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

Class Cancellation Notice

Sorry, gang....I overdid it...hurting again. Rhet & Comp is canceled, today, Wednesday, September 26th at 330 and 6pm. Check the blog in the coming days for weekend assignment. Thank you.

R & C, Monday, September 24, 2012

CLASS: Discuss assignments, new assignments, Costal's Keys, Orwell, Reading

READ: Hacker section on Commas (Chapter 32, p.292 )

R & C, September 17, 2012

READ: This I Believe introduction chapter and the essay that begins on page 233.

LISTEN: and read along to the "This I Believe" Essay posted here. Then write Journal #3 on it. How does it evince the tenets of good writing discussed in class? What most affected you about it?

In further preparation for the Anita Hill presentation, please view the two videos found on the this site: "We Still Believe Anita Hill" & "Sex and Justice."

Remember to check the blog Wednesday night for your weekend assignment. Enjoy the lecture!

R & C, Wednesday, September 12, 2012

http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/hillframe.htm





Blown Away by: sexual pushes by now VP Biden, the audacity of the questions & the respect of Judge Thomas on rebuttal...and of course, the final decision

ASSIGNMENT: 

READ: Essay by Constance Buchanan "Woman and Crisis of American Values" 

Glossary of Usage on pg 653 in new edition. Also please review grammar basics on pg 367.

WRITE: Journal #1 & Journal #2: For the first journal, choose one core issue presented by Buchanan's essay (notes are included....should help guide you toward the core values of the piece). Describe your opinion about the validity of the her argument. Whether you agree or disagree, please base your argument on specific textual reference provided within the context of the essay. Though it is not necessary, if you are feeling saucy, go ahead and include another source. Please cite that source.

For the second journal, react to the fact that Judge Thomas was confirmed to serve a life-long position on the highest court in the land...immediately after this testimony. Would YOU have voted for or against Judge Thomas? Why? Moreover, do you think that if this hearing had occurred today, Judge Thomas would have been confirmed? Why or why not? What's different? What's the same?

Anita Hill...information and extra credit opportunity

"Dear Colleagues:   I’m writing to remind you that our first Constitution Day event, a screening and discussion of the documentary film, Sex and Justice, about the 1991 Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings before the United States Senate, will take place on Friday, September, 14th, at 2:00 p.m. in the Campus Center Theatre.  The event is open to everyone and no tickets are required.   If you or your students are attending Professor Hill’s keynote address next week, the film will provide an excellent overview of the hearings."

I will be providing course credit (extra, not mandatory) for anyone who attends this event. 

What NOT to do...