English 102

Read Sherman Alexie's Novel

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:01:00 +0000

Read Sherman Alexie's novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, for Wednesday, Dec. 3rd.

Plan for Next Week

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:42:00 +0000

Today and tomorrow (Nov. 24th and 25th) we have a special two-day activity before the long holiday weekend.

For today, you have chosen another CQ Researcher article. As a follow-up to the response paper that you wrote last week (the pro/con exercise), write a focused piece of argumentation for the response paper due on Monday, Dec. 1st. For this piece of writing, choose a standpoint and offer your most effective rhetoric to support that standpoint (the topic should be the CQ Researcher report that you choose--it might or might not be the same topic as your pro/con response paper). The second response paper will be very similar to the writings in the pro/con sections of the CQ Researcher reports. You can use those as models or examples (in class we looked at the gay marriage and myspace pro/con sections).

You will have the choice of expanding the writings from the CQ Researcher unit into a formal essay for your portfolio.

Special Two Day Activity

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:51:00 +0000

Come to class on Monday and Tuesday next week and earn an extra 25 points! But you must attend both days!

Another blog

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:45:00 +0000

Here's another blog:

http://skeltonc.blogspot.com

Our Class Blogs

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:51:00 +0000

Here is the list of our class blogs:
mandetoryenglishblog.blogspot.com
katherinemb.blogspot.com
apilat.blogspot.com
agalliardstale.blogspot.com
ggwtrf.blogspot.com
david1231231.blogspot.com
richardisawesome.blogspot.com
howstheviewfromdownthere.blogspot.com
matthewpisano.blogspot.com
zuha28.blogspot.com
pubblemere.blogspot.com
amandakauppila.blogspot.com
connerreeves.blogspot.com
unpredictablemaverick.blogspot.com
atrandomlines.blogspot.com
kevinbaxter.blogspot.com
aburrell10.blogpost.com
eltrich.blogspot.com
westsblogger.blogspot.com
hodossaursrex.blogspot.com

Let me know if you don't see your blog on this list, and I will add it. Enjoy browsing!

New Prompt for Formal Essay 2

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:27:00 +0000

Over the long weekend, read Griffin's essay, "Our Secret."

For Wednesday the 12th, be prepared for a reading quiz, but there will be no response paper due that day.

Instead, you can prepare for the first draft of the "Autobiographical Explorations" essay due on Thursday the 13th.

Here is the new prompt for that essay:

So far in this unit, we have engaged in various kinds of writing, including storytelling, reflecting, composing prose poetry, and other kinds of writing in-between. For this second formal essay, bring together the various pieces you have written into a "segmented" essay. Read the Griffin essay for an example of this. The various segments of Griffin's essay involve different kinds of writing: historical writing, storytelling, personal reflection. You can model your essay after Griffin's example.

You want your essay to include different alternating segments (a segment might be a series of paragraphs, a long paragraph, or even a prose poem). Like all good writing, there should be some kind of thread tying it all together. This thread will probably be you: your identity, your experiences.

Like Griffin and other writings from this unit, you will also want to explore a subject of great interest to you (like Assignment 3). For these exploratory segments, you will want to include quotations. I would recommend finding a few sources through Proquest, which we will go over in class today.

To sum up, Formal Essay 2 should be an experimental essay with various segments, each segment involves a different kind of writing (options include storytelling, reflecting, poetry, writing about a picture, exploring an important subject, even making an argument), but all the segments should include a thread that ties the entire project together.

Draft is due on Thursday, Nov. 13th.

New Deadlines on the Schedule

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:44:00 +0000

The class schedule has been revised again.

Please click on the "syllabus."

New Schedule

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:55:00 +0000

Please visit the new schedule!

Click on the "syllabus" link on the right-hand side of the page.

The changes include new deadlines for response papers and formal papers!

Draft Due on Tuesday

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:04:00 +0000

The first complete draft of the essay is now due on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

Use Assignment 6 as the basis for the draft, but feel free to modify the prompt in the book if the paper goes in a different direction.

Any questions about the project? It's not too late to email me!

Revision to Schedule

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Here is a new revision for the schedule:

Like I announced in class last week, Assignment 4, which deals with Nochlin and Bordo, is now due on Tuesday, Oct. 14th instead of the 13th.

Assignment 5 will be based on the work of Andy Warhol (note: this assignment will be completed in-class).

Nochlin is the only reading for week four, so the Foucault reading is now removed from the reading list. Instead, we will examine the work of Andy Warhol.

Assignment 6, which is the culmination of the previous pieces, will be due Tuesday, Oct. 21st.

To recap
Assignment 4: Oct. 14
Assignment 5: Oct. 16 (based on the work of Warhol, not the prompt from the book)
Assignment 6: Oct. 21

And you can scratch Foucault from the reading list.

Your First Assignments

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:40:00 +0000

Here are the first assignments from our textbook, Ways of Reading, 8th edition.

We are going to begin the quarter with Assignment Sequence 7 on page 782. This sequence includes six assignments, which culminates in the first formal essay (assignment 6).

For Monday, Sept. 29 please read the essay by John Berger, which runs pages 95-128. This is a challenging reading, so make sure to schedule some time between now and then for a careful critical reading (remember to take notes as you read!).

For Tuesday, Sept. 30, the first response paper (assignment 1) is due, which is an informal 600-word paper (please type this, and you can use a word count on the word processor). You can find this assignment on 783. See the syllabus for more information on response papers.

See you in class this afternoon.

Welcome to English 102

helderrific@gmail.com (Chad Helder) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:38:00 +0000

Welcome to English 102 at Whatcom Community College!