Tips for A Great Final Project

1. Your introduction should be a page long.  It is basically the thesis of your entire project.  A summary of what the reader is about to view.
2. Your works cited page should include every source you used for every genre in your project not just the research/academic genre. For instance, if you wrote an annotated bibliography you will include all the sources you used in your bibliography as well as the sources you used to create your top 10 list or your graph or your letter to authority. Make sure it's properly formatted and remember the difference between a works cited list and an annotated bibliography is that a works cited list doesn't have annotations (brief description of source).
3. It should be easy to identify what each genre is.
4. Please use my feedback and follow whatever suggestions I gave you about your pieces. I'm telling you how to get an A.
5. Turn it in on time. December 15th Between noon and 4 in 914 Sprau.
6. PLEASE BRING PEER REVIEW SHEETS WITH YOU WHEN YOU TURN YOUR PAPER IN.

Course Recap for Wednesday, November 30

Research Quiz
In class you wrote out your thesis statements for Project 4 and then you wrote a citation for a source about your topic and a summary of that source using in-text citations.  You did this to show me that you have an understanding of what a thesis statement is, what a good source looks like, and how to use MLA format to document your research.  If you're looking for places to find good sources, look at the following links:

• Western Michigan Library Power Search  www.wmich.edu/library
• Google Scholar scholar.google.com
• Sirs sks.sirs.com (I just tried to use this site from my computer at home and it asked me for a password.  It's possible it only works on school computers or the school internet.)

Remember that you have to have at least 4 sources for this project.  4 is the minimum.  Use as many sources as it takes to document your entire project.  I didn't mention it in class but you can also use primary sources in this project.  That means that you can use research that you've gathered yourself through interviews or surveys of people you know or observations you made using different forms of research.  For instance, a student writing a paper about how necessary it is for people who work out to give their muscles a break took a survey of students at the rec asking them whether or not they exercised the same muscle group more than 3 days in a row.  He then used this data in his paper.  You'll have to have some sort of documentation of this research but it is an option.  At least 3 of your 4 sources though have to be secondary sources (sources from books, magazines, web pages, etc.)


Plan of Writing 
You need to write in a Word document the 3 genres you plan to write in, the information you hope to include in each genre, and which day you plan to have your rough draft of each genre.  There will be peer review of 2 genres on Monday and 1 genre on Wednesday.  Plan on having any genres that can't be sent electronically (poster boards, scrapbooks, drawings, etc) on Monday.  I will be holding you to your plan, so if you say you're going to have your research paper Monday, I expect to see the rough draft of that paper on Monday.  MAKE SURE THAT YOU INCLUDE THE PART ABOUT THE INFORMATION YOU HOPE TO DISPLAY IN THE GENRE.   People often skip that part and that's the most important part of the assignment.  I want to make sure that you've learned something about genre analysis and that you understand what types of genres are best suited for the various pieces of information you may want to communicate in this project.

Be creative, but still remember this is a research project and each genre that you use for this project should help either prove your point or answer the question posed in your thesis. 

Homework

• Plan of Writing Due Friday December 2nd by Midnight (via Google Docs)
• Rough Drafts of Your First Two Genres Due in class, Monday, December 5th

Course Recap for Monday, November 14

No one showed up for conferences yesterday so I'm assuming you all know what you're doing. However, here are a few tips for you as you finish up your project.
1. Make sure you fulfill all your requirements for your genre. Check the email I sent you about your genre requirements.
2. Your presentations should do two things: they should summarize what you learned from analyzing the examples in your genre and then it should explain how you went about making your own examples of the genre. You want to explain the important choices you made and why you made them.
3. Make your presentations interesting. It'll make class a lot better for you and your classmates. Your presentation gives you the opportunity to communicate without having to use a lot of written words. Use it.
4. Your examples should resemble your genre as closely as possible. If your genre has a lot of pictures, your example should have lots of pictures. It doesn't have to be perfect but it should come close.

If you have any last minute questions, do not hesitate to email me. See you tomorrow.

Course Recap for Wednesday, November 9

Reading/Viewing Journals
I looked over everyone's reading journals and gave you ideas of things you should be looking for as you continue to examine the different examples in your genre.  Remember you want to write an entry for every example of your genre that you look at.  The first thing you want to determine about the example you are looking at is who is the audience.  Then ask yourself how do I know this?  What aspects of the example lead me to believe this is the audience?  Then ask yourself what is the purpose of this piece and again ask yourself why I believe this?  Then ask yourself questions about how the piece is made. What is essential to this piece?  What does it sound like?  What does it look like?  Are there any similarities between this piece and any other pieces that I have looked at?  Do this for every example that you look at and you should have some pretty good journals that should help you as you create your own example of the genre for class.

OPEN CONFERENCE
We are moving the due date for your project to Wednesday, November 16th.  Everything is due that day.  Your reading journals, your example,and your presentation.  We are not holding class Monday November 14.  Instead I will be holding open conferences.  If you are struggling at all with this project, if there are things you don't understand or you aren't sure you're getting right, I will be in the classroom during our regular time (2-3:50).  You can stop in anytime between those hours to get my feedback and to ask any questions or express any concerns you may have.

Please take advantage of this one-on-one time if you need it.  Because I gave you all one-on-one time in class Wednesday and I'm pretty much giving you the day off Monday, I'm expecting your projects to be done well on the due date.  I will not take the excuses, "I didn't understand this", or "I didn't know what you wanted" if you do something incorrectly.  I've given you plenty of opportunities to come to me and clear up any confusion you may have.  So again if there is anything you are struggling with please make sure you show up on Monday.  You only have to be there as long as it takes for me to answer your question.  You can even come an hour late if you want.  I know it's tempting to be lazy and take advantage of having class off but if you know you need the help, make sure you come in on Monday. 

Homework

• Finish up Project 3
• COME TO CONFERENCES MONDAY IF YOU NEED HELP

Course Recap for Monday, November 7

I haven't had time to write a proper blog post but here's the homework just in case you forgot.

Homework

Bring in 2 to 3 reading journals for class tomorrow.


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Extra Credit Opportunity (Change of Day)

What:  The stage-play For Colored Girls...by Ntozake Shange
When: Sunday and Monday Nov 6th and 7th (Not the 5th, Sorry about that) at 5 pm.
Where: York Theatre in The Gilmore Theatre Complex (It's right between Brown and Miller down the stairs right next to Brown)

Course Recap for Wednesday, November 2

Genre Analysis: The Teen Vampire Drama

We discussed the different cinematic and narrative elements of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. We looked at the things like character, setting, and mood and we examined how these things helped to appeal to the audience and helped to serve the purpose of the genre. For instance, the purpose of the teen vampire drama is to entertain its audience by selling them a thrilling fantasy about love. The love interest of both of these videos is very attractive because who has fantasies about falling in love with someone unattractive? We talked about how Bella from Twilight is depicted as the average girl because it makes it easy for the audience to place themselves in her shoes and imagine that something as thrilling as falling madly in love with a gorgeous vampire is happening to them.

When making notes in your reading journal the first thing you want to establish is who is the audience of the piece I'm reading or viewing and what is the piece's purpose. After establishing this you should examine all the piece's components and pay particular attention to those things that help them appeal to their audience and help them achieve their purpose.

Genre Analysis: Comics

We discussed some of the common elements of in V for Vendetta, Sin City, and Ghost World. Unfortunately, it was pretty clear that the majority of the class had not done the reading. Despite this we were able to point out some important elements of comics such as the ways in which they indicate narration, character speech, and information from electronic sources. In V for Vendetta we looked at the relationship between what we were reading in the text and what we were seeing in the images. What we were seeing in the images directly contradicted what we were reading in the radio broadcast to show that we were entering a world where the government appears to be using propaganda to support it's unfair treatment of its people and to ignore the plight of the nation. We also looked at the way the sizes of frames can affect how we view the action and help emphasize bits of the story the author feels is important. We also looked at how color played a part in each piece. The most important thing you all should remember from the discussion is the fact that even though all 3 pieces were in the same genre, they had 3 different audiences and therefore had to use different elements to appeal to that audience. Some of you may be doing more general genres than the teen vampire drama which means that you may have varying audiences, purposes, and rhetorical techniques. You want to make sure you note this in your journals and talk about it in your how to presentations. We will talk more about your presentations on Monday.

Homework
You will be transforming your fairytales either into a one page teen vampire drama or a one page 4 to 5 frame comic.
I will also be sending you comments on your choices of genre for this project. If your genre is approved, you should get to work reading and viewing examples of your genre.

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Course Recap for Monday, October 21

Genre Transformation: Fairytale to Advertisement
You presented your group work from last class.  The purpose of the assignment was to show how you could achieve the same goal through different genres and exploring the different ways each genre accomplished the goal.  However, only one of your ads achieved the goal of teaching the moral lesson of Snow White but at least you know what I was trying to help you accomplish.  I hope we'll be more successful in our next attempt at genre transformation.

Introduction to the Unfamiliar Genre Project
We went over the assignment sheet for Project 3 (see Class Documents) and you learned that you will be researching, analyzing, creating and presenting a piece of work in a genre that is unfamiliar to you.  The genres range from short story to product descriptions in catalogs to fortunes in fortune cookies (see List of Possible Genres under Class Documents).  The possibilities are endless.  You should come to class Wednesday with an idea of what genre you would like to do.

Genre Analysis: The Teen Vampire Drama
We watched the beginning of the movie Twilight and the first episode of the TV show The Vampire Diaries.  As cheesy as both of these videos were, they fit neatly into a category of television, movies, and books that recently swept the world, the teen vampire drama.  I asked you to keep an eye out for the similarities and differences in characters, settings, situations, moods, lighting between the two and to consider the various rhetorical elements of the pieces such as audience, purpose, tone, voice, context, etc.  Due to some technical difficulties, we  ran out of time and weren't able to discuss what you found in class.  We will continue our discussion on Wednesday.

Homework (All Due Wednesday, Nov. 2)

• Think about and come up with some potential ideas for genres you would like to do for Project 3
• Read Frame to Frame: A Beginner's Guide to Comics (See Class Documents)
• Read the excerpts from V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, and Sin City by Frank Miller. (See Class Documents)

Extra Credit Opportunity

THIRD COAST READING featuring Laurie Ann Cedilink and Scott Bade
Time: Today, 7 p.m.
Place: Brown 3025

Remember the only way you get credit is if you write a 100-word blog post.  This blog post does not count as one of the 2 blog posts you're required to do this week.

Course Recap for Wednesday, October 26

Mid-Term Review
I passed back your graded Literacy Narratives.  You answered questions about how you felt the analysis paper was going and how you felt about the course overall.

Genre Analysis:  Fairy Tales
We looked at Rumpelstiltskin, Little-Snow White, Little Red-Cap, and Hansel & Gretel and compiled a list/chart/organized mess of the different elements common to fairy-tales.  We agreed that the audience of fairy tales are children and the purpose of them is to teach moral lessons.  Your task for homework this weekend is to write your own fairy tale.

Chart/List/Organized Mess on Fairy Tales

                                     
Genre Transformation:  Advertisement
After we came up with the common elements for fairy tales you were put into groups and were asked to create an advertisement using objects or characters from the story.  The purpose of your advertisement is the same as the fairy tales: to teach a moral lesson.  You will present them in class on Monday.

Homework

• Final Draft of Analysis Paper (VIA GOOGLE DOCS)
• 1-page Fairy Tale

Course Recap for Monday, October 24

Peer Review
You read each other's analysis paper and I gave most of you feedback in class.

Common Mistakes

• Using the past tense to talk about a piece of work. The text says "...." not said unless the text used to say something one day and then says something different today.
• The phrase "needless to say." Don't use it. If it's needless to say, why are you saying it.
• Italicize titles of longer pieces (books, movies, magazine, and newspapers, etc) Quotes around shorter pieces (the title of an article from a magazine or newspaper, a poem, a song, etc.)

Sources
A lot of you either failed to put your sources into this draft of the paper or forgot to cite them. Please be sure that you understand how in-text citations work and if you don't you might want to submit another draft of your paper to me before the final so I can check your citations.

Homework

• Read Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Cap, Little Snow White, and Hansel and Gretel from the Brother's Grimm Fairy Tales. (Make sure you actually read them and don't just rely on your previous knowledge of the stories.)

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Course Recap for Wednesday, October 19

Annotated Bibliography
I checked everyone's annotated bibliography in class. I let each of you know if your sources were good sources, if they were properly formatted, and if your annotations gave me enough information about your source and your paper.  Some common mistakes were:

• The use of electronic citation managers to format your sources.  You can use these to format your sources as long as you compare what they give to you to an actual MLA guide because these things can often get them wrong. And since you have to do that you might as well just use the MLA guide in the first place and save yourself a few steps.  These citation managers use a specific formula to format your sources.  If your source deviates from that formula in anyway (maybe the source doesn't have a date or a author) it can format them wrong.  Even the citations at the bottom (or top) of articles are sometimes in the wrong format so you have to check those, too.
• Not italicizing the names of books and journals.  The article title is in quotations, but the publication in which the article is printed (the journal, newspaper, website, or magazine) is italicized.
• Summarizing the source in your annotations without explaining how you intend to use the source in your paper.  This is the most important part of your annotation.  I want to know how this source relates to your argument.

You were all given the chance to rework your annotated bibliographies.  They are due Sunday at 4.  You won't get credit if I don't get them by Sunday at 4.  Be sure to check out the OWL Purdue site or the WMU MLA Library Guide for information on how sources should be formatted.  If you missed class on Wednesday you will not be getting any feedback from me about your bibliography (one of the disadvantages of missing class).  Look at the commonly made mistakes above and make sure you haven't made any of them.  You can correct and resubmit your bibs just without my feedback. Sorry.


Intro Paragraphs and Outlines
As I checked your annotated bibs you worked on the first paragraphs of your paper and then did an outline where you listed the main points of your paper and the ways in which you were going to use specific scenes, lines, etc from your pieces to support your thesis.


Tips for Writing Your Paper

• Be sure that your research doesn't overwhelm your paper.  You are using the research to support your own ideas not the other way around.  Try not to have entire sections of the paper dedicated solely to your research.  Instead find ways to weave your research throughout the paper.
• Your paper is about the piece so you should be referring to the piece often.  If you haven't watched your film in a long time be sure to watch it before attempting to write your paper.  You'll be watching it with a more critical eye and will be better able to spot things that will support your argument.
• Please look at the sections on In-Text Citations on the OWL Purdue site.  You have to make sure that you are properly attributing all information from your sources.  Also remember that anything taken from a source (unless it's common knowledge)  must be cited.  Even if you paraphrase the information you still need to attribute it to the source.  

Possible Blog Post Topics

• Describe your writing process for this paper.  Where did you start?  How did you approach the topic? What aspects of the paper do you enjoy?  What issues or frustrations have you had in writing this paper?

Homework

• Revised Annotated Bibliography Due Sunday Oct 23 at 4 pm via Google Docs.
• Rough Draft of Analysis Paper Due Monday Oct 24 in class (Bring TWO COPIES please!)

Course Recap for Monday, October 17th

Library Day

We held class in the library. Galen Nicke, one of Waldo's librarians, showed you how to find sources using PowerSearch on the library's main website. He also showed you where to look for information on MLA formatting. I'll post the links in Class Links.

Your assignment for the day was to find two sources for your annotated bibliography. At least one of your four sources for you paper has to be a print source, meaning that it was originally published in paper form. This could be a book or a news or magazine article.

Homework
Annotated Bibliography due Wednesday, Oct. 19

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Course Recap for Wednesday, October 12

"Sonny's Blues"
We had a quick reading quiz and then we discussed the symbolism and the themes of "Sonny's Blues." We all agreed that the story talks about the importance of family and the dangers of drugs. We also examined how the idea of "darkness" functions in the story and what it means to truly "listen" to someone. The story also talks about the importance of music and art and how it helps us to better understand the pain and suffering that people experience in life. Then you guys wrote thesis statements about the various elements of "Sonny's Blues" that interest you.

Annotated Bibliography
Be sure to check out the Sample Annotated Bibliography before Monday. On Wednesday you will have to turn in your own annotated bibliography where you will list your four sources for the paper in MLA format and then a brief description of each source and how they relate to your thesis. See the second page of the Sample Annotated Bibliography to see what your bibliography should look like.

LIBRARY DAY!!!
Monday we will be meeting in the entrance to Waldo Library. You should have the piece picked out that you want to analyze for Project 2 and a tentative thesis statement (i.e. What it is that you want to say about the piece?). If you have worries about your thesis statements please e-mail me before Monday so I can look at it and give you feedback.

Homework
Thesis Statements for Project 2 Due Monday Oct 17th
Annotated Bibliography Due Wednesday Oct 19th
REMEMBER WE'RE MEETING IN THE LIBRARY MONDAY!

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Course Recap for Monday, October 10th

Carrie Analysis

We finished the movie Carrie and then we reviewed your answers to the homework questions. When doing an analysis it is important to look at several different elements of the piece. For the movie, Carrie we looked at the film's characters, themes, lighting, symbols, shooting methods, score, and overall story line. Then we all created potential thesis statements for the movie by first asking ourselves a question about the film and then attempting to answer using our knowledge of the film. For instance I posited the question:

• Why did de Palma choose different lighting for Carrie throughout the film ranging from soft, flattering light to sharp, harsh lighting?

Then taking into account everything we talked about in class, I answered the question:

• De Palma chooses to light Carrie differently throughout the film sometimes using a soft, flattering light and other times a sharp, harsh lighting to show that there are two different sides to people and under the right circumstances people can flourish and become something beautiful and good or they can be oppressed and enraged and become something ugly and evil.

Everyone shared their thesis statements then we looked over the assignment sheet for Project 2.


Project 2 Analysis

You will be doing an analysis of a creative piece of work of your own choosing. Your final paper will be four pages long and must feature four sources. See Project 2 Assignment Sheet in Class Documents for more details. You must have the piece you plan to analyze chosen by Monday, October 17th.


"Friend Game" by Collins
We discussed Collins piece "Friend Game" about the suicide of Megan Meier. We looked at how Collins analyzed the various aspects of Myspace and a Myspace profile and how they may've contributed to Megan's death. She talked about everything from the process of creating a profile to what a Myspace profile looks like on the screen. We were also introduced to our first rhetorical mode of persuasion: pathos. Pathos or emotional appeal appeals to an audience's emotions, needs, and values. By starting the piece at Megan's funeral and giving us vivid descriptions of the girl before her death Collins appeals to the reader's feelings of sympathy.

Homework

• Read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin (see Class Links)
• Read "Cult Movie Review: Carrie" and "Horror, Femininity, and Carrie's Monstrous Puberty" (see Class Links) When you hit the link you should be prompted to sign-in with your Bronco-ID.  After that click on either Full Text or PDF underneath the title to be able to read the piece.
• Start thinking about the piece you might want to analyze for Project 2 (Due Monday Oct. 17)

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Course Recap for Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A Very Quick Grammar Lesson
We quickly went over some of the common grammatical issues found in the rough drafts of your literacy narrative. The most common issues were run-on sentences and comma splices. We listened to "A Bad Breakup Letter" on YouTube for an example of how run-on sentences sound when read aloud. I encourage all of you to read your papers aloud or have someone else read it aloud to you before turning them in.

If you have problems with a specific grammatical issue that you don't feel confident identifying on your own a good place to go is The Writing Center. I'll post a link to their website in our class links. Your final draft is due Monday, Oct 10.

Carrie
We watched the movie, Carrie. For homework you will do a general analysis of the movie where you will answer the following questions:

1. Comment on the various cinematic elements in the movie. What role does lighting, color, camera angles, and sound play in the story? It's okay if you don't know the technical terms. Talk about them to the best of your ability.
2. What are some of the themes present in the film?
3. Carrie is a horror movie that defies the genre because it blurs the lines between the victims and the monsters. Who are the monsters in this film? Why do you think so? Refer to specific scenes in the movie.
4. What are some recurring images or ideas in the film? What do you think these images or ideas symbolize?
5. Choose a character other than Carrie. Examine that character's personality and motives and the purpose they serve to the rest of the plot.
6. What are some criticisms you have of the film?

You can also use one of these questions for the subject of one of your blog posts. Remember we changed the rules, so only one of your blog posts for the week has to be class related. The other post can be on whatever you like.

Homework

• Answer the questions about Carrie on a separate sheet of paper. It can be handwritten.
• Read "Friend Game: Behind the Online Hoax that Led to a Girl's Suicide" by Lauren Collins (pgs. 156-170)
• Final Draft of Literacy Narrative Due Monday Oct 10th

Course Recap for Monday, October 3, 2011

Sick Day!  :(
I wasn't feeling well today and had to cancel class. The due date for the final draft of your literacy narrative is now Monday Oct 10.  We will start Project 2 on Wednesday.

Course Recap For Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Peer Review
We broke into groups of three or four and read the rough drafts of each others' literacy narratives and gave detailed feedback on what was working in the pieces and what could be improved.  You had to review at least two papers and had to have your paper reviewed by at least of two of your peers.  Extra credit was given to those who checked more than two papers.

Homework

• Enjoy your weekend!

Course Recap for Monday, September 26

What Makes a Good Story Part II
We watched a clip from the movie Up! and discuss the reasons why the events of the clip made a good story.  According to our discussion, a good story should

• Show not tell
• Have good relatable characters and storylines/themes
• Always be interesting/never repetitive
• Appeal to emotions

We looked for examples of these attributes in the Engkent and Sedaris piece and then we looked for them in the sample literacy narratives (see Class links).  We talked about what each narrative did well and how each narrative could improve.

Homework

• Rough Draft of Literacy Narrative Due Wed, 9/28-Make sure it is a completed draft.

Potential Blog Post Topic

• One of the reasons that Engkent's mother chooses not to learn to speak English is because she does not find it necessary.  How necessary is it for Engkent's mother to learn English? What would be the benefits for her learning English? What might be the limitations for her learning English?

Course Recap for Wednesday, September 21

Defining Literacy: Exploring the Meanings of Different Words in Different Contexts
We talked about Elaine Richardson's piece "My Ill Literacy Narrative: Growing up Black, Po and A Girl in the Hood."  In this we saw how she redefined commonly used phrases, terms, and actions based on her experience growing up.  We explored how certain terms and phrases can mean different things to you depending upon your own subject position.  For instance, the ladies in the class talked about the phrase "Hey Baby" which many men see as an appropriate even flattering way of approaching a woman and how they find it offensive because of the sexual connotations it holds.  Richardson explored this theory even more explaining how there's a difference in the meaning of the phrase based on who's using it.  When an adult white male says this phrase to young black female it he is exerting his power as the dominant male in a patriarchal society and marking her as a sexual object.  All of this from two little words.

Afterwards we all wrote about instances when we experienced some form of miscommunication due to someone's lack of knowledge of the other person's subject position or their life experiences.  Again we looked at how factors such as where you're from, what you believe, how you grew up, or simply what you know can change the meanings of certain words and/or phrases.

How Can We Apply the Reading to Our Own Writing
We pointed out two things that we really liked about Richardson's piece that we would like to see in each other's writing:

• Focus:  Richardson's piece had a clear focus.  Every anecdote she included served the purpose of her narrative.  It stayed on track.
• Clarity:  Richardson always made sure that the reader understood exactly what she had learned from her different experiences.  She gave clear explanations for each of her of anecdotes.

The things we didn't like about her writing included the fact that she sometimes used generalizations and that her language sometimes alienated the reader.

Homework

• Where I'm From Narrative Due Thursday 9/21 by noon
• Blog Posts  Due Thursday 9/21 and Sunday 9/25 (I will no longer post reminders for blog posts.  A blog post is due every Thursday and Sunday by 4pm)
• Read "Why My Mother Can't Speak English" by Garry Engkent pgs 32-39 and "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris pgs 64-69 for Monday 9/26
• Literacy Narrative Rough Draft Due Wednesday 9/28 ( Make sure you at least start thinking about what you want to write about this weekend and where you may want to go with your narrative.)

Possible Blog Post Topics

• Compare your experience writing your Where I'm From poem and your Where I'm From narrative.  Was it easier for you to write in one genre than it was for the other.  What did you like about one genre versus the other? What did you learn from this experience?
• What were your own personal reactions to the reading for today.  You can talk about your initial feelings here.  How do you feel about the way Richardson created her own meaning for different phrases and experiences based on her race, gender, and class?  Have you had any similar experiences?  

Course Recap for Monday, September 19

Poem vs. Story
We discussed the differences between how the setting was described in "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyons and Decoded by Jay-Z.  We talked about how the story was able to use more in-depth details and the purpose of the description of the setting was to help set up the events the story was going to describe.  Erica described a poem as a story condensed. I then gave you the task of transforming your poems into stories.  If Erica is correct than your stories should be expanded versions of your poems.

What Makes a Good Story
We all agreed that the vivid imagery of Decoded helped draw us in.  We also agreed that the story's universal themes of overcoming the odds to achieve goals, finding life's passion, and striving to be the best helped us relate to the story.  Anya commented that her lack of knowledge of the author's world drew her into the story and made her want to learn more.  From our discussion we can conclude that a vivid setting with lots of details, universal themes, and information on a world the reader may not know about all make good stories.

Literacy
I introduced you to Project 1:Literacy Narrative (see Class documents) and we discussed literacy and what makes a person illiterate.  We agreed that bad grammar, colloquialisms, lack of intelligence, bad spelling, lack of education, and sounding dumb were all signs of illiteracy in an academic setting.  However, we also acknowledged that there are situations where someone may display these attributes and still be considered literate such as text messaging and certain online situations.

The N-Word
We then talked about the N-word and whether or not we would feel comfortable using it when discussing upcoming texts that feature the word.  We all agreed that as long as the word is being used in context of the reading that we were okay with using it.

Homework

• Where I'm From Story (1 page double spaced 12 point font Times New Roman) Due Thurs, September 22 at noon
• Read "My Ill Literacy Narrative: Growing Up Black, Po and a Girl, in the Hood" by Elaine Richardson pgs 41-62 (Just skim pages 41-48) for Wed, September 21

Course Recap for Wednesday, September 14

Blogs
We created your blogs in class. You all wrote your first blog post where you briefly introduced yourself and then you learned how to add gadgets to your blog page.  You created a Favorite Links gadget where you listed the class blog and the blogs you found over the weekend.

Details, Details, Details
After we set up your blogs we took a look at the poem, "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyons (see Class Documents on the right hand side).  We examined how she was able to tell us about her hometown by using very specific details that brought up different images and emotions.  We talked about how this use of language helps readers relate to the piece.

Afterward, you made a list of all the things that reminded you of home.  Then you took one of the more general things from your list and broke them down into more specific details.  For instance, I took Pizza Papalis and broke it down to "best pizza in the D," "high school hangout," "half days,"and "first date." By giving these specific details about Pizza Papalis, I was able to let the class know exactly what Pizza Papalis is and why it is important to me.

Homework

• Your first blog post will be a poem about where you're from.  It is due Sunday, September 18 at 4pm.
• Read p 1-17 of Decoded by Jay-Z.  See link on the right hand side of page.

Course Recap for Monday, September 12

Rhetorical Situations
We discussed in class rhetorical situations defining it as any moment you attempt to use language to communicate a message.  We discussed the various factors that help us decide how we will act in a given rhetorical situation.  These included:

• genre (kind of writing)
• audience
• purpose
• tone (attitude)
• voice (sound)
• context (outside influences, environment, time, place)
• media (print, electronic, spoken)
• design (look)

Afterwards we analyzed several common forms of writing that we perform in our daily lives such as text messages, Facebook comments, and notes to self.

Blog
I introduced you to our class blog and informed you that this would be the place to go if you missed class or needed a quick refresher on the last class' lesson.  All handouts and homework assignments will be posted on this blog along with a brief summary of each class. You were informed that you will also be keeping a blog this semester.  See the blog assignment sheet posted on the right hand side of the page.  Your first blog post is due Sunday, September 18.  You will be expected to write two blogs a week one due every Sunday and Thursday by 4.  You can also earn extra credit by responding to your classmates blog posts or by posting more than two blogs a week.  We ran out of time and was unable to set up your blogs.  This is probably how we will begin class today.  We voted on a title of the blog and even though "Blogging Western Style" was the winner, I made the executive decision to change it to the runner-up "3NGLI$H 1050."

This blog is specifically for our English class and our class explores different types writing including text speech which makes "3NGLI$H 1050" a fitting title.  We also have to take into consideration our potential audience.  For the most part we will probably be the only people who view the blog, but it is open to the public and if anyone outside of our class happens to view the blog we want them to be able to tell what they're getting into based on the title.  "Blogging Western Style" was too general.

Homework

• Purchase book and copy card (Due Wednesday 9/14)

Welcome to English 1050! + Course Recap for Wednesday September 7

Welcome to English 1050!
I am Micealaya (Mickey) Moses, your instructor.  Please take time to save this blog into your favorites/bookmarks folder as I will provide weekly updates, course recaps, and all course documents through this site. I am excited to work with all of you this semester! Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.  My e-mail is m5moses@wmich.edu.  I am also available for to meet with you an hour right after every class and by appointment.  In this class you will learn how to think like a writer, a skill you already possess in some capacity.  We will read and discuss various texts and you will hopefully leave this class with the ability to write in both academic and "real world" settings.


Course Syllabus and Course Expectations
We read through the syllabus in class and talked about the things you would have to do to succeed in this course. Please be sure to review the entire syllabus (posted on the right side of the blog) on your own, but here a few of the finer points, the things that are essential to your success in this class:

• Attendance and participation are extremely important. You are expected to be in class on-time on a regular basis and to participate in all class activities and discussions.
• Late work is highly discouraged.  Please get in the habit now of turning things in when they are due.
• I am here to help you but I can't do anything for you if I don't know something is wrong. Please do not hesitate to ask questions if you are confused.  Again I can meet with you during office hours or by appointment to discuss things you may be struggling with.  Also please inform me in a timely matter if you're going to miss class.
• Please be courteous.  Disruptive behavior is distracting and counterproductive to our class.

Writing Sample
After reading over the syllabus you all submitted a writing sample to me.   You wrote about your relationship with writing.  You talked about what you liked and didn't like about writing, what you hoped to learn in the class, and the last piece of writing you created.  We may refer to these in class Monday.



Homework

• Think of a title for our class blog. (Due Monday 9/12)
• Bring in the link to a blog that interests you. (Due Monday 9/12)
• Purchase the book and $5 Copy Card. (Due Wednesday 9/14)