here's everything you need for the week

Okay, this is the last you'll hear from me this week. I'm off to CHICAGO to the AWP National Creative Writers Conference. Should be an adventure. I will, in all sincerity, miss all of you. 

Here's what you need to know for the rest of the week:

•Wednesday’s blog post {list of 20 interests/things you would be interested in writing about or are that interest you in general}

•Check syllabus for reading

•Friday’s blog post {Issues paper proposal: 2-3 well-developed paragraphs describing your issue, your initial stance, your research question(s), and any background research you’ve done, and why you care about this topic.}

I will do my best to give you feedback on your proposals by Monday (I'm flying in Sunday night, so I'll get as many as I can done Monday before class). Monday, in the library, we will be learning research skills, so it will be beneficial for all of you to have a topic squared away. 

•Come to class both Wednesday and Friday {Paige will take roll}

•Monday: we will meet in the library {HBLL room 2231} 

Have a FANTASTIC week! Enjoy Paige; she's a rockstar. 

also, one more thing

Make sure to check your syllabus for Monday's reading!

ESSENTIAL info for monday

As you are finishing your papers over the weekend, make sure you comb through your whole paper for grammatical and punctuation errors. Because we reviewed commas extensively, I will be a little less lenient about comma errors as I'm grading these papers (especially as they apply to the rules we reviewed in class). I'll email you the ppt. we looked at in class, but make sure you review the rules in the handbook if you have any other questions. The handbook is there for your benefit, so I'd like you to consult the handbook before talking to me (not because I don't want to talk to you, but because I'd like to get you used to utilizing the handbook in the writing process).

As you are turning in your RA portfolios on Monday, here are the exact specifications for what is required in your portfolio:

1. Cover sheet
2. Rubric
3. Final draft
4. Rough draft from peer review
5. Rough draft from instructor conference (or conference notes, if I didn't make specific marks on your paper)
6. A small paragraph telling me if you received papers from your peers for the peer review and how helpful each review was. 

That's it! NO REFLECTION WILL BE NECESSARY. A couple of you typed a reflection for the Op Ed, and this will be unnecessary for this paper. 

I will be in class on Monday. Please don't be late to class because I will collect the papers right at the beginning of class, and any paper that is not turned in right at the beginning will be considered late. 

Have a good weekend! Good luck finishing your papers.

PS. Staple your papers. Amen.

tomorrow

this is what you should have for tomorrow:

1. one clean, hard copy of your most recent draft (your "final" draft)

also, a few things of interest:

get more sleep, because NO ONE is this cheerful at 3:17 in the morning writing papers. even me.

also, considering how many of you listed both star wars AND lord of the rings in your favorite movies, I thought you would appreciate this.

the end. see y'all tomorrow!

as promised

I warn you, this is going to be a ridiculously long list.

1. Return of the King (I love all the Lord of the Rings movies, but this one is my fave--extended edition all the way)
2. Anne of Green Gables & Anne of Avonlea
3. The Mummy (laugh all you want)
4. Much Ado about Nothing
5. Chocolat
6. Stranger than Fiction
7. Anonymous (see why I want you all to watch it? there are some scandalous parts in it, I must warn you)
8. Persuasion (the Ciaran Hindes/Amanda Root version)
9. Pride and Prejudice (both the one with Colin Firth and the shorter one with Kiera Knightly)
10. Sense and Sensibility (both the Emma Thompson one and the newer BBC version)
11. Dan in Real Life
12. Singin' in the Rain
13. Strictly Ballroom
14. Italian Job
15. Princess Bride
16. Sherlock Holmes

You asked for it! 

for tomorrow

Okay, so conferences tomorrow. 3004 JKB. Please be on time. Here are the times:
10:00 Ben
10:15 Kennedy
10:30 Heather
10:45 Sofia
11:00 Will
11:15 Caryn
11:30 Nello
11:45 Christian&Aaron
I'll probably be a bit behind because of seeing Aaron and Christian at the same time. I'll try to be quick, so I'm not too far behind. If this doesn't work (Samantha, Jordan, and Alex), let me know and we'll reschedule. 
12:00 Samantha
12:15 Jordan
12:30 Alex
1:45 Kenny
2:00 Cam
2:15 Megan
3:00 Jeff
3:15 Kari
3:30 Avarie
If you can't make your scheduled time, let me know asap. For Friday, make sure to bring your "final" draft (this is a draft you would feel comfortable turning in for a grade). The grammar and punctuation check, then, would ideally be the last changes you make to your paper. 


Okay, and here are the simile winners!! Prizes will be awarded on Friday 

1. Jordan: "Love is like dancing in a prairie. It's fun until you step in a cow pie." 
2. Jeff: "He kissed her lips like they were the last envelope to lick in a stack of 100 thank you cards."
3. (tie) Cameron: "Her skin was golden and glowing, kind of like pee when you don't drink enough water." and Christian: "They loved each other like a zombie loves to give hugs. And I'm not referring to a brain-eating zombie; I'm referring to a zombie that actually loves to give hugs. So yes, they really loved each other."
4. Honorable mentions: Kennedy and Sam

And here's the post for tomorrow (so make sure to post both this by 11:00 am tomorrow. Also, your love letter post is due by 11:59 pm today.)

• tell us three things you will change in your paper as a result of peer reviews
• tell us YOUR favorite movie(s)

You'll have to wait a few hours on my favorite movies. I'm still deciding. 

for Friday

I hope everyone is excited for the long weekend. I definitely am! Don't mentally check out until AFTER class on Friday though (:

From now until Friday, you will need to complete your RA second draft. This does need to be a full 4-6 pages, so make sure you expand on analysis and add paragraphs as needed. On Friday, make sure to bring 2 copies of your rough draft for your peers to review over the holiday weekend. For the two groups I emailed just barely (Will Caryn Ben Aaron Nello Kari), make sure to email your drafts to each other.

See how great I am that I'm only making you read two drafts, and I'm giving you the long weekend to do it? Y'all should be bringing ME candy.

Also, make sure you comment on your peers' blogs. I'll pass around a paper on Friday that you can check off for commenting on this and last week's blog posts.

I am going sponsor a contest, so we'll vote on maybe the top three similes. I'll pick one of each of your similes (my favorite), and you guys will vote on it during class. Then Tuesday, I'll announce the winner, and there may or may not be prizes involved.

You probably saw this on Facebook (it was going around), but if not, this is for your pleasure:

And here are some quotes from Alexander Smith, also for your pleasure:

"He loves ruin like the ivy, he skims the twilight like the bat, he makes himself a familiar of the phantoms of the heart and brain. He is fascinated by the jarred brain and the ruined heart."

"The sky is clear, and an arm of bleak pink vapour stretches up into its depths. The air is cold with frost, and the rain which those dark clouds in the east hold will fall during the night in silent, feathery flakes. When I wake tomorrow, the world will be changed, frosty forests will cover my bedroom panes, the tree branches will be furred with snows; and to the crumbs which it is my daily custom to sprinkle on the shrubbery walk will come the lineal descent of the charitable redbreast that covered up with leaves the sleeping children in the woods."

"If a man is worth knowing at all, he is worth knowing well."

Love!

as of right now, there are 777 page views for this blog

...and that's really great. Just thought I'd share that with you.

I hope class was helpful today. If your introduction is thorough and developed, you will be able to successfully give context for your readers. Well-written introductions are like the first day of spring--so refreshing! Make sure you work on your introduction as you are revising your paper this week. Your second draft (the one you will bring to class on Friday) should be significantly different (thus, better) than your first draft. Make some good revisions.

You don't have any homework due on Wednesday (you're welcome), but it would be a good idea to get started on revisions so you don't save it all until Thursday night. Revisions are--should be--time consuming, so make sure and give them the time they deserve. Pretend your paper is like a pet dog that you know is going to die soon: you will want to spend as much time as possible with it, right?

I hope you enjoyed my similes.

Okay, so your blog post. Click here to link you up to the 56 best/worst similes page we looked at in class, and read through them all because they are deliciously funny. Your job is to create 5 similes/metaphors that beat these. And they have to have something to do with love (yay, Valentine's Day).

Have fun with this.

Also, these are for your enjoyment:

Is this how you feel as a student sometimes? Also, this:

Sherlock Holmes is my valentine.

The end.

for friday

PLEASE BE ON TIME. Also, in class on Friday make a special effort to be model students. You guys are anyway, but try not to chat with your neighbor during class or fall asleep or anything :) It's going to be fun! Yay.

Okay, with that out of the way, here's what you need to do for Friday:

• Email me a copy of your rough draft BEFORE class (please before, or I can't give you credit for it)
• Bring a copy of your rough draft to class
• Make sure and comment on your peers' blog posts before class on Friday. 

Also, just as a reminder, make sure you get your blog posts done before class on Wednesdays, because after class it is considered late, and you won't receive full credit it. Just stay on top of the posts! I haven't seen a huge problem with this, but I just wanted to make sure everyone gets assignments in on time. 

One more thing, about the 15 rhetorical tools you turn in. Overall, I was impressed. Obviously you won't be analyzing that many for your actual papers, but I just wanted to make sure you could pick out plenty of tools so you can have plenty of options to choose from for your papers.

Remember to email me your thesis statements today!

And see you Friday (:

for wednesday

I have enjoyed reading your found poems immensely, so I will probably have a few more "creative" blog posts coming your way. Feel free to be creative with this week's post, because I think it will be really fun.

Okay, so here's the prompt:

Imagine you just got your fourth speeding ticket in a month, and they are taking away your driver's license. I want you to write three letters (just one paragraph each) explaining your transgression.

• One letter will be addressed to the judge. You want to get off.
• One letter will be addressed to your mom. You want her not to freak out. And,
• The last letter will be addressed to your classmates. You want them to back you up. 

Also, for Wednesday you will turn in 3 body paragraphs of your RA. We're going to be working on them in class extensively, so don't worry about perfection, but do the best you can. You'll want to look at the criteria in the Supplemental Guide as well as the sample paper in the SG to help you with this. Make sure you have these elements in each paragraph:

• Identify the rhetorical tool
• Quote from the text
• Explain the author's intent (why is he/she using this specific tool?)
• Explain the audience reaction (is this an effective tool? Does the audience react the way the author wants them to?)

Good luck! See you on Wednesday.

Also, I mentioned this at the end of class, but some of you had already left: If you have any questions about your grade for the Op Ed, I want you to wait 24 HOURS to ask me. I want you to look over my comments and review the rubric, and if you still have questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks!

reminders and other stuff

Okay, first, here's a list of what is expected by Monday:

• A list of 15 examples of rhetorical tools from your chosen article. You obviously don't have to choose 15 different tools, but 15 examples of a few different tools. For example, you could choose four examples of imagery, four examples of allusion, four examples of metaphor, and three examples of diction (does that add up to 15? oh well, you get the point). You will give the quote, identify the tool, and say whether or not it's effective for the audience. I'd like a typed, hard copy of this. Let me give you an example:
• "ROFL!" (page 92 from "Dear Students...") This is an example of diction, particularly idiosyncratic diction because only people who are familiar with Internet acronyms are going to understand it. I would argue that this is ineffective; although Burton is trying to use "lingo" students are familiar with, it seems almost condescending because he's assuming students communicate on this level. Thus, he seems to be "dumbing it down" for the students. 
• You don't have to go as deep into the analysis, but you get the idea. 
• Found poem, which you will post to your blog. Here's what Wikipedia says about found poetry: 
• Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines (and consequently meaning), or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions. The resulting poem can be defined as either treated: changed in a profound and systematic manner; or untreated: virtually unchanged from the order, syntax and meaning of the original.
• Here's an example:
• This is a facebook status from one of my friends: "Cut my hair to my chin, died it black. After Darci said I looked evil I woke up a little depressed. Took me a moment to realize that wasn't really my reality. Way bad dream, huh." Okay, here's the poem I made from it:

Cut my hair to
      my chin, 
died.

It black, after
Darcy said I
        looked evil I woke up

A little depressed.

Took me a moment to 
        realize that 
                        it wasn't my reality. 
Way bad 
                       dream, huh?


Fun, right? You can "find" poems anywhere (handyman guides, cookbooks, Facebook statuses, book reviews, travel guides, book jackets, etc. etc.) Just go for it, and I think you'll like it. 

One more thought: Please bring your supplemental guide to class on Monday.

one more thing

Here are a couple more WWII posters. The first one here is my favorite:

And this one is pretty crazy:

Question: These both seem to be recruiting posters for the military (the first one is more subtle though); which one do you think is a more effective method of motivating people to join the army/military?

excitement and other stuff

First of all, let me tell you why I'm so excited: you're going to read two of my favorite personal essays for Friday (the ones I passed out in class)! Brian Doyle is fantastico, and so is GK Chesterton. So as you're reading these alongside WR chapter 5, try to identify some of the rhetorical tools in the essays.

Also, as I mentioned, I want you to comment on four blogs as usual (preferably your group members'). I'm finding the comments pretty hard to keep track of, as I have to look through all of the posts and keep a tally of your comments. It seems like an ineffective way of keeping track, and I want to make sure everyone gets the points for commenting. So here's my solution: I will pass a paper around on Friday so you can tell me if you commented on your peers' blogs, and how many you commented on. So keep track! 

Also, a few of you haven't been commenting on your peers' blogs, so remember that there are points attached to that as well as to your personal blog posts.

Hasta luego!