R & C, Monday, October 21, 2012

Hacker Family Mini Lesson: The following assignment was created to address specific grammatical deficiencies that have re-occurred throughout the essays. Each family will be assigned an issue. Using Hacker, the family will research and learn the rules regarding the issue. Then, the family will teach the issue to the class. Summarize your findings into an easy to remember one line quip that we will then add to Costal's Quays to Writing (oh, and they will do it all in less than five minutes, with approximately 15 minutes of prep time). Once you get your issue, get to work! We will pick issues through CIRCLE OF DEATH!

1. comma splice
2. misplaced modifier
3. parallel constructions in sentences
4. differences among who vs. that & that vs. which
5. second person / or person shifts / or perspective shifts

Assignment: 

A story out of comic con got my attention this past week and seems to be an excellent escalation of our conversation (a little ditty about Jack and Diane...two kids growing up under the watchful eye of sexual harassment laws).

In order to take the story in with the best background, first check out this website by freelance costume and fashion designer Mandy Caruso (pictured).  Check out her work, her interests, and click the "yours truly" tag button (here if you are blog illiterate). Yes, her looks do matter to this argument.

So she dresses up salaciously (as so many young women do) and attended Comic Con as The Black Cat. And she was harassed. Not by a single, smarmy individual, but by a media outlet (that she will not identify or implicate.)

Read her account here.

Read support for her position from Jezebel, Mary Sue and the Daily Dot.  While you're at it, here's an interesting article (that leads down a rabbit hole of other resources) about harassment at comic and fantasy conventions in general. I have never been to one of these things...though I was a huge comic dork in middle school (I know...shocker!) Apparently there is a phenomenon known as booth babes? 

There is one very interesting article that opposed Mandy's reaction. 

Your job, for Journal #7 is to analyze the arguments and weigh in for yourself. Be prepared to discuss on Wednesday.

R&C Monday, Oct. 15

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please keep in mind that class is cancelled this coming WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17th. 

Class: 

1. Essay #2 discussion: Intros, "I think" & specific evidence

2. Support Lecture/Activity

Peer Editing of Essay Three:

1. Select a partner from family. If you paired up last time, choose a new partner.

2. Sit beside your partner, not face-to-face.

3. One partner is the writer first and one is the proofreader first.

4. The writer has a pen for correcting. The proofreader does not.

5. The writer places the paper where both partners can clearly see it and reads aloud, beginning with the last sentence in the paper, continuing with the next to the last, and so on through the paper. The proofreader watches the paper intently and listens carefully to exactly what the writer reads, noting differences between the spoken and written words. Back to front reading prevents the writer and proofreader from getting caught up in the text, making it easier to concentrate on recognizing errors. This method of reading also makes it easier to find sentence fragments, which are frequently phrases or clauses that should be attached to the previous sentence.

6. While reading, the writer makes any noticeable corrections. If the proofreader notes a discrepancy between what is being read and what appears on the paper, one that the writer fails to note, the proofreader MUST interrupt the writer in order to point out the discrepancy. For other errors noticed on the paper, but not the oration, namely punctuation and spelling errors, the proofreader should wait until the writer has finished reading the sentence in question.

7. The writer must make the final decision on all proposed changes.

8. This process continues until the paper is completely proofread. Then, the partners reverse roles and repeat the process on the second paper.

Works Cited:
Winters, Gerry. How to do Proofreading.
Online. Available

ASSIGNMENTS:

Optional Revision of Essay #2 & Mandatory Revision of Essay #3 (all previous drafts MUST be attached...and please, FASTEN with something)

R&C Wednesday, October 3, 2012

CLASS: 
1. Reaction vs. Analysis in Rhetoric
2. Review online NPR essay
3. Two essays from book reviewed: Returning to What's Natural p 23 & The Deeper Well of Memory p56
4. Reading

R & C, Monday, October 1st

It's October...don't bite off more than you can chew!

Revise: Essay #1

Read: Hacker: Sentence Structure: pgs. 381 - 398