Saturday, July 19, 2014

Welcome


Welcome to English Composition!




ON THIS BLOG: 
  • Your instructor's contact info 
  • The English Composition Syllabus
  • Homework Assignments, including readings and activities
  • List of classmate blogs to give feedback and discussion. Extra credit points will be awarded for critical analysis and responses to classmates assignments.

CONTACT INFO:
  • Instructor: Nikita Driscoll
  • Email: ndris970@gmail.com

COURSE SYLLABUS: 


HOMEWORK/READINGS:
  • Every week your homework and readings will be detailed in a new post, labeled by the course week number.  For example, find your readings and homework assignment under the blog post titled: WEEK 1.

CLASSMATE BLOGS

Friday, July 18, 2014

Class 1/Week 1

Class One Presentation: Link


Organization Presentation: link






IN CLASS ASSIGNMENT:
Interpreting literature in a thesis-driven essay.
Activity: Right now, think about a book, song, or movie that you have listened to recently.
1.Jot down what you know about your chosen piece. When did you encounter it? Jot down your thoughts on it. What sticks out to you about it? What questions do you have about the piece. (10 minutes)
  ExampleI was recently listening to the song “To Live Is To Fly” by Townes Van Zandt. I love how the sound goes low when he sings “High” and high when he sings “Low.” The song feels sweet and earnest because of that. Also, I remember that some versions of the song have an extra verse at the beginning—why is that? How does that change the song’s meaning?


2. Search your piece online to find out what other people think about it. Can you find a review of it? Can you find information about the author? What information did you find out about it? What questions does this new information raise for you? When you are done, post your response to your blog (30 minutes).
Example: While I couldn’t find an article on the exact song I was looking for, I found a lengthy Wikipedia article on Townes. Wikipedia is a great place to start when doing research! I learned that he wrote a lot of his own songs and that a lot of them detail his struggle as an addict. He was friends with many other famous musicians, like Bob Dylan, Doc Watson and Guy Clark. His writing is considered bluegrass, I think—but I am still confused. What kind of music does Townes play and what defines each genre, such as folk, bluegrass, and blues?

INTRODUCE YOURSELF


Add a new post to your blog. In this post, tell a little bit about yourself.
Who are you and here are you from?
What are 3 things that you want people to know about you?
 What do you think could be challenging for you in this class and how will you overcome those challenges?
 How will this class help you achieve your goals?


HOMEWORK

Read the following and respond to each in 1 paragraph. Then in another paragraph, explain what aspects of the poem you focused on and why they drew your attention:

A. Sherman Alexie, On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City:http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-amtrak-from-boston-to-new-york-city/
B. Julia Alvarez, Woman’s Work: http://derekdenton.com/blog/2011/12/5/womans-work-by-julia- alvarez.html
C. W. H. Auden, Musée des Beaux Artshttp://english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/auden.html

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Class 2/Week 2

Class 2 Presentation: Link

Analysis & Critical Thinking: Link



HOMEWORK: 

Your homework is to write a response to the poem you were assigned and send it to ndris970@gmail.com or post it on your blog (and send me your blog address).

 Write about the poem you were assigned using the poetry terms we went over in class (see the attached PDF).  It is best to have a paragraph that focuses on one poetry term at a time. To talk about each term, use quotes from the poem.  For example, you might talk about imagery in Louise Gluck's "The School Children."

EX: The apples in "The School Children" are a prime image in the poem. When the children go to school the mothers' can no longer watch over them, so the apple is a way for the mother to still be present with the child. The apple is a charm or sacred object the children have to watch over them in the mothers' absence. However, the trees the apples come from are gray and unhealthy. The mothers are weak like the trees--they feel powerless leaving their children at the school. Also, the children drop away from the mothers when they grow up, the same way the apples fall off the tree. When the apples leave the tree, the tree can no longer nourish them. They are out of the trees' control. In the same way, the mothers' can no longer protect their children.

 So: just explain what you mean as much as you can. There is no over-explaining and there are no wrong answers as long as you can prove what you mean by linking it to the poem itself. We will continue to explore all aspects of this in more detail in Week 3.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Class 3/Week 3

Week 3 


Main Presentation: Link
Citation Presentation: Link



Homework


Write a 5 paragraph essay analyzing the poem of your choice from the list below, or any of the previously assigned poems. Be sure to have a thesis that is proved in the 3 body paragraphs using quotes from the poem itself, and using the poetry vocab terms introduced in lesson 2.

For review of organization and the 5 paragraph format, please review the Organization slides from Week #1.

Readings

Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19217 
Seamus Heaney, Digging: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177017 
Robert Herrick, Upon Julia’s Clothes: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176777 
Gerard Manley Hopkins, Spring and Fall: http://www.potw.org/archive/potw29.html 
Langston Hughes, Theme for English B: http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html 
Yusef Komunyakaa, Facing It: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15830 
Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love: http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/shepherd/shepherd.html 
Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/coy.htm 
Pat Mora, Immigrants: http://www.mesacc.edu/~barmd97231/ImmigrantsPatMora.html 
Mary Oliver, The Black Walnut Tree: http://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/oliver/BlackWalnut.html 
Sylvia Plath, Daddy: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15291 
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174205
William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29; Sonnet 73; Sonnet 116: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/29.html; 
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/73.html; http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/116.html 
Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider; I Hear America Singing: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174741;
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15752 
William Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174823

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Class 4/Week 4

Week 4: Main Presentation: Link 

               Rhetoric & Figures of Speech: Link

               Grading Criteria & Rubric: Link






Homework

Continue to work on your poetry essay. Finish up your intro and write 2 body paragraphs, following the body paragraph sandwich format (i.e. the 5 paragraph format). Also, using correct quotation format: introduce the quote, give the quote, and analyze it (link it to your minithesis and main thesis). Use the pdf from lesson 2 to integrate poetry vocabulary words. This will help you to expand your essay and improve your thesis. Please note: no paragraph in your essay should be less than 3 sentences. You need to be able to introduce, explain and support your thesis. A good length for any paragraph is at least 5-8 sentences long.


Listenings & Readings

Listenings 
1. Susan Glaspell, Trifles (audio): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzPQ5tgg9qQ
2. Lorraine Hansberry, (biography): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRqWB_tdPs0

Readings 
1. Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson: http://cai.ucdavis.edu/gender/thelesson.html
2. Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/
3. William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/wf_rose.html

Monday, July 14, 2014

Class 5/Week 5

Week 5 Main Presentation: Link

Grading Criteria & Rubric: Link



Homework

1. Write a Revision Strategies Essay about Paper 1
2. Read one of the stories for Week 5 and make an Informal Outline for the story of your choice


Readings


1. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown: http://www.online-literature.com/poe/158/
2. James Joyce, Araby: http://fiction.eserver.org/short/araby.html
3. Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Find: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~surette/goodman.html
4. James Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1939/03/18/390318fi_fiction_thurber?currentPage=all
5. John Updike, A&P: http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/
6. Eudora Welty, A Worn Path: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/issues/41feb/wornpath.htm

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Class 6/Week 6

Main Presentation: Link






Homework

Complete Practice Exam 1; Essay #2 revisions; Read one assignment below and summarize it in your blog

Readings

1. Anastasia Toufexis, Love: The Right Chemistry:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,161030,00.html
2. Jessica Statsky, Children Need to Play, Not Compete:
http://www.redwoods.edu/instruct/jjohnston/english1a/readings/statsky.pdf
3. Amitai Etzioni, Working at McDonald’s: http://amitaietzioni.org/documents/B170.pdf