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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Not Good-bye, Just Smell Ya Later

Way to Go....ya'll, I mean youse, I mean...um....impetus! Welcome to college!



Last Class:

1. Questions about finals / collect portfolios
2. Finish movie / last discussion of OU
3. Costal finishes Six Flags story...a bit about writing
3A. the pledge
4. tearful good-byes from the class
5. class presents gifts for Costal and ballad they wrote about him
6. Class begs Costal not to go
7. Costal leaves anyway

The Pledge:

List three goals for the Fall (one academic, one social and one leadership/extracurricular)

For each goal, provide three steps for achieving each.

Provide one "reach goal." A reach goal is a goal that will take considerable risk and significant time and effort to achieve. It should be something that comes with great reward though the likliness of achieving it may be slight. This reach goal should be attained by you taking a risk.

How to Write a Goal Statement


Step 1: I will . . . .

Step 2: Clearly state your goal.

Step 3: List objectives and activities to reach goal.

Step 4: Specify date and timeliness to complete goals

Goal Statement:

I will lose weight.

New and improved goal statement:

I will lose 15 pounds by the end of the Fall semester.

Objectives and timeliness:

Begin a program of exercise by September 1, 2010.

* Walk/Jog 30 minutes a day @ 5 AM.

* Play tennis with Jordan every other Saturday.

* Go to the gym after class on Mondays and Wednesdays.

* Get back on the diet I had before EOF started (no more N Wing)

* Record food intake every day.
 
Now, make a promise to our class, something that you or others may worry about succumbing to. It can be simple (I promise that I will only play Xbox for an hour a day during the semester) or it can be complex and deep (I promise not to listen to the negative friends back at home).
 
After initial submissions...the last step, hold our Costal Class family to some promises. Don't call anyone out! These should not contain ANY negative aspect of the person, just something that holds them to something you know they want.
 
i.e.: DO NOT SAY: I will hold Costal to his promise to lose a few pounds, jeez.
 
SAY: I will call Costal this semester when I have time and see if he wants to go to the gym together.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Some Peppy Inspiration

I listened to this song as I walked around campus this morning...eased my crabbiness (a bit)!

Finals! Finals! Finals!

Man, I am too soft...Portfolio assignment cut to 5!

HAVE NO FEAR, FRIENDS...the end is near!

Your Final:

-- OU...duh! Short answer questions about plot, character and theme
-- African nations we discussed placed on a map
-- Hacker disciplines (especially parallelism & sentence structure)

Portfolio:

You will complete two journals as we watch the film this week. That will make a grand total of 10. You must type, edit and hand in all your journals before the end of class. They should reflect your NEW writing abilities. Each one is a maximum of one page.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

EOF Class #11, July 20, 2010

Lost Boys Journal #9: Chose one of the following

1. What did you learn about the boys’ culture, experiences, and values from the kinds of things they knew about life in the U.S. and the kinds of things they had to learn? Imagine that you had been sitting next to the boys on the flight to the U.S. and had an opportunity to get to know them a little bit. What kinds of things would you have had in common and what would have been the most significant differences?

2. How did it feel to hear elders admonish the boys before they left not to “act like those people who wear baggy jeans who do all the bad things in America”? Who do you think they meant and why might they have singled out that group?

3. At one point, Santino answers the question, “What stories will you tell the white people?” by saying, “I will tell them that I have left many friends here, friends I love very much, who have always stood by me.” Do you think Santino will have an opportunity to tell these stories? Why or why not?

ASSIGNMENTS:

MODULE: Rewrite of Essay #3 due to Ana by end of module.

READ: 1. OU to Chapter 21.

2. ASSIGNMENTS: Read Research Sections of Hacker, 383 - 405 & 476 - 511

Monday, July 19, 2010

Take a Breath...Get Lost in this for a few minutes



Puts what you have to do in perspective doesn't it?

EOF 10th Anniversary Class!!!!! Hoooray! July 19, 2010

WEEK 4: welcome to the WALL

MODULE: Peer edit, editting MUST be to the writer by end of module (done to the specifications we discussed)

WRITE: Revision of Essays #2 (optional for higher than a C+)

READ: OU Chapters 16 & 17

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Horrifying

post from the NAACP...not to mention this Iowa billboard below.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

EOF Class #9: July, July 15, 2010

You know what to do! Oh, and while you're at it, read OU through Chapter 15!

EOF Class #9, July 15, 2010

"When two elephants fight, it is the grass that will suffer most."


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

EOF Class #8, July 14, 2010

IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE BE SURE TO BE UP TO DATE WITH YOUR READING. CHAPTER 11 WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT TO TOMORROW'S CLASS!

WRITE: Formal Essay #3:

Synthesis of Outcasts United

This paper will be three - five pages long. Same format. Each family will work on the same topic (five possible topics in all). This will focus our conversation about Part I (give or take a chapter) to five areas. I am assigning it this way so that you may use your families for guidance and help. Topics will be assigned during class today. How? By a a little method I call the "Costal Circle of Death." Fear it!

Use afternoon module today to begin preparing your thesis/argument with your family members. Also, each family should be able to provide interesting oral insights for each topic. Consider resources (some are even posted to this blog) to assist you in crafting your answer. Check out websites. Read the interviews. Listen to the audio and podcasts. Watch videos. Attribute and cite these resources. Integration, relevance and attribution of sources will be graded. Use Hacker to guide your creation of an MLA works cited page (Don't worry about perfection in this area, yet, we will go over this next week). I have highlighted the pith (look it up, Skube) of each topic to keep you centered.

The Five Possible Topics:

1. Soccer. This was an interesting year to read this book, because soccer is pretty much sweeping the world. When played beautifully, as Coach Luma might say, soccer is one of the world's most fluid and graceful games. How does the nature of soccer reflect and influence the ways in which the Fugees respond to the challenges of life in Clarkston? What about the game makes it so particularly compelling for children who have endured war, violence, and displacement? This may call for some research on the game, it's importance to the international community, etc. In the most basic terms, examine the sport as an impetus (Skube) for coping with refugee life. The thesis should speak to how the game correlates to the Fugees themselves.

2. Coach Luma fits the Fugees. There is a great deal about her past that makes her the perfect Coach for the team. Her story is not EXACTLY like those of the boys, either, though she is also a Clarkston "outsider" in terms of her nationality. This topic calls for a comparison/contrast between Luma and the Fugees.  In what ways  does her experience as an immigrant compare and contrast with the stories of the Fugees? In what ways do both these similarities and differences affect the bond between the coach and her team? Research on this topic should center on Luma herself and probably the country of Jordan.

3. Chapter 3 describes a study led by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam that states that inhabitants of the hyperdiverse communities tend to withdraw from collective life and distrust their neighbors. You are going to examine, analyze and relate these findings to OU. Discuss whether or not they surprise you. Call upon specific references from the book that support his report. Then discuss possible methods for how communities such as these can overcome such obstacles. Research for this one has a lot of possibilities. You could look up information on similar communities. You can look into Clarkston yourself. You can look for success stories on how such communities overcome such obstacles in other places. Do not be afraid to make your own decisions on potential solutions. Do not fear using your own personal reference or experiences to brainstorm potential solutions.

4. At its core, this is a book about outcasts in general. While the book has narrowed our focus on cultural outcasts, it is obvious that outcasts come from all spheres of influence. Your job will be to choose, then analyze an outcast from a place in culture that specifically interests you. Who is this person (background info)? Why is/was this person considered an outcast? What did the person do to be considered an outcast? What effect did the outcast status have on this person’s life? What conclusions can you come to about the person? Was the label outcast justified? End the paper by explaining how the label ouotcast is different than the label applied to members of the Fugees. EACH FAMILY MEMBER MUST CHOOSE A DIFFERENT PERSON!

5. In Chapter 11, Beatrice makes some interesting points about the differences in the cultural acceptance of child rearing techniques. She speaks specifically on the effectiveness of corporal punishment. Consider Beatrice's comments. Do a little research on corporal punishment for the purpose of child rearing, especially in other cultures. Do not hesitate to share personal insight on your own experiences, especially if you experienced a varied cultural view on the subject. Then, after you have analyzed Beatrice's points, take a stand on the subject yourself.  

Paper will be due at END OF MODULE Monday, so that you may have time to confer with your family for some editing before turning them in. DO NOT PLAGARIZE!

To do well on this keep Costal's Keys in mind. Focus on writing a great introduction with a focused, argumentative thesis. Watch for mechanical uses! I will be unforgiving on sentence structure. Support your family!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

EOF Class #7 Assignments, July 13, 2010

MODULE: Today, you will begin working on your research project for this course. It involves the characters and conflicts explored by Warren St. John in Outcasts United. This assignment will be accomplished in families. One document will be turned in per family. All questions will be numbered. Answered in complete sentences (in your best writing) and typed to the same specifications as your formal essays. Each family should also plan on presenting their findings orally. Each numbered question should be answered in approximately three to seven sentences.  

Begin by collaborating to choose five characters from OU (must be foreign born) whom you feel are the most vital to the story. For each character do the following:

1. Summarize each character's importance to the story. What is memorable about him/her? Why did you chose him/her?

2. How has the character assimilated to life in Clarkston? What major obstacles/forces of conflict has each one faced?

3. What country was the character from? Where is that country (Please provide a printed map or visual that will provide the class with context of the country's location)? Write down what you know about the country and its surrounding areas WITHOUT any research. It is ok to make generalizations, assumptions and guesses. I am interested in what your family BELIEVES.

4. Now find out for real...Do some light research (Wikipedia is ok, because you are just doing background, not citing it). Find out what spceific problems, violence, social situation your character may have been running from. Be specific and be brief. You may need to pursue other people and terms to understand the situations, but don't go overboard. You are just creating CONTEXT for the problem, you DO NOT need to know it all. If you get stuck, The New York Times topic pages are really good places to look.

5. Now, SUMMARIZE. How has pursuing the questions above made you better understand the character? What do you predict for this character in Part 2 of the book?

This assignment will be due at 4pm tomorrow. Presentations will begin in Wednesday's module. I am giving you time in case you want to meet up with your family quickly before presenting. DO NOT forget the tenets of presentation discussed at the beginning of the course.

Use Steph and Ana as resources, but they are NOT here to hold your hands. Be brave. Be independent. Do your best. I'm giving you the LL right now for inspiration.

READ: 1. Peruse the The Basics in Hacker pgs. 529 - 563

2. Outcasts United Chapters 10 & 11.

Monday, July 12, 2010

EOF Class #6, July 12, 2010 Assignments

WRITE: 1. Revisions are due for both Essays #1 (optional) and #2 (mandatory). Don't forget how I want them handed in.

2. Journal #7: Response to today's documentary Class Dismissed. Please also do your best to compare Malala's situation with those facing some of the refuge's in the book.

READ: finish part one

EOF Class on July 12th

Notes and Resources -- EOF Class 6, July 12, 2010



African Union official website.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

July 8, 2010, Class 5 EOF assignments

MODULE: Read this article by local attorney Seth Grossman (Somers Point) here. For Journal #5, apply the tenets of evaluating quality to Grossman's article as means to either agree or disagree with his argument. Individually this time.

WRITE: Read Michael Skube article...grab it here!

Formal Writing #2: Michael Skube provides his e-mail on the bottom of his scathing rebuke of today's college student. Write a letter to him either agreeing or disagreeing with his thesis. Either way, make sure you back up your claim with specific examples from either your own life, observations you have made or statistics you have researched. Do not spend too much time worrying about how you "cite" your source(s) (this will come later), but please "attribute" it/them. The best response will be e-mailed to Skube himself! Zoinks!

READ: Read Chapters 6 - 8 of Outcasts United. Below you will find the last of study guide questions to help you. From now, you should be annotating and developing your own analysis of what's important in the text. Journal #6 can be about any
chapter(s)/question(s) you chose.
 
STUDY: Active Reading Test during regular class time on Monday (I will be back for module)!
 
Chapter 6, “Paula”


1. Who is Paula? (63-66)

2. Where is she from? (63)

3. Who is Joseph Mombutu? (65)


Chapter 7, “Coach Says It’s Not Good”

1. Who is Bienvenue (Bien for short) Ntwari?

2. What country is he from? (72)

3. What does Grace tell Bien about American kids? (74)

4. What would happen when Coach would ask her players to get in groups for passing drills? (76)

5. What reactions did opposing teams have when they played the Fugees? (78-79)

6. Explain the title of the chapter. (79-80)


Chapter 8, “They’re in America Now—Not Africa”

1. Who is Chike Chime? (81)

2. Who is Timothy Jordan? (81-82)

3. What happened between the two men? (82-83)

4. Explain the title of this chapter. (85)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

July 7, 2010, EOF Class #4 Assignments

MODULE: 1. Peer edit with given partner by readinig lsowly and carefully aloud to one another.

2. As your family members become available work with them on perusing the Hacker section on Clarity (pgs. 80 - 145). Pay special attention to sections 8, 9 & 13. I have seen a need for improvement in these areas. STUDY the concepts that you are unfamilar with. Do some of the examples contained within. You will be quizzed. You have been warned.

READ: 1. Finish reading Hacker.

2. OU Chapter 5, no journal (for real this time, I promise), below find the study questions for your guidance.

3. Read and annotate the NY Times article found here.

WRITE: Submit Edit of Essay 1

Chapter 5, “The Fugees Are Born”

1. What tensions could be felt at the Clarkston Community Center? (54-56)

2. How does Luma handle the young Sudanese boy who questions her authority because she’s female? (56)

3. Who is One Shoe? (56-57)

4. Besides poverty, what “other problem” does Luma learn many of her players are experiencing? (58)

5. How did the kids on the team divide themselves? (60)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

July 6, 2010, EOF Class 3 Assignments

MODULE:
1. Ana will administer a Hacker quiz. It can be completed in families. Each family need only submit one quiz. Everyone's names should be on it. Each sudent will receive a quiz.  

2. You have plenty of reading to do for homework tonight, but you will NO LONGER just READ, right? Begin some of your reading in module when you are done with the quiz. Use your family and the tutors for help. 

READ:  
1. "How to Mark a Book" by Mortimer Adler
2. "What's Wrong with Writing" by Lewis Beale
3. OU Chapter 4

WRITE:
1. Journal #4 on OU  Chapter 4. You know what to do. Use the questions to guide what you write about.
***You will be quizzed on all of tonight's readings

Chapter 4, “Alone Down South”


1. Describe Luma’s style as a coach working with the Atlanta suburban YMCA girls’ team. (46-48)

2. How does Luma “discover” Clarkston? (48-49)

3. What did Luma notice about the way the boys from Clarkston played soccer compared to the YMCA team? (51)

4. Who helped Luma set up the soccer program for the refugee kids? (52)

Outcasts United Quiz #1: You have

Answer each in complete sentences. Provide as much specific reference to the book as possible. Each answer should be approximately 3 - 6 sentences long. Be sure to answer EVERY part of the question.

1. Provide three specific ways that Luma is like her players from the Fuguees.
2. Provide two specific reasons why Luma did not wish to return home. Explain where home is, and then briefly explain how her parents reacted.
3. Describe Beatrice's policy for her children when they return home from school. Why does she do this? Is it justified?
4. Describe three specific ways that Clarkston changed due to the influx of refugees.
5. Describe the specific difficulties in placing the Somali/Bantu ethnic groups. Do you agree with the Councilwoman?
6. Is there any creedence to the complaints of the most of the "original" inhabitants of Clarkston? Explain either way.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

How to Create a News Story


How To Report The News - Watch more Funny Videos

Study Guide Questions for Chapters 1 - 3

Part One: Changes



Chapter 1, “Luma”:

1. Describe Luma’s family background. (p 15-20)

2. Explain why attending Smith College was such “an awakening” for Luma. (20-21)

3. What are some of Luma’s reasons for not wanting to return to live in Jordan? (21-23)

4. How did Luma’s father react to Luma’s news that she wanted to stay in the U.S. instead of return to Jordan? (23)

5. In what way is Luma like the players on the Fugees? (25)

Chapter 2, “Beatrice and Her Boys”

1. Summarize Beatrice Ziaty’s story in Liberia before coming to America? (26-29)

2. How was Beatrice “welcomed” to America? (31)

3. What does Beatrice do to assure her sons’ safety in this new country? (32)

Chapter 3, “Small Town . . . Big Heart”

1. How did Clarkson, Georgia, begin to change in the 1970s? (34)

2. What further changes happened in the 1980s? (35)

3. And then . . . in the late 1980s? (35)

4. Where did the first refugees arrive from? (36)

5. What point does the author want to make with the story of woman walking down the street talking to devil? (37)

6. What are some of the changes Clarkston experienced due to the influx of refugees? (38-39)

7. How was the townspeople’s reaction to all the newcomers in some way “natural”? (39-40)

8. Why did the decision to relocate member of the Somali Bantu ethnic group cause such a stir? (42- 44)

9. Who did Karen Felz, Clarkston Councilwoman and anthropologist fear would suffer the most if the Somali Bantu were relocated to Clarkston? (44)

10. What happened when the community met to discuss the resettlement? (44-45)

Special on the Fugees - ESPN

Thursday, July 1, 2010, EOF Class 2 Assignments

MODULE: Costal will be in module this afternoon.

READ:

1. OU Chapters 1, 2 & 3

2. Peruse Hacker's Glossary of Usage per Costal's instructions

WRITE:

1. Instead of answering the questions explicitly this time, I am providing them to help you guide your reading. Instead you will write a journal for each chapter. (Journal #1, 2 & 3). Use the study guide questions as a guide. You may focus on one or several questions per chapter. Just be sure your journal addresses an answer (or answers) to the provided questions. Remember that journals may or may not be typed. They must be at least one page each. They may or may not be turned in on Tuesday.

2. Essay #1: So much of what's important in OU deals with a "sense of place." Clarkstown is a uniquely drawn tapestry of diversity, tension and hope. For your first essay, I want you to describe your hometown. Be specific. Use concrete details. Be vivid. Describe the people, the "feeling" as well as the physical description of your town. You may focus on one aspect if that aspect stands out to you most (for example, Jasmine may want to focus on the river, or Tim may want to focus on the "Perth"). Use sensory words that bring to life more than visuals, but also smells and sounds and tastes. Follow the parameters in the syllabus. Should be approx. 2 pages.