Thursday September 4th

I will never forget there was cake. We have no final, I remember this because you made us all raise our hands in the air. All writing is an argument, even a stop sign. Not only is our writing an argument, but it is also crap. I also remember taking no notes, which could explain why my first post is so short.

Tuesday September 9th

Comment Feedback, if you did not get any and would like some.

Know the 10 essential components, practice with the sample letter

Pick a category from the New York Times – anyone that you want, to write your first draft letter to the editor.

To create hyperlink you copy the url from the site of your choice and than you select the words you want the link to be attached too. Than you click the insert/edit link button. Click, open in new window as curiosity to the readers.

Always have two categories, one under your name and the other is the title of the assignment; in this case it will be mica than lte.

Make sure your sentence says something.

Thursday September 11th 

Went over grades for our writings

Even an A grade will look like crap

For an A grade we should have a constant flow of information and multiple claims within each sentence

You hope when we look back on our writings they still look like crap(because there is always ways and room for improvement)

 Tuesday September 16th

you do need to post something/revision before each deadline; than the final rewrite goes into your portfolio.

Make it clear to your audience what you want them to believe.

Point out the flaws early in your writing so the rest that follows goes with your argument.

If your argument can be stated in fewer words than shorter is always better; because you exhaust the readers less.

Tuesday September 23rd

The first version is A01 and has extremely disappointing grades; D is the best one right now, and is just temporary.

Grammar and punctuation is important because we have no credibility right now; therefore that is the only way we can connivence our readers we know what we are talking about.

Cannot pass this class if we dont follow the 13 rules of grammar and punctuation. One example is the period ALWAYS goes inside the quotation marks.

Must kill the sentences you cannot live without.

Thursday September 25th

Midterm grade will be a C, because he is required to give one

Set up a Professor conference, for any time that works, could be even 10 minutes long

The deadline policy is: 24 hours late = 10% off, 24-48 hours late = 20% off, 48+ = 0

Went over the 13 rules of grammar, can find these rules on the side bar under resources titled “Bottom-line Grammar”

 Tuesday September 30th 

Went over the core values9 (1- 5) of this class – it is what we should have accomplished by the end of the course.

Course outline TR tells us what we will do each week up to the final week, find it under course documents.

Syllabus, also under course documents. Under Required texts there is a link(next to recommended) that has more definite information and tricks of writing that could be extremely helpful, costs about $25.

Good idea to reach out to writing tutor early, so when it comes to finals they will help you and give you priority over others.

Editorial is due next week, pretend like you are the editor of the New York Times.

Names that end in “s” – if you say it, write it.

Example: Jones’s backpack.

 Thursday October 2nd 

Went over block quoting.

In the letter to the editor it is important to know that you do not need to summarize the entire post you are arguing. Also present your objection as soon as you can.

Went over the Editorial  Assignment. Use hyperlinks to let your readers go to certain page; this is better than quoting people.

First draft is due monday at 11:59.

Tuesday October 7th  

Can change your draft as many times as you want/need too, up until he comments grade recorded on your post.

Short sentences have a lot of power.

Make sure to always comment “feedback please” on all assignments you want feedback.

 Thursday, October 9th 

Eliminate tags – they are useless and just create a second copy of the post.

Can comment back on the feedback.

A04: Editorial Rewrite assignment is due midnight on monday the 13th.

If you want a second round of feedback before the final is due just comment “feedback please” on your post again. If he is slow to responding you can always text him.

Give your Editorial a title, write it on the top of the essay, not in the subject bar where “A04: Editorial – mica” should be.

“Writing is not a spectator sport; it’s participatory”

 Tuesday, October 14th  

Went over fair and unfair summary; know the difference of and when to summarize or quote.

Remember you do not have to agree with the original, but you have to accurately portray the original.

For class on thursday, read the article carefully and fully understand it to be prepared for the assignment – will not have a lot of time so the better you understand the article you better off you will be.

 Tuesday, October 21st 

Rhyme Scheme, the formula of how a rhyme rhymes like – a a b a

Went over some essay’s, where you could get live critic, blinde  or even when no critic at all.

 Thursday, October 23rd 

Went over citation examples and techniques.

Learned the difference between work cited and a Bibliography. Work cited is when you list the sources that you directly cited in your writing. Bibliography is something you list the sources of any website or book that you consulted during your research for your paper.

Easybib is a website that helps you create citations in MLA, you can access this website through newspaperlessness, under the sidebar, Resources, along with three other valuable websites.

If you need to find sources to cite, try to not be too exact or narrow; be broad in your search so you can find as many sources as possible.

 Tuesday, October 28th

Went over the pledge of allegiance for our class.

Arguments from the New York Times article – The Secrets of New Jersey

The introduction paragraph is extremely strong, it is clear where they stand and how they feel about Chris Christie.

IN his very first promise as governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie pledged on Inauguration Day in 2010 to shine daylight on the workings of his government. “Today a new era of accountability and transparency is here,” Mr. Christie said. “Today, I will sign executive orders that will make our finances, our budgeting and our processes more transparent for all citizens to see. Today, change has arrived.”

What is even stronger and bolder is the first sentence of the second paragraph – “But that change never did arrive.”

Now it goes on with many examples, these are repetitive but that does not take away from the strength of the argument.

I find the final two paragraphs to be the strongest!

“The open records law was explicitly designed to create incentives for elected leaders to act transparently, and to punish them for violations. But Mr. Christie is using the state attorney general’s office to fight the lawsuits, causing delays and running up costs that are ultimately borne by the taxpayer, not by the governor. From January 2012 through Aug. 7 of this year, the administration paid more than $440,000 to reimburse lawyers in open records cases.”

The right to know is a pillar of democracy, and Mr. Christie may well be asking us to elect him president in two years. It’s time he stopped fighting the public’s requests for information and fulfilled his own promise to usher in “a new era of accountability and transparency.”

A good point was made in class – a student explained that it is not like Christie’s administration works for WYNC, Christie’s administration is busy, and fulfilling a reporters request is not on the top of their agenda. With that being said the article is still strong; the writer completes its job and now has its readers questioning Christie’s integrity and him as a governor.

“If Mr. Christie has politicized his office, he’s hardly the first elected official to do so. And no party has a lock on government secrecy. As WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein has reported, the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has persuaded the Federal Highway Administration not to release New York’s financing plan for a new Tappan Zee Bridge. Years after the plan was drawn up, it remains a secret.”

“This paragraph is genius, do this whenever you can” – Professor Hodges. It is genius  because it establishes the writers open mindedness and fairness; it gives the writer strong credibility. This paragrpah solidifies that the writer is not just picking on a governor he/she does not like; but instead it is identifying an on going pattern and problem that is going on in politics.

Riddle about Fate – homework

Thursday, October 30th 

Went over students writings who did well explaining their argument.

Comment on model essay before next class, explain something the writer did well – homework. Class code (if needed) comp01111-36.

Thursday, November 6th 

Grade please – first make it the best you can do(because once you ask that grade will be locked in) but ask for the grade on the first draft copy not the rewrite because the rewrite you can edit up to the end of the year. Also ask for feedback before.

Went over the Critical Engagement Assignment – not doing the written “dialogic.”

Use easybib.com to do the first part of your introduction and to cite your source.

Write the summary of the article like you are the author talking, and you are summarizing your original writing – mostly be paraphrasing and summarizing.

The Silence of the Lambs and Pigs is an example of just park 1 of the Critical Engagement Assignment.

We are skipping section 2! And going right to section 3.

You can most likely find your other readings in your first article.

 Tuesday, November 11 

You were suppose to find your three citations, and write brief notes on the authors for today – now that is due thursday on top of the summaries and purposes for it.

Can check course outline update – and there are no 7, 8 or 9 assignments.

Remember – not doing the written “dialogic.”

Need to have a second conference with professor before finals.

Check Model Throwdown, in progress for help.

To get your second and third source you can click on links that are in your original article – if you hit a pay way than use Rowans sources to get past that.

Dont forget that your summaries need to be in the voice of the author.

My Take, the preliminary – is when you can add your voice and opinion .

 Thursday, November 20th 

You forgot to upload your last post – A09, with your my take writing, so upload that asap.

Clarified in class: You just need one my take writing at the end, after your three summaries.

Went over difference in grades.

Did peer review.

Tuesday, November  25th 

Basis does not have to be negative or considered prejudice. It is actually just the preference of the writer, or it is what the writer think is best.

The basis in out throwdown projects can be looked into in the authors history. Example – Carol is more likely to fight for animal rights over rights of the farmers.

Went over the new assignment – A10: Self Reflective.

Need to chose carefully how you apply the core values to the goals you need to meet.

post draft by midnight tomorrow, to stay in line with the deadline. The entire overall portfolio is due next thursday.

There are samples of this assignment from previous classes provided on A10: Self-Reflective Statement under the agenda for today.

Tuesday, December 1st 

New Feedback policy – we can only ask for feedback for only one post at a time. Once you receive your reply, you may post another request, for a different post. (and this late in the semester do not ask for feedback more than once on the same post)

If you want to know if you passed for grammar or not than comment – feedback please ffg. With this you can still only ask for one at a time

Riddle – they follow the one in front

Portfolio assignment is now posted. It only needs 5 items/writings. We need an annotated bibliography (which is worked into our critical engagement assignment.) Therefore if we use our Throwdown assignment, we accomplish two requirements.

These are the contexts of the portfolio:

A02: Letter to the Editor Rewrite
A04: Editorial Rewrite
A06: Op-Ed Rewrite
Critical Engagement Assignment
Complete with Annotated Bibliography
A10: Self-Reflective Statement

Deadline of this project is wednesday, Deceember 3rd, 11:59 pm

Can continue to revise until your assignment is grades, however, you will not know when he is grading yours.

Check Agenda for Tuesday, Dec 02 for exercises that can help you when rewriting your assignments for the better.

DO NOT FAIL FOR GRAMMAR. CHECK THE 13 GRAMMAR ERRORS THAT HE WILL FAIL YOU FOR.

Ask Professor:

That we do not need to do a complete annotated bibliography for the store portfolio; and that we just need our throw down assignment. 

Thursday, December 4th  

Can continue to revise portfolio until you receive a final grade on it.

Oral Presentation is you talking your op ed. You have no visual aid, unless you ask ahead of time. You stand up and explain your thesis; you than ask for annoying questions and answer them the best you can. This would happen on Tuesday December 9th.

We are doing all of the final grade conferences on December 11th, so we are not meeting at all on December 16th.

Tuesday, December 9th  

Last class.

Completed course  evaluations.

Went through student presentations, and was able to ask questions.