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Remember that if you miss four classes total you are dropped; if you miss three classes in a row you are dropped.

If you miss a class, work due that class period will be accepted the next class period, but no later.  Missing a class is no excuse for not knowing the assignment.  You must show initiative; no one is going to carry you, and no one can read your mind.

26 September 2011

Morning class:

1. Final draft of descriptive essays due at the beginning of class
2. Journals -- What does your mother never stop talking about?
3. Muster and administrivia.
4. Sentence writing / active verbs
5. Continue "The Seafarer"

Think / know / study kenning, alliteration, four-beat Anglo-Saxon line, metaphor, and simile, and consider the content of this short poem.  WHO is the seafarer?

Morning class: you have a test next Monday.

MyFaceSpaceBookMeMeMe

There are no statues of men sitting hunched over and staring slack-jawed at a little plastic box that displays pictures and makes noises.

Managing Work and Study -- from the TELEGRAPH (London)

From the Telegraph (London)

What can I do to manage my work and study combination?

Date: 07/04/2011

If you’re considering some form of further study, then you’ve probably given serious thought to how this will fit into your already busy lifestyle. There is no doubt that gaining a new qualification while still fulfilling all your existing professional and social commitments can be a challenge. However, the rewards are likely to be worth the extra effort, particularly if you are studying with the express intention of furthering your career.

• Enlist the help of family and friends – If you are serious about doing some form of study then it’s vital to have support from those closest to you. Talk to your partner, family and friends before embarking on a new course and make sure they understand why this is so important. That way, they will understand that you may not always have quite as much time for them as you would like.
  
• Talk to your employer – It may be that your studies are organised and funded by your employer, it would be hoped that your current workload has been taken into consideration and provision made for training leave. However, even if you are advancing your education under your own initiative then it’s still worth letting your employer know about your plans and goals. Employers would rarely frown upon an employee improving their skills and by keeping them in the know you will receive greater understanding and support.
  
• Maximise your time – While at first glance it might appear that you are constantly busy, in reality most of us have periods throughout the day where we could be more productive. A commute to work by public transport allows time to catch up on some reading. The television can also be a drain on our time but it doesn’t have to be completely forgone. Plan your watching schedule to only programmes that generally interest you.
  
• Play to your strengths – People’s learning styles vary dramatically, so what works for someone else may not work for you. If you perform better in the morning, set aside an hour once or twice a week for studying. Students concentration span also varies so keep this in mind to maximise learning either in bite sized chunks or longer periods. The key is to find what works for you and then plan your time accordingly.
  
• Create a study zone – If possible, it helps to have an area that is dedicated to studying, whether that means converting a spare room into a temporary study or tucking a desk into the corner of the living room. If you prefer to leave the house then you could try a quiet local cafe or your public library. Wherever it may be, creating this distinction between study time and the rest of your day will help to engage your brain and get you in the mood for learning.
  
• Find a study buddy – Setting goals with fellow students can be a great way of overcoming hurdles and boosting your own motivation. Making new friends is often an added bonus to adult learning, and technological developments mean it is now possible for people on distance learning courses to develop such relationships via the internet. If you are considering home study then it’s worth checking if the course provider has a virtual student community, which can effectively replicate the social environment of more traditional educational establishments.

To sum up, often the hardest thing about combining work with study is making the decision to do it in the first place. Once you get started you will probably find that it’s not as difficult as you’d imagined. Choosing a course that allows you to study via distance learning can also be helpful as you can work at your own pace without being tied in to specific timescales. Studying doesn’t have to take over your life: just a few hours each week can make all the difference.

By Dave Snow, Academic Director at Home Learning College

Due dates

Monday / Wednesday A.M. class -- the final draft of your descriptive essay is due at 0945 on Monday, 26 September.  Please do not embarrass yourself by pleading an inability to complete a project assigned two weeks ago.  Missing class is not an excuse for anything; you have access to your classmates and to theverbsharpeningshop.blogspot.com.

Monday P.M. class -- the rough draft of your descriptive essay is due at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, 26 September.  Please do not embarrass yourself by pleading an inability to complete a project assigned a full week before.  Missing class is not an excuse for anything; you have access to your classmates and to theverbsharpeningshop.blogspot.com.

21 September 2011, English 1301, Wednesday morning, as built

1. Deficiencies -- rough drafts.  Grrrrrrrrr.  Don't be passive.  Show initiative.  Work.

2. Journal writing.  Prompt -- what song makes you happy?  Write, share, read, comment.

3. Muster and administrivia

4. Begin "The Seafarer"
A. Cultural / historical background
B. Four-Beat Anglo-Saxon line - poetic technique
C. Kenning - poetic technique
D. Alliteration - poetic technique

5. Exercise re passive voice -- using active verbs.  Work together, then discuss.

6. Writing lab time -- alas, no time

7. Door prize

Ten Great Study Habits from About.com

10 Great Study Habits

To Improve Your Performance

By Grace Fleming, About.com Guide

 

It is never too late to develop great study habits. If you're starting a new school year, or you just want to improve your grades and school performance, take a look at this list of good habits and start making some changes in your routine.

1. Write Down Every Assignment

The most logical place to write down your assignments is in a planner, but you might prefer to keep a to-do list in a simple notebook or in your cell phone note pad. It doesn't really matter what tool you use, but it is absolutely essential to your success to write down every single assignment, due date, test date, and task.

2. Remember to Bring Your Homework to School

It sounds simple enough, but many F's come from students forgetting to bring a perfectly good paper to school with them. Does your homework have a home? Is there a special place where you always put your paperwork each night? To avoid forgetting your homework, you must establish a strong homework routine with a special homework station where you work each night. Then you must get in the habit of putting your homework where it belongs right after you finish it, whether this is in a special folder on your desk or in your backpack.

3. Communicate With Your Teacher

Every successful relationship is built upon clear communication. A student-teacher relationship is no different. Miscommunication is another one of those factors that can cause bad grades, despite good efforts on your part. At the end of the day, make sure you understand every assignment that's expected of you. Imagine getting a bad grade on a 5-page paper because you didn't understand the difference between an expository essay and a personal essay.
Be sure to ask questions and find out what format you should use when you write a paper or what type of questions might appear on your history exam. The more questions you ask, the more prepared you'll be.

4. Organize With Color

Devise your own color-coding system to keep your assignments and your thoughts organized. You may select a single color for each class (like science or history) and use that color for your folder, your highlighters, your sticky notes, and your pens. You'll be surprised to discover how much strong organization skills can change your life!
Color-coding is also a tool to use when conducting research. For example, you should always keep several colors of sticky flags on hand when you're reading a book for school. Assign a specific color the every topic of interest. Place a flag on a page containing information you will need to study or to cite. It works like magic!

5. Establish a Study Zone at Home

Take the time to assess your individual style and your real needs and plan for the perfect study place. After all, if you can’t concentrate, you certainly can’t expect to learn very well. Students are different. Some need a completely quiet room free from interruptions when they study, but others actually study better listening to quiet music in the background or taking several breaks.
Find a place to study that fits your specific personality and learning style. Then stock your study space with school supplies that will help you avoid last-minute emergencies.

6. Prepare Yourself for Test Days

You know that it's important to study for test days, right? But there are other things you should consider in addition to the actual material that the test will cover. What if you show up for test day and the room is freezing cold? For many students, this would cause enough of a distraction to interrupt concentration. That leads to bad choices and bad answers. Plan ahead for heat or cold by layering your clothing.
And what happens when you spend so much time on one essay question that you don't have enough time to finish the exam? Another way to prepare for test day is to take a watch and be mindful of time management.

7. Know Your Dominant Learning Style

Many students will struggle in a subject without understanding why. Sometimes this is because students don't understand how to study in a way that matches their brain style.
Auditory learners are those who learn best through hearing things. Visual learners retain more information when they use visual aids, and tactile learners benefit by doing hands-on projects.
Every student should examine and evaluate their habits and their natural tendencies and decide how they might be able to improve their study habits by tapping into their personal strengths.

8. Take Fabulous Notes

There are a few tricks to taking fabulous notes that really help when it comes to studying. If you’re visual person, you should make as many doodles on your paper as you can. Useful doodles, that is. As soon as you realize that once topic relates to another, comes before another, is the opposite of another, or has any kind of connection to another—draw a picture that makes sense to you. Sometimes the information will not sink in until and unless you see it in an image.
There are also certain code words to look out for in a lecture that can indicate that your teacher is giving you the relevance or the context of an event. Learn to recognize key words and phrases that your teacher deems important.

9. Conquer Procrastination

When you put things off a lot, you end up putting things off until it's too late from time to time. It's that simple. When you procrastinate, you take the chance that nothing will go wrong at the last minute--but in the real world, things do go wrong.
So how can you battle the urge to put things off? Start with trying to recognize that a feisty little voice that lives inside every one of us. It tells us it would be more fun to play a game, eat, or watch TV when we know better. Don’t fall for it!

10. Take Care of Yourself

Some of your personal habits might be affecting your grades. Are you feeling tired, achy, or bored when it comes to homework time? You can change your grades by practicing a few healthy homework habits. Change the way you feel by taking better care of your mind and your body.
For example, between text messaging, Sony PlayStations, Xbox, Internet surfing, and computer writing, students are using their hand muscles in all new ways, and they're growing increasingly susceptible to the hazards of repetitive stress injury. Find out how to avoid pain in your hands and neck by changing the way you sit at your computer.

19 September, Monday A.M., English 1301, As Built

1. Journals. Prompt: rain

2. Muster and administrivia

3. Rough drafts
A. Credit for a complete, typed draft
B. Everybody reads everybody -- critique. 
C. Teacher reads everybody -- critique

4. Writing labs -- time to work on next draft

5. Door prize

19 September, Monday Night, English 1301, As Built

1.  Make up quiz before class.

2. Journal writing -- prompt: the rain

3. Muster & administrivia

4. Ray Bradbury's "Summer Rituals," excerpted from Dandelion Wine.  Note that the titles of short works are in quotation marks; the titles of long works are italicized or underlined.  Close-read and discuss.  Consider techniques, metaphors, symbolic language, double meanings, cultural / historical context.

5.  Rest of packet -- descriptive techniques.  Read completely ad lib.

6. Writing assignment: Descriptive Essay
A. Hand out assignment sheet
B. Discuss cliches' and other sloppy usage
C. Discuss Expectations
D. Work on a rough draft of first paragraph in class -- everyone reads everyone

7. Door prize

8.  Return last week's quiz
A. No one-on-one until at least a day has passed.  Carefully read the comments; don't simply look at the grade.
B. No complaints / comparisons re someone else's paper
C. Argue from proof, not from emotion

Business Letter Format, Brief Outline

1. Heading (sender's address)
2. Inside address  (to whom and where the letter is going)
3. Salutation (followed by a colon, not a comma)
4. Body (content -- brief, professional, impersonal)
5. Close ("Sincerely,")
6. Signature (and online, there won't really be a signature, just the name of the sender)


You needn't list the bit about enclosures, but I admire the thinking of those who added it anyway -- you've been studying!

English 1301, 14 September, Wednesday Morning, As Built

1. One-on-one conference with instructor re last week's quiz.

2. Journal writing

3. Muster and administrivia

4. Instructor babbles all about Bradbury's "Summer Rituals" -- point-of-view, symbols, techniques, avoiding catalogues of adjectives, cultural context.

5. Assignment: Descriptive Essay

A. Handout
B. Expectations
C. Avoidng cliches'
D. TYPED & COMPLETE rough draft due at next meeting

6. Door prize

7. Go away

Top Ten Sports Cliches' -- from (of all places) Encyclopedia Britannica

Top 10 Sports Clichés You Should Never Use

Britannica Editors - July 11, 2011

Credit: © liquidlibrary/Jupiterimages

Holy Cow! Apparently, it’s Sports Cliché Week, and to celebrate (or denigrate) we’ve asked Adam Augustyn, Britannica’s sports editor, to give us his top 10 sports clichés to avoid at all costs.

1. “giving 110 percent” — Not only is it incredibly overused considering that most everyone on a field is trying hard, but it defies the tenets of mathematics, which is especially grating for encyclopedists.
2. “we’re just taking it one game at a time” — Barring some serious space/time continuum hijinks, games are only ever played one at a time.
3. “he/she knows how to win” — Used to refer to someone who has won a lot, but every person on a playing field has won at least a few times and therefore has knowledge of how to win.
4. “defense wins championships” — With the exceptions of football or the rare occasions on which a hockey goalie scores an empty-netter, defense cannot score points in any of the major sports. And you only win games by accumulating points so technically a defense really can’t win a team a championship (although the 2000 Baltimore Ravens came awfully close). Of course good defense matters for team success, but find a more honest way of saying so.
5. “someone needs to step up and make a play” — This cliché makes it sound as if the players haven’t been attempting to make a play previously, which is pretty doubtful.
6. “nobody believed in us” — Do you have fans show up for your home games? Then someone believed in you.
7. “there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’” — You don’t say.
8. “at the end of the day…” — Not a cliché used only in sports, but it’s a staple of post-game interviews when a player or coach is trying (and usually failing) to put things in perspective.
9. “he/she’s a team player” — Every person on a team is a team player by definition.
10. any and all thanking of God for a victory — If you say this it means you think that God either loves you more than anyone else on the field, hates your opponent, or has nothing better to do than affect the outcome of a sporting event. That’s about as self-centered as humanly possible (even by professional athlete standards).

Spelling Errors, by Justin Thompson of The Work Buzz, AOL

By Justin Thompson, The Work Buzz
Really, I had the simplest of intentions. By sending out a link to The Oatmeal's classic graphic of "10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling" as a reminder to job seekers everywhere that a lot is two words, I opened a vortex of commonly misused or misspelled words that drive employers crazy when they see them in résumés, cover letters, correspondence and even social media updates. But it wasn't only employers who were miffed at these common blunders – job seekers too were disappointed in their peers. When I polled our Twitter and Facebook fans, they gave me an onslaught of other words that they found were on the list of common offenders. Twitter user @XuDannyO added that he sees people who don't know the difference between "ensure" and "insure." His great example being, "'I insure customer satisfaction.' Really? You took out an insurance policy on that?"

12 September 2011, Monday P.M. class as built

1. Journal writing -- write a paragraph describing a 9/11 event or commemoration without employing a first-person pronoun.

2. Muster and administrivia

3. Review the five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, sound

4. Descriptive writing -- four sample essays.  Read and discuss.

5.  Descriptive writing exercise:

A. Take any object from your pocket or purse.  Describe.  May refer to function.
B. One paragraph only
C. Black or blue ink
D. Double space
E. No drama -- do not crumple paper; write your way out of a problem
F. 5-10 minutes -- you should work together
G. Teacher and peer review.  Everyone reads and comments on everyone else's paper

6. Sample essay: Ray Bradbury's "Summer Rituals," excerpted from Dandelion Wine. Note the punctuation of titles.  Read and discuss intro.  Finish reading before next class.

7. "Keys to College Success" - handout

8. Door prize!

9. To-date quiz

10. Go away

12 September 2011, Monday morning class as built

1. Make up last week's quiz before or after class.

2. Journal writing. Prompt: Write a descriptive paragraph about a 9/11 event or commemoration without employing any first-person pronouns.  The tragedy was not about me, me, me or my, my, my feelings; it was about the murdered.

3. Muster and administrivia.  A reminder always to keep paper copies of all college administrivia in a folder.

5. Sample essay: Ray Bradbury's "Summer Rituals," an excerpt from Dandelion Wine. Consider the introduction, esp. the matter of Baptists.  Does the intro. tell you anything about Ray Bradbury? Does if reflect a bias in the unknown scrivener who wrote the introduction?

Consider the first paragraph, which consists of only two sentences.  "Ritual" is employed four times; "rituals" once.  What does this emphasis on the word suggest to you?

Read "Summer Rituals" before the next class meeting.

6. A door prize!

7. Return last week's quiz.  The rules:

A. No discussion until next class period
B. No comparisons with someone else's paper -- the old instructor will be please to talk with you about your paper, not someone else's.
C. Argue you case from proof, not from emotion.

Lesson, 7 September, A.M.

1. Journal writing based on sensory description
2. Roll call & administrivia
3. Journal sharing all 'round.  Review use of action verbs, avoid frequent repetion of pronouns.
4. Descriptive writing exercise.  Don't begin with a pronoun.
     A. Take one item from your purse or pocket and describe it.  You may refer to the item's function.
     B. One paragraph only
     C. Do not crumple paper or throw it away; write your way out of a problem.
     D. 5-10 minutes -- please work together
     F. Peer review and teacher review -- everyone reads and discusses everyone else's paper.
5. Door prize!
6. To-date quiz

Remember the four types of essays:
     Descriptive
     Persuasive
     Narrative
     Expository

Text: read pp. 1-4.  The triangle should be a quadrangle -- consider purpose

Today's Jasper Newsboy contains a useful article about rental frauds.  The audience: college students; the purpose is to caution.

6 September -- a few gentle reminders

Remember that signing up late for the class or transferring into the class is does not give you a King's X from responsibility.  Know the syllabus, especially the many pages of legal bits in small print, and find out from a fellow student what was presented in class.  "But I wasn't here that day" won't get you out of anything.

1.  Descriptive writing.  Think about the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight.
2. MLA essay format -- internalize the knowledge.
3. Missing class -- we're ordering from the adult menu here.  There is no concept of excused or unexcused absence.  Review the syllabus regarding absences.  If your lifestyle can't be adapted to a class schedule, consider the excellent on-line courses.
4.  Tardiness is unprofessional. 
5.  Cell 'phones -- I saw several of 'em last week.  Put the toys away.  Interact with your fellow humans. 

An Expository Essay on University Education

Please note that the author of this piece is a Catholic priest.  Do vocations influence writers?  Of course they do!  Fr. Schall is a learned man who has published many books, but this does not mean that one must agree with him about this expository essay or anything else.

Observe the inappropriate and excessive use of quotation marks for sarcasm.  Quotation marks should be used only for direct quotations.  Observe also the excellent use of pronouns -- in this context, "he" and "himself" are inclusive.

The second paragraph is irony to the point of sarcasm -- what point does the author make here?



Tuesday, 06 September 2011

On a College Education

By James V. Schall, S. J.

With myriads of students beginning or headed back to the thousands of colleges and universities throughout the world, some free advice seems in order. Except for e-mail, not much is “free” in academia these days, especially if we count the taxes required to pay for the “free” or “inexpensive” state and city institutions. Talk of college costs still going up when the economy does not is no longer mere grumbling. Studies indicate that this increased cost is caused more by administration expenses and remuneration than by faculty salaries or inflation. The democratic spirit holds that everyone has a natural right to a college degree. Therefore, we need to assure that everyone receives one. If someone does not receive one, something is wrong with the system. Remedial programs must be necessary to compensate for the reasons why colleges do not graduate everyone. We used to think that colleges were designed to separate those who could learn from those who could or would not. It was assumed that not everyone was fit for or needed a college education. Today, if someone does not receive such education, he is a “victim” and eligible for “compensation.” Universities devise programs to deal with unemployable youth. Schools have also become holding operations to keep students from flooding the labor market, itself already flooded. The purpose of education is to provide students with “skills” and “qualifications” whereby they can enter the labor market or professions and “make a living.” To assist this process, the computer is everywhere. Not a few think that on-line universities are the wave of the future. We don’t need all these separate institutions. Why not a “national” on-line university? Universities today are what I call resumé-generating institutions. Each student must keep a record of himself. On this document, he lists his accomplishments, not just academic ones. He was on the student council, played lacrosse, worked in a law office, helped in a soup kitchen, sang in the choir, studied in Paris, wrote for the student newspaper, reinvented the wheel, graduated cum laude, and canvassed for some political party. The President of the United States addresses the Georgetown Class of '24 Moreover, we have hundreds and hundreds of “majors” with their sub-fields. Grades have tended to flatten. Few people “flunk.” The four years of college are a “learning” experience. Meantime, the facilities on most college campuses are terrific. Many rival the local hotels or country clubs. Swimming pools, courts of every sort, libraries, technological facilities, gardens, fields, dorms, apartments, dining clubs and halls, concerts, lectures, plays abound. Beer and something stronger are easily available. So are other, more dubious activities If we look at this account, it makes the Lyceum of Aristotle or the Academy of Plato look like petty operations. Universities have in some sense become the institutions in which we expect to right all wrongs, preferably by what is called “science.” Universities are not in the “virtue” business today. They cannot be, as it is now mostly illegal, let alone old-fashioned. We have a widespread assumption that universities are centers of what is new. Science is what will improve us. But a second assumption tells us that students need outside “hands-on experience.” They will not help the poor unless they join some program and volunteer, a kind of temporary vocation. This help industry has become big business with various “corps” designed to facilitate the projects, here and all over the world. The purpose of education is not knowledge or leisure but justice, the virtue with the most ideological confusions whirling about it. With this background, what is to be said about college education? In his new book, Church, State, and Society, Brian Benestad remarks that reading Plato is a better preparation for getting at what was wrong with the world than any amount of hands-on education or experience. This is especially true because Plato saw that the first task was our own virtue. No civil society can flourish if its citizens are not virtuous. This doctrine is not welcome in a world that sees no distinction between good and bad, excellent and shoddy, particularly with regard to how we live. A colleague here at Georgetown wonders whether colleges and universities, as we know them, have seen their day. We do not need to equate the fate of intelligence with the fate of existing academic institutions. Indeed, the political conformity manifested in universities in recent decades has already shifted the locus of intelligence elsewhere. Where is this “elsewhere?” At one time we might have looked to the monastic houses. China and the Arab countries indicate that on-line facilities are not exempt from government control. Perhaps we are back at the Academy and Lyceum, where education consisted in no facilities but a place to stroll, a teacher moved by what is, and young men and women willing to listen, read, and converse. James V. Schall, S.J., a professor at Georgetown University, is one of the most prolific Catholic writers in America. His most recent book is The Mind That Is Catholic.