Week 10

What is to give light must endure burning. – Victor Frankl

Welcome to class. As you know, the final exam, a 350-500 word essay of three-five paragraphs in length, is scheduled for this week. Any students who miss class this week must make certain to come next week to make up the essay exam, or contact me to discuss some other accommodation. Next week also offers all who take the exam today a chance to retake it, if necessary.

I'm confident all of you can pass this exam. If you have been applying yourself throughout the quarter, you have done by now at least half a dozen formal assignments, and numerous practice and free-write exercises. We have practiced the form of the paragraph and multi-paragraph essay each week, along with basic sentence structures–the simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence types. We have reviewed the use of standard punctuation and grammar. We have modeled the primary modes of presenting information and organizing a paragraph or an essay–description, narration, illustration, and definition. We have discussed and practiced the necessity of having a thesis idea–the point that unifies and gives direction to the essay, the one central thing you want your essay to express. And we have practiced building paragraphs organized around a single clear topic idea, each paragraph serving, if part of a larger essay, to advance the thesis idea in one or another supporting way.

We can spend the first hour of class on review, and in preparing a checklist for the editing process to follow as you review your final draft. Thus will you have time to compose and a format to edit for the major errors that occur in grammar and punctuation.

The essay topics will be given in handout before the exam begins.

Note: Use of the Internet is not allowed during the exam.

See you in class, then.

Week 9

                                                       

        The groves were God's first temples.  ~William Cullen Bryant, "A Forest Hymn"

Good afternoon.  I hope that you are all well today, and feeling good about life and your place in the world.  For the last assignment of the semester, I have two options, from which you will choose one.

     The first involves exploring the meaning of a word that has some significance in your life, in your behavior and in your thoughts and, perhaps, spiritual practice.  I use the phrase spiritual practice in no particular religious sense but loosely to refer to the many ways we attempt to bring ourselves in to harmony with the world, the people we share our lives with, and, perhaps most importantly, with our own self.  The essay involves defining the word you have chosen in an extended fashion.  That is, you might employ a simple dictionary definition of the word's most common meaning in use, or the secondary or tertiary meaning, as listed in a dictionary entry.  The development of the essay will proceed with narration and description of the meaning the word has in your life, story and description to illustrate the meaning it has in the context of your life experience.  The following is a list of abstract words (i.e. they cannot be physically seen or touched as say an apple or a diamond or a tree can) that you might choose from:  

Attention

Beauty

Compassion

Devotion

Faith

Grace

Justice

Peace

Reverance

Silence

Wonder

With abstract words or concepts, one must bring them to life by means of the concrete, the tangible, the three-dimensional world we live in.  Our notions of beauty, for example, derive from the visible, the audible, the tactile–the world of the senses–even as we also comprehend abstract notions such as truth and peace as being, in a real sense, manifestations of beauty.  So the assignment requires you to define a word as you have come to understand its meaning.  I want you also to use one quotation, either as an epigraph (appearing just below the title of the essay) or somewhere in the text of the essay.  A simple google search of the word plus  key word "quotations" should provide you an array of choices.

You might choose a concrete word, rather than an abstract.  Again, you have the dictionary to supply an essential definition but you provide description of appearance, constituent parts, function, historical and cultural and personal significance.  What is a tree?  Clearly, it is a living organism, with certain characteristic features (depending on species), an ecological role to play, an historical and cultural role in the life of humankind, and so on.  Trees are also symbols of strength and shelter and wonder and beauty and mystery.  We've all admired trees, played among them, climbed them, photographed them, too, perhaps.  What is it about trees that makes us love them so?

The second option is to read one of two short stories I will present in class and to put together a piece that builds on the topic or theme each story takes up.  One story called "Girl,"  written by Jamaica Kincaid, records the kinds of lessons a young girl received from her mother while growing up.  Another, called "Half a Day," by Naguib Mafouz, records a child's first day at school, to his awakening, many years later, an old man.  It is a story about time, and how quickly it can seem to pass.  For either of these stories, you may choose to summarize and provide a quote to illustrate something of the original, as you develop the point you want to make about the story's meaning to you.  You can share lessons you were taught growing up, or experiences that have defined your sense of the way life and time move forever onward, taking us with them.

Whatever your choice, you should write from 400-500 words.

Note:  the final essay exam is set for week ten.  You should have all outstanding work in by that day.  If you miss class week ten, you must come week 11 to take the exam.

Week 8

Good day.  This week's assignment requires you work with  a classmate in a pair or small group. The idea is to create a portrait of one or two of the individuals attending Ai and to bring out something of the shared student experience and  the individual nature of your subject.  As you are yourselves students here, you have that perspective and experience to aid you in the interview or dialogue, which is the first step to creating the student portrait. The Character Profile or study requires you present a "portrait" of an individual.  It includes the  individual's background to some degree and a look into their current endeavors, activities, interests,  ideas and attitudes.  To put it together involves an interview of sorts,  a two-way exchange in which the pair members dialogue to come up with enough information and first-hand impressions to write  the piece. The purpose is to gather and then bring to readers a sense of the background, motivation,  and personality of the students pursuing specific degrees or interests here at AiFL.  It will be a chance  to exchange personal stories, interests and ideas with others.   The focus may be on academic matters  or personal.  The student's particulars should illustrate some central idea, your thesis.  Imagine the audience as students and others in the local community or any who would be interested to learn about the experiences, concerns, and interests of college students today.   Key will be eliciting from your  subject(s) detailed background experience and personal stories that reveal character and personality, and recording it all in such a way readers feel like they are meeting this student in person, seeing and hearing the student gesture and speak.   Some questions to ask to get your subject's story include the following:      *What's this experience or period of your life really about? *What is the emotional truth of your life today? What matters?  *What do you feel good about, uncertain about? *How did you get to this point or place in life? *Describe a past or current struggle in some detail to show the kind of challenge you know best. *Who were the important people in your life? How did they influence or shape you? *What are your near and long term goals? ----------- Notes *Include a brief description of your meeting place, the setting of the interview. *Include notes on the subject's appearance, style, voice and gestures–the face-to-face impressions and image created by your subject.   *Use some quoted speech, something your subject has said that epitomizes or illustrates clearly his or her point of view. Q&A Form      There are two ways of structuring the piece.  One is to introduce the subject in an opening paragraph,  providing context and a lead-in that generates reader interest.  (See the introductory paragraph description  below for more details.)  Imagine a target audience of your peers or some other reader group.  Follow the  introductory paragraph with a transcript of the questions posed to your subject and the responses elicited.   Shape the dialogue so that the  questions and responses, from beginning to end, are expressive of the  subject's history, interests, and future prospects or concluding thoughts on this stage of life.  At the following URL you will see the format demonstrated:  http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1644040,00.html Essay Form       The second way of structuring the piece is to summarize much of what you learn from your subject, shape  the main story line around a theme, and illustrate the whole with a few well-chosen quotations from your subject.  The second way is the article or essay form, as described more fully below: In the introductory paragraph, the writer must say something of the personal impressions your subject makes  in a face-to-face meeting. We want readers to feel they are meeting this individual in person; of course the  impressions are those you have drawn in meeting and talking with your subject.   The body paragraph(s) will recount history  and current endeavors, any conflicts or issues the subject is adressing, and how they are being addressed.   The body material is meant to illustrate  the nature of the personality and character of the individual subject.  Again,  the pairs or groups will be talking and exchanging information in an informal flow of give and take as you establish rapport and commonalities and differences. You will take notes on each other, specific background information,  career goals, interests, concerns, etcetera, which later you will incorporate into the essay. You will unfold something  of the life of your subject to illustrate a point about students or student life today.  Your conclusion will bring the presentation back to the central idea, underscoring it, and providing final comments.  You may want to incorporate direct quotation of one or another remark your subject has made, as well, to give some  sense of the individual's actual speech or voice. Dialogue or direct quotation is a dramatic device and draws readers  into the presence of your subject. You may use present or past tense overall. Bringing a sense of the subject individual's physical presence is a means of creating interest and imaginative appeal. Description of hair, eyes, gestures, clothing,  in some brief but telling way will allow readers to actually "see" the subject person as they learn something of the story  he or she embodies in the role of student. The following is part of the opening paragraph of an article about Justin Bieber written by Vanessa Grigoriadias, and published  in Rollingstone(March3, 2011):    Today, I'm the luckiest girl in the world.  I'm flying to Atlanta to interview pop-culture crush, Justin Bieber.  He's only 16, it's true, but half of womankind is in love with him, like Kim Kardashian (who wanted to spend Valentine's Day with a life-size poster of him), Rihanna (who has tweeted about his six-pack) and Katy Perry (who once said, "I would tap that.  Yummy").  To the Biebers, Justing is the most adorable kid in the world.  I've watched his videos  at least a dozen times each, I own two of his three albums and I have him on my Twitter feed . . . . Assignment 7:  A 400-500 word portrait in words of a fellow student.  Use visual description, dialogue, and narrative detail to bring your subject's life into view.  Title the piece.  Double-space the lines.  Due week 9.

10/4/10

by Doyle Writings

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Week 7

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else. –Joseph Campbell
 

Good day to you all. I hope you had a nice weekend. Today I will pass back the many essays I collected last week.  We will review handouts given last week, with grammar and punctuation practice.  Lastly, we will watch all or part of a film for the purposes of writing to describe character, action, setting, theme, or some combination of the story elements.

A Film Review requires the reviewer put across a clear sense of the story being told or dramatized.  The reviewer summarizes  the action

 that drives the story forward, and the conflict at the heart of the plot events; the characters whose circumstances and actions we follow throughout;  the setting elements generally and as highlighted by specific scenes; and the play of ideas the film puts in motion. 

   A review is unified by the reviewer's opinion of the film's merit, including high notes and low notes, the best and the worst, the strengths and the weaknesses.  The introductory paragraph introduces the film by title and director, and year of release.  

For example:  Adventureland (2009), written and directed by Greg Mottola, is a lyrical, funny, romantic comedy set among a group of eighteen to twentyish suburban kids who work the summer at a down-scale local amusement park and make the best of the opportunity it allows them for love and adventure. 

The names of important characters should be introduced, and, if desired, the name of the particular actor playing the role.  A brief summary of the kind of characters and the action they are caught up in in the film is appropriate.  In a short essay, your focus may be limited to one or two characters, with mere mention of others.  The thesis or central idea of the review/essay should be hinted at if not stated outright in the opening lines.  The body paragraphs should illustrate by means of description of key scenes or events, and the ideas and emotions the film encourages one to take from these scenes and events.

The conclusion should underscore the reviewer's central idea in a fresh way.  Often this emphasis is created by focusing on the climax and conclusion of the film; however, you may focus on a particular or key image of character, setting, or action to make your thesis clear and convincing. Say you find a film beautiful and romantic in its depiction of the saving nature of love; your conclusion would provide reference to some aspect of the the film's actions, characters, or images overall, to convey the impression you felt most strongly.

Essay #6:  Write 350-500 words describing one or more scenes in the film you watch today, The Social Network (2010), directed by David Fincher, and starring Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook.  Or you may choose from one you may feel more inclined to write about.  Include the title of the film in italic letters, the director and release date, and a summary of the plot and one of the central themes of the film.  The scene you choose to describe should illustrate some point you wish to make about the film story, a character within, representation of setting or place, the nature of the conflict and its dramatic or comedic force, etcetera.  The film is

Week 6

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day–like writing a poem or saying a prayer. What matters is that one be for a time inwardly attentive.

–Anne Morrow Lindbergh, b.1906

Good day. I hope you are feeling well, and that you enjoyed yourself over the  weekend.

Today we have several things to do:  review the essay work assigned last– using process description or cause/effect as means of approach and organization;  review the use of conditional and subjunctive verb tense and go on to address some matters of pronoun use, comparisons using adjectives and review of the use of summary and quotation.  Finally, I will have you write a short essay in class on one of the topics listed below.

. . . . . . .

Midterm essay:  compose a one-paragraph essay of about 200 words. The main idea or topic sentence should be clear. Readers expect you to make a clear point and not to wonder if they have missed something.  If the main idea is stated directly (explicitly) in the essay,  underline it. If it is implicit (i.e. not stated anywhere but clearly implied from all you've written), write it below the finished essay. The bulk of the paragraph should develop the topic idea by means of description, specific details and examples, brief narration, commentary and observation (your thoughts on the matter), and so on.  Provide enough support to carry your point well.  The opening sentence should provide a smooth lead-in and/or statement of the essay's central idea (topic idea). The final sentences should be winding up the discussion to provide a sense of finish. 

Title the essay.

Here are the prompts for the essay, with the final one open to your own inclinations. Choose only one of the topics. Remember, you will have one major point to make and support, building the essay around this point (topic or thesis).

1. Walking Home–description and narration.

2. An unwelcome guest–description and narration.

3. A challenging moment–description and narration.

4. A healthy diet–what that means.

5. Going out on a limb–the risks and rewards.

6. An inspiring person or idea.

7. A recent discovery.

8. Any topic you would like to explore in this one-paragraph essay.

I will collect the papers at the end of the class. Do not use the Internet for content in this essay.

Homework Exercise: In a paragraph (or more), you are to explore a hypothetical situation, which will require using the subjunctive mood and conditional (modal) tense forms.  Imagine that you had been born under or into circumstances other than those you were born into; for example, a different place and/or historical era, a different family, a different body (or species), and so on.  Describe what your childhood would have been like, what your present life might be like, and what you imagine happening in your future in these changed circumstances.

     You might start in this way:  Had I been born an only child, instead of being born the fifth child of six, I might have got more attention than I did.  I might have been spoiled!  My parents, particularly my mother, had little time and attention to spare, afterall . . .

Review the class handout and verb tense sequencing here:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/1/ and here:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/07/

Week 5

Everything speaks. –James Joyce Good day to you all. I hope you had a nice weekend.       Today we will continue work on summary and use of quotation.  We will also practice the use of subjunctive and conditional verb tense in an extended passage.  There will be no homework essay this week,  but there will be a midterm given in class next week, week 6.   So today we can take some time to consolidate some of the skills and  principles of composition introduced thus far. Here's to a good day!   Homework Exercise: In a paragraph (or more),  explore a hypothetical situation, which will  require using the subjunctive mood and conditional (modal) tense forms.  Imagine that you had been born under or into circumstances other than those you were born into; for example,  a different place and/or historical era, a different family, a different body (or species), and so on.  Describe what your childhood would have been like, what your present life might be like, and what you imagine happening in your future in these changed circumstances.      You might start in this way:  Had I been born an only child, instead of being born the fifth child of six,  I might have got more attention than I did.  I might have been spoiled!  My parents, particularly my mother, had little time and attention to spare, afterall . . . Review the class handout and verb tense sequencing here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/1/ and here:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/07/