EWRT1A-61: grades in

I just submitted the grades for the class. So hopefully they'll be viewable through the Portal sometime tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for a good class. Have a good break and good luck to you next quarter.

EWRT1A- essay 3

Don't forget that you need two drafts when you hand in essay 3. Many of you already have a first draft, so just don't forget to bring it. If you never turned in a first draft, one is still required of you. And remember that a draft is unique version of your essay. A draft is not simply another copy with the font changed.

Tonight is the end. So if you don't have what is required tonight then you have not met the requirements of the assignment and you will face the penalties.

EWRT1A-61: final

The final is in the regular classroom on Tuesday night, but it runs from 6:15 to 8:15.

• Bring paper and pens to write with.
• You can use Fun Home and a print dictionary, but no other books or notes.
• No headphones, cell phones, or electrical devices should be used during the test.
• Try to get plenty of sleep.

Fun Home criticisms

Now that we're starting to get to the end of Fun Home, I thought we might want to consider what other people have said about the book. So here are some criticisms that have been leveled at Fun Home. Do you agree with them? Whether yes or no, what evidence can you offer to support your opinion?

• The literary references in Fun Home are distracting and add nothing to the narrative. In fact, they only seem to be there as a way to make the "comic book" seem more respectable.
• In Fun Home, Alison Bechdel confirms negative homosexual stereotypes. For instance, the story portrays the stereotype that all gay men are interested in young boys. It also implies the old idea that lesbianism and feminism are one and the same.
• The pictures don't do much in Fun Home. There is really no reason for it to be a graphic novel. It would have worked just as well as a text-only autobiography.

Keep in mind that these are not necessarily my criticisms of the book. There just the most common ones I've run across while reading about the book.

EWRT1A-61: grammar review 5

Here is grammar review 5. There are only five sentences this time, but what you need to do is a bit more involved.

EWRT1A-61: reading response 9

Reading Response 9
Keeping in mind what you have read of Fun Home so far, respond to one of the prompts below. Please use specific evidence from the book to support your response.

• Compare and contrast how Alison Bechdel’s father uses books in his life to how Bechdel as a young college student does. How do books relate to their identities? To their sexual identities?

• What assets does Alison Bechdel have that help support her coming out as a lesbian? What are her obstacles?

• On page 85, Bechdel claims that her father prefers “fiction to reality.” How does this relate to the fact that Bechdel uses so many other stories– Daedalus and Icarus, Camus, The Great Gatsby, etc.– to understand her father?

• On page 104, Bechdel mentions the Stonewall Riots. Do some research about this. Why is it significant that Bechdel and her father are in New York just weeks after the Stonewall Riots?

• Respond to one of the prompts from reading response 8, but incorporate evidence from chapters 3-4.

• Choose your own focus for analysis.

how to use apostrophes

Here's a nice graphic about apostrophe use.

EWRT1A-61: grammar review 4

Here is grammar review 4: mixed constructions and modifiers.

EWRT1A-61: reading response 8

Reading Response 8
Alison Bechdel, Fun Home chapters 1-2
Choose one. Please use specific evidence in your response.

• On page 15, Bechdel illustrates some of the ways she and her father are different. Despite the differences, how are she and her father similar? Consider characteristics of behavior and/or appearance.

• What elements contribute to Bechdel believing that her father’s death was a suicide? Do you agree that these elements warrant her conclusion?

• Where does Bechdel admit to the limits of her memory and understanding? Do these admissions weaken the narrative or do they serve some purpose? Explain.

• Compare the narration with the monstration. What relationship do these share? In other words, what do the images show in comparison to what the words explain and how do the two work together? You may choose to talk about a single scene if you’d like, to give yourself focus.

• Choose your own aspect of the book for your analysis.

EWRT1A-61: essay 3

Here are the prompts for essay 3.

EWRT1A-61: Fun Home reading questions

Here are some questions to help you engage with the book as you read it.

1. In what ways are Bechdel and her father different? In what ways are they alike?

2. Bechdel believes that her father committed suicide. Why? What does she think the motivation for him was? Why is this significant for her?

3. What role do books play in Bechdel’s relationship with her father? What role do they play in her own self discovery?

4. Can you find an image in the text that sums up Bechdel’s relationship with her father? Is its placement in the story significant?

5. In what ways is Bechdel’s father able to support her? How does he do so?

6. Why does Bechdel allude to so many literary texts? How do they relate to her parents? To herself?

7. At times Bechdel seems to judge her father, but at other times she seems to resist judging him. Find instances of both in the text. Does this show a limitation in her understanding?

8. What do you think the purpose of creating Fun Home was for Bechdel?

9. In what ways are the telling (the narration) different from what is in the showing (the monstration)? Think of McCloud’s categories. Also consider that the narration is an adult Bechdel looking back and the monstration is often a young Alison experiencing things for the first time.

10. Is Alison Bechdel a reliable narrator? What does she believe that others in the book may not believe? What biases might she have?

EWRT1A-61: essay 2 due

Remember that essay 2 is due Tuesday, November 15th, and that you need to hand in both drafts. Here are a few general comments.

• Synthesis! Make at least two texts prove the same points. In order to help you with this you may want to consider a point-by-point essay structure versus a subject-by-subject one. In other words, instead of organizing your essay around the texts (the essays you are analyzing), organize the essay around your points and use the texts as examples.
  

• Give the most details around the elements that support your thesis. A few of the essays spent a long time setting up the examples, but only spent a sentence or two discussing the part of the example that really proved the thesis.
  
• MLA citation. Remember to cite specific evidence, even if you are paraphrasing. Don't forget a works cited list.
  

EWRT1A-61: grammar review 3

Here is grammar review 3, shifts and mixed constructions. Easy Writer covers shifts in chapter 18, page 102 and mixed constructions ("consistency and completeness") in chapter 14, page 92.

EWRT1A-61: paragraph development and transitions

I have pdfs of the things I went over in class tonight. First, here's one about rhetorical modes and types of examples. Second, here's one about transitions.

Also, remember that grammar review 3 will be due Thursday, November 3rd. I'll post it later.

alleged assault on campus

So yes, there was an alleged assault this morning on campus. There's some information on the De Anza homepage. If you can, try to walk in pairs or groups and don't go into unpopulated areas with anyone you don't know. And don't turn a blind eye if you see anything suspicious happening.

EWRT1A-61: essay 2

In case you didn't get it or you lost it, here are the prompts for essay 2.

EWRT1A-61: reading response 5

Reading Response 5
Bernard Cooper “A Clack of Tiny Sparks…”
Choose one or come up with your own focus.

• The piece begins and ends with Theresa Sanchez. Why is Theresa so important for Bernard Cooper? What does she represent for him?

• Bernard Cooper was a teenager in the 1960s. Do you think things have changed much for homosexual teenagers in the years since? Please refer to specific parts of Cooper’s memoir in your response.

• Connect the ways Cooper’s true identity is repressed to the ways Jackson Katz says boys’ identities are repressed in the Tough Guise video. Look for similar causes.

• Compare and/or contrast Cooper’s experience with what Anzaldúa or Walker writes about. Look especially at assets. Does Cooper have the kind of help to find his true identity that Anzaldúa or Walker describes? Explain.

Just because no-one had heard of Fugazi…

EWRT1A-61: Tough Guise

Please watch the following video for Tuesday. As you watch it, keep certain questions in mind.

• According to Jackson Katz, what are the obstacles young men face to being true to their own identities? Where do these obstacles come from?
  
• Katz says that concepts of masculinity and violence are connected. Is he convincing in this claim? Do you think that this is culturally reinforced, as Katz argues, or do you think this is a result of nature? Both?
  
• What are the effects on young men who "take on the tough guise," according to Katz? Do you agree with him?
• How does Katz think young men are going to be able to be "better men"?
  
• Does Katz offer enough evidence of to support his claims?
  
• Do your own experiences confirm or deny Katz's claims?

Keep in mind that this is a seven-minute version of an hour long video.

EWRT1A-61: grammar review 2

Here it is. Print it out or write your answers on another sheet of paper.

EWRT1A-61: reading response 3

Reading Response 3
Alice Walker “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”
Choose one or come up with your own focus.

• According to what Walker shows in this essay, what are some of the forces that hinder people from being true to their own identities? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.

• What does Walker’s essay show us about how people are able to find their own identities? What do people need? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.

• This essay is full of artists. Using some of these artists as examples, what does Walker’s essay show you about the possible function(s) of art? In other words, what does this essay teach us about the purpose of art?

pronouns

They actually used to try to teach kids things between their Saturday morning cartoons.

EWRT1A-61: office hours

Office hours are from 4:15 to 5:15 on Thursdays in the part-time faculty offices. These are located in the Baldwin Winery building, behind financial aid and next door to the printing services. Go down the stairs and dial 8834 on the intercom. This will ring the phone on my desk and I can buzz you in.

Malcolm X

If you've never heard Malcolm X speak before, then you need to.

Here he answers questions that many of you might have for him. Also, notice how often he is interrupted and not allowed to finish a complete thought, yet how calm he remains.


And here is one of his famous speeches. Remember that this is a man with an eighth grade education speaking at Oxford University.

EWRT1A-61: grammar review 1

Here is the handout for Grammar Review 1: Fragments and Run-ons. Either print it out or write your revised sentences on another piece of paper. The exercise is due Tuesday.

EWRT1A-61: essay 1

In case you've lost your copy, here is the handout about essay 1.

I know a few of you still don't have the reader. Make sure you've told the bookstore to order one for you. Even then, it may take awhile. In the meantime, consider borrowing someone else's book. You could photocopy the next few essays. If this doesn't work for you, please e-mail me. After today, saying that you don't have the book will not be an acceptable excuse.

EWRT1A-61: Paulo Freire

Remember, if you went by the bookstore and the reader wasn't there, be sure to tell someone at the bookstore that you need it. Otherwise, they won't know how many to reorder. I'll contact them about it also.

Luckily, the Paulo Freire reading is on-line. You can see it here. Also, if you'd like a bit more information about Freire's influence on education, this site is good.

Fall 2011: EWRT1A-61

Welcome.

On this blog I will provide necessary handouts, such as grammar review worksheets, as well as additional information. Bookmark this page and get in the habit of checking it out as part of your homework routine. All the handouts I post will be in pdf format. If you need a pdf reader, Adobe has a free one.

Here is a pdf of the syllabus for the class.

Feel free to post questions and comments here, and you can always e-mail me: mullinsnicholas@fhda.edu.

EWRT1A-24: final grades

I submitted the grades this morning, so they should be available to you soon. If you can't wait, you can always e-mail me.

Thanks for a nice quarter and good luck.

EWRT1A-24: essay 3 due date

You can turn in essay 3 on Thursday, June 16th, as listed on the syllabus. Or for no late penalty, you can turn in it on Tuesday, June 21st. As I mentioned in class, Thursday is safer for several reasons, but if you need the time, then hand it in Tuesday. Remember that two drafts need to be handed in, regardless of whether or not you handed a first draft in previously.

EWRT1A-24: bring your readers to class

Please bring your readers to class tonight. We'll be reading "My Last Duchess," a heartwarming poem about marriage.

EWRT1A-24: parallel structure

Here is the parallel structure exercise. Here's more on parallel structure, and here's advice on how to use it in professional writing.

EWRT1A-24: essay 3 first drafts

I expect these first drafts to be pretty rough, but try to get as complete as you can. Remember, the goal is synthesis. Your thesis should point out a connection between the texts. The body paragraphs should analyze the texts. Interpret specific scenes and quotations.

If you want additional help, the Owl at Purdue has good advice about writing about literature.

EWRT1A-24: conciseness

We didn't get around to talking about conciseness in class, but be sure to read the chapter in the Longman, pages 190-191. Conciseness is a style choice and not everyone values it. Still, while you're in this class try to cut down on wordiness, try to write things as clearly and directly as possible. See how it works for you. Of course, when you're done with this class, you can do whatever you want.

Anyway, the book has a lot of good suggestions for how to get rid if unnecessary wordiness. My one addition is to focus on verbs.

• Careful verb choice eliminates the need for adverbs.
  - He walked very slowly around the table.
  > He crept around the table.
  
• Active verbs eliminate overly wordy "to be" and passive verb constructions.
  To be: There were mistakes made.
  Passive: Mistakes were made.
  Active: We made mistakes.

Here is the exercise, due Tuesday. Only five sentences this time.

EWRT1A-24: presentation groups for next week

A lot of people were absent today. There is a flu going around and it's also nearing the end of the quarter. Anyway, let me list the presentation groups for next week so you can be sure to exchange contact info. Keep in mind that I can't give out a student's e-mail address unless I am given permission by that student.

June 7- Frankenstein chapters 11-16
Julie
Brittany
Natnale

June 9- Frankenstein chapters 17-21
Long
Byron
Paul
Sheryl

EWRT1A-24: modifiers and reading response 9

Here is the modifiers worksheet.

Reading Response 9
Keeping in mind what you have read of Frankenstein so far, respond to one of the prompts below. Please use specific evidence from the novel to support your response.

• Compare and contrast the ambitions of Victor and Walton. How do the two men see their responsibilities to themselves and others? What kinds of values and motivations may be operating for each person?
• What are the effects of education as depicted in this novel? Does education liberate characters or ruin them? Consider Frankenstein, Clerval, and Walton (you don’t have to discuss all three, I’m just suggesting examples).
• Do you find Victor Frankenstein to be a responsible person? In answering this, don’t refer only to Victor’s relationship to his creation.
• How is nature depicted so far in the novel? What is its effect on the characters? Please refer to specific scenes.
• Look at the fate of Justine. How is she treated before William’s murder? How is she treated afterward? What does this contrast tell you about the society in the novel?
• Choose your own focus for analysis.

Lastly, here is a map of the early chapters of the novel, showing Walton's voyage and where Victor is in his early life.

EWRT1A-24: clear sentences and mixed structures

Here is the worksheet for Tuesday.

Also, be sure to bring your reader as well as Frankenstein on Tuesday. You will need both.

And just a quick note on CliffsNotes, SparkNotes, et al… Literature can be difficult, but the pleasure it provides is the pleasure you get from figuring it out yourself. And as I stated in class, what you are trying to do is form your own interpretation based on the evidence of what you've read. Something like SparkNotes is just somebody else's interpretation. And so if you go to SparkNotes too soon, you are giving up your chance of forming your own opinion. Don't throw away the opportunity to discover something on your own. Also, SparkNotes is not always right. For one, it just presents one interpretation and multiple interpretations are almost always possible. Also, it sometimes just gets things wrong. Have I ever used a study guide before? Yes. As I was reading James Joyce's Ulysses, I used The New Bloomsday Book: a Guide Through Ulysses by Harry Blamires. But what I did was read a chapter of Ulysses first and struggled with it on my own. Then I went to the Blamires book for help. That way, I could compare Blamires's interpretation to my own, not simply adopt his. So that's how I suggest you use aids like SparkNotes if you're going to use them at all. Read the literature first. Try to figure it out to the best of your abilities. Then look for outside help. This way you can develop your own ideas and see other ideas as just that– other ideas, not the only ideas possible. And it may also save you from inadvertently plagiarizing.

EWRT1A-24: reading response 8

Keep in mind that this blog is just a place to give you the reading responses, the grammar worksheets, and additional information. The thing that lists what is due for each class is the syllabus. If you haven't already, get in the habit of checking it regularly.

Reading Response 8
William Faulkner, “A Rose For Emily” (R 140-148)
Choose one of the prompts below. Please use specific evidence in your response.

• Analyze Emily Grierson’s character. Is she a criminal, a lunatic, or a heroine? Explain your choice with evidence from the text.
• What is the town’s attitude towards Emily Grierson? What is her attitude towards the townspeople? How do these two things contribute to the surprise ending?
• What obstacles stand in the way of Emily having her own voice? Despite these obstacles, how does she manage to assert herself?
• Emily Grierson is isolated from the town she lives in. Do you think her isolation is imposed upon her or self-created? Use specific evidence to respond.

And as an additional thing, here is the Yoshitoshi wood block print of the drowned ghost that I mentioned:

"No Name Woman" active reading guide

Looking around, I found this guide about active reading using "No Name Woman" as the text. It doesn't go through the whole short story, but it gives you an idea of questions you can ask of the text. Questions form the basis of critical thought.

EWRT1A-24: reading presentation groups, May 24th and 26th

Here are the groups for this Tuesday and Thursday. You can use the comments section here to get in touch with each other, if you'd like.

May 24th, "No Name Woman"
Mitchell
Nicole
Tiffany
Maggie

May 26th, "A Rose for Emily"
Cyrus
Alan Tsao
Jordan
David
Claudia

EWRT1A-24: midterm

The midterm is Thursday, May 19th. It will be composed of two parts.

• Part 1: grammar, 10 points. There will be ten sentences, like the ones from the grammar handouts. They will exhibit problems in the areas we've gone over: fragments, run-ons, pronouns, agreement, and shifts. You can write your revisions on the paper itself.
  
• Part 2: in-class essay, 90 points. There will be a series of prompts to choose from. Each prompt will address a different theme and each will ask you to synthesize one of the education essays (Freire-Rodriguez) with one of the voice essays (Walker-Kakutani). Look at the reading responses to get ideas. For the essay you can use your reader and a print dictionary, but no other books or notes. You will also need paper.
  

California budget news

It seems like California is doing better than expected. The budget is up by $6.6 billion, which isn't enough to solve the debt, but means the amount of cuts to education that people had been fearing won't come to pass. Hopefully this means that we've hit the bottom and we'll be on the way back up. More will need to be done, but it looks as if the worst case scenarios people have been throwing around won't happen.

EWRT1A-24: essay 2 first draft

I sent this out in e-mail earlier today.

The first draft of essay 2 is due Tuesday. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, here are some suggestions.

Personally, I like making lists. So one thing to do is take each prompt and make a list of themes from the essays that relate to each prompt.

What obstacles are there to finding a voice (prompt 2)?
•
•
•
•
•

What assets does a person need to be able to find a voice (prompt 1)?
•
•
•
•
•

What effects are there to having a voice (prompt 3)?
•
•
•
•
•

After you have a list of themes for each prompt, list which essays relate to which themes. For instance, if under "what assets does a person need to be able to find a voice" you put "a role model," you could list Walker and Anzaldúa. Devor's concept of "significant other" may fit there, too.

Yet the themes you have listed are probably a bit broad, so you would probably want to go deeper with each theme. One way to do that is to ask the questions I brought up when we discussed revising thesis statements: how, why, and what is the significance. For example, if under "what obstacles are there to finding a voice" you put "language," you could ask how language acts as an obstacle.

Another way to go about this is to start with which essay you got the most out of. Then figure out which of the prompts you think this essay best relates to and formulate an answer to the prompt from there. After that, try to figure out which other essay (or essays) relates to the same theme.

You can bring in essays from the education section if you'd like, but my intent with essay 2 is to get you to engage with the ideas brought up by the texts in the "finding a voice" section.

Obviously, how far you go with all of this is correlated to how actively you've read. Critical reading is the foundation of everything, from writing to test taking.

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.

EWRT1A-24: "The Word Police" by Michiko Kakutani

Here is a direct link the the article. If you want to view it all on a single page, click here. Bring a print-out to use in class Thursday.

EWRT1A-24: shifts exercise

Here.

EWRT1A-24: more Devor

Aaron Devor has a lot on-line. This is one article that you may find interesting. It defines a lot of the terms he uses in the essay in our reader. It also provides faces to illustrate his theories by using historical examples and first-hand testimony.

EWRT1A-24: reading response 5

Reading Response 5
Aaron Devor “Becoming Members of Society…”
Choose one or come up with your own focus.

• Explain Devor’s distinction between “I” and “me” (paragraphs 7 and 8). How may this separation contribute to problems with finding one’s own voice? Use examples from the reading, other readings, or your own experience and observation.

• Do some of the aspects of the traditional gender roles described by Devor seem to be changing? If so, which ones, and how? Contrast specific aspects of Devor’s essay with specific examples of your own.

• Use Devor’s concept of the dominant gender schema to explain how voice is oppressed in either the essay by Walker or Anzaldúa or the Tough Guise video.

Luke Skywalker and G.I. Joe: toys through the decades

The Luke Skywalker toy from the late 1970s and the one from the 1990s. What has changed? Freud would have a field day with the increased length of the lightsaber alone.



How about G.I. Joe?

Here's an early G.I. Joe toy. He is basically a doll, with clothes that boys could take on and off. Notice also that while he has a rifle, most of his gear is for surviving the elements, not for killing people. I love his stance, too. Not über-masculine.



Here's the first G.I. Joe toy I owned, back in the 1980s. He's more militaristic that the original G.I. Joe, but look at his body. And be sure to notice that he didn't come with a gun.


And here's how the figures looked in the early 2000s. This shot doesn't show the weapons, but you can see the change in the bodies.


And here's what G.I. Joe toys looked like in 2009 with the release of the movie:



And for comparison, here's the 2009 version of the first one I had. Obviously the makers have gone for more ethnic diversity, but they have also gone for more guns. And, curiously, the age recommendation has dropped a year.


Whether or not you agree with Jackson Katz, it's pretty obvious that toys for boys have gotten more masculine over the decades: broader chests, wider shoulders, more weapons, larger guns… So why have toy manufacturers decided to make their toys more masculine over the years? Whether or not this has had any effect on the boys that play with them is another question.

EWRT1A-24: "Tough Guise"

Here is the video for Tuesday:

And here's the link to it on Youtube.

Consider this video in the context of the central questions in this "finding a voice" section. What does this video say are the obstacles to having a true voice? What is this video advocating about what needs to be done so people can find their true voices? What does this video offer as the possible benefits of people being able to find their own voices?

EWRT1A-24: essay 1 due Tuesday, May 3rd

Remember that the final draft of essay 1 is due Tuesday. Two drafts are required, regardless if you handed in a first draft or not. MLA style, which includes both in-text citation and a works cited list as well as MLA formatting, is also required. Please e-mail me if you have any questions.

Here are some general comments based on the first drafts:

• One of the purposes of the essay is to engage with the readings in the class. This means both to use one of the readings as evidence in your paper and to engage with the ideas about education that the texts raise.
• Along the same lines as the previous point, one of the purposes of this paper is to relate your own experience to the readings. So don't simply discuss the reading and your experience separately. Focus on the places where they connect.
  
• Have a clear thesis statement that responds to the prompt and covers the scope of the entire essay. Also, I find it helpful to figure out if my thesis is one that is looking at effects (prompt 1) or causes (prompt 2). Clarifying this for yourself may help you to be clearer in your essay.
• Argue with specific evidence. A claim needs to be proven. You prove a claim with evidence. For this essay, evidence should come from one of the essays and from your own experience. And since your thesis is probably stating a cause and effect connection, your evidence needs to show that cause and effect connection.
  

Lastly, some of the overheads about body paragraphs that I used in class today can be found here and here.

EWRT1A-24: agreement exercise

Here is the agreement exercise. Do it carefully. Use the Longman to help you.

EWRT1A-24: pronouns exercise and reading response 3

Here is the pronouns exercise.

Reading Response 3: Alice Walker “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.”
Choose one of the prompts below or come up with your own focus.

• According to what Walker shows in this essay, what are some of the forces that hinder people from finding their own voice? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.
• What does Walker’s essay show us about how people are able to find their own voices? What do people need? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.
• According to Walker’s essay, what effects are there when people are able to find their own voices? In other words, what is the benefit of artists finding ways to be artists? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.

EWRT1A-24: thesis statement problems and more MLA

Here is a pdf of what we went over at the end of class on Tuesday, common problems with thesis statements.

Also keep in mind that The Longman has the MLA rules in it and I expect you to use the book to figure out how to cite things correctly. Some of the rules changed in 2009, which I went over on the handout. However, the only change that will probably affect you in regards to essay 1 is the fact that you need to state "print" at the end of your works cited entry.

If you want more help with MLA style, the best on-line resource I've found is at the Owl at Purdue.

EWRT1A-24: MLA walk-through

Here's the overhead I was trying (and failing) to use.

MLA in-text citation walk-through

Using ¶10, pages 48-49:

“In a sense, creating an English Self is a way of reconciling my old cultural
values with the new values required by English writing, without losing the former.”

How do I incorporate this sentence into my paper?

Direct quotation.

Start with a signal phrase:

Fan Shen states that…

Put borrowed words into quotation marks:

Fan Shen states that “creating an English Self is a way of reconciling [his] old cultural values with the new values required by English writing.”

Double check to make sure you quoted correctly. Put brackets around changed words. Only use ellipses (…) when removing words in middle of quotation, not at the beginning or end.

Put page number in parentheses after the quotation:

Fan Shen states that “creating an English Self is a way of reconciling [his] old cultural values with the new values required by English writing” (49).

Notice that you don’t need a “p.” before the number and the period comes after the parentheses.

The same applies for partial quotations:

Just as Fan Shen experienced, I had to reconcile “my old cultural values with the new values required by English writing” (49).

If you don’t use a signal phrase, put author (if no author, put title) before page number:

“Creating an English Self is a way of reconciling [his] old cultural values with the new values required by English writing” (Shen 49).

Paraphrases work the same way. Again, start with a signal phrase:

Fan Shen observes…

Then put the idea into your own words:

Fan Shen observes that students from different cultural backgrounds have to make a new identity to succeed in writing classes in the U.S. (49).

Make sure that when putting the idea into your own words that you do so completely and don’t misinterpret the author’s idea. Also, don’t forget the page number.

Works cited.

Obviously, providing page numbers only makes sense if the reader is told what books the pages are from. This is what the works cited page does. Since you provided a signal phrase that contains the author’s name, the works cited page is organized alphabetically by the name of the author.

Shen, Fan. “The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English Composition.” EWRT1A Reader. Ed. Nick Mullins. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 44-54. Print.

Indent lines after first (the above lacks the correct formatting because of web limitations).

Usually a works cited page needs to be on a separate sheet of paper, but for this class you can simply put it at the end of your essay.

Here's a pdf of the above info.

EWRT1A-24: run-on sentences exercise

Here is the run-on sentences exercise. Remember that pages 148-151 in the Longman address run-ons.

Also, I've noticed a high number of students in this class who are having trouble understanding my directions. I'll try to be clearer in the future. For your part, make sure you get clarification from me if you are ever unsure about something. You can do it in person or via e-mail.

EWRT1A-24: Malcolm X, essay 1, and fragments

If you have never seen or heard Malcolm X speak before, there are a lot of videos on YouTube. Here's one Malcolm X gave in Oxford, England. Keep in mind that, according to our reading, this man never went past the eighth grade in school.

If you lose the handout, you can get a pdf of the prompts for essay 1 here.

Lastly, here is the fragments exercise.

EWRT1A-24: Paulo Freire

Remember that the prompt for reading response 1 is in the syllabus, on the page titled "reading responses."

If you want some more help trying to understand Freire, you may want to look at this page. And this page lays out several of Freire's theories, pulling from Freire's various writings. And this page has a little more biographical information.

higher demand, lower supply

Here's an article about the current struggles to get into community college classes.

So many ask: if the demand is high, then why is supply low? Don't more students equal more money? Yes, but not enough money. At De Anza, tuition covers only about 16% of what it costs to educate a student*. That means 84% of the cost has to be paid for elsewhere. Some of that comes from donations and other private sources, but it used to be that much of that money came from the state. Yet the percentage given by the state has gone down since the mid 1970s, and it has really declined in the last few years. In 2006, the state covered 34% of what it cost to educate a student. In 2007, the state gave 31%. It 2009 it dropped to 26%. Basically, public education is getting less and less public funding. Without increased funding, the only option we have is to reduce spending. That means fewer classes.

*I had trouble finding consistent data about all this, so consider the numbers I give as a rough estimate.

EWRT1A-24: syllabus

Welcome to EWRT1A section 24. This is the blog for the class. I will post pdfs of handouts as well as additional information here. Make it part of your school routine to check this blog at least once a week.

To start off, here's a pdf of the syllabus for the class.

Why do people read Frankenstein?

Here's another answer to that question along the lines of what I said about the more you analyze a good book the more you get out of it. BBC News just published an article about ten interpretations of Frankenstein. And the readers were so inspired that they wrote in with their own interpretations and the BBC published sixteen of them.

Grades should be up by Friday.

EWRT1A-25: 2 final thoughts

There will be no office hours finals week. If you were planning on seeing me, please send me an e-mail.

There is a final at 6:15 in our classroom. That means we must be done by 6, no exceptions. So please show up on time. I'll hand everything out right before 4 so everyone can have the full two hours.

EWRT1A-25: final

The final will have three sections and be 150 points total.

Section 1: five sentence revisions (10 points)
Concepts since midterm:
mixed constructions, misplaced and dangling modifiers, conciseness (wordiness), active verbs (versus passive and to be verbs), parallel structure

Section 2: short answer - on short stories and novel (40 points)
“No Name Woman”
“A Rose For Emily”
Frankenstein

Section 3: essay on Frankenstein (100 points)
There will be a few prompts for you to choose from. The prompts will be based on themes we have discussed in class.

Please bring paper and pens. The only books you can use are Frankenstein and a dictionary. No other books or notes are allowed. No cell phones or other electronic devices are allowed.

The final is on Tuesday, March 22nd from 4 to 6.

EWRT1A-25: bring your readers

Please bring your reader this week as well as Frankenstein.

Also, don't forget the time change.

EWRT1A-25: parallelism

The final worksheet: parallelism.

EWRT1A-25: essay 3 first draft due next class

The first draft of essay 3 is due next time. Get as complete as you can, but I expect the drafts to be pretty rough. This will be the only chance for you to get feedback from me about this paper.

This paper is supposed to be an analysis of two works of literature, one of the short stories and the novel. Analysis means to take things apart, to look for patterns. If your paper is simply describing events in the order they happened, then you probably aren't analyzing and are instead simply summarizing. Also keep in mind that you are analyzing the texts, not real life. The goal is not to come to some "lesson" about life, but to come to an understanding about what the texts mean.

And lastly, don’t just analyze the stories separately. As with paper two, the essay should show synthesis. The thesis should state a connection between both texts and the evidence in your essay should demonstrate that connection.

EWRT1A-25: wordy sentences exercise and reading response 10

Here is the wordy sentences exercise. Be sure to read the chapter in the Longman book (190). The writers do a really nice job of classifying various types of wordiness.

Also, remember that we will be writing reading response 10 in class on Tuesday.

EWRT1A-25: map of the early chapters of Frankenstein

Here is a map that shows some of the place names from the early part of the novel. One thing to notice is that both Walton and Victor follow a similar geographical route. They both travel steadily northward, eventually getting to Russia.

EWRT1A-25: modifiers exercise and reading response 9

Here is the modifiers exercise due Thursday, March 3rd.

Reading response 9 will also be due then. We will not be doing it in class as it says on the syllabus. Instead, it will be homework and reading response 10 will be done in class next Tuesday, March 8th.

Reading Response 9
Keeping in mind what you have read of Frankenstein so far, respond to one of the prompts below. Please use specific evidence from the novel to support your response.

• Compare and contrast the ambitions of Victor and Walton. How do the two men see their responsibilities to themselves and others? What kinds of values and motivations may be operating for each person?
• What are the effects of education as depicted in this novel? Does education liberate characters or ruin them? Consider Frankenstein, Clerval, and Walton (you don’t have to discuss all three, I’m just suggesting examples).
• Do you find Victor Frankenstein to be a responsible person? In answering this, don’t refer only to Victor’s relationship to his creation.
• How is nature depicted so far in the novel? What is its effect on the characters? Please refer to specific scenes.
• Look at the fate of Justine. How is she treated before William’s murder? How is she treated afterward? What does this contrast tell you about the society in the novel?

EWRT1A-25: mixed constructions exercise

The mixed constructions exercise, due Tuesday.

Also, Reading Response 9 will be an out-of-class assignment due March 3rd. Reading Response 10 will be done in class on March 8th. This is a change from what it says on the syllabus.

And about that song that was on the Frankenstein DVD…

EWRT1A-25: essay 3

Here are the prompts for essay 3.

And here's the handout on flow in case you missed it.

EWRT1A-25: reading response 8

Reading Response 8
William Faulkner, “A Rose For Emily” (R 140-148)
Choose one. Please use specific evidence in your response.

• Analyze Emily Grierson’s character. Is she a criminal, a lunatic, or a heroine?

• What is the town’s attitude towards Emily Grierson? What is her attitude towards the townspeople? How do these two things contribute to the surprise ending?

• What obstacles stand in the way of Emily having her own voice? Despite these obstacles, how does she manage to assert herself?

• Emily Grierson is isolated from the town she lives in. Do you think her isolation is imposed upon her or self-created? Use specific evidence to respond.

problem posing in math

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook. It's of a math teacher discussing what he thinks are the negative effects of most math textbooks and what he feels the solutions are. Interestingly, his analysis falls right into Freire's theories. Also, a lot of you said that math had to be taught in a banking concept way. So here's an idea for how it could be taught in a problem posing way.

EWRT1A-25: essay 2 comments: requirements

Make sure you review the essay 2 prompts before you revise your essay. A few of you failed to meet the basic requirements of the assignment.

• Remember that each out-of-class essay is a response to the readings in each section. So essay 2 is supposed to be a response to the "Finding a Voice" essays. That section spans from Angelou through Tannen. You can use one of the "Education" essays, but the focus is supposed to be on the "Voice" essays. This requirement is stated at the top of the essay 2 handout.

• MLA citation is required. That means in-text citation and a works cited list. Most of you are fine, but a few of you neglected to have works cited lists in your first drafts and I want to make sure you remember to include them with your final drafts.

• Two complete drafts are required.

Failure to meet the requirements of the assignment will result in a failing grade. If you have any questions, please e-mail me.

EWRT1A-25: essay 2 comments: analysis versus summary

Obviously, you want to use the essays in our reader as evidence in your paper, but you need to watch out for simply summarizing the essays and not analyzing them. You know you're summarizing when you are simply retelling what another author has said and not adding anything to it. Remember, in college writing you must move beyond simple description and narration. You must have an argument. That means you need to interpret the evidence you are using, not merely say what someone else said.

Let me give you an example. Here is a thesis and two sample body paragraphs that attempt to prove the thesis.

Thesis: The language enforced by the dominant culture can be an obstacle to a person trying to find a unique voice.

Example A: In school, Anzaldúa faced punishment by English teachers when she spoke Spanish (83) and was criticized by Spanish purists (84). When she spoke English, she was told she spoke like a Mexican and at her school she was required to take two classes to get rid of her accent (83). She explained that she did not know her real identity existed until 1965 when she saw books published in her Chicano language (88).

Example B: Anzaldúa believed that in order to find her voice she had to oppose the rules placed on her by the dominant cultures of the U.S. and Mexico. "I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent's tongue–my woman's voice, my sexual voice, my poet's voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence" (88). This "tradition of silence" was imposed upon her. It was the barrier that she had to overcome to find her true, unique voice.

Example A is just a summary. It seems to be on thesis, but there is no analysis. It is simply a description of Anzaldúa's essay. There is no interpretation of the data, no explanation of what it means. No analysis. Example B, on the other hand, shows evidence of analysis. Here the writer attempts to explain what the quotation means, and links it back to the thesis.

So as you're revising your drafts, try to limit summary and focus on analysis.

For more about this, here's a good page.

EWRT1A-25: essay 2 comments: synthesis

I wanted to post some initial comments I have about what I'm seeing in the essay 2 drafts. I want to post this now, because it may help you for the midterm.

Judging by the drafts, the biggest thing a lot of you have to work on is synthesis. The goal for essay 2 is to find specific connections between the readings you discuss. I want you to argue about specific points of comparison.

The first culprit in some of your essays is the thesis statement. "Everyone has a voice. People find voice in various ways." This is just too vague. What ways? Again, look at the essays you discuss. What way or ways of finding voice do all of them share.

The second problem has to do with the structure of the body paragraphs. A lot of students deal with each piece of evidence–each essay–in a typical five paragraph essay structure. This means that each essay is described (and sometimes merely summarized, not analyzed) in its own paragraph, each containing its own point. Again, this isn't synthesis. If you are making a different point about each essay then you are not showing what the essays say in common. Here the very structure of the essay keeps the readings from being brought together. Don't let your adherence to the five paragraph essay structure limit your own voice.

So look at what all your examples show. You may end up having only a one point thesis, but this is better than having a multiple point thesis that never shows any specific connections between the readings.

Comparison tends to be structured two ways: subject by subject and point by point. In a subject by subject structure, the writer deals with each subject separately. This is similar to what a lot of you are doing when you deal with each essay separately. The drawback here is that the connections between the subjects can get lost, which is the problem a lot of these drafts are having. But the subject by subject pattern is good if you are discussing only one point of comparison. In point by point, the writer organizes the essays around points of comparison and then offers the various subjects as examples. The benefit of doing this is that the points of connection are clear. The drawback to this approach is that if you have only one point of comparison, it makes for a three paragraph essay.

And to further explore rhetorical modes… in prompt 1 you need to find similarities in the process of how one finds a voice. In prompt 2, find similarities in the causes for why people can't find their voice. And in prompt 3, argue similarities about the effects of having a voice.

EWRT1A-25: midterm

As a reminder, the midterm is on Thursday. Please bring paper and pens. You can also bring your reader and a print dictionary, but you can't use any other book (such as the Longman) or notes.

EWRT1A-25: appeals and a survey

If you want another look at the appeals handout I was projecting on the overhead tonight, you can get it here. I also have a list of transitions to supplement the one in your book.

I also wanted to offer a little unofficial survey. Keep in mind that the following numbers are based on a quick browse of the papers and may not be entirely accurate. Of the students who offered a clear opinion in reading response 6, fourteen agree with Miller and Swift that the gender bias that they point out in English does negatively affect women; one student agrees with the basic premise but thinks Miller and Swift argue it poorly; nine students discuss the audience of the essay and so don't offer an opinion. Only four students were unconvinced by Miller and Swift's argument.

I have a few reasons I want to share this with you. One, we are discussing voice and I wanted to make everyone's voice heard on this matter. Two, judging by the class discussion one could easily assume that the entire class disagreed with the ideas argued the essay. I certainly assumed that. Apparently (assuming everyone was honest in the reading responses) that's not true.

This then brings up two other points. One is about education, classrooms in particular, and how voices can be silenced. Obviously the class discussion did not elicit everyone's voice and so certain voices went unheard. Perhaps that was because of the way the discussion was handled. Or maybe people just don't like to talk. Or maybe people weren't sure at first what they believed. Or perhaps they felt intimidated by the more vocal members of the class. I'm not sure which answer is correct and it probably varies from student to student anyway. What do you think?

But this brings me to my second point and that is that voice is not only expressed by speaking. Voice is also expressed by writing and that was what the reading response was for, to allow a space for every student, no matter how shy, to make his or her voice heard. And this is one of the purposes of writing: it is a way of having a voice. This obviously relates to the theme were are reading about, but it also relates to what the entire class is about. Learning to write better is not just about getting better grades; it is about developing another way to make your voice heard.

EWRT1A-25: shifts exercise

Here is the shifts exercise. Remember to refer to the chapter in the Longman.

EWRT1A-25: reading response 5

Reading Response 5
Aaron Devor, “Becoming Members of Society…”
Choose one or come up with your own focus.

• Explain Devor’s distinction between “I” and “me” (paragraphs 7 and 8). How may this separation contribute to problems with finding one’s own voice? Use examples from the reading, other readings, or your own experience and observation.
• Do some of the aspects of the traditional gender roles described by Devor seem to be changing? If so, which ones, and how?
• Use Devor’s concept of the dominant gender schema to explain how voice is oppressed in either Walker’s or Anzaldúa’s essay.

Also, Devor has a keynote speech he gave once in 1996 and again 1998 up on his website at the University of Victoria. It's called "How Many Sexes? How Many Genders? When Two Are Not Enough" and it covers some of the same ideas as the essay in our reader, but in a different context and using more first-hand testimony. I actually think it's probably a more accessible reading than the one in our book.

EWRT1A-25: essay 2

Here is a pdf of the prompt for essay 2.

EWRT1A-25: essay 1 due tomorrow

Remember that you need to hand in two different drafts, a first draft and a final draft.

If you want a bit more background about Gloria Anzaldúa, this is a nice write-up.

hard work is the inspiration

This quotation has been floating around the blogosphere for the past two days. I thought it was applicable.

"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case."
-Chuck Close

EWRT1A-25: agreement exercise and reading response 3

Both of the following assignments are due this Thursday.

Here is the agreement exercise.

Here are the prompts for reading response 3.
Reading Response 3- Alice Walker “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”
Choose one or come up with your own focus.

• According to what Walker shows in this essay, what are some of the forces that hinder people from finding their own voice? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.
• What does Walker’s essay show us about how people are able to find their own voices? What do people need? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.
• According to Walker’s essay, what effects are there when people are able to find their own voices? In other words, what is the benefit of artists finding ways to be artists? Use specific examples to demonstrate a larger theme.

EWRT1A-25: pronouns exercise

Here is the pronouns exercise.

EWRT1A-25: January 18th reminder

This is just a quick reminder that we'll be going over MLA citation today so bring your Longman Pocket Writer's Companion. If you don't have one, try the used bookstore across Stevens Creek from De Anza.

Martin Luther King Jr. responding to Malcolm X

For MLK Day I thought I'd post this video of Martin Luther King Jr. responding to some of the criticisms leveled against him by Malcolm X.

EWRT1A-25: run-ons exercise

Here is the run-ons exercise.

EWRT1A-25: fragments exercise

Here is the link to the fragments exercise. Remember that if you are unable to print this out, you can simply write the corrected sentences on another piece of paper. Just number the sentences accordingly.

EWRT1A-25: essay 1

Here is a pdf of the essay 1 prompt.

problem-posing education

When students read Freire's "The 'Banking' Concept of Education" for the first time, some of them have trouble seeing how problem-posing education would work in a classroom setting. So let me offer a few examples. The Montessori Method of education lets kids 3-6 (this is the usual range) observe and experiment on their own as a way of learning. Also, the newer push for Project-Based Learning reflects an emphasis on problem-posing by asking students to take on a project that requires them to put their education to practical use– in other words, praxis.