Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Course Recap for Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Welcome Back!
After almost a week of conferences, we finally met again as a class to review each others rough drafts of Project 2: Analysis Paper.  You separated into groups and discussed each others papers using a response guide to help your discussion.  For homework you will be doing your own review of your rough draft.  Using your classmates feedback and your own knowledge of your writing, you are going to answer the following questions:
  1. What did you accomplish with this first draft?  What do you feel you did well?
  2. Where are some places that need improvement?  What things will you focus on when you start your next draft?
Your response should be in paragraph form and should be 1 to 2 pages long.  Here is your chance to defend what you've already written and to start planning the changes you are going to make later.  Everyone has done something well and everyone has something they need to improve upon.  It is important to me that you are conscious of your own writing process and that you are capable (with the help of your peers) of recognizing the strengths and faults in your own paper before receiving my comments.  This response forces you to think about what you've already written and helps you set goals for making your paper better.

Homework
  • Response Paper for Project 2 Rough Draft, see above description (Due Monday, Nov. 5)
  • Read Hansel and Gretel, Little Snow-White, and The Elves for The Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales, see Class Links (Due Monday, Nov. 5)
Have a Happy Halloween!

(A Little Taste of Monday's Lesson.)


Monday, October 22, 2012

Course Recap for Monday, October 22, 2012

Conferences
The next two classes (Wed, Oct. 24 and Mon, Oct. 29th) we will not be meeting as a class. Instead I will meet with each of you individually in order to prepare you for the rough draft of your analysis paper and to talk about your grade so far in the class. See Conference Schedule for your conference time.

You will bring two things to your conference: an outline of your paper and an annotated bibliography.

Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is basically a paper where you summarize your research.  The first page of the paper is an introduction where you will basically tell us everything you learned from your research.  Look at it as an overview of all your sources.  After the introduction you will list each of your sources in MLA format and then you will follow it with a paragraph where you give a summary of that source and explain that source's relevance to your topic/thesis.  Please look carefully at the Sample Annotated Bibliography if you are confused (See Class Documents).  For your Annotated Bibliography I want you to have 8 sources.  You only have to quote from 4 sources in your paper, but I want to know that you've looked up as much information on your topic as you possibly could.  Also because most of you are using online sources and are not always good at figuring out good sources from bad sources, it is always good to have back up in case you have to throw some of those sources away.

Outline
See Class Documents for a template of how I want your outline's to be formatted.  Your outline will list the main ideas of your paper and will serve as roadmap for the rest of your project.

My hope is that after doing these assignments and meeting with me one-on-one you will have a better understanding of what's expected of you for this paper and will not have any issues writing a great first draft.   Your first draft will be due the next time we meet as a class which will be next Wednesday Oct. 31st.  The structure is exactly like last time. You have to bring in 2 copies of at least the first 2 pages of your paper for peer review.

Homework
  • Annotated Bibliography (Due the date of your conference)
  • Outline of Paper (Due the date of your conference)
  • Rough Draft of Analysis Paper, first 2 pages, 2 copies please (Due, Wed. Oct. 31)
  • If you have not turned in your Peer Response Guides, (These are the sheets where your classmates gave you comments about your literacy narrative), turn them in either at your conference or on Wed. Oct 31st.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Course Recap for Monday, October 15, 2012

Carrie Presentations
You presented your presentations on Carrie, making the argument that one of the 3 main characters was the monster of the piece.  You had a thesis, and you defended it using evidence from the movie and outside research.  I want you to note how you were able to prove your points with research that wasn't directly about the movie itself.  I also want you to note how the research came second to the evidence you presented from the movie. These presentations are  mini-examples of what you will be doing in your second project (see Project 2 Assignment Sheet under Class Documents).

"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin
We then discussed the short story "Sonny's Blues" and after our discussion we created potential thesis statements for an analysis of the piece.  Those of you who did not do the reading missed out on the points for the thesis statements and 10 extra credit points.

Thesis Statements
The best way to start forming a thesis statements is to start by asking yourself very specific questions about the piece.  Try to ask more in-depth questions that go beyond the surface of the piece.  Question the choices the creators made.  Why do you think they chose to make the piece go that way instead of another way?  Ask yourself how different societal factors affect the piece.  Question a character's actions or their motives.  If you see recurring patterns in the piece ask yourself why they are there? And then try to answer them to the best of your ability based on your knowledge of the piece.  You will then have the beginning of a good thesis statement.

Homework
  • Come to class with an idea of what you want to do your second project on. (Due Wed 10/17)
  • Write a 1-2 page analysis on Sleep Deprivation Chamber by Adrienne Kennedy (Due Wed 10/24)

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Course Recap for Wednesday, October 11, 2012

Quick Tips on Grammar, Formatting, etc.
I returned your rough drafts of your literacy narratives with my comments.  Remember I only carefully checked the first two pages of your draft for grammatical errors so be sure to go through your entire draft carefully and you complete your final revision.

Here were a couple of common errors I saw in most of the papers that we talked about in class and ways you can avoid them.

  1. Italicize the titles of books and make sure that you include the author's name.  I need to know whether or not you're talking about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Dean Koontz's Frankenstein.
  2. A lot of you have a double space between each paragraph.  What you need to do is open your document in Word, highlight the entire document, go to Paragraph on the toolbar and click the option that says "Do not leave a space between each paragraph."  I will take points off if you do not do this.
  3. Watch your tenses. If you start your piece in past tense you should stay in past tense.  Do not randomly shift to present tense.  Many of you will write one sentence in present tense and then the next one would be in past and vice versa.  I've even seen two different tenses within one sentence.  Here's an example:  She cried all day long and then she is fine.
  4. Run-on sentences! A run-on sentence is a sentence where you string two or more ideas together without proper punctuation you just keep going and going, it doesn't matter that you've already stated 2 very complete thoughts you decide to go ahead and add a few more just for dramatic effect and you end up with a sentence that is over four lines long.  The previous sentence is a run-on.  Here is that sentence corrected: A run-on sentence is a sentence where you string two or more ideas together without proper punctuation.  You just keep going and going.  It doesn't matter that you've already stated two very complete thoughts.  You decide to go ahead and add a few more for dramatic effect, and you end up with a sentence that is over four lines long.
  5. Writing passively vs actively. " The first project was passed by most of the class." Doesn't that sound awkward?  Wouldn't it be easier to say "The class passed the first project."
  6. Try to reduce your use of "to be" verbs like is, was, am.  I am walking would become I walk. They were fighting in the hall would become they fought in the hall.  It's straight to the point, makes your sentence more active, and will help some of you who had problems with wordy sentences.
  7. Avoid the phrase "would have been."
  8. Do not start sentences with conjunctions. Because, but, and, or etc are conjunctions
  9. Do not start sentences with verbs that start in -ing.  "Walking to the store, they saw a stray dog."  Just say "They saw a stray dog while walking to the store."  
  10. Follow the above tips and you will have caught most of the common grammatical and formatting errors of our class.
Carrie Discussion
The we went over the Carrie Response Guide.  We talked about your reactions to the movies and your interpretations of the film.  Here is a summary of your responses.
  • The color red represented anger.  It also represented blood.
  • The camera often shot Carrie from above which showed how her classmates looked down on her.
  • White represented purity and Carrie was often shown in bright white light before the end.
  • Religion was represented as a repressive force in the movie.  Religious symbols were often seen in small, dark places.
  • Carrie's mom was a major cause of all of Carrie's problems, possibly the main cause.
We then talked about the two critical pieces you read on the movie.  In these two pieces the authors analyzed various aspects of the movie from a specific point of view in order to prove a point.  Both authors equated Carrie's telekinetic power with her burgeoning sexuality.  Both authors believed that Carrie was indeed a monster.  Muir analyzed the film mostly from a technical point of view and talked about how the director used certain techniques like slow motion, split screen, and intense music to track Carrie's transformation into a monster.  Lindsay examined it from a feminist point of view.  She talked about how the gender of the different characters affected how you interpreted their actions.  

You will be doing an analysis of a piece of art for your next project.  The types of questions you asked yourself while watching Carrie are the types of things you want to ask about your piece.  What are the hidden meanings behind the plot of the movie or book?  What do the different colors in the painting say to you about the author's feelings toward his subject? Why did a songwriter use a specific word in their song instead of another one?  We will examine some pieces together as we prepare you to learn how to interpret different pieces.  

Your first assignment will be to analyze Carrie as you try to prove which characters from the movie were the true monsters. 

Homework
  • Final Draft of Literacy Narrative (Due Mon 10/15)
  • Attend Performance of Sleep Deprivation Chamber at the York Theatre in the Gilmore Theatre Complex-right across from Brown, next to Miller Auditorium (Due Sun 10/14 or Mon 10/15 at 5pm)
  • Read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin (Due Mon 10/15)
  • Finish up Carrie Project-You will have 15 minutes in class to prepare your presentations.  Make sure you email me the links to your research. (Due Mon 10/15)

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Course Recap for Wednesday, October 3, 2012



Carrie
We watched the movie, Carrie. For homework you will do a general analysis of the movie where you will answer the following questions:
  1. Comment on the various cinematic elements in the movie. What role does lighting, color, camera angles, and sound play in the story? It's okay if you don't know the technical terms. Talk about them to the best of your ability.
  2. What are some of the themes present in the film?
  3. Carrie is a horror movie that defies the genre because it blurs the lines between the victims and the monsters. Who are the monsters in this film? Why do you think so? Refer to specific scenes in the movie.
  4. What are some recurring images or ideas in the film? What do you think these images or ideas symbolize?
  5. Choose a character other than Carrie. Examine that character's personality and motives and the purpose they serve to the rest of the plot.
  6. What are some criticisms you have of the film?
Homework
  • Second Draft of Literacy Narrative (Due Monday Oct 8 before you come to class via email- micealaya.moses@gmail.com)
  • Read "Cult Movie Review: Carrie (1976)" by John Kenneth Muir (Due Monday, Oct. 8)
  • Read "Horror, Femininity, and Carrie's Monstrous Puberty" by Shelley Stamp Lindsey (Due Monday, Oct. 8)-When you click on the link it will ask you for your Bronco ID and password unless you are using a school computer.
  • Answer questions on the Carrie Response Guide-you will be turning these in (Due Monday, Oct. 8)
  • Final Draft of Literacy Narrative (Due Wednesday, Oct 10 via email micealaya.moses@gmail.com)

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Course Recap for Monday, October 2, 2012

Peer Review
You broke off into groups and read each other's papers aloud.  You then had a discussion about the things you liked in each narrative.  Then you individually read through at least 2 of your classmates papers and made comments and filled out the response guide.  If you checked more than 2 papers you will receive extra credit.

Revisions-Second Drafts
For homework you need to write a new draft based on your classmates comments.  If none of your classmates offered you any suggestions on how to make your paper better (which they should've even if it was just grammatical errors) it is up to you to look through your piece and find things that you could do better.  Maybe you know you rushed the end of the paper and you want to take another stab at it.  Maybe there are some grammatical errors that you know are there even if your classmates missed them. There is no such thing as a perfect paper and there is always something you can improve upon.  If you only had the first two pages of your paper you can work on finishing it.  Your second draft is due Monday, October 8 and it should be better than the draft you turned in today. You will email me this draft before class Monday at micealaya.moses@gmail.com.

Homework
Second Draft of Literacy Narrative (Due Monday, Oct. 8) *This is not your final draft*