Portfolio Reflection

As an addition to your portfolio of work, you must draft a personal statement of reflection which discusses your progress over this semester. Some things you may wish to consider which demonstrate your evolution over the last few months:

• o   Changes or improvements or in your study habits, strategies and/or thinking
• o   Your attendance and participation in classroom activities
• o   Things that you learned which affected your understanding of reading and writing
• o   Your readiness for college-level composition classes

This reflection should be one page, minimum and should be a convincing argument for anyone considering your portfolio as evidence of your abilities. You will have time to work on this during lab time today and many of you will finish it today, but if you do NOT, you must have it for inclusion on in your portfolios, which will be due to me FRIDAY.

For FRIDAY, please bring in:

•  a paper folder with pockets
• Your final essay
• Any and all essay drafts with comments/scores (remaining work will be handed back for inclusion on Friday)
• Any and all practice reading tests and writing exams (some tests will be handed back for inclusion on Friday)
• Study questions for The Other Wes Moore

Elements of An Essay

http://www.brown.edu/academics/college/support/writing-center/writing-tips/elements-essay/elements-essay

Transitions

• First, using the transitional words and phrases handout, add at least 4 transitional words and phrases to the following paragraph and repost:

One reason people lie is to achieve personal power. Achieving personal power is helpful for someone who pretends to be more confident than he really is. One of my friends threw a party at his house last month. He asked me to come to his party and bring a date. I didn’t have a girlfriend. One of my other friends, who had a date to go to the party with, asked me about my date. I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I claimed that I had a lot of work to do. I said I could easily find a date even better than his if I wanted to. I also told him that his date was ugly. I achieved power to help me feel confident. I embarrassed my friend and his date. This lie helped me at the time, since then it has made me look down on myself.

• Next, also using the handout, write one paragraph on the topic of your choice of at least 6 sentences that incorperates 4 transitional phrases and/or words and post online.
• Last, when you are finished, look at your essay and incorperate some of these phrases and words into it in preparation for draft 3 to make your ideas flow more smoothly into each other.

Some suggestions for your paragraph topics:

• Registering for classes
• Getting to school in the morning
• Any "how to" instructions: ex: How to ask for a date or How to ask for a raise

Caveat: Using first, next and last should be avoided for this assignment. Also, please do not take any "shortcuts" such as modifying existing writing unless it is your own as this will not have the same impact upon your writing skills.

Accuplacer

Go to the following LINK and complete the Accuplacer sample test to preview the types of passages and questions you will encounter for your final exam.

When I took the test myself, I encountered some technical trouble with the auto score after I completed it. If it does not give you a result, do NOT close the page; we will go over the correct answers in class. You may also want to PRINT THE PAGE or save a PDF for your files to review it.

Here are some YouTube tutorial videos on Accuplacer. If you have your headphones, you may view it. Alternately, you may view it on MUTE and read the Closed Captions.

The Other Wes Moore

Reading Schedule:

The Other Wes Moore

• November 14th Into- 62
• November 21st 63-122
• Dec 5th  123-186

Argument Essays VS Persuasive Essays

Argumentative and persuasive essays both aim to present a specific point of view, but they are different both in how they get their point across and why. The author of an argumentative essay will usually try to make his or her point through reason. This means identifying the opposing viewpoints and then using facts, statistics, or other evidence to discredit them so that the reader ultimately concludes that the writer’s position is correct. The persuasive essay, on the other hand, more often uses passion and emotion in an attempt to sway the reader’s loyalties. Opposing views are often acknowledged here, but aren’t usually analyzed. As a result, this sort of essay is often perceived to be essentially one-sided and is written based primarily on personal convictions. Argumentative papers are usually structured more like high-level analysis, with sections devoted to looking at key issues from multiple angles.

What is the difference between argument and persuasion?

 

An Argumentative Essay	A Persuasive Essay
Makes claims based on factual evidence Makes counter-claims The author takes opposing views into account Neutralizes or "defeats" serious opposing ideas. Convinces audience through the merit and reasonableness of the claims and proofs offered Often compares texts or ideas to establish a position Logic based.	May make claims based on opinion May not take opposing ideas into account Persuades by appealing to the audience’s emotion or by relying on the character or credentials of the writer – less on the merits of his or her reasons and evidence. May be emotion-based.

Argumentative Techniques

In most cases, the argumentative essay is one that objectively states an argument that it then backs up with facts, statistics, and expert evidence. Writers generally acknowledge counterclaims and opposing arguments from the very beginning, but make it their goal to discredit them by appealing to the reader’s reason. As such these sorts of papers often give an overview of all the main arguments or scholarship on a given topic, then build an argument about which is the best or the most correct.

For each of the following essay prompts, consider the following:

• What type of evidence would you provide to your reader if you were assigned the following essay prompts? 
• Where would you look to find this information? 
• What type of introduction would you choose to start each essay?

1. Should students be allowed to grade their teachers?
2. Is the cost of college too high?
3. Does religion cause war?
4. Does age matter in relationships?
5. Is global climate change man-made?
6. Is our election process fair?

Refining Your Narrative Essay

Figurative Language PPT

Descriptive Writing

Click here to view the Narrative Essay Power Point presentation I discussed in class today.

Click here to view the Prezi presentation on the 5 paragraph essay we discussed in class last week.

Creating Thesis Statements

Power Point Presentation: Moving from Topic to Thesis

Post three questions about a topic and then turn them into thesis statements. Please post by Friday.

Critical Thinking: Ray Rice

I was really pleased by the vast majority of your posts during our previous digital conversation. Although I did not respond to every student, I had the opportunity to read your postings. Most of you gave the assignment the detail and attention it required and responded to your classmates thoughtfully.


In class today, we will be focusing on the article we read during our last meeting, A Punch is Seen, and a Player Is Out and Ray Rice and His Rage.

I'd like you to focus on answer the following:

1. What is our cultural perception of domestic abuse, why people get abused and who is an abuser?
2. Pick one quote from the article and analyze it. What does it mean? Does the word choice influence your opinion? How does it factor into the issue at hand?
3. In our discussion of the topic, and of the "players" involved, there are several people or entities that might be identified as "wrong-doers". Discuss one of those wrong-doers and their involvement in the situation. How might their actions affect others and what could they have done differently? (You may NOT use Mr. Rice as an example as that would be too obvious.)
4. Make a prediction about how you think the Ray Rice saga will impact perceptions of domestic violence by sports fans. 

• Respond to TWO posts from your classmates-- comment about their ideas, ask questions about their posts, or add to their post in some way. 

All posts should be a minimum of five full sentences and should be respectful and academic. You should have a minimum of 6 posts in total. 

'Be nice': Dad transforms Ray Rice jersey with pro-girl message

Losing is Good For You

NYTimes Article: Losing is Good for You

In short responses of 5-6 sentences, discuss the following:

• Discuss a time when you lost more often than you won.

• What is so "victorious" about losing? Discuss any lessons you learned during a time when you lost.

• Discuss the larger cultural message implied by showing up and succeeding. Give an example of how this plays out in your own experience or observation.

• Respond to TWO of your classmates' posts. Go beyond restating their ideas and say more than "I agree" or "I disagree". Discuss the ideas they have posted.

Some things to consider:

• Are the ideas valid? Why?
• Are there some things they should consider further?
• Is there some logic missing?
• What other ideas compliment what they are discussing? 

Remember to be academic, respectful and friendly in your responses and to sign your name to your posts.

Please finish all  posts by our next meeting. You should have a minimum of 5 posts, total.

Dear students:

Welcome to Fall 2014. We will be using our blog as a forum for written communication and as resource for course-related information. You will find information such as a general outline of what is taking place in class/what will be due in the upcoming weeks, PDFs and links of select handouts and extra materials of interest to you, as well as the course syllabus should you lose it.

I recommend the following:

• A Gmail account to make it easier for you to interact with and sign on to our blog, which is powered by Google.
• That you save your log in and password somewhere accessible so you are not delayed when assignments are given if you forget your information.
• That you "follow" the blog. It will make it easier for you to find the link.That you write the web address accurately in your notebook for use at home. (Note: http:// without the "www")
• Students have sometimes run into glitches and lost their carefully thought out responses. Copy, cut and paste information from Word into the comment field of our blog just in case there is a problem in the posting process .
• That you read your comments for coherence, spelling and logic, making sure it applies to the questions asked.

Wishing all you a successful semester,

Angela Zeitz