Category: Class Agendas

Agenda: Week 5

NO SCHOOL MONDAY

Happy Rosh Hashanah to all who celebrate.

However, this is the week with the weird scheduling – while we do not have class on Monday, we WILL have class on Thursday. See below for details.

Wednesday (9/28)

We will NOT have class on Wednesday either. Instead, we will do Zoom conferences! This is the first of four days this semester when class will be canceled to do conferences instead. Everyone is required to sign up for two conferences over the course of the semester.

So, you must pick two days, and there are four days to choose from.

If you would like to have a conference with me this Wednesday, use this link to select a time. (Please do not select one of the times on Friday, those are reserved for my Fordham students.)

What to expect for your conference:

I’ll let you into the Zoom from the waiting room, and then I will ask you what you’d like to talk about. The idea is to talk about your essay/your writing, but we can chat about other stuff too. Each conference is 10 minutes long, but if no one is scheduled for the slot after you, we can talk longer if you’d like.

Thursday

This Thursday is a “CUNY Monday.” You will NOT go to your Thursday classes, but you WILL go to your Monday classes.

Texts

How to Teach a Child to ArgueDownload

writing/activities

None! Just continue revising your “This I No Longer Believe” essays. Final drafts are due Monday, October 3.

Agenda: Week 4

Monday

Texts

Writing/Activities

None!

Wednesday

Texts

None!

Writing

  • Second drafts of “This I No Longer Believe” are due. If you have chosen anonymous peer review (or if you prefer to switch to anonymous), go to Blackboard -> Peer Review -> Submit under “This I No Longer Believe Second Draft.” If you have chosen in-person peer review, upload your paper as a post here on the course site, using the category Unit 1 Work and including “second draft” in your post.
  • Complete exercises in the book for “Litotes” and “Antithesis” and post them as a comment here
  • Complete activities for “Fear Appeal” and “Humor Appeal” and post them as a comment here

Agenda: Week 3

Week 3: Writing Processes

For Monday:

Texts:

Writing:

  • Work on your “This I No Longer Believe” essay

For Wednesday:

Texts:

  • None!

Writing:

  • Choose your peer review option
  • “This I No Longer Believe” first drafts are due! If you chose the anonymous option, go to Blackboard and find the “Peer Review” tab, then follow the instructions. If you chose the non-anonymous option, post your draft here on the course site under the category “Unit 1 Work.” (It’s ok to post it privately if you only want to share it with your peer review group during class.)
  • Complete the Hyperbole and Understatement exercises in the book and post your answers as a comment here.
  • Complete the Namecalling and Bandwagon activity.

Agenda: Week 2

Week 2: Beginning Paper 1

For Monday:

No school Monday, it’s Labor Day!

If you are free on this day, perhaps you will want to attend the Amazon Labor Union’s Labor Day march, in support of Amazon warehouse workers and Starbucks baristas.

For Wednesday:

Texts:

Writing/Activities:

Agenda: Week 1

Week 1: Course Overview

For Monday (8/29):

Texts: 

No reading to do in advance: it’s the first day of class!

During class, we will read:

  1. “Defining Propaganda II”
  2. “What are the Tools of Propaganda?”
  3. “The Story of Propaganda”

Writing:

For Wednesday (8/31):

Full agenda for Wednesday

Texts:

Please read these three examples of creative nonfiction writing by real students (two from John Jay College and one from Fordham University)

Note about the sample essays: The first two examples were NOT written for the specific prompt I am going to ask you to write on, but both are excellent examples of creative nonfiction written by real composition students at John Jay (another CUNY school). The third essay IS in response to the prompt I will give you, written by a student at Fordham University.

Writing:

  1. Leave a comment on the “Reflections on Example Essays” discussion post responding to the prompts listed on that page..
  2. Write approximately 500 words (or more) on “Yourself as Reader, Writer, and Researcher.” Instructions for how to turn this in are at the bottom.

    Prompt:

    We all have histories as readers, writers, and researchers, even if you hate these activities. For this assignment, help me get to know you by telling me about your history. Below are several questions for you to consider as you compose your answer. You do not need to address all of them, and feel free to talk about other things related to reading, writing, research, and English classes. Please answer in paragraph form.
  • What kinds of things do you read? (Anything– doesn’t have to just be books!)
  • What kinds of things do you love to read or hate to read? Why?
  • What’s a really good memory you have about reading, or a really bad one?
  • What about writing?
  • How much writing did you do in the years/semesters prior to now (including high school/writing for a job/anything else), and what kinds of things did you write?
  • What kinds of research have you done in the past?
  • What do you find difficult or confusing about the research process?
  • What were your past English classes like?
  • How do you feel about starting this class? What would you like to learn?
  • Has the pandemic changed your reading/writing/research habits at all? If so, how?

Turn this in as a post under the “Unit 1 Work” category. Click here for instructions on how to post to our site. Click here for help using categories (it’s not the Commons, but it works exactly the same).

By default, posts will be public/visible to all of your classmates. If you want to keep it private, you can change the “visibility” settings to private, and then only you and I can see it.