Week at a glance Janurary 27 - 31, 2014

This week we will wrap our work over our Essay 1 media analysis.  Students will need to submit the essay online Tuesday night.  On Wednesday, we will begin working directly from our textbook.  We will begin Essay 2 and complete our first responses later in the week.  We'll wrap up the week with peer review for Essay 1.

• Mon: Thesis review and evaluation.  Essay 1 progress check.
• Tues: Meet in the Library.  Essay 1 rough draft due by midnight to turnitin.com
• Wed: Come to class with the textbook.  Assign and discuss Essay 2.  Read and discuss 254-257.  For Thursday, read Alger 255-263 and Dalton 272-277.
• Thurs: Discuss Alger and Dalton.  For Friday, complete the Alger/Dalton response.  Come to class with a printed copy of the Essay 1 rough draft.
• Fri: Alger/Dalton response due.  Essay 1 peer review

Week at a glance January 20 - 24, 2014

This week we'll wrap up our readings and discussion for Essay 1.  Students should have their topic selected early in the week.  We will review what makes a strong thesis on Wednesday.  Thursday and Friday will be workdays for the essay.  Students are welcome to have one-on-one conferences with me at any point during that time.  A rough draft of Essay 1 is due by midnight on Monday, 1/27.

• Mon: No school - MLK Day
• Tues: Chocolate chip cookie citations.  Discuss scholarly essays.  Scholarly essay analysis due Wednesday.
• Wed: Thesis review.  Scholarly sites review.  Scholarly essay analysis - discuss and hand in.
• Thurs: Meet in the back of the Library to shape and create Essay 1.
• Fri: Meet in the back of the Library to shape and create Essay 1.

Essay 1 rough draft

due to turnitin.com by Monday, 1/27 at midnight

Week at a glance Janurary 13 - 17, 2014

This week we'll go head on with our media analysis unit.  We'll start the week by discussing the results of our Johnson response.  We'll then move on to a discussion of gender roles in media and how fans react to the behaviors of male and female characters.  We'll spend a few days discussing multiple media controversies in history--how they develop and subside.  We'll use that discussion as an opportunity to analyze the structure of scholarly essays as we look at two points of view on video games and violence.  We'll wrap up the week with a fun discussion on the results of our commercial analysis.

• Mon: Johnson response due.  Commercial analysis assigned, due Friday.  For Tuesday, read Gunn - "I Have a Character Issue" class handout.
• Tues: Discuss Gunn.  Begin Media Controversies presentation and discussion.
• Wed: Continue Media Controversies presentation and discussion.
• Thurs: Wrap up Media Controversies presentation and discussion.  Scholarly Essay Analysis, due Tuesday.
• Fri: Commercial Analysis due, with discussion.  Continue working on Scholarly Essay Analysis, due Tuesday.

Week at a glance January 6 - 10, 2014

Welcome back!

Textbook: Rereading America, by Columbo, Cullen, and Lisle.  The best way for student to get the copy of the book they need to use is to use the ISBN: 0312548540.  That number will help students find the exact copy they need, either at the WU bookstore or online.  Students have about three weeks to get the textbook.

One of the questions students ask toward the end of Comp I is "How will Comp II be different?"  Whereas Comp I focused on writing structures, Comp II will bring the focus back to the writers' ideas; however, instead of doing a literary analysis to show understanding of a text, our goal this semester will be to understand and to engage the authors -- to create an ongoing conversation by synthesizing several authors' ideas with our own.  To accomplish this, we'll combine the writing strategies and structures developed during Comp I and build upon our progress from writers to critical thinkers.

This week we'll start with some short introductions and preview the expectations of the course. We'll review the basic writing structures, as well as integrating and citing quotes.  We'll wrap up the week with an introduction to our first essay unit: a research-based analysis of media.

• Mon: NO SCHOOL!  TOO COLD!
• Tues: Introductions and course overview
• Wed: Writing structures and integrating research review.  For Thursday, read "Entering the Conversation" and be prepared for discussion.
• Thurs: Discuss "Entering the Conversation."  Unit 1 Essay - introduction and assignment. For Friday, read and be prepared to discuss Johnston, "Watching TV Makes You Smarter" (class handout).
• Fri:  Discuss and analyze Johnston.  Johnston analysis and response due Monday.