ENG 121 - more on Germanic & Latinate diction

If you want to know more about Germanic and Latinate diction, check out this article.

ENG 121 - reading from The Sun for week of 11/12

Find an article from The Sun (hard copy or online—doesn’t matter). Before you read it, look at it carefully and notice the design elements, such as

• How the title looks (consider font, type size, arrangement)
• How the text of the article looks (consider font, type size, columns, headings or subheadings, arrangement)
• Other visual elements (consider photos or artwork, graphics such as lines or circles that may appear in the margins, etc.)

Then read the article, noting how the design elements affect your understanding of what you’re reading. For example, certain design elements can cause you to read more quickly or slowly. Blog about your findings before our next class meeting (Nov. 19).

Audio Essays from ENG 121 (fall 2007)

Listen to Candice's, Harv's, Christy's, Kathy's, Chealse's, Adam's, Michelle's, Alicia's, and Nadia's. View Ana's caption essay.

ENG 121 - link for 10/31 class

Here is the link to the essay from The Sun. Read it before class and come ready to talk about what assumptions the author makes and who the audience is and how you can tell.

ENG 121 - links for 10/22 class

Go to the slideshow here and view the slides.

ENG 121 - read for 10/24

Read this article from The Sun.

ENG 121 - Links for 10/8 class

• Trent Reznor’s lyrics
• Nine Inch Nails video
• Johnny Cash’s lyrics (only slightly different from Reznor's)
• Johnny Cash video
  

This I Believe Audio Essay Assignment

To prepare for class on October 10, go to http://thisibelieve.org/aboutus.html and read “About This I Believe.”

Then go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4566554 and read Edward R. Murrow’s 1951 introduction to the This I Believe series.

Finally, go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138, scroll down to “Essays New and Old” and listen to five of the audio essays. To listen to one, you’ll need to click on its title and then click the Listen icon.

REQUIRED BLOG ENTRY to do before class on October 10: Write 150+ words in response to at least one of the audio essays you listened to. Be sure to include the name of the audio essay(s) you are responding to. Consider how listening to an essay is different from reading an essay. Consider how the essay authors used their voices to create intimacy and immediacy.

Optional: I recorded my own audio essay in Fall 2006 when I first gave this assignment to my students. You can listen to it here, if you are curious.

ENG 122 - link to multigenre project

You can find the multigenre project on hospice care here.

ENG 121 - The Sun assignment for the week of Oct. 1

Look through any issue of The Sun and find an article/essay to read that does in some way what Taylor Mali does in “What Do Teachers Make”: makes a strong statement with elements of tirade but avoids being simply a tirade. Write a response on your blog to the article/essay from The Sun.

You can find a text version of Mali's "tirade" here.

ENG 122 – for 9/18

Here is a definition and explanation of quantitative research methods:
Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and hypotheses pertaining to natural phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.

Here is a definition and explanation of qualitative research methods.
Research involving detailed, verbal descriptions of characteristics, cases, and settings. Qualitative research typically uses observation, interviewing, and document review to collect data. Simply put, it investigates the why and how of decision making, as compared to what, where, and when of quantitative research. Hence, the need is for smaller but focused samples rather than large random samples, which qualitative research categorizes data into patterns as the primary basis for organizing and reporting results.

Now think about the peer reviewed journal articles you're read. Do they seem to be using qualitative or quantitative methods? How can you tell? ? How can you tell?

LIT 145 - reading for 10/18

For each poet, the biographical info is optional; the poems are not.

Info on Audre Lorde. Poems: “Inheritance—His” and “A Woman Speaks”

Info on Maxine Kumin. Poems: “Woodchucks” and “Morning Swim”

Info on Denise Levertov. Poems: “The Mutes” and “People at Night”

Info on Carolyn Forche. Poems: “The Colonel” and “The Visitor”

Info on Rita Dove. Poems: “Adolescence II” and “Dusting”

Rita Dove reading her poems

LIT 145 - reading for 10/9

For each author listed, the poems are required reading; the biographical information is optional.

Info on Lucille Clifton . Poems: “Homage to My Hips” and “The Lost Baby Poem”

Info on Adrienne Rich. Poems: “Cartographies of Silence” and “For the Dead”

Info on Anne Bradstreet. Poem: “The Author to Her Book”

Info on Emily Dickinson. Poems: Read as many of these as you like.

Info on Anne Sexton. Poems: “The Truth the Dead Know” and “Unknown Girl in a Maternity Ward”

Info on Sylvia Plath. Poems: “Childless Woman” and “Poppies in October”

LIT 145 - reading for 9/25

Here's the information on Magical Realism.
Here's the offical Isabel Allende Website.

LIT 145 - link for reading for 9/18

Here's the info on the lives of Ancient Greek women.

ENG 122 - links to YouTube videos from 9/4 class

• Evolution (shows the model being made up, airbrushed, etc.)
• The Machine is Us/ing Us (about how Web 2.0 is changing everything)
• Shift Happens (about how size really does matter)

scholarship for bloggers

Look! There's a scholarship for bloggers!

ENG 121 – reading for 9/5 from The Sun

Find the August 2007 issue of The Sun. The RRCC Library has it with its recent periodicals (if you have trouble finding it, ask a librarian for help).

Skim through the entire issue, noticing how it is organized and the different types of writing published (essays, letters, poems, etc.).

Read “Correspondence” and note what the letters reveal about readers of The Sun and about The Sun itself.

Then, photocopy and read any of the pieces under “Essays, Memoirs, and True Stories.” Bring the photocopy to class.

LIT 145 - links for readings due 9/4

• “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston
• “Scent of a Woman’s Ink” by Francine Prose

ENG 122 - link to article about Wikipedia

Here's “All the News That’s Fit to Print Out” by Jonathan Dee

LIT 145 - links for readings due on 9/11

• Perkins Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper”
• excerpt from Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”

What is the difference between a summary and a response?

A summary expresses the main points of something without personal opinion or critique. It is a very “just the facts, ma’am” type of document. For example, I might summarize my summer by saying, “I was very busy this summer. I traveled to Illinois and Texas, worked on several writing projects, and did some work around my house.” Notice that the summary doesn’t indicate whether I enjoyed my summer or what my favorite part of the summer was.

You can find more information about summaries here.

A response expresses personal opinion, such as agreement or disagreement, or critiques something. For example, I might respond to my summer by saying, “I was hoping my summer would be very relaxing, but an unexpected trip to Texas threw me off. After I got back from Texas, I was stressed out and didn’t get as much done around the house as I wanted to. I’m really disappointed that I didn’t finish painting the basement.” Notice that the response indicates several emotions: surprise (about the trip to Texas), feeling stressed out, and disappointment.

You can find more information about responses here.

Writing a College Admission Essay

If you are planning to transfer to a 4-year college, the advice in this article should be very helpful as you plan and write your application essay. Also, remember that the tutors in the Writing Center can help you as well.

To Find Out What Your Final Grade in the Class Is

To find out what your final grade in the class is, go to the RRCC Website and click on MyCommunity Education in the upper right hand corner of the page. You will be prompted for your S number and password. Once you enter that information, you will be able to view your final grades in your classes.

If you are confused about why your final grade is what it is, review all your returned work from me to refresh your memory of your assignment grades. Then reflect honestly on your class participation and blogging. If you are still not sure why your final grade is what it is, email me.

Three Habits of Highly Successful Students

Make a commitment: This means being organized, setting aside time dedicated to studying for this class, identifying College resources that may be helpful to you, taking responsibility for your choices, and developing a work ethic. If you are having trouble in this class (you don’t understand what it seems you should), don’t just sit there, do something; you can come see me during my office hours, go to the Writing Center, ask a librarian for help, etc. You can’t expect your boss or friends or loved ones to accommodate your school work; you may need to make sacrifices, such as cutting back on TV or drinking or even work. You may find yourself having to make difficult choices, such as choosing between doing homework for this class and spending an important day with a loved one; you may decide to prioritize your loved one and not do your homework for this class. Fine, but be an adult and take responsibility for your choice.

Another important aspect of making a commitment is viewing this course not as preparation for the rest of your education/career/life, but rather, as an experience on its own. This course isn’t simply preparation for the rest of your life, it is your life. For the next fifteen weeks for ten hours a week, this is your life. Commit to that. Engage.

Accept the challenge: Accepting the challenge means being an active, rather than passive, learner. Passive learners wait receptively for information and knowledge to find its way into their brains, dutifully following directions and meekly accepting everything the textbook and I say. Active learners come to class prepared, having thought critically about what they read or what they did, and ask questions and consider possibilities other than what have been presented to them. Active learners are engaged and critical, focusing on making connections between ideas, whereas passive learners focus more on memorization of concepts.

Accept that you will be asked to do things in this class that you don’t already know how to do. (Duh—if you already knew how to do everything this class covers, you wouldn’t need to take this class.) If you refuse to accept the possibility that you will not succeed, you will not ever grow. Not in this class, not in a job, not in a relationship. I often have students drop a class after receiving their first graded assignment back and receiving a grade less than A. When they come to tell me they are dropping, they often say, “I have very high standards for myself and I cannot accept a grade lower than A.” Think about this: is dropping a course because you receive less than an A on a paper evidence of high standards or low standards?

Quit whining: Being in school is hard work. You’ll need to do lots of reading, lots of writing, and lots of thinking. You’ve made the choice to be in school. Take responsibility for your choice and don’t whine about the reading, writing, and thinking. Put your energy into the work rather than the whining.

For more tips, check out this and this.

Requesting a Letter of Recommendation

I am happy to write letters of recommendation for students and former students who have impressed me with their intellect, creativity, motivation, leadership, or ability to surmount challenges.

Writing a good letter of recommendation takes some time—time for reflection on the student being recommended, time for a bit of research to refresh my memory of grades earned and/or assignments submitted, time for drafting and revising—so I require at least two weeks notice for writing letters of recommendation.

In addition to at least two weeks notice, I will need the following from you:

1. Any official form the organization I am recommending you to wants recommenders to complete.
2. The deadline by which the letter is due.
3. The address the letter should be sent to.
4. A copy of your personal essay (if you are applying to a college or for a scholarship). I like to be able to emphasize something you’ve said in your essay in my letter.
5. Your resume, if you have one. I like to be able to refer to items in your resume if I can.
6. Information, in writing, about what you plan to major in, what your career goals are, and why you are applying to the college or job or whatever that you want me to recommend you for.
   

Please give me all of these items at once, if possible, paperclipped together or in a manila folder or attached to the same email.

I will put your letter on RRCC letterhead in a RRCC envelope and will send it via RRCC mail (unless the college/scholarship organization wants the letter in another format), so you do not need to provide envelopes or stamps.

And finally, do let me know if you were accepted to the college or were awarded the scholarship or got the job!

Fall 2007 Classes

ENG 121: Composition I (section 010—M/W 11-12:15 and section H01 (Honors)—M/W 2:30-3:45)
This class will focus on seeing the multiple possibilities within a piece of writing. The course emphasizes planning, writing, and revising compositions and shaping them for different audiences. We will explore writing topics from different perspectives or angles (what if you wrote about your spring break from your parents’ point of view, for example? Or from the perspective of the stranger on the beach who looked at you funny that one day?) Our classroom will function as a kind of laboratory or studio where class members will engage in writing and learn not only by doing but also by watching others and critiquing their progress.

ENG 122: Composition II (section 005—T/R 9:30-10:45 and section 007—T/R 11-12:15)
This course focuses on how to find, evaluate, and use sources from the Internet, the library, and beyond. Students will not write a conventional research paper; instead, they will write in a variety of different genres, from a variety of different perspectives, using a variety of different techniques. Students will learn how to manage a large research project, how to take risks in their writing, and how to defend their research and writing choices.

LIT 145: Literature, Women, & Society (section 001—T/R 1-2:15)
This class will explore how women and their unique concerns are represented in fiction, poetry, drama, and film; whether there is a female literary tradition; and whether or how gender makes a difference in literature production and consumption.


Fall classes begin August 27.
Register early and often. Tell your friends. Questions? Contact Liz Kleinfeld at liz.kleinfeld@rrcc.edu.