Due Dates
This is the list of major due dates and readings. (I may also assign informal response papers or give pop quizzes that won't be reflected on this page.)
01/27/05: Ex 1-1: Goals Statement
How do your goals for this term differ from your goals last term? Make specific reference to the University Learning Objectives. (2-3 pages)
Follow MLA style. Provide a meaningful title that includes your precise opinion. (Thus, non-titles such as "Exercise 1-1" or "My Goals" are unacceptable. Try: "Goodbye, Nintendo and Adult Swim... Hello Library," or "Seeking Life Outside the Library: Expanding My Horizons at SHU.")
02/01/05: Unit 1 Responses
02/03/05: Ex 1-2: Childhood Home Analysis
(2 pages + diagram)
More details will be posted shortly.
Helpful Handouts:
Update: As you know, I didn't post details, but instead discussed them in class and read an example.
02/04/05: Agenda Item 1-1
Post an agenda item for reading 1-1 by the end of the day.
For the next class, submit printouts of responses you posted on three peer agenda items, as well as comments your peers left on your item.
For your blogging portfolio, keep the conversation going.
02/04/05: Agenda Item 1-2
Post an agenda item for reading 1-2 by the end of the day.
For all agenda items, the procedure is the same.
02/08/05: Agenda Item 1-3
All the agenda item assignments will follow the same procedure.
Post by the end of the day; comment on three peer blogs; bring printouts to the next class.
Keep the conversation going, so you will have something to put in your blogging portfolio.
02/08/05: Agenda Item 1-4
Same procedure as last time.
02/10/05: Ex 1-3: Essay 1 Presubmission
Essay 1 Presubmission
02/15/05: Informal Oral Presentations
(Videotape it on your own and you can skip this class, or, bring a blank tape to the classroom at the regular meeting time.)
02/17/05: Ex 1-4: Reflection on Presentation
What did you learn from watching your videotape, and how do you plan to change Essay 1 as a result? (1 page)
02/21/05: Ex 1-4, Part II
After you watch your group's videotaped informal oral presentations, write about 150 words of constructive criticism for each of your group members (about 2/3 of a double-spaced page). (Total about 2-3 pages)
Due: 12 Noon, Monday March 21. (If I were you, I would submit it Friday afternoon, to get it out of the way.)
Content: For each group member...
1) Write down your peer's thesis statement. Label the topic, precise opinion, and blueprint.
2) Provide specific, constructive feedback, in the following categories.
2.1) I liked it when you....
2.2) I'd like you to stop...
2.3) I'd like you to start...
Remember that I'm not grading the quality of your informal oral presentation; rather, I'm grading the depth and quality of your critiques.
Submission: E-mail your critiques to all your group members, and CC me in on it. Put "STW Ex 1-4" in the subject line.
02/22/05: Essay 1 Draft
(Minimum 3 pages, not counting works cited list)
02/23/05: Unit 1 Portfolio
Self-Evaluation of Class Participation (2 pages); Reading Responses; Printed Agenda Items (including comments on peer blogs)
02/24/05: Unit 2 Responses
02/24/05: Agenda Item 2-1
02/24/05: Agenda Item 2-2
Readings 2-1 & 2-2
03/01/05: Ex 2-1: Race/Ethnicity Reflection
(2-3 pages) Describe, with appropriate detail, one specific incident in which you realized something important about your own race and/or ethnicity.
Objectives
- Demonstrate your ability to stick to one topic (so that your title, introduction, and conclusion all match).
Focus on one particular incident. Use specific details, including quoted speech. (Puncutate it properly.)
Proofread, producing grammatically perfect writing.
Follow MLA style (title block, page numbers, etc.).
Write a meaningful title.
As I mentioned in class on Feb 22nd, I felt that too many papers submitted for Exercise 1-2 (your analysis of your childhood home) were dry lists of interesting details, rather than a coherent essay, with a thesis (a point to be argued) and supporting points that make a case in favor of the thesis.
If your thesis is "Experience X Changed My Life," then your reader must get to know the "old" you, must be taken through the life-changing experience, and must see the results in the "new" you. Simply stating "I was never the same after that" is dry and ineffective.
Instead of announcing the emotions you underwent ("It made me so mad I could cry"), you should instead aim to generate in your reader the same emotions you experienced.
Instead of telling your reader that your brother will do anything to make you laugh, describe the fountains of milk squirting out of his nose as he cavorts on top of the kitchen table. Quote the exact words he uses, and describe his facial expressions and tone of voice. Make your readers laugh, and you won't have to "tell" them "My brother is so funny." (See my handout, "Show, Don't (Just) Tell").
03/01/05: Agenda Item 2-3
03/01/05: Agenda Item 2-4
03/15/05: Essay 2 Draft
(Minimum 3 pages, not counting works cited list)
03/17/05: Unit 2 Portfolio
Self-Evaluation of Class Participation (2 pages); Reading Responses; Printed Agenda Items (including comments on peer blogs)
03/29/05: Ex 2-2: Academic Research
Your assignment is to evaluate the article found at http://www.aclu.org/news/NewsPrint.cfm?ID=10966&c=82, with particular attention to this claim:
"Slaves were bound in plantations from which they could not escape. Now, it is prisons that deprive black men of their freedom. For African-American men between the ages of 20 and 29, almost one in three are currently under the thumb of the criminal justice system." --Graham Boyd
Length: 2-3 pages, plus a full, complete MLA-style Works Cited list for all the resources you use. (Your paper itself can be an informal narrative.)
Objective: Demonstrate your ability to evaluate a scholarly source. (This includes tracing the source of the claims made by the author. You may use any resources you like, such as EBSCOHost, a reference librarian, or Google.)
Questions:
How credible is Boyd's article?
How accurate is the passage I quoted?
What evidence supports your answers? (Print out or photocopy pages, with relevant passages highlighted.)
What steps did you take to answer the previous two questions?
04/05/05: Essay 1 or 2 Revision
Minimum 4 pages. Highlight all changes. (Mark up your revised copy, not the draft I have already seen.)
04/07/05: Unit 3 Responses
04/07/05: Agenda Item 3-1
04/07/05: Agenda Item 3-2
Readings 3-1 & 3-2
04/12/05: Agenda Item 3-4
04/12/05: Agenda Item 3-4
04/15/05: Agenda Item 3-5
Preliminary topic & precise opinion for Essay 3 (Term Paper)
04/19/05: Ex 3-2: Essay 3 (Term Paper) Presubmission
You know the presubmission drill by now... I am adding an "opposing views" section.
Title (including Topic and Opinion)Thesis Paragraph (including topic, opinion, and blueprint)
Quotations from sources
Opposing views (with quotations)
Works Cited
I will give you feedback in class.
04/21/05: Essay 3 Draft
(6-8 pages minimum)
04/27/05: Ex 3-5: Reflection on Videotaped Formal Presentation
Due the day after you give your formal presentation. (2-3 pages)
1) What did you plan to do differently this time?
Watch the videotape of your formal oral presentation.
2) How do you feel you did? What are your strengths as a public speaker, and where do you see room for improvement?
3) Describe your progress as a public speaker during two semesters of STW.
4) What, if any, changes do you feel you should make to your term paper, based on what you learned while preparing and delivering your formal presentation?
04/29/05: University Portfolio
05/05/05: Essay 3: Final Draft (8-10 pages)
A last-minute reminder of proper MLA format (PDF).
05/05/05: Ex 3-6: Advice for Incoming Freshmen
Two pages. What do you know now that you wish you had known when you arrived at SHU? I will remove your name, and share your comments with the freshman whom I teach next year. If you like, I encourage you to post this assignment on your weblog (but please give me a printout anyway).
I. Lessons Learned
Reflect on the year you have just spent as a freshman in college.
A) What are the three most important lessons you learned about making the adjustment from high school to college?
B) What are the three most important lessons you learned about thinking and writing at the college level?
C) What are the three most important lessons you learned about yourself?
II. Tips and Suggestions
Write a bulleted list of tips and suggestions that you feel next year's incoming freshmen should know.
III. Personal Reflection
Looking back at your academic career so far, and looking ahead to where you want to be in the future, assess where you are at present. What are your greatest academic accomplishments, and what are your most important goals?
