want to get , and to start reading our next book Breadgivers. You will want to get up to Chapter 11 in the book by next Wed. The truth is that you could probably finish it by next week. It reads really fast.....

3. To get you thinking about the book, here are a couple questions for you to type up as homework and to bring on Wed.
 What kind of person does Sara seem to be? (try Rule of 3 on this... that is, what are 3 traits she seems to have--this will lead to 3 paragraphs)

4. check out this cool website that takes you back to what life was like in New York City around the time that Breadgivers takes place.

http://www.tenement.org    this is the main page, snoop around and see what you can find...

http://www.tenement.org/Virtual-Tour/index_virtual.html 

5. finally, here is a question to consider: What was the Triangle Shirt Fire?
Pls type up a 2-3 paragraph summary of the event.....


see you next week.!

Englsh 4--some advice as you are working on Paper 1.

As you are getting started on paper 1 for Eng 4, you should ask yourself: What am I trying to argue, what am trying to explore?

The goal is to build a paper that has a number of moving parts. How many moving parts is not always certain, but you should consider working with 5-7 concepts to build your paper. (3 concepts isn’t enough, for example).

We talked in class about a number of different ways to go about shaping the paper.

Below is a list:

1.     Problem/Solution is a classic approach to building a paper. You can set it up by discussing 3-4 types of problems, and 2-3 possible solutions.
2.     Theory and Application: with this approach, you select a theory (often you can take it from it another discipline, like Psych, or Econ, etc.), then you apply the theory to the stories we are working with.
3.     Explore a metaphor: in this approach you take a metaphor (relationship as Dance, for example) and you apply it to the stories we are working with.
4.     Explode a concept: in this approach you take one (maybe 2) concept and look at it from a LOT of different angles to help build your paper.
5.     Stringing Concepts: in this approach you take 5-7 different concepts and you string them together to develop an argument.
6.     Who, What, Where, etc.: in this approach you develop questions that are based on the classic WWWWHW set of questions.

As you develop your paper, it is probably a good idea to know which of these approaches you are using. What you don’t want to do is to combine a little of each of these without knowing that is the case. It will mess up your logic. It is OK to perhaps combine a couple of these as you develop the paper.

Good luck  with the paper.

A last trick to keep in mind. As you are using any of these approaching, what you are really doing is trying to demonstrate the WAY things relate. How does this lead to that? What causes this? What happens if I do this, and also do that? Etc.

So you want to keep in mind logic transitions: they are actually pretty simple transition words like: BUT, IF, ON THE OTHER HAND, THUS, HOWEVER, THEREFORE, WHEN, -------etc. (there are a lot more)

The point here is that you should keep an eye out in your paper for these kinds of words. You WANT them in the paper, bc it tells you that you are finding and demonstrating relationships among and between concepts.

HW due on Wed feb 16---- 102 and 1A---it is all about essay #1

Hey there. so we are deep into writing our first essay. On Wed the 16th, you will want you to bring in a LOT of paragraphs, lol.  (the goal is 12 paras. That means you are answering 4 or so questions.)

If you have been keeping up with the work so far, you should have brought in 9 or so paragraphs this week. Most of you have a few revisions to do on those paras based on the advice I offered in class and wrote on your papers. SOOO, you should be sure to revise these paragraphs.

Of course if you did NOT do 9 paras yet, now is the time!

In addition , you will want to pick one more question of your choice, and write up 3 paras that answer the question. (Rule of 3)


so, the goal is to put your older revised paras together with your 3 new paras, and bring all 12 paras to class on Wed.


here is the Link to Rule of 3.

here is the link to how to write typical academic body paragraph

ENGLISH 4—SPRING 2015—ESSAY #1—Sudden Fiction

ENGLISH 4—SPRING 2015—ESSAY #1—Sudden Fiction

Many of the stories in Sudden Fiction feature relationships between men and women as a central topic. We have at least 12 that we can consider:

The Stories: Popular Mechanics, Say Yes, Tent Worms, Dinner Time, The Anatomy of Desire, The Signing, The Fable, Can-Can, Pygmalion, No One’s a Mystery, Song on Royal Street, The Sock…….

For this essay assignment you will want to read through each of these stories. It will probably be necessary to read them more than once. You will no doubt begin to see interesting similarities/differences between the stories; the stories may even begin to “speak” to each other. Your next step is to begin to ask yourself what kind of themes emerge in the stories; there is a wide variety of possible themes to consider, including: youth, age, intimacy, estrangement, communication, violence, boredom, sickness and health, power, children, lies, truth….and much more.

For this paper your central question to consider is: What are these authors trying to tell us about relationships?

But the question as asked is no doubt too big. You will need to narrow it down by focusing on 2-3 themes of your choice. You may want to pick themes that relate to each other so that you can build a more developed argument.  In developing your arguments, you might also consider taking an approach that looks at: How do we stay on the time line of love? What can lead to us falling off? How do we climb back on?

One valuable tip in writing a paper like this is to NOT start off paragraph topic sentences with plot/names of characters/title of story. This is crucial! Instead, consider starting off the paragraph with 3-5 sentences that establish in some detail the CONCEPT you want to discuss. THEN, you can bring in a moment from one of the stories to support your concept. Another good approach is to bring in support from DIFFERERNT stories to support a concept. In other words, it works very well to have 2 even 3 stories being quoted in one paragraph. For sure every paragraph will need to have at least one piece of support.

You don’t need to bring every story into your paper. But you should bring in at least 5-7 stories through the course of the paper.

Page minimum is 6 pages.

The paper is due Feb 25

First draft is due feb 18, but of course we will be seeing your paragraphs and ideas before then. 

Goooood luck!

English —1st Formal Essay —McFarland--Spring—2015 (102 and 1A)

English —1st  Formal Essay —McFarland--Spring—2015

For this essay we will be investigating issues related to our book, Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, and to the movie, Crude Awakening. One of the intriguing arguments that gets built in both the book and the movie is that this contemporary life that many of us take for granted, is actually the result of specific events in history, especially including the discovery and rise of Oil.

For this paper you will be examining this claim and taking a stand about whether or not you think this is true.  The following questions are intended to offer some guidance to you as you build your paper. You don’t need to answer every question. You can come up with your own questions. And it is OK to argue more than one side of a question if that is how you feel. There are a lot of questions here. You don’t need to answer them all. And you can explore other questions that you come up with yourself, but be sure to run them by me first.

1.     How do you explain the amazing population growth that we see in the chart in the book on page 15?

2.     What are some consequences of adding this additional 5 billion people to the planet, from 1860 up to today?

3.     Why do we allow these consequences to happen?

4.     What is your own relationship to energy use?

5.     Hartmann argues that we are modern day Slaves; what is your opinion of this metaphor as a way to explain our situation?

6.     How do we gain freedom from this slavery?

7.     What is your own relationship to nature?

8.     How do you feel about the fact that we rarely find worms in our perfect apples anymore?

9.     Why did you pick the animal/creature you picked?

In order to support your points, you need to use the ideas found in the book, the movie, your research, and in any other handouts, books, etc. that we have access to.

You must average a minimum of 3 short quotes per page. You should try to include more than one quote per paragraph whenever possible, two is good! Quote length in a paper of this length should be no more than 1-2 lines.

The essay’s page minimum is 6 full pages…(BNDJTM…) Be sure you do Rule of 3 for each question that you pick. That will help you reach the page minimum.

Be careful that you don’t simply retell the history of the how humans have used energy over the years. Use these moments in history to SUPPORT the analytic points you want to make. Paragraph topic sentences should start with concepts. Paragraph topic sentences should also feature KEYWORDS, which are taken from the essay assignments tasks.

The paper is due Feb 25. First draft is due feb 23, but of course we will be seeing your paragraphs before then. 

Best of Luck!!

HW due this Wed, the 11th for 102 and 1A

hey there,, for sure you should still be doing the reading in Last Hours--get up to 217 if you arent there already...

as for writing: Pick any question of your choice from the 9 on the essay ass.
do Rule of 3 on it (meaning, come up with 3 different concepts that answer the question.)
Write (TYPE)  3 paragraphs. Please follow the paragraph template format that we went over in class.
Check out the January 2014 post for review.

HW for 102 and 1A due this monday Feb 9

hey there, so we handed out paper #1 on wed....

and we went over a lot of advice about how to get started...

one thing you should do is to look at blog posts on this site from Jan 2014--
Rule of 3
and
Typical Academic Paragraph

these two posts give guidance on how to push paragraph size, and how to generate more ideas to write about...

meanwhile,


You had 3 things to do...

1. Finish "Crude Awakening" at home.
2. Read to page 217 in "Last Hours."
3. Pick Q 2 and 3 from the essay ass. and answer them in para form. Do Rule of 3 for each Q. that means you will generate 6 paras total.

cu

Eng 4 --hi class--HW for next wed the 11th

so, lets do an outline, the more specific the better,

and lets try 3 body paras....

check those advice blog entries , from jan 2014

byenow

HW due this Wed (feb 4) for 102 And 1A

Hey there, so in class we looked at a short film of an octopus walking on land. After we watched this, a student (you know who you are, Oscar, lol) asked a great question: Why did we watch this?



soooo, that is your first HW question. Please discuss that question.

here is the octopus.... check it out again, and ask yourself how you are feeling and what you are thinking, as you watch. Doing that will help you answer the question about why did we watch this.


2. the second thing you are asked to do, is to go find your own creature/animal. You will be sharing your choice on wed. You will have access to the class computer to share.  You can share an article, or picture, or web video. You will also be answering this question: Why did you pick the creature you picked?

HW for English 4 class (this is not HW for 102 or 1A)

hey 4 folks....! first off nice job analyzing the stories last week. We will finish up the other stories on Wed.

as a reminder the HW that was due last week was to read the 12 stories that were selected in Sudden Fiction. (It might be a good idea to read them more than once...)
After reading the stories, you had some questions :

Is this a story? If so what is the Plot?
What seems to be the lesson or moral of the story?



For THIS week, we are still working on the same stories, but we have added some questions to consider.

1. How do the stories seem to speak to each other? (To answer this, we suggested taking 2 stories that seem to share a similar theme, and analyze what each story is saying about that theme. You should do this as a kind of compare contrast.) We suggested that you do this 3 times. In other words, pick 2 stories, compare contrast them. Pick 2 more stories, compare contrast them. Pick 2 MORE stories,  compare contrast them.


For the second set of questions, you are to use the stories to address these questions. (The Love timeline is basically the story timeline we put on the board the first week of class.)
2. How do we stay on the Love Timeline? What makes people fall off the Love timeline? How do we get back ON the Love timeline?

good luck!

HW due Monday Feb 2 in 102 and 1A

hey all, sorry for the late post... hopefully you wrote down the HW last wed...

We are still working on our book, Last Hours.
You should be up to page 115 by monday...

for the writing, here is the questions;

in the book, Hartmann argues that we are slave today. What does he mean by this? Do you agree with his analysis? (why or why not)
do a paragraph for each question.

see you!