EWRT1A section 30: final

So now the final. We'll meet in our regular classroom, S49, from 4-6 on Friday. Remember the following things:

• Reading Responses 8-10 (the ones you already did)
• your copy of Fun Home
• paper, for the in-class essay
• something to write with, preferably a pen

For those of you who handed in your essay 3 on time, I'll have that to hand back to you. As for when you can know your grade, final grades are due by December 18th, but I should have them done before then.

If you have any questions, just ask.

Down to the wire

I am at the library and there are fifteen minutes left. I am missing papers from seven of you. If the papers are not handed in before five, they will be graded as late.

Essay 3 reminder

3 o'clock. Library. Today.

• Works cited list
• Two complete drafts
• No sentence fragments

"beliefs [about studying] that make you stupid"

A fellow teacher just shared the following videos with me. This is from a series put together by Professor Stephen Chew, a cognitive psychologist at Samford University. In this series, Chew shows why many incoming college students do poorly and proposes ways to fix the problem. Some of his ideas are similar to things I mentioned the first two days of class, but he takes a psychological approach.

This second video covers "deep processing," which is a cognitive psychologist's way of talking about active reading.

Think about what Chew says as you prepare for your finals for this quarter.

EWRT1A30: essay 3 due date

The original due date for essay 3 was Thursday, December 5th. You may still turn in the essay then. Yet because of the holiday, you haven't had a weekend to review the comments on your drafts. So you have the option to turn essay 3 in next Tuesday, December 10th. I will be in the library on the first floor sitting at one of the tables next to the reference computers (if you've come to my office hours, you've seen me there). I will be there during our normal class hours, 3-5. But I would appreciate it if you dropped off your paper closer to 3.

If this doesn't work for you, you may leave your paper in the faculty drop box (it's outside ADM 111). Make sure you label your paper clearly so that it gets put in my box. Also, e-mail me that you've done this so I can be sure to make sure I get it. But this also needs to be done on or before Tuesday, December 10th.

In either case, do not neglect:

• two complete drafts of your essay
• an MLA works cited list

Fun Home process of creation

We'll watch these in class. They are videos about how Alison Bechdel went about creating Fun Home. Consider what these help contribute to your understanding of her character, especially her OCD in chapter 5. Also consider what insight this gives you about why Bechdel created her book and what she may have gotten out of doing it. Lastly, be sure you fully take in just how much work she did to create this book.

EWRT1A-30: 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.

1. 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?
2. What assets does Alison Bechdel have that help support her coming out as a lesbian? What are her obstacles?
3. 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?
4. 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?
5. Respond to one of the prompts from Reading Response 8, but incorporate evidence from chapters 3-4.
6. Choose your own focus for analysis.