Tuesday,October 9th, 2012--8 pm

Hello,
Just a quick announcement.
I am extending the optional rough draft due date for out of class essay #2 to Monday, October 15th. You can certainly submit it earlier, but no later than Monday, the 15th.
See you tomorrow.

Monday, October 8th, 2012--7 pm

Greetings...

For Wednesday, please come prepared to do the following:

1. discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the sample student essay I distributed last week, titled, "The Destruction from Drug Abuse."

2. share the topic you have chosen for out of class essay #2. If you have a working thesis statement, that is even better. As a class, we will look at some of these thesis statements to see if they can be improved in any way.

3. discuss any questions you may have so far while working on out of class essay #2. (questions concerning MLA documentation, notecards, bibliography cards, Works Cited page, etc.)

4.  discuss pages 1-65 in Made for You and Me.

REMINDER....!
IF AND WHEN YOU REVISE ANY OF THE THREE OUT OF CLASS ESSAYS, PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SUBMIT A REVISION, WHICH CAN BE FOUND ON YOUR SYLLABUS. THE INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDE THE REQUIREMENT THAT YOU MUST HIGHLIGHT THE CHANGES YOU MAKE ON YOUR REVISION.

See you Wednesday!

Saturday, October 6th, 2012--10:30 am

Greetings,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend so far.

A couple of things:

1. A slight adjustment to the syllabus. We obviously did not get to Group Work #2 yesterday.
I have moved it to Friday, October 12th, which means Group Work #3 is bumped to Wednesday, October 31st. Please record these changes on your hard copy of the syllabus. I will make the changes to the syllabus posted on the blog during the first week of the semester.

2. As you already know, the 3rd and final quiz on Rules of Thumb is Monday (pages 136-151).

This quiz will ask you to record correctly ten sources in MLA format as they would appear on the Works Cited page. As usual, it is an open book quiz. However, please become familiar with what is contained in these pages; otherwise, you may not have time to complete the quiz. In other words, you may want to make tabs to help you find the information in a timely manner.

Here is an example of how the quiz will work:

A short story found in the anthology, Best American Short Stories, 2012. The anthology is  edited by Alice Sebold. The short story is titled, "Over the Hill" and it is written by Jane Sims and can be found on pages 54-73.  It was published in Boston by McGraw Hill in 2012.

(you can find how to document this on a Works Cited page on page 147 in Rules of Thumb, at the very top of the page. Below is the way you would document the source in MLA format.)

Sims, Jane. "Over the Hill." Best American Short Stories, 2012. Ed. Alice Sebold. Boston: McGraw    Hill, 2012. 54-73. Print.

OF COURSE, FOR THE QUIZ, YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO INDICATE ITALICS, SO WHEN AN ITEM SHOULD BE IN ITALICS, YOU WILL INSTEAD UNDERLINE IT TO INDICATE THAT WHEN TYPING, YOU WOULD TYPE IT IN ITALICS.

Please be sure that you understand this example completely. If you have any questions, please email me over the weekend. Again, the quiz will contain 10 items similar to my example. They could include an article in a newspaper, an article in a magazine, a television show, etc. 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012--4:15 pm

Hello,

I heard it through a reliable source that there MAY be some confusion about what is happening on Friday.

If you recall, during the first week of classes, I made a few minor changes to the course outline. At that time, all of you made the changes on your hard copy. I also made the changes on the syllabus posted on the blog, just in case you misplaced your hard copy. One of those minor corrections involved the assignment to read the first 65 pages of Made for You and Me.  Originally, I had that assignment listed TWICE, by mistake...this week AND next week. It was changed to next week, Wednesday.

And another reminder: please bring the novel, One Amazing Thing, to class on Friday. We will be discussing the novel and will most likely have a quiz. Be sure to bring the stories due today along with you as well.

Monday, October 1, 2012--third posting of the day

Hello once again...yikes, the third posting today.

I am working on grading the last batch of out of class essays #1.

I am getting a little weary of writing the same reminders on essays. From what I can see, very few of you paid heed to a handy check list I posted on the blog on the 24th of September. It was for use while you were conducting the final editing and proofreading of out of class essay #1.

It continues to puzzle me that so many of you do not take advantage of the help you are given. As you can see, many of the bulleted points are things many of you did not adhere to at all.  I cannot possibly cover everything I want to during class, so the blog serves as an excellent place to remind you of things I have talked about in class as well as offer extra tips. At any rate, for those who wish to improve their writing and increase their success in English 1A, here is the list...again:

• Check for unacceptable errors as well as for other sentence level errors mentioned on the bottom half of your handout on unacceptable errors.
• Underline your thesis statement.
• Eliminate wordiness and repetitiveness.
• Write clear transitions between paragraphs.
• Give your essay a title. Center it and do not type it in all caps, do not underline it, do not type it in a different font. and do not put quotations around it.
• Be sure each paragraph has a concise, specific and focused topic sentence and discusses one main topic only.
• Run a spell check program.
• Type your last name and the page number in the upper right hand corner of each page.
• Since it is a narrative AND an analysis essay, it is perfectly acceptable to use the pronoun "I" but do not add unnecessary words to your sentences such as "I think" or "I believe." For example, do not write: I think my grandmother's house was the truest home I experienced in my childhood. Instead you would write: My grandmother's house was the truest home I experienced in my childhood.

Monday, October 1, 2012-- second posting of the day

Hello again,

I noticed today that there are a few students that either forgot to bring Rules of Thumb to class today for the quiz (even though it is noted on the syllabus and I reminded you on the blog...ahem...) OR have not purchased the book yet.

This is the sixth week of the semester, and if you do not have the textbook yet, and have not spoken to me about this issue, this is not a good thing! The textbook is obviously very important to your success in this class.

See you Wednesday.

Monday, October 1, 2012--5:15 pm

Greetings:

A few things:

1. Remember, if you happen to miss a class session, be SURE to find out what you missed by asking a fellow student. Do not assume that everything that is covered is written in the syllabus. For example, if you missed class last Friday, you missed being present when Out of Class Essay #2 was assigned and explained. Yes, I posted the prompt on the blog, but I also gave the class a lot of OTHER information that is not on the prompt but that is very important.

2. If you have not completed the reading of One Amazing Thing, be sure you have finished by this Wednesday, October 3. Please bring the novel to class this Wednesday and Friday, October 3 and 5.

3. If you are planning to revise Out of Class Essay #1, the first revision is due no later than next Monday, October 8th (this applies to sections 88 and 16). For section 89, your first revision is due no later than next Wednesday, October 10th.

4. If you have unacceptable errors to correct on In Class Essay #1, please get those to me as soon as possible so you do not forget.

5. Here is a copy of the handout regarding in-text citations that we discussed today in class.

MLA In-text citations

Sample paragraph from an English 1A MLA documented essay:

            The history of the debutante ball and a young girl’s coming out to society dates back as far as the early 1800s (McCormick 18).  Daughters of very wealthy parents who were between the ages of sixteen and eighteen were introduced into the world of dating when their parents planned a party focused just on their daughter.  It was a way to inform everyone in their circle of socially ‘acceptable’ people that their daughters were eligible to be courted (Samson 21-22).  Daughters had no choice; they were obligated to go along with their parents’ wishes for a coming out party, even if they had no interest or desire (McCormick 42).  According to a journal entry published in the book, The Journals of Emily St. Clare, 1875 – 1899, and edited by Rosemary Sparks, many girls begged their  parents not to put them through such a social ordeal:  “For weeks, I pleaded with father not to spend the time or money on such a frivolous event.  I would much rather he spent more money on books for my personal library” (64). Certainly the ritual of coming out has a long tradition, yet in the past as well as currently, some young women gravitate towards the celebration and some despise it.