Last Blog Post - Editing Activity

Over on Angel I have posted some sample essays for you to look at. These essays were in the A range but this does not mean they were perfect. Read through them (should be 3) and, as you do, make a list of 7 specific things that are done in the papers that you think make them an A paper.

Afterwards, list 5 specific things you think you need to integrate into you paper.

Have this done by classtime on Monday.

A nonspecific answer: "It had good arguments"
A specific answer: "The use of the example from her friend who had done drugs provided a powerful argument because...."

Evaluation Proposals and Research Post - Due 8/2

* Take some time tonight researching your topic. Find 3 resources that you think will help flesh out your piece. Post them on your blog in MLA format with 2-3 sentences about what they say and how you will use it (for each)

* Then post your topic proposal. which should look like this:
1) I am evaluating _____ as a good/bad ________ using criteria X, Y, Z in order to establish that (larger cultural claim)

Evaluation Blog Posts (2) - Due Monday August 1

Over the weekend, complete the following in a few blog posts:

* Think of three cultural objects of interest. Freewrite about why you think it is good of bad (or the epitome of mediocrity). What does it mean to you? Why are you interested in it? What are people saying about it. How have people reacted to it. Where has it been taken up and used or repeated? Where has it made the most impact? How and why?
* Read the piece on Lady Gaga on Angel. In addition, look around the Gaga Stigmata blog beginning with this post on her video Born this Way. What sort of arguments do they make about Lady Gaga? What evidence do they use? Note a few rhetorical tactics that are used that are particularly effective in this kind of cultural commentary (you guys should be getting good at this).

Potential Narrative Topics

If you absolutely cannot think of your own narrative topic then you can choose one of the following as a point of departure.

1) Describe your bedroom back home. Use the objects in the room as reference points to talk about various points in your childhood and your leaving them and coming to college.

2) Pick a friend or a group of friends that were important to you. Describe some of your favorite moments with them in order to demonstrate, in a rhetorical savvy way, the value, difficulties, or nuances of friendship.

3) Using key personal experiences, write about the way that a certain technology has changed your life--a cell phone (or smartphone), a car, a computer, an instrument, etc. Use that technology as a point of departure to comment on the role of technology in shaping your life.

Anyone in the class should be able to write any of these and the general idea of the purpose is already set for you, although the particularities of it will be up to you (there is a TON of room in each of these prompts). You should see how each prompt points you to something specific--1 forces you to use objects from your room, 2 forces you to reference friends, and 3 uses technologies--that will then lead you into even more specific things: the experiences themselves.

You will need to describe these experiences and then relate them together to make a point.

Narrative Blog Entry #2 - Due 7/26

As you sit down to eat dinner (whatever that is) take note of the experience. Later,write for 10 minutes describing it with as much detail as possible. Include details from all the senses: how does it smell, feel, and taste. What does the place around you sound like? Who all is there? Again, give as many details as possible

Narrative Reading Response - Due Monday 7/25

Read the three essays (the two of mine posted on Angel and the gaming addiction one over at Kotaku). Then do the following:

1) Write a bit about how these essays differ from the writing you are used to writing/reading. How do they use a different structure, tone, techniques, etc?

2) Take one of the essays and write a few sentences about the purpose and audience for the essay. What are they and how do you know?

Reflection Help

As I said in class, you should be freewriting for at least 10 minutes every day this weekend, then posting them on the blog. Here were the prompts I gave in class--they are just to help you get started.

-When was the last time you can think of where you got really upset or really happy. Why? What was it over?
- What do you spend the most time doing, what do you love doing most, or what things are most interested in? What do these mean to you? Why are you interested in them?
- List experiences that you've had in the past, starting as young as possible. Don't worry if they were small or significant--most likely if you remember them then they were significant for you.