English 101 - Three Public Service Videos for use with your homework

Watch one of the YouTube public service videos, taking notes  (see links below)

• ·        ·       Writer’s Blog Post: post a summary and  analysis of the video, using what you’ve gleaned from the reading
• ·        ·       Print it and bring it in to class next time

Drinking and Driving

Distracting Driving

Texting While Driving

Taking Stock of Your Textual Analysis -- English 101

Take stock of what you've written and learned by writing out answers to these questions: 

1.        How did you go about analyzing the text? What methods did you use—and which ones were most helpful?

2.       How did you go about drafting your essay?

3.       How well did you organize your written analysis? What, if anything, could you do to make it easier to read?

4.       Did you provide sufficient evidence to support your analysis?

5.       What did you do especially well?

6.       What could still be improved?

7.       Did you use any visuals, and if so, what did they add? Could you have shown the same thing with words?

8.       How did other readers' responses influence your writing?

9.       What would you do differently next time?

10.   Are you pleased with your analysis? What did it teach you about the text you analyzed? Did it make you want to study more works by the same writer or artist?

11.   What are the transferrable  skills you can take from this into other writing situations?

How to Get an A in This Class -- And in Most Others

Pay Attention –  to what the prof says, even if you don’t “think it’ll be on the test.”  Generally, when profs say something, they expect that you will hear it, make a note about it, and remember it later on when they mention it again, or ask you about it, or test you on it.  Things said in class alert you to additional (but nonetheless required) specifications about your homework, projects, formal papers or other assignments, so in that way, what’s said in class usually will “be on the test.”  Moreover, assignment directions (paper prompts, homework instructions, etc.) do not include an introductory phrase that indicates, "If you want to do it" or "Unless you want do do something else" or "Due whenever you want to turn it in"--if you don't follow directions, you will probably not get a passing grade on your work.  And in college, there usually aren't "do-overs" or things you can do for "extra credit."

Read – whatever’s handed out, assigned in class, or posted on the board or other venue.  For example, the syllabus will tell you what you can expect from the class, what materials are required, what’s expected of

you, and what sort of work you’ll need to do.  The class schedule will tell you what will be covered, when it will be covered, and when assignments, readings, etc. are due.  The assignment prompt gives you specifications from which you can construct a rubric by which the paper or project will be graded.  Your profs generally have subject-area or genre-related reasons they want things done one way and not another.  If you’re not clear about how to proceed with something, review the directions, and then ask about the parts you’re not clear on.  Remember, whether you’re in class or not, it’s your responsibility to know of any changes, and adapt to them accordingly.

Respect – yourself, your peers, and the prof.  Present yourself as an “A” student by turning in work that looks good, is complete, and has been done according to directions—on or before the deadline.  Show up on time, with the homework and/or assigned reading done, ready to work.  This will ensure that everyone gets the most out of each class session.  Once you’re here, focus on the task at hand without distracting yourself and others by fiddling with your cell phone, email, Facebook, etc.  Unless everyone is working independently on the computer, leave your earbuds out and headphones off.  Give the person speaking your full attention, whether that person is the prof, the love of your life, or the person you least admire.  

Pretend to be a responsible adult – even if you don’t want to be one.  Those who have been in “the real world” of work, the military, or other position of responsibility know what this means (and don’t need me to tell you), but even if you are in the Running Start program and still technically a minor, college-level work requires you treat your classes as you would your job. Act the way you would if you were in an office setting or similar work environment.  And please remember: pouting or engaging in other childish behavior--even if you get a grade you’re not happy with and didn’t expect--indicates to everyone around you that you are not yet ready for college.  If you're unhappy about something, wait at least 24 hours to think about it, and then come to office hours or make an appointment, and speak to your profs the way you would to employers--with dignity and respect for yourself and for them.

With its emphasis on composition and communication, what we do in this class has a direct bearing on your ability to function well in the world.   Many profs in other disciplines, such as physics, history, and humanities, now require English 101 as a prerequisite--so they can count on your ability to write and practice essential college-level skills, such as critical thinking and time management.  In college classes, unlike in high school, the student is 90% responsible for his or her own learning.  Use this as an opportunity to learn to be a better reader, writer, and critical thinker.  The skills you practice here will serve you well in other college classes, in your work, and in any other part of your life in which cogent thinking and clear communication play a factor.  

Link to another advertisement analysis

Queen Latifah Ad Analysis

Taking Stock of Your Writing Paper #1 - Literacy Narrative

Skilled writers can intelligently discuss their writing process--what worked, what was a struggle, where they need help, etc.  The purpose of answering the questions below is twofold: It’s an opportunity for you to share any special concerns--such as printer or computer problems, challenges with the topic, materials, etc.--and it’s an opportunity for you to discuss your writing process (brainstorming, journaling, discussions, drafting, etc.).  This second part will help you later in the course when you analyze what you’re learning.  Please post answers to your blog, and/or bring them in printed out with your paper.

1.      What was your main point (thesis)?  “The Moral of the Story”?

2.      Who was your audience?  What did you assume about them?  What “audience needs” did you have to consider in writing the paper?  How did you tailor your writing to them?

3.      What feedback or reactions did you get at various times while composing this paper, and how was this helpful?  What other kinds of input or support did you get from classmates, teacher, tutors, others?  Were you able to make use of it?  How, or why not?

4.      What did you find interesting about the process you went through in writing this paper, and what did you learn from it?

5.  What skills and knowledge can you take from this Unit to future writing situations? 

6.  What do you see as the paper’s strengths, and what areas are you unsure of?  

Abstracts Unpacked!

Abstracts Unpacked! Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “Misfits: A Feminist Materialist Disability  Concept.”  Ethics of Embodiment.  Spec. issue of Hypatia 26.3 (Summer  2011): 591-609.             Use this as a means of composing an abstract for your own paper

 Read the following abstract carefully, not so much for its content as for what it’s doing in communicating what sorts of things it covers:

This article offers the critical concept misfit¹ in an effort to further think through the lived identity and experience of disability² as it is situated in place and time. The idea of a misfit and the situation of misfitting that I offer here elaborate a materialist feminist understanding of disability³ by extending a consideration of how the particularities of embodiment interact with the environment in its broadest sense, to include both its spatial and temporal aspects⁴. The interrelated dynamics of fitting and misfitting constitute a particular aspect of world-making involved in material-discursive becoming⁵. The essay makes three arguments: the concept of misfit emphasizes the particularity of varying lived embodiments and avoids a theoretical generic disabled body; the concept of misfit clarifies the current feminist critical conversation about universal vulnerability and dependence; the concept of misfitting as a shifting spatial and perpetually temporal relationship confers agency and value on disabled subjects⁶.

¹ In unpacking the abstract, we can see that, for instance, when the abstract announces, “This article offers the critical concept misfit,” it is calling attention to the concept of a word with a negative connotation (“misfit”) that is used to define certain members of society. 

² By following that with, “in an effort to further think through the lived identity and experience of disability,” the author then includes her project and article as part of the scholarly work that is theorizing the notion of identity and who focus on one particular identity (“disability”) within the field of identity studies. 

³ When the abstract says, “The idea of a misfit and the situation of misfitting that I offer here elaborate a materialist feminist understanding of disability,” it then locates this article more precisely within the academic conversation amongst feminists who study the materiel conditions of people’s lives, in order to understand how the environments people move between and among in their daily lives influence the ways in which those lives can be lived (what the advantages and constrictions the world places on groups and individuals). 

⁴ When the author then adds, “by extending a consideration of how the particularities of embodiment interact with the environment in its broadest sense, to include both its spatial and temporal aspects,” she lets readers know that she is adding to that scholarly conversation by examining the ways in which the bodies of those people designated as “misfits” are affected in space and time.  

⁵ When she then says, “The interrelated dynamics of fitting and misfitting constitute a particular aspect of world-making involved in material-discursive becoming,” she’s further adding to the conversation by interrogating how those who are seen as “fit” (able-bodied) and those who are not (“disabled”) are constructed and thereby constrained by the very ways in which our culture talks, reads, and therefore thinks about them. 

⁶ Finally, the author advances the three-part thesis that her paper will argue for:  “The essay makes three arguments: the concept of misfit emphasizes the particularity of varying lived embodiments and avoids a theoretical generic disabled body; the concept of misfit clarifies the current feminist critical conversation about universal vulnerability and dependence; the concept of misfitting as a shifting spatial and perpetually temporal relationship confers agency and value on disabled subjects.”

Help from Youtube on MLA Works Cited

Incorporating sources into your research paper:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoQzXVmFXfk

Basic MLA Works Cited Page Formatting:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng_PeRBFa4s

How to cite scholarly articles:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiNtWCbQC0s

How to cite a web site:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JuVjGUSE7Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JuVjGUSE7A