Election Day.
No Class Meeting; however:

• Grade Please
  • The strategy for getting grades prior to moving work into our portfolios is to request grades for you Rewrites (LTE, Ed, OpEd). Request a grade by using the two-word phrase Grade please in a reply on your Rewrite post (A02, A04, or A06). Before doing so, copy your best draft backwards into your first draft post so that both the first draft and the Rewrite are identical. You will receive the same grade for both drafts, but the Rewrite can be continually improved while the grade for the original draft (A01, A03, A05) will be fixed and remain part of your 25% Non-Portfolio grade. That sounds complicated, but will become clear with practice.
• Critical Engagement Essay PDF
  • Also known as “The Throwdown” in Adobe PDF
  • PLEASE be very familiar with the linked document “Critical Engagement Assignment” before reporting to class THU NOV 06.
  • The MW section had the benefit of reading this assignment worksheet aloud in class  with instructor interference. It’s a complex assignment designed by the Writing Arts department for all sections of Comp I. We will modify it a bit in ways that we will discuss THU NOV 06.
  • You will be writing a Critical Engagement Assignment on a vital contemporary social subject of your own choosing and using three primary sources “in conversation” to examine a range of reactions to a clear and specific thesis that you will design yourself.
  • The first two sections of the assignment are analytical and comparative: you identify and critique the positions promoted by your three sources.
  • The third section is not an essay according to the assignment, but resembles one in many ways. It’s a chance for you to “have your own say” on the important questions relevant to the thesis, to promote your own version of a solution to a problem, to refute the wrongheaded thinking of the sources you’ve examined.
• Critical Engagement Assignment DOC
  • Also known as “The Throwdown” in MS Word