Tuesday, December 11, 2012

 

Finals


We met at the restaurant this afternoon for the final. Almost everyone came, so we had a nice time eating and discussing social entrepreneurship. Geno, Ping and Shuluon all spoke about the organization KIVA, a micro lending organization co-founded in San Francisco by Matt Flannery. It was great watching how they adapted their presentations, so that no one repeated the other person. It was an active lesson in synthesis as well as good listening skills.

Jack spoke about Delancy Street's founder, Mimi Silbert, and Tova shared information about Salman Khan, who uses technology to bridge the achievement gap in public education, especially math and sciences. Elijah spoke about Nick Moon, whose
ApproTEC (Appropriate Technology for Enterprise Creation), help people in East Africa and West Africa break the cycle of poverty. Andrew gave a really interesting overview of Facebook creator Mark Elliot Zuckerberg. What an interesting story.

The photo we took is rather blurry and we posed for it after Ping left, so here are the Book Report Essay photos too.

Thursday, December 06, 2012

 

Portfolio Checklist for Fall 2012 English 201 A/B


This checklist can serve as the table of contents. Put a check next to the items to show inclusion in the portfolio. Use as the second page to the portfolio, after the cover sheet. Where there are questions for the section, students can post the answers to the narrative there.

Number the pages with a header.


Name ______________________________
Date ______________________________
Class including class code and semester ____________________
Address _______________________________________
Phone number __________________________________
Email address__________________________________

Class code: 40018 Lec 01:30-3:20 AM TTh Sabir meets in A 200 at COA

English 201B Preparation for Composition and Reading (meets concurrently with English 201A)
Class code: 40022 Lec 01:30-3:20 AM TTh Sabir meets in A 200 at COA
Class Meetings: August 21-Dec. 6; Holidays: 9/3; 11/12; 11/22-25

Final Exam: Dec. 11, 12-2 p.m. at East Ocean Restaurant, 1713 Webster Street  Alameda, CA 94501
(510) 865-3381

(Portfolios due via e-mail by Tuesday, Dec. 18 12 noon. Email to coasabirenglish201@gmail.com)

1. Portfolio Essay 1 ________________

2. Portfolio Essay 2  __________________

3. Stewart Pidd Hates English _______________

Quizzes: List scores for all completed:

Punctuating Sentences Quiz A______ Quiz B______; MLA Style Title Quiz ________; MLA Style Format _________; Pronoun AGR ________; Pronoun Case _______; Quotations and Ellipsis Marks Quiz _______; Possessive Nouns and Pronouns ________; Parallel Structure ________; Subject-Verb AGR_______

Essay Exams
Essay Exam 1: Pronoun Case______; Essay Exam 2: Possessives; Essay Exam 3: Parallel Structure __________

For each essay exam, note which errors were chosen and whether or not you had to revise the essay. If you did, what corrections did you make, and why?

Grammar Exams
Grammar Exam 1: Score: ________. Analyze your score. What type of errors did you make?


Grammar Exam 1: Score: ________. Analyze your score. What type of errors did you make?

Other Pidd Essays: Sentence Punctuation ________; Pronoun AGR _________; POV _____; Be-Verb ________; Subject-Verb AGR________.

List scores for all. Analyze your errors. How many revisions? Why?


Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary
Essay Portfolio


Essay: Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis__________
First Draft (peer review)__________
Final Draft Grade ______________
Revisions ______________ (how many?)
Narratives_____________ (how many?
Cyber-Assignments_________(how many?)


Nathan McCall's My Rap Against Rap Essay__________


Holler if You Hear Me
Essay Portfolio

Essay: Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis__________
First Draft (peer review)__________
Final Draft Grade ______________
Revisions ______________ (how many?)
Narratives_____________ (how many?
Cyber-Assignments_________(how many?)


Book Report Essay Portfolio

Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis___________
Final draft grade__________
Revisions__________________
Narratives________________ (how many?)

Book Report presentation___________
Peer comments (how many?)_________________

Grade is an “A”for all presentations or “-0-“ for opting out. The presentation is a quarter of the grade for this assignment

Abstract___________
Self-reflection__________
Feedback_____________


Social Entrepreneur Essay Portfolio


Planning _____________
On-line Frontline World (on-line responses 3) Post them here

List of sources (5) minimum in MLA format (post here) _____________

Essay: Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis__________
First Draft (peer review via email)__________
Final Draft Grade due with portfolio______________
Early draft due Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012____________
Final Draft with Portfolio______________


SE Presentation Tuesday, Dec. 11, 12-2 PM at the East Ocean Restaurant
http://www.eastoceanseafoodrestaurant.com/

Abstract for classmates _____________ (Bring to class.) 

For guidelines for writing an abstract here is a link: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/
An abstract is a concise or brief summary of the key ideas you plan to present.

The presentation is a quarter of the grade.

Other Essays & Cyber Assignments:

Letter to Students Response_________
Farai Chideya's "On Respect"_________
Adler: "How to Mark a Book"_________

Cyber-Freewrite Assignments: The Rose that Grew from Concrete__________ (how many?)
Tupac Songs Freewrites________ (how many?)
Library Orientation Response________

Cyber-Assignments not connected to essays or other assignments___________(how many?)

Extra Credit: Students can turn in a graded essay from another course if the other teacher doesn’t mind. It has to use research and MLA style documentation, so certain courses are not applicable.


Grade Justification


What grade have you earned this semester? Give a salient argument with evidence proving your case. Don't forget a Works Cited page (smile).

Anything else? ____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________


Teacher research

Can I use your work in presentations and publications? Would you like to be anonymous? If I plan on using your essays or work in a book, I will let you know and share any proceeds.

Yes, I agree.
No, do not use my work.

Final Grade

Portfolio checklist _____________
Portfolio Essay 1_______________
Portfolio Essay 2_______________
Portfolio Grade_________

Course Grade_________


 

Portfolio Narrative Essay 1

Today in class we read a few portfolio essays from students I have taught over the years. Here is the prompt I'd like you to respond to for your first essay in the portfolio, which is due between Friday-Monday, Dec. 14-18 at 12 noon.

The portfolio essays are narrative essays. The first one is a reflection on your semester Fall 2012. The second essay is a documents research essay that uses your writing to discuss the revision process, the role of grammar in writing clear concise papers and why editing is important, but doesn't take the place of having something to say.

Do not post the essay here. Keep it for the portfolio.

Portfolio Essay 1 Reflection on COA Fall 2012, Professor Sabir’s English Class 250-500 words

1. The narrative will look at the 18 weeks, the themes we looked at this semester: Self-respect, adversity, freedom of speech, racism, prejudice, Black Power Movements, Hip-hop, social responsibility, social entrepreneurial skills, media influence on society, drug abuse, poverty, sexual abuse and misogyny, self-hatred, change and self-development, parenting, destiny and choice, fate, nature vs. nurture, love, justice, crime, sex and sexuality. . . . 

Other considerations are the role family and community have in shaping the lives of its inhabitants, also how much control we have over our lives and their outcome. Are people ever stuck in situations they cannot or will not change?

What have you learned about yourself this semester? What have you learned about the discipline you are studying here: reading and writing that you plan to carry forth into your lifelong pursuit of learning.

Please also comment on the texts and whether or not they were helpful in this process. You can also talk about the instruction, culture of the class and the teacher. You can also offer suggestions.

Portfolio Essay 2 Reflection on the Writing Process 250-500 words


2. Look at the writing process and what you have been learning about yourself as a writer. Take two essays and talk about the planning, research and revision strategies you used. It helps to choose an early paper and compare to a later paper. Often you can more easily see the differences in your writing and a better example of mastery of certain concepts. Look at the role grammar plays in the writing process. Include here a discussion of your two MCE scores and the Stewart Pidd Experience (smile).

Also discuss skills you need to improve and how you plan to address that.

Include the Write Course Video: "Revision Strategies," the two chapters from Writing with a Thesis, and Diana Hacker's Rules for Writing, in your bibliography and also site at least one in your analysis of your revision process. Also cite your essay(s) used as examples in this second essay. This is a scholarly essay and it does count. There are cyber-assignments connected to the Write Course video and the Writing with a Thesis chapters, not to mention your responses to me re: the MCE. Use this writing where appropriate to write this second essay.

Additional narrative considerations for the portfolio essay:

The second essay has students look at the writing process and discuss their own writing process: the topics chosen, the information used, revision strategies, writing as a process. This should include a definition of the difference between editing and revising and a value statement on the place for both in composition.

I am really interested in discourse about audience and how that shapes or determines how the writer approaches her topic.

I am also interested in discussion of the revision process, and whether or not seeing writing as a work in progress or a draft, liberates or stagnates the creative process. (Students are to use examples from their writing to illustrate these points.)

I'd also like students to think about and give at three specific ways how they have grown as writers and thinkers this semester. Essay 1 is about 250 words. Essay 2 will probably be a bit longer (250-500 words) since you are citing your essays and scholarly sources. should be minimally

Give your essays a title.


Tuesday, December 04, 2012

 
We are winding down now, please make a list of any questions about composition you might still have that I can answer Thursday our last class. Our final is Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, 12 noon to 2 p.m. We spoke about meeting at the Chinese restaurant across the street for the presentations.

Monday, Dec. 10, 9-12 and 1-3, I will be here in A-205 to help people assemble their portfolios. Drop by. Bring your work electronically. We might have to meet in A-232, there might not be enough space in this lab for all four classes. I will let you know.

I have a final Tuesday morning 8-10 a.m. in A-200. I'll be around next week. All essays that needed revising for a passing grade need to have been resubmitted and given passing grades before the portfolio is submitted.

Make sure you turn in your work correctly, that is, pasted and attached. I am still getting work submitted incorrectly. I will have your portfolio checklist by Thursday, maybe sooner. I will show you what it looks like today.

The only assignment left is the Social Entrepreneur Essay, which is your final. You will submit it with your portfolio. It is the only essay in the portfolio, I will not have read yet.

 

Social Entrepreneur Cyber-Freewrite

Mimi Silbert with dog, Amnesty
We watched the New Heroes segment on Mimi Silbert, director of the Delancy Street Foundation. Here is a link to the program: http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/index.html

In 3-4 paragraphs explore the topic of "rehabilitation." This is Mimi Silbert's business. I want you to look at all sides of the issue. What do skeptics say about rehabilitation? Silbert describes her clients as people who have "hit rock bottom." There is no where to go but up.

In this short essay, look at the pro-argument or thesis, the argument in favor of rehabilitation, let's say, over incarceration.

In another paragraph look at the counterargument or antithesis, the argument against rehabilitation and perhaps for jailing or locking people away Delancy Street employs and helps.

The concluding paragraph will look at the synthesis of the ideas, both pro and con and find a place of agreement between the two sides.

In each paragraph use a citation, it can be one of the topical invention sentences: definition, analogy, consequence and testimony. Post the short essay here. Don't forget to give it a title. We will do the works cited for the film and website together and then post.

Here is a link to the Foundation: http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/


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