Favorite Subject: English

Assignment sheet for final paper

masmith — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:31:25 +0000

Download the assignment sheet for your final paper here. The final paper, a revision of one of the papers you’ve written this semester, is due on your final exam day. See the exam schedule or the class schedule below for the scheduled exam date and time for your class.

Missing page

masmith — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 04:54:32 +0000

The two chapters from the Postman and Weingartner book–I hope with no missing pages this time–are here. If you’d like to get only the page that was missing from the original file, you can download it here.

IMPORTANT: Page missing from this week’s reading

masmith — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:29:52 +0000

There’s a page missing from the PDF posted for this week’s reading. I will correct the error and repost the PDF this evening (Monday, 11/27) sometime after 7pm.

Readings for week 11/27

masmith — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 04:50:44 +0000

For the week of November 27, please download, print, and read these two chapters from Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner’s book Teaching as a Subversive Activity (citation below). We will discuss Chapter II, “The Medium Is the Message, Of Course,” first (Monday for the 2pm class, Wednesday for the others) and Chapter III, “The Inquiry Method,” second (Friday for all classes). You don’t have to read it all at once. As you read, keep in mind that this book was written in 1968. Have you seen evidence of the influence of Postman and Weingartner’s ideas in your own educational experiences?

Postman, Neil and Charles Weingartner. Teaching as a Subversive Acivity. New York: Dell, 1969.

IMPORTANT: Schedule update

masmith — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:33:42 +0000

Here’s the updated schedule for the rest of the semester. The schedule is slightly different for each class, so be sure to check the schedule for your class time.

2pm class
11/17/06 Research day
11/20/06 Research day
11/22/06 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
11/24/06 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
11/27/06 Outside reading (available from class blog Monday, 11/17).
11/29/06 DRAFT OF PAPER 5 DUE; peer review workshop.

12/01/06 PAPER 5 DUE. Outside readings (download from class blog).
12/04/06 Workshop revised paper.
12/06 LAST DAY OF CLASS: Course wrap-up and final instructions.
12/11/06 (Monday) FINAL EXAM 1-3pm; turn in your revised paper by this time.

3pm class
11/17/06 Research day
11/20/06 Research day
11/22/06 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
11/24/06 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
11/27/06 DRAFT OF PAPER 5 DUE; peer review workshop.
11/29/06 Outside reading (available from class blog Monday, 11/17).

12/01/06 PAPER 5 DUE. Outside readings (download from class blog).
12/04/06 Workshop revised paper.
12/06/06 LAST DAY OF CLASS: Course wrap-up and final instructions.
12/13/06 (Wednesday) FINAL EXAM 3-5pm; turn in your revised paper by this time.

4pm class
11/17/06 Research day
11/20/06 Research day
11/22/06 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
11/24/06 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
11/27/06 DRAFT OF PAPER 5 DUE; peer review workshop.
11/29/06 Outside reading (available from class blog Monday, 11/17).

12/01/06 PAPER 5 DUE. Outside readings (download from class blog).
12/04/06 Workshop revised paper.
12/06/06 LAST DAY OF CLASS: Course wrap-up and final instructions.
12/11/06 (Monday) FINAL EXAM 3-5pm; turn in your revised paper by this time.

Assignment sheet for Paper 5

masmith — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:23:29 +0000

Download the assignment sheet for Paper 5 here. If you haven’t done so, you should read Allyn & Bacon, Chapter 8 (“Writing an Exploratory Essay”) in preparation for writing Paper 5. If you have read it already, it would probably be worth your while to review Chapter 8, particularly the example student essays (197-207).

Reading for Wednesday, 11/15

masmith — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 15:48:23 +0000

For Wednesday, please download, print, and read “Teaching as an Amusing Activity,” a chapter from Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death (citation below).

Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death. New York: Penguin, 1986.

Reading for Monday, 11/6

masmith — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:36:19 +0000

For Monday, please download, print, and read the editorial “A Matter of Degrees “ by Clive Crook.* This editorial appeared in the Comment section of the November 2006 issue of The Atlantic. As you read the essay, list what you think are Crook’s main points about the way we think about education in the U.S.

*Addendum (11/5/06): A number of people have had trouble downloading the file. If you are unable to download and print the file, try getting it through Academic Search Premier (via the UVSC library — you should be able to login to the databases with your UV ID) or email me, and I will send you the file. I’ll warn you, though, that I may not get your email in time to reply before class tomorrow.

IMPORTANT: Change of due date for Paper 4

masmith — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:48:01 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: Paper 4 is due November 13, 2006. The purpose of this change is to allow you to take advantage of a research day in the Library Instruction Room where you can get help, from me and from each other, if you are having trouble finding scholarly articles on your topic. We are scheduled to meet in the Library Instruction Room (218) on Wednesday, November 8.

This change necessitates other changes to the Course Calendar, which you can view here; you can download a PDF of the revised calendar here.

Assignment sheet for Paper 4

masmith — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 21:56:16 +0000

Download the assignment sheet for Paper 4 here. You may find these additional resources helpful in thinking about how to research, write, and format your Proposal/Annotated bibliography:

Purdue University Online Writing Lab page on annotated bibliographies
Guidelines for MLA list of Works Cited
Sample annotated bibliography: This is an annotated bibliography compiled for a graduate class in literary criticism. Keep in mind that, in content, it does not exactly meet the requirements for Paper 4; it’s offered primarily as a formatting example.