Professor Sabir's Posse

Today I finally had a chance to slow down and read the introductory letters from quite a few of you. The range of experiences and interests should make this semester one which is mutually rewarding and challenging for all. I hope we all stretch each other and ourselves to our full potential.

That said, we spent most of today in both classes reviewing paraphrasing and then practicing both the literal and free paraphrase. In the afternoon class a few new students joined us and we didn't get far in the composition process.

Homework
Homework is to paraphrase five(5) new sentences from the text you chose. Compose both a literal and free paraphrase for each of the five sentences. Before you post the paraphrases please respond to the following query: Talk about act of paraphrasing, both its literal free forms. Discuss its difficulty and benefits, both in the short and long term. Post all on the blog at the link above.

I want to thank those students who were so helpful to classmates who were struggling with translating the slang into Standard English, and others who were so patient when over half the class didn't do their homework in the afternoon class.

Let's not make the latter into a habit.


I noticed some students responded to the letter in yesterday's post. Re-post your responses to the letter where it is posted.

Field trip
I handed out fliers for our first field trip: Tim Wise at www.speakout.com The lecture is Thursday, Feb. 4, 7 PM at the First Congregational Church of Oakland on 27th and Harrison in Oakland. The cost is $10. Let me know Monday, Feb.1 if you'd like to attend. Bring your money as well. I have to purchase tickets in advance.

Wednesdays
I am still searching for a smart classroom for the English 201 10-12 class, but the afternoon class, 1-3 will meet in L-202 on Wednesdays beginning Feb. 3. We will walk over together the first day, Feb. 3, and meet there for the rest of the semester unless instructed otherwise.

Library Orientation
On Wednesday, February 17, we will meet at the reference desk for a 1 hour library orientation and then we will go to L-202E.

Next week we will continue paraphrasing and work on summarizing texts, and writing an essay where we use summary and paraphrase. Are any of you planning to watch the State of the Union Address? Heads-up...we will be reading it (smile).

Nothing disappears on the blog. Everything is archived, so when the post disappears, it is just archived and you can find it if you go to the month and year in the index located on the page here.