Day 1 (July 6)

Each day, I will post our agenda and class activities here on the “Posts” page on the course site. Any files or links you will need for class can be found here.

Full agenda – click here to access the Google Doc with our full agenda and discussion questions for the day

Homework Due Before Class

None! It’s the first day!

Agenda-at-a-Glance

  1. Writing Activity and Sharing
  2. Introducing Ourselves
  3. Going over the syllabus/calendar/class expectations
  4. Housekeeping stuff
  5. Taking NYT Dialect “Quiz” and Sharing
  6. Watching a video
  7. Reading an article
  8. Discussing the article in small groups

Links for Housekeeping Stuff

Sign up for a presentation day here

Fill out the “Getting To Know You” survey here

Click here to create a Commons account

Click here to use your Commons account to join our course site (this will enable you to post and get notification emails)

Materials We Will Use in Class

New York Times Dialect Quiz

Article, “Should Writer’s Use They Own English?”

Should-Writers-Use-They-Own-English_Download

Video we will watch during class:

Homework Due Next Class

Read:

McGuigan-Parts-1-and-3Download

“Namecalling”
“Bandwagon”
Bandwagon Illustration

Write/Do:

“Yourself as Reader, Writer, and Researcher” Assignment (Turn this in ON BLACKBOARD)

First Assignment: Yourself as Reader, Writer, and Researcher

At least 1.5 double-spaced pages (size 12 font) on “Yourself as Reader, Writer, and Researcher”  Due Thursday, July 7 by class time

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?

How To Turn It In

On the class Blackboard page, find the tab in the lefthand menu called “Assignments.” You will find these same instructions there. Click on the link to see the assignment submission page and upload your writing.

Rhetorical Devices: Namecalling and Bandwagon

Due Monday 7/11

For EACH rhetorical device, please post:

1. Two examples of the device in use in the world (ideally, one you witnessed in real life or made up yourself. Try not to just Google examples)

2. Any relevant context for understanding the sentence (you may not need to write anything for this part if it’s clear on its own)

3. An analysis of what the device ADDS to the speaker’s message.

For example: I COULD say “I have a lot of work to do tonight.” OR I could use hyperbole and say “I have a mountain of work to do” OR I could use understatement and say “I have a bit of work I need to do tonight.” Why might I choose hyperbole or understatement instead of the straightforward way of saying it? What does it add or take away from what I’m expressing?

Do NOT just explain to me why your examples are hyperbole or understatement. That is not useful to either of us — we both know they are, and the goal isn’t to prove that you know the definition. The goal is to show understanding of WHY someone might use the device in a particular situation and WHAT they might be trying to achieve with it.

So: you should have FOUR examples + analysis total this week.

Reminder: If you are doing your presentation on a set of devices, you do not have to do the examples + analysis for those devices.