WordPress.com



English 101: Writing IFall 2020Policy Statement – 2 Schedule – 7Assignments – 9English 101: Writing IFall 2020Professor: Matt King (he, him, his; more on pronouns here and here)Email: mrking@sbu.eduPhone:?716.375.2457Office Hours:?Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-11:30 and by appointmentOffice Location: Zoom (I will be available here during office hours)Class Website: and MoodleUniversity Writing and Communication GoalUniversity Learning Goal 3:? Students will develop competence in multimodal communication with special emphasis on oral, written, and digital communication, including an understanding of key issues relating to their use.Learning ObjectivesStudents identify and respond to contexts using appropriate processes and modes of delivery.Students use effective content and approaches to organization, style, and design that are appropriate for the discipline and genre of communication.Students demonstrate control of syntax and mechanics by using language that communicates with clarity, fluency, and minimal errors.Course DescriptionA composition course emphasizing writing foundations, including the development of a writing process with attention to generating content and addressing concerns of structure, style, syntax, and mechanics. Course assignments emphasize critical reading, writing, and argumentation skills, as well as professional and oral communication. This course is a prerequisite for English 102. (3 credits)Course ObjectivesStudents who successfully complete the course will be able to:Demonstrate a writing process involving multiple drafts and strategies for research, invention, drafting, revision, editing, peer review, and reflection;Understand writing as a conversation with other writers;Analyze texts in terms of argument, structure, style, and audience;Adequately document sources and develop an understanding of the significance of different types of sources and the function of documentation;Produce writing that meets accepted standards of style, syntax, and mechanics for academic and professional writing;Deliver content through both formal papers and formal presentations.Class Texts– Joseph Harris, Rewriting: How To Do Things With Texts– Other readings made available online as neededGradingRead my statement on grading here. The grading statement also includes the policies for late work and attendance.Student Success CenterRevising and responding to feedback will be an invaluable and necessary part of your development as a writer this semester. All students working on writing projects are encouraged to seek help from the SBU Writing Lab. To make an appointment, email writinglab@sbu.edu and explain your project, nature of assistance you seek, and timeline for feedback. You can opt for either written feedback on your draft or a live tutoring session over Zoom with one of the Writing Lab tutors. Upon request, the Writing Lab can also send your instructor a session report outlining your visit and tutor recommendations.Academic Honesty The writing you submit for our class should be your own; when you draw on the work of others, you should acknowledge it and include appropriate citations. Instances of plagiarism can result in failed assignments and potentially failure of the course. A list of unacceptable practices and procedures to be followed in prosecuting cases of alleged academic dishonesty can be found here.Students with Disabilities Students with disabilities who feel they need academic accommodations should contact Adriane Spencer (aspencer@sbu.edu), Director of Disability Support Services Office, 100D Plassmann Hall (Student Success Center), 716-375-2065. Please reach out early in the semester so that they can assist you as soon as possible. Documentation from the Disability Support Services Office is required before I can make accommodations.EmailEmail will serve as an official means of communication for this class, and you should check the email account you have registered with the university regularly. Feel free to email me with your questions and concerns.Title IXTitle IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are Civil Rights offenses subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, etc. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find the appropriate resources at the Health and Wellness Center or at the Campus Safety Office. For on-campus reporting, see the Title IX Coordinator (Erik Seastedt, Director of Human Resources) and Residence Life Staff (RAs, RDs, and other professional staff). The University’s policy and procedures regarding gender-based and sexual misconduct can be found online.In the event of an emergency, call Campus Safety (716-375-2525) or contact Rob DeFazio (Student Conduct, 716-375-2190, rdefazio@sbu.edu). Be aware that most university employees are mandated reporters.Other ConcernsIf you have any other concerns that affect your ability to succeed in this course – for example, affording costs related to the class, dealing with mental health issues, having regular shelter and food, etc. – please let me know, and I will do what I can to help.Covid PoliciesThese additional policies aim to make sure our experience together during the pandemic is both safe and productive.Attendance. Your top priority this semester should be maintaining your own health and safety and helping to protect the health and safety of others. If you have Covid-19 symptoms or otherwise believe you might have been exposed to the virus, please do not come to class. Any absences along these lines will be excused. If you are worried about attending class at any point due to concern for your own health, please let me know.In-class precautions. Please wear a mask at all times during class. Our class seating will also be arranged to allow for social distancing, so please maintain social distancing during class. We will also have a sanitation routine that will help ensure we maintain clean workspaces. If you have any concerns about how things are going in class (for example, you see other people not properly wearing masks, or you are concerned about getting too close to others), please let me know.Accessibility and accommodations. Our new circumstances might raise new concerns or needs around accessibility and accommodations. For example, it might be harder to hear everything in class; it might be harder to access campus technology or good places to work if some spaces are closed or accommodate fewer people. If you have any issues along these lines in class or outside of class, please let me know.End of semester. We will not be returning to campus after Thanksgiving, but we will still have some work left to do. If you have any concerns about having access to the necessary technology at the end of the semester (for example, a computer with an internet connection so you can complete and submit our final work), please let me know.Mental health. Focusing on your mental health will be just as important as your physical health this semester. While this is always true, the circumstances likely present you with new and additional mental health challenges. Please do what you need to take care of yourself. Our class can be flexible in terms of deadlines and other course demands, so let me know what I can do to help and accommodate your needs.In other words, I recognize how difficult it is to try to succeed in school right now with everything else going on. I do believe we can do good work together this semester and that you will be able to improve and grow as a writer, but we can also be flexible in the face of challenging circumstances. Again, the top priority is health and safety, so let me know if I can do anything to help.GradingOver time, I have come to agree with teachers and researchers who have found that giving students grades does not enhance learning and may even be detrimental to it. There are many reasons for this. For example,Learning is better achieved through intrinsic motivation (you want to learn) than extrinsic motivation (you want to get a good grade).Learning involves taking risks and being comfortable with failure, and you are more likely to take risks if you are not worried that your grade is at stake.Learning can happen in unexpected or unpredictable ways, and what you learn does not always match exactly what I think I am trying to teach you.The quality of your learning does not always match the quality of your performance. One student’s “B” might take them more work and involve more learning and personal development than another student’s “A.” Similarly, the “A” student might take a risk and try something new in their writing, ending up with “B” quality work but having learned more than if they wrote an “A” paper that did not challenge them.With this in mind, I will not be grading your work on individual assignments throughout the semester. I will provide feedback on your work in writing and through individual conferences, and I am always happy to meet with you in office hours or by appointment to discuss your work and your learning further.Of course, Bonaventure requires that you receive a grade for this course, and I will submit midterm and final grades. However, you will be responsible for helping to determine and assign your grade based on your understanding of your learning and efforts this semester. Toward this end, you will complete a Midterm and Final Reflection where you will write about your experience in the course and make an argument for what grade you should receive.Here are some guidelines to give you a sense for what to expect. In order to earn a B, you must achieve the following:Regularly attend class (or otherwise keep up with main class activities) and complete assigned readings (see “Attendance” and “Content” below);Meet the criteria (such as minimum length requirements and main objectives) for all main assignments;Miss no more than one short assignment throughout the semester;Put in a good faith effort on all assignments (including revisions for main assignments), using our assignments as an opportunity to learn, challenge yourself, and do good work.You can move into the B+, A-, or A range by exceeding these expectations, particularly through the amount of effort you put into the class and the quality of your work and your learning. You can move into the B- or C, D, or F range by failing to meet these expectations, particularly through a lack of effort or engagement with the class, failing to submit work, or submitting work that is incomplete or fails to demonstrate a good faith effort. I am happy to discuss grading expectations further if you have questions about how to achieve or avoid a particular grade.To earn an A- or A for the semester, you must also meet these requirements:Complete all course work, including short assignments and main assignments;Score “good” or “excellent” on revisions of main assignments (revisions will be scored as “Excellent,” “Good,” “Minimal,” or “No revisions”).COVID NOTE: The attendance policy below is more of a goal than a requirement. Please see these Covid policies for further thoughts about attendance. You should not come to class if you have symptoms or are otherwise worry you might be exposed to the virus. Any absences along these lines will not affect your grade. As noted below, if you do miss class for any reason, please check-in with me and try to complete the activities you missed.Attendance.??You should arrive to class on time with all assigned readings and assignments completed. Absences can affect your grade for the course as follows:For MWF classes, in order to grade yourself in the A range, you should miss no more than 3 classes; for the B range, no more than 5 classes. If you have more than 8 absences, you will automatically fail the course. For MW and TTh classes, in order to grade yourself in the A range, you should miss no more than 2 classes; for the B range, no more than 4 classes. If you have more than 6 absences, you will automatically fail the course.Tardiness can also contribute to your absences; every 3 instances of tardiness will count as an absence.This policy does not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences except for athletes or other students with official university responsibilities. For athletes, students who provide documentation for absences related to athletic competitions will be excused for all such absences. Student athletes can also miss two more class periods throughout the semester without a grade penalty. If you have three or more unexcused (non-athletic) absences throughout the semester, then all your absences will be counted toward the attendance policy.Note: You can have up to two absences excused if you complete the activities we did in class the day you were absent and you meet with me to discuss what you missed. So, you could miss five MWF classes or four MW/TTh classes and still score in the A range if you make up two of those classes; you could miss seven MWF classes or six MW/TTh classes and still score in the B range if you make up two of those classes. It is your responsibility to complete the activities and meet with me in office hours or set up an appointment to discuss what you missed.I understand that attendance concerns are sometimes beyond our control: mental health concerns related to anxiety or depression, extended illnesses or medical concerns, family or other personal issues – all these and more can result in unexpected or unwanted absences. If you have a circumstance or situation that makes it difficult for you to conform to the attendance policy outlined above, please let me know.Late Work.? I am pretty flexible concerning late work as long as you let me know ahead of time. I would rather you spend the time you need on your writing in order to succeed, and if you need time beyond the deadline or due date to achieve that, I want you to take advantage of that time. That being said, excessive or unexcused late work will not be acceptable and will negatively impact your grade. If circumstances prevent you from being able to submit an assignment on time, you should discuss the situation with me in advance.Content. While I expect you to complete all readings and in-class activities, I understand that certain types of content may be difficult for you to engage with depending on your experience and background. For example, reading or writing or talking about issues such as racism, sexism, abuse, assault, or harassment might be difficult if you have had traumatic experiences related to these issues. Many of my classes take up challenging content, and I will ask you to engage with this material and with your classmates to the best of your abilities, in a respectful and responsible manner. Taking up ideas and topics that make you uncomfortable can be a valuable part of learning. At the same time (again, depending on your background and experience), sometimes this content is too much – too personal, too closely associated with trauma, etc. – and engaging with it will be a negative rather than positive learning experience for you. If you ever need to opt out of a particular reading or in-class discussion or writing activity based on the content, please let me know and we can figure out another reading or activity that will help you accomplish the same learning objective.Course ScheduleRW = Joseph Harris’s RewritingDateMajor Due Dates; Homework (due day listed); In classM 8/24Introduction to Course; Unit 1 OverviewW 8/26Meet via Zoom; Read Barrett and Myers; Moodle forum; NotesM 8/31Meditation Observation due; Read RW Introduction and Ch. 1; NotesW 9/2Read Lynch (Moodle) and Ratnayake; Moodle forum; NotesM 9/7Paper 1 due for peer reviews; Notes, discuss Reid, sign up for conferencesW 9/9Conferences; Paper 1 RevisionsM 9/14Paper 1 revisions due; Read Unit 2 OverviewW 9/16Paper Reflection due, Read RW Ch. 2; NotesM 9/21Read Schalk and Febos, post to Moodle forum; NotesW 9/23Read Loofbourow, post to Moodle forum; NotesM 9/28Coming to Terms with Culture paper due; NotesW 9/30Paper 2 Research due; Mapping Paper 2 activity; Discuss plagiarism resources (here, here, and here)M 10/5Paper 2 due for peer reviews in class; Notes and exercises; sign up for conferencesW 10/7ConferencesM 10/12Paper 2 revisions due; Read Unit 3 OverviewW 10/14Read RW Ch. 3; Midterm Reflection due by end of FridayM 10/19Read King and Gladwell;?NotesW 10/21Bring Paper 3 source to class; APA Worksheet and Coming to Terms with Issues activityM 10/26Paper 3 due for peer reviews in class; Read Roberts-Miller; sign up for optional conferencesW 10/28Optional conferences; Paper 3 revisions due by Friday M 11/2Read “Public Speaking” from Univ. of Pittsburgh; Complete paper reflection; Discuss Tufte, presentations, and Jackson; Sign up for presentationsW 11/4Bring draft of presentation outline and visual aid to class; NotesM 11/9Presentation outline and visual aid due for peer reviews; Discuss Gershman, sample presentationW 11/11PresentationsM 11/16PresentationsW 11/18Read RW Ch. 4 and 5; Presentation Reflection due by Friday; NotesM 11/23Complete Paper 4 reflection; Discuss reflexivity and metatext; Revisit 10/5 notes and exercises; Sign up for conferencesW 12/2Paper 4 dueW 12/9Final Reflection dueUnit One OverviewThis class focuses on writing practices. In other words, we are approaching writing as something other than just knowledge or a collection of skills. Effective writing is grounded in practices: activities, behaviors, and ways of thinking that are conducive to engaging with the ideas and writing of others and generating your own. In this sense, writing is action.Effective writing is also grounded in practice. This may seem obvious, but it’s worth noting: you have to write to become a better writer. As with anything that requires practice, you will likely experience failures and missteps while working to improve your writing. This is true for writers at every level of experience and expertise. So, as you work on your writing this semester, you have to be willing to fail – take risks, test out new ideas, try to express something you may not have the words for at first. You have to be willing to practice.Writing ProcessAs we move through the semester, we will focus on three sets of writing practices. The first focuses on developing a writing process. This emphasis on process suggests that writing is not a one-time activity where you take the fully formed ideas in your head and transmit them to the page once and for all. Instead, writing develops over time, across different stages and drafts. Often we have to discover and better understand our ideas through the writing process itself. This does not mean we have a set process that works for everyone or in all situations. Even something like research or drafting – both of which can be important parts of a writing process – work in different ways in different situations and disciplines.The first unit of the semester gives us an opportunity to start practicing different aspects of a writing practice, particularly those related to finding and generating ideas (what rhetoricians call “invention”), drafting papers out of these ideas, revising and editing papers, giving feedback to peer writers, and reflecting on our work.Literacy PracticesOur second set of practices focuses on literacy more generally. Literacy has historically meant the ability to read and write, but many scholars have pushed this understanding in new directions (as with “digital literacy”) or have questioned whether “good” reading and writing means one set thing. A recent educational movement focusing on “multiliteracies” emphasizes the importance of being able to engage with many different types of texts in many different ways. Toward this end, scholars have identified four literacy practices that help us think beyond just reading and writing and that are relevant in any learning situation: experiencing/observing, conceptualizing, analyzing, and applying.Our first unit begins with an emphasis on experience and observation. “Mindfulness” will serve as our main concept for the unit, and we will encounter different understandings of mindfulness through our class texts. We will also use these texts to practice rhetorical analysis. Rhetoric helps us think about persuasion, and rhetorical analysis helps us understand how arguments are constructed and how they are persuasive.Academic MovesOur third set of writing practices will help us better participate in academic conversations. Academic writing often relies on specific moves, specific ways of engaging with other writers and developing your own ideas. Joseph Harris’s Rewriting will be particularly relevant here: in his first chapter, Harris takes up “coming to terms” as one such move or practice, and it will be our main focus in the first unit. By framing academic writing as a conversation, we emphasize the importance of responding to other writers and their ideas as a way of developing our own ideas. Coming to terms with a text helps us better understand the author’s thinking and purpose, and this in turn allows us to be more precise and thorough in our own thinking.The challenges of developing a writing process, literacy practices, and academic moves all overlap and reinforce one another. For example, observing, conceptualizing, analyzing, and applying help with the invention stage of the writing process, as they offer opportunities to develop and explore ideas. Similarly, coming to terms with someone else’s writing involves making observations about it, analyzing it, and drawing on relevant concepts to better understand how it works. Our work in this unit will give us a foundation in these practices that we will develop throughout the semester.Meditation ObservationAs we start thinking about writing and how it works, we want to be mindful of a few key terms and practices. For this assignment, we’ll focus on two of these: observation and orientation. Observation involves a particular sort of attention to our experience and what we notice about it. In any situation, we can make any number of observations, and different types of observations will be helpful in different situations and for different purposes. So, we want to be mindful of what we observe and what we can do with these observations.Orientation helps us think about how we position ourselves in relation to what we observe and encounter. The way I interact with new people will differ depending on whether I take up a friendly orientation or a judgmental one. The way I respond to a piece of writing will differ depending on whether I’m trying to analyze it or use it as inspiration for my own ideas and creativity. The orientations we adopt toward the world around us shape our actions and responses. Some of these orientations are deeply ingrained; we inherit many of them from our culture, families, religions, etc. Other orientations we learn over time or use in limited situations. We want to be mindful of our own orientations toward the world and how we can take on different orientations for different purposes.This assignment takes up our concerns with observation and orientation. First, you’ll need to complete two “observation sessions,” each about 10-15 minutes. In the first session, practice meditating. Find a quiet place to be alone with your eyes closed. The challenge is to quiet your mind. This does not mean emptying your mind so you’re not thinking at all, but rather that you don’t fixate on any thoughts. It’s okay if thoughts come to mind, but don’t dwell on them. Instead, let them go. Observe what’s happening in the moment: focus on your breathing, what you hear, what you feel. For the second session, find a place to sit or walk and observe your immediate environment – what you observe around you and what you experience in response – without letting your thoughts wander to other concerns.After you complete the mediation/observation, start writing. Write about 300-400 words for each session (600-800 words overall). Your writing should focus on observation and orientation, addressing some combination of the following prompts and questions:What did you observe and experience? Be as specific as possible.How would you describe your orientation toward what you observed and experienced? Were you peaceful? Bored? Inspired? Stressed or worried? Was this activity fun? Awkward? Silly? Informative? How did your own attitude toward the situation or what you were observing shape what you saw, experienced, or felt? What might you have observed with a different orientation toward the situation?Do these observations or experiences mean anything to you in particular? Did you notice, observe, or experience anything that you haven’t before?When you finished meditating/observing, did you have anything in particular on your mind? If so, you might try following your thoughts. Where does this thought take you? Why did it come up in this situation?If you’re not inspired to write about anything from the meditation/ observation experience itself, try freewriting about anything immediately after the observation session. Whatever comes to mind, write about it non-stop for ten minutes.You should submit this assignment by attaching it as a .doc file in an email to me, and you should also bring a hard or electronic copy with you to class on the day it is due.Paper 1Our first main paper (minimum 800 words, submitted via email) asks you to come to terms with multiple texts and put them into conversation with each other. You can work with any combination of Barrett, Myers, Lynch, and Ratnayake, and you are also welcome to use other texts from outside of class. Include at least two texts overall and at least one of our class texts.Your goal in this paper is to make an argument about the texts you discuss, focusing in particular on their uses and limitations. Your argument should address some combination of the following prompts:Identify which aspects of these texts’ thinking on mindfulness you find most useful, persuasive, and insightful, and explain what makes this understanding helpful;Identify which aspects of these texts’ thinking you find limited, and explain what the approach overlooks or fails to address.Articulate your own thinking on mindfulness and situate it alongside the thinking from the texts you analyze.In order to support and substantiate your argument, it will help to perform Harris’s other moves for “coming to terms” and some new ones as you put the texts into conversation:Define the authors’ projects, noting their aims, methods, and materials;Quote keywords and passages from the texts, explaining their significance;Note where the authors’ thinking intersects and diverges, where they agree and disagree, where their thinking overlaps or goes in different directions.These challenges give you an opportunity to incorporate your own thinking on mindfulness, particularly if you agree with something but want to expand on it or if you find that some idea or perspective is lacking from the conversation. You are welcome to incorporate examples to further illustrate how these perspectives on mindfulness are useful or limited.As you develop your thinking, keep in mind Harris’s note about opposition: “In writing as an intellectual, then, you need to push beyond the sorts of bipolar oppositions (pro or con, good or evil, guilty or innocent) that frame most of the arguments found on editorial pages and TV talk shows. Intellectual writers usually work not with simple antitheses (either x or not-x) but with positive opposing terms—that is, with words and values that don’t contradict each other yet still exist in some real and ongoing tension” (25). In this sense, you are trying to enrich and expand on our thinking about mindfulness, helping us consider it from multiple perspectives.Your paper should follow MLA guidelines for formatting (spacing, font, first-page heading, title, header with last name and page number) and citations, both in-text and on a works cited page.Paper ReflectionThese papers help us prepare for the Midterm Reflection and the Final Reflection. Your paper reflection (minimum 500 words) should address the following prompts.What do you like most about your paper? Where was your writing most and least successful this unit? What made this work particularly effective or ineffective? What were the main comments you received on your work, whether from peers, your instructor, or other outside help? What steps did you take to address these comments? How effective were the revisions?How would you describe the efforts you made during this unit? Consider both the amount of effort you put into your work and how productive and effective this effort was. How much time did you spend on different aspects of the writing process – reading, researching, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, etc.? Which efforts felt most productive and effective? Least so?How would you describe the context of your writing process? What was your writing environment like? What technologies did you use? How long did you spend on writing at a given time? How many writing sessions did you have for the papers?How would you describe your learning in this unit? It would help to make reference to the dimensions of learning from the Learning Record (confidence and independence, skills and strategies, knowledge and understanding, use of prior and emerging experience, reflection, and creativity, originality, and imagination).What goals do you have for the next paper? What aspects of your writing do you want to develop further? Do you want to make any changes in terms of the nature of your efforts or your writing process?Coming to Terms with CultureFor this short assignment (minimum 600 words, submitted via email), you should start to work toward analyzing the cultural artifact that you will address further in Paper 2. For both the short assignment and the paper, we want to draw on Harris’s notions of “coming to terms” and “forwarding” so that we can better understand how the cultural artifact works and how we can draw on class readings to analyze it. This analysis should draw on concepts and ideas from our class readings.One challenge will be choosing a cultural artifact or text to analyze. Our understanding of “text” here is broad. You could focus on a text from popular culture such as a song, music video, television show, movie, or advertisement. You could look at examples from fashion, sports, food, entertainment, politics, or business. You can focus on a particular person who has some sort of cultural significance. Just about anything will work as long as you can make specific observations about the text and analyze it through the lens of our readings.Your work should address the following prompts and questions:Your first analysis challenge is to “come to terms” with the cultural text. How would you define the text’s project? What is the purpose of the text? How does it shape our ideas about what it is about? What sort of perspective does it offer? What keywords, passages, examples, or details can you identify from the text to support your thinking about its purpose and perspective? What details from the text are particularly important in terms of our understanding of it?Offer your own thoughts on how this text is significant. How does the text offer new ideas, contribute to a conversation, or shape our thinking in some way? How does the text build on its influences and its cultural context? How is it different from other texts that are similar to it?Put the text into conversation with one of our class readings. Can you draw on Harris, Schalk, Febos, or Loofbourow to help us consider how the text allows us to think about things like culture and ideology, language and identity, pleasure activism, the male glance, culture and gender, culture and emotions, etc.? How does your text help us extend on what these authors have said, offering further examples or a different understanding of the concepts they take up? (This handout offers a range of prompts and questions to help you draw on our class readings in your analysis.)Your paper should follow MLA guidelines for formatting (spacing, font, first-page heading, title, header with last name and page number) and citations, both in-text and on a works cited page.Paper 2 ResearchIn addition to drawing on our class readings, Paper 2 also asks you to incorporate sources from your own research. Through your research, you should identify at least three sources that help you think about the cultural artifact you are analyzing in “Coming to Terms with Culture” and Paper 2. To submit your research, send me an email with links to your three sources. For each source, write a few sentences summarizing the main point and purpose of the source.Different types of sources could be helpful for our purposes. For example, if I were analyzing a song by Taylor Swift, I could look at sources that discuss the specific song, Swift herself, other artists like Swift, pop or country music, or music in general. I could look at sources that take up concepts relevant to Swift and the conversations around her music – concepts such as relationships, celebrity, feminism, or #squadgoals. All of these types of sources could be applied to Swift in some way, even if they don’t discuss her work directly. We can draw on different genres of writing as well: academic scholarship, journalism, critical writing in magazines or on blogs, etc.As you conduct your research, you should look at a range of different databases. You are welcome to draw on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, but it will also help to look at more specific databases as well. For academic sources, check out JSTOR, Project Muse, and Academic Search Complete on the library’s website (Google Scholar will also be helpful here). For newspaper articles, use LexisNexis or the sites of specific newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, or The Guardian. Relevant magazines and sites for cultural criticism include The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Slate, Salon, The Los Angeles Review of Books, New York Magazine,?Media Diversified, The New Inquiry, Valid, Vox, and Medium.Paper 2This paper (minimum 1500 words, submitted via email) builds on the “Coming to Terms with Culture” short assignment. Again, our main goal is to analyze a specific cultural artifact with reference to concepts from our class readings (culture and ideology, culture and language, culture and gender, culture and emotions, pleasure activism, the male glance, etc.). In our analysis, we want to draw on Harris’s notions of “coming to terms” and “forwarding” so that we can better understand how the text works, put it into conversation with our class readings, and then build on and extend the thinking of those readings.Your analysis will need to substantially incorporate at least two outside sources, including at least one of our class readings and at least one source that you locate through your own research. You should use these sources to extend your thinking on the text you are analyzing, putting the text into conversation with these outside sources. For Harris, “a writer forwards a text by taking words, images, or ideas from it and putting them to use in new contexts. In forwarding a text, you test the strengths of its insights and the range and flexibility of its phrasings. You rewrite it through reusing some of its key concepts and phrasings” (37-38). That’s what you’ll be doing with these outside sources as you apply them to your cultural artifact.Toward this end, your writing should address the following prompts and questions:Ultimately, you will need to offer your own argument, insight, or perspective about the text you are analyzing and how it forwards concepts from your sources. You should be able to articulate how your analysis of the text adds to our understanding of these concepts and the sources that discuss them.To support your argument, you will need to analyze specific details from the text. For example, if you are analyzing a song, you should discuss specific lyrics, aspects of the music, aspects of the video, etc. If you are analyzing someone in the fashion industry, you should discuss specific aspects of their clothes in terms of color, material, design, etc. You’ll need to make connections between these detailed observations and the larger insights and perspectives you want to offer so that we see how they relate: how do these details allow us to talk about the concepts from the sources? How does the text shape our thinking about these concepts? This is where your outside sources will be relevant: you should draw on the sources and their ideas to analyze the cultural artifact and help us understand it from different perspectives.This is not a requirement, but one way to develop your analysis is to compare one text or creator to another. For example, if I were analyzing Taylor Swift, I could compare one of her country songs to one of her pop songs, or one of her pop songs to a song by Nicki Minaj or Rihanna, or one of her songs to song from a different genre, such as punk music. A comparison could help you be more precise in articulating how your text helps us think about our concepts in a different way.Your paper should follow MLA guidelines for formatting (spacing, font, first-page heading, title, header with last name and page number) and citations, both in-text and on a works cited page.Midterm ReflectionThis reflection paper (minimum 1000 words, submitted via email) gives you an opportunity to reflect on the work you have done this semester, to assess and evaluate your learning and development, and to think about ways you can continue to improve throughout the rest of the semester.Before you begin writing the reflection, collect all the work you have completed for our class this semester, including all writing assignments and anything you have written during our in-class activities. Review this work to get a sense for how you have done this semester, where your work has been most and least successful, what you have learned, and how you have progressed.When you write the Midterm Reflection, your thinking should address the following prompts. Be sure to include specific examples and make direct reference to experiences you had with our writing assignments, readings, and in-class discussions and activities:How would you describe the efforts you have made this semester? Consider both the amount of effort you put into your work and how productive and effective this effort was. How much time did you spend on different aspects of the writing process – reading, researching, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, etc.? Which efforts felt most productive and effective? Least so?How would you describe your participation in class conversations and activities? Which conversations and activities have you found most beneficial? What did you learn from or get out of our in-class activities?How would you describe your learning during the first half of the semester? It would help to make reference to the dimensions of learning from the Learning Record. Confidence and IndependenceSkills and StrategiesKnowledge and UnderstandingUse of Prior and Emerging ExperienceReflectionCreativity, Originality, ImaginationIn the last part of your reflection, assign yourself a specific letter grade (you can use +/- grades: A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.) for your overall grade and support your thinking as to why you should get this grade in our class. Generally speaking, to get an A, you will need to demonstrate that your work, your effort, and your learning have been “excellent”; the B range would need to be “good”; the C range and below would include some combination of “okay” or “unsatisfactory” work, incomplete work, and lack of satisfactory participation or investment in the course. In what ways has your work, your effort, and your learning been “excellent,” “good,” “okay,” or “unsatisfactory” so far? What can you do to improve going forward?Keep in mind our grading guidelines. In order to earn a B, you must achieve the following:Regularly attend class (or otherwise keep up with main class activities) and complete assigned readings;Meet the criteria (such as minimum length requirements and main objectives) for all main assignments;Miss no more than one short assignment throughout the semester;Put in a good faith effort on all assignments (including revisions for main assignments), using our assignments as an opportunity to learn, challenge yourself, and do good work.In order to get in the B+, A-, or A range, you need to demonstrate that you are going beyond these baseline requirements in terms of your efforts, your work, and your learning. To earn in the A- or A range, you must also meet the following requirements:Complete all course work, including short assignments and main assignments;Score “good” or “excellent” on revisions of main assignments (revisions will be scored as “Excellent,” “Good,” “Minimal,” or “No revisions”).Paper 3This paper (minimum 800 words, submitted via email) builds on the “Coming to Terms with Issues” activity. Our main goal is to advance our own positions in response to an issue but to do so by countering another text in some way. With this in mind, it will help to remember Harris’s (2006) thoughts on countering:Countering looks at other views and texts not as wrong but as partial—in the sense of being both interested and incomplete. In countering you bring a different set of interests to bear upon a subject, look to notice what others have not. Your aim is not to refute what has been said before, to bring the discussion to an end, but to respond to prior views in ways that move the conversation in new directions. (p. 56)Your writing should address the following prompts and questions:.Ultimately, you should advance your own argument in response to the issue, and your argument should emerge out of the work that you do to counter another text. Toward that end, some part of your paper should address a text that makes an argument in response to the issue. You should “come to terms” with the text, giving us a sense for the author’s project and how they develop and support their argument. You should also “counter” this text by drawing on Harris’s notions of “arguing the other side,” “uncovering values,” and/or “dissenting.”As you counter the main text and build your own argument about the issue, be mindful of opportunities to support your thinking by making specific claims and offering specific evidence and examples. This would be a good opportunity to draw on outside sources that help you support your thinking. In this sense, even though your main goal is to “counter” a text, you are also welcome to “forward” other texts to help you support your argument.The introduction of your paper should identify the issue you are addressing, give us a sense for why it matters and why it is controversial, and begin to establish your argument in response to the issue. The conclusion should reinforce your argument, giving us a sense for how you think the issue should be addressed and what you hope readers will do.Your paper should follow APA guidelines for the title page, abstract, main body, running head, spacing, font, reference page, and in-text citations.PresentationThis assignment asks you to take your work on one of our three main papers and translate it into an oral presentation. The presentation should be 5-6 minutes, and it should include a visual aid, likely using PowerPoint, Prezi, or Canva. You should have at least five slides; the first should be a title slide and the last should be a works cited slide documenting your sources.Although your presentation will draw on work from an earlier paper, you will not have time to address all the content from the paper. Also, you cannot simply read your paper out loud. Your presentation will need to include the following parts:Introduction. Your introduction should last less than a minute, and it should focus the audience’s attention and give a preview of the speech and the main argument.Argument. In the body of your speech, you should offer support for your argument. If you are working with Paper 1, your support will likely involve pointing to specific aspects of our readings on mindfulness to show how they support your argument. If you are working with Paper 2, your support will likely involve pointing to specific aspects of your cultural artifact to show how they support your argument. If you are working with Paper 3, your support will likely involve analyzing the source that you counter and explaining your response to it. You will not have time to address every point from the earlier paper, so you should focus on fully developing one or two points or examples.Conclusion. Your conclusion should reiterate your argument and point toward the next steps or questions in the conversation.Presentation ReflectionThis short paper (minimum 500 words, submitted via email) will be completed at the end of our presentations. The goal is to reflect on your own presentation and those of your classmates. Your paper should address the following prompts and questions:In terms of preparing for your presentation, where were you most and least successful? How well did you do translating the original paper into a presentation? Consider your development of the ideas and argument for the presentation, your organization and writing of the presentation, your work on slides, and your preparation for the presentation itself (revising, practicing, making note cards, memorizing, etc.).In terms of the presentation itself, where were you most and least successful? What felt particularly good about the presentation? What would you do differently in the future?In terms of other presentations from your classmates, what did you find most and least effective? Who was the most effective and engaging? How so? What do you want to try with future presentations based on the presentations you saw?Paper 4This paper asks you to further revise Paper 1, Paper 2, or Paper 3 while adding a few twists along the way. Regardless of which paper you choose to revise, the entirety of the original assignment still applies. As with our previous papers, Paper 4 will ask you to submit the paper itself and a reflection on the paper. However, our approach to these different aspects will change. You should submit both the Reflection and Paper 4 at the same time via email.ReflectionTo prepare for your revision work on a previous paper, complete a reflection (minimum 400 words) addressing Harris’s questions on page 100 (he discusses them at greater length on pages 109-122):What’s your project? What do you want to accomplish in this essay? (Coming to Terms)What works? How can you build on the strengths of your draft? (Forwarding)What else might be said? How might you acknowledge other views and possibilities? (Countering)What’s next? What are the implications of what you have to say? How can you further clarify the significance and importance of your argument, particularly in the conclusion? (Taking an Approach)Paper 4The document you submit for this paper should track the revision work you do. Starting with the previous draft of the assignment (the one that was submitted as either Paper 1, Paper 2, or Paper 3), you should track all of the changes you make to the paper using the “track changes” feature in word processing programs or by hand (see Harris’s discussion of “Tracking Revisions” on pages 104-109). Your work should address the following prompts.You should revise your work based on the insights that came out of the reflection activity. That is, once you have a better understanding of your project in the paper, what works, what else might be said, and what’s next, you should be able to revise your paper to account for and reflect these ideas.You should proofread and edit your paper to ensure your citations are entirely correct and your paper addresses all the following grammatical concerns: Comma Splices and Fused SentencesApostrophesSemi-colons and ColonsQuotation marks (including titles)Following Harris’s thinking on “taking an approach” from Ch. 4, you should develop a sense of “reflexivity” in your paper through your revisions. For Harris, the notion of reflexivity directs our attention to “those moments in a text when a writer reflects on the choices that she or he has made in taking a certain approach or in making use of a particular term” (85). He also draws on the concept of “metatext—text about text, writing about writing, moments when a writer calls attention to the terms he is using or the moves he is making” (90). Through your revisions, you should incorporate at least three such moments of reflexivity or metatext in your paper. You should highlight these sentences or put them in bold so that they can be easily identified.Harris also discusses acknowledgements in Ch. 4, a place for authors “not only to name the people they wish to thank but to specify what they want to thank them for” (95). At the end of your paper, you should include an “Acknowledgements” page that offers thanks to the various people who have helped you and influenced your work as a student. You can focus on this semester and this class or think about your learning and educational experiences more broadly. Be sure not only to thank these people but to articulate how they have helped and shaped you.Final ReflectionThis reflection paper (minimum 1000 words, submitted via email) gives you an opportunity to reflect on the work you have done this semester and to assess and evaluate your learning and development.Before you begin writing the reflection, collect all the work you have completed for our class this semester, including all writing assignments and anything you have written during our in-class activities. Review this work to get a sense for how you have done this semester, where your work has been most and least successful, what you have learned, and how you have progressed. Also, review what you wrote on the Midterm Reflection; this Final Reflection should address your learning and development since the Midterm.When you write the Final Reflection, your thinking should address the following prompts. Be sure to include specific examples and make direct reference to experiences you had with our writing assignments, readings, and in-class discussions and activities:How would you describe the efforts you have made during the second half of the semester? Consider both the amount of effort you put into your work and how productive and effective this effort was. How much time did you spend on different aspects of the writing process – reading, researching, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, etc.? Which efforts felt most productive and effective? Least so?How would you describe your participation in class conversations and activities in the second half of the semester? Which conversations and activities have you found most beneficial? What did you learn from or get out of our in-class activities?How would you describe your learning during the second half of the semester? It would help to make reference to the dimensions of learning from the Learning Record. Confidence and IndependenceSkills and StrategiesKnowledge and UnderstandingUse of Prior and Emerging ExperienceReflectionCreativity, Originality, ImaginationIn the last part of your reflection, assign yourself a specific letter grade (you can use +/- grades: A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.) for your overall grade and support your thinking as to why you should get this grade in our class. If you are giving yourself a different grade from your Midterm Reflection, explain why you think your grade should go up or go down. Generally speaking, to get an A, you will need to demonstrate that your work, your effort, and your learning have been “excellent”; the B range would need to be “good”; the C range and below would include some combination of “okay” or “unsatisfactory” work, incomplete work, and lack of satisfactory participation or investment in the course. In what ways has your work, your effort, and your learning been “excellent,” “good,” “okay,” or “unsatisfactory” so far? What can you do to improve going forward?Keep in mind our grading guidelines. In order to earn a B, you must achieve the following:Regularly attend class (or otherwise keep up with main class activities) and complete assigned readings;Meet the criteria (such as minimum length requirements and main objectives) for all main assignments;Miss no more than one short assignment throughout the semester;Put in a good faith effort on all assignments (including revisions for main assignments), using our assignments as an opportunity to learn, challenge yourself, and do good work.In order to get in the B+, A-, or A range, you need to demonstrate that you are going beyond these baseline requirements in terms of your efforts, your work, and your learning. To earn in the A- or A range, you must also meet the following requirements:Complete all course work, including short assignments and main assignments;Score “good” or “excellent” on revisions of main assignments (revisions will be scored as “Excellent,” “Good,” “Minimal,” or “No revisions”). ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download