Category: Class Notes

Today, we reviewed and critiqued various students’ Open Letter introductions. We also discussed choosing secondary sources and how to incorporate them properly into our essays.

Homework:

1) Based on today’s discussion, continue to draft the body paragraphs of your Open Letter essay. Also, revise your introduction accordingly to include the 3 main aspects discussed: (1) hook; (2) exposition; (3) clear thesis.

2) On Wednesday, 10/24 we will have our next grammar quiz on “Capitalization and Quotes.”

3) Do the 4 readings in Unit 4: Open Letter under the topic of “Cultural Appropriation/Appreciation.”

• “Is Cultural Appropriation Always Wrong” (Parul Sehgal, The New York Times)
• “Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation” (Bianca Fragoso, Odyssey Online)
• “The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” (Jarune Uwujaren, Everyday Feminism)
• “To the New Culture Cops, Everything is Appropriation” (Cathy Young, The Washington Post)

2) Based on the readings above, answer the following questions (please type).

(a) Drawing from your own personal experiences as well as the readings, what is your understanding of cultural appreciation? Be specific and provide clear examples.

(b) In “Is Cultural Appropriation Always Wrong,” what does Parul Sehgal mean by America’s “outrage culture”?

(c) In “Is Cultural Appropriation Always Wrong,” Parul Sehgal asks: Can some kinds of appropriation shatter stereotypes? What do you think? Explain why or why not.

(d) Based on “Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation” by Bianca Fragoso and “The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” by Jarune Uwujaren, what is the difference between appropriation and appreciation? Use examples, be specific, and elaborate.

(e) According to Cathy Young in “To the New Culture Cops, Everything is Appropriation,” what are the dangers posed by the cultural appropriation police?

Waqas khan

Prof. Choi

English 1101 (D348)

Open letter  intro

The use of women empowerment for politics purpose is destroying  women image around the world.In the late 2018 Dr ford accused judge Kavanaugh of sexual assault, that happened 36 years ago shocked most of us. The question is not whether judge kavanaugh was guilty or innocent, but what makes it fishy is that the accusation occurs exactly after kavanaugh was nominated for supreme court. Democrats had no choice but Use Dr. ford in order to stop Judge kavanaugh from being the supreme court judge. while democrats were supporting Dr. ford  on the other hand Republican were against Dr. ford and claimed it false allegations.

Today was devoted to our Midterm Exam.

Homework:

1. Begin drafting the introduction to your Open Letter and post to Open Lab (under Discussion) before 12pm on Sunday, 10/21. Please read and offer constructive criticism to at leastrespond to at least two other students’ The introduction should adhere to the following guidelines:

• Uses an effective lead-in that pulls readers into the essay
• Provides sufficient exposition (summary of issue and the different perspectives on it)
• Contains a clear thesis (what is your informed opinion on the issue, including a preview of your main points of support)

2. Read and comment on the introductions of at least 3 your classmates. Please post detailed feedback/comments to each other’s introductions by replying to the individual post. If a particular introduction has already received a few comments and you have nothing new/unique to add, please choose another student’s work to comment on. The deadline for comments is before class on October 22.

3. Find two secondary source (a books, news article, journal, etc.) that you can use as support in your Open Letter essay. Do not use Wikipedia or other Internet sources (unless approved).

On a separate sheet of paper to be collected, summarize the main points of both secondary sources, and then discuss how you will specifically use these sources to support points in your Open Letter. Please type your response for collection on Monday, 10/22.

We are already halfway through the semester and I am STILL getting assignments that are incorrectly formatted. From here on, if I receive an incorrectly formatted paper, I will immediately return it to you.

You must format your assignments according to MLA guidelines. Please check our course syllabus under “formatting papers” for more information. Here are some basic reminders:

1. You must use Times New Roman 12-pt. font.
2. You must double space everything, except the heading.
3. You must use 1-inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right).
4. You must use page numbers for longer assignments (your last name and the page number go in the top right corner of each page, starting on the second page).
5. You must staple/clip your own work.
6. Your heading must be as follows (no spaces):

John Doe
Prof. Choi
ENG 1101 (DXXX)
Personal Narrative Essay

Students,

I returned the Personal Narrative essays today at the end of class. Can you please double check that you did not accidentally get another student’s essay? It may have gotten mistakenly attached to your essay. Please let me know if this happened.

Best,
Prof. Choi

Today we discussed the readings from Unit 4 under “Ethical Dilemmas,” which will help students draft the practical solutions part of their Open Letter essays.

Homework

1. Prepare for the Midterm Exam by following the preparing guidelines on the Midterm Exam page. Remember that only small/marginal notes are acceptable on your article. If you have more, you will be given a fresh copy of the article to work with. Do not arrive late! Ensure you have your article with you (extras will not be provided) and a working pen/pencil. We will start the exam immediately at 11:30am.

2. Write a 1-2 page typed proposal for the topic of your Open Letter essay. To be collected on Wednesday, 10/17.

a) In the proposal, you should fully explain the issue on which your letter will focus. Oftentimes there will be a smaller story that speaks to a larger issue. For example, Jennifer Lawrence’s open letter about being paid less than her male costars in Hollywood speaks to the larger national issue of the gender pay wage gap. Similarly, if your focus is on a smaller/local problem, you must also identify the broader issue at hand. Again, your chosen topic/issue must be current and widely under debate.

b) You must also outline to whom your letter will be addressed (i.e., your audience). Be specific – do not just simply say, “My letter is for everyone.” What is your goal in appealing to this audience? What tone do you feel is best in appealing to the audience? What methods/techniques would be best employed?

c) Discuss what support you will need to write your letter. In terms of secondary sources, what do you need to read to better familiarize yourself with the issues? What kinds of sources will you draw from? What are the best sources to use in addressing the issue and your particular audience? How will you establish your own credibility?

d) Discuss your potential solution to the issue. What do you see as the cause of the problem and how can we best approach fixing it?

3. Prepare for Grammar Quiz on Topic 4: Capitalization & Quotes to be held during Week 9.

Today, we discussed our next essay assignment, the Open Letter.

We then discussed the two open letters that we read for homework, one by Jennifer Aniston and the other by Philip Roth in connection to the topic of rumors.

Midterm practice essays were returned and reviewed. Please review essays for errors and revise accordingly.

Homework:

1) Read the readings in Unit 4 under the heading of “Ethical Dilemmas” (I have also included direct links below). There are two readings and one worksheet that you must fill out based on the readings. Print and read/annotate both readings and the worksheet and be ready to discuss them on Monday, 10/15.

• A Framework for Ethical Decision Making
• Ronald F. White, Excerpts from Moral Inquiry
• Ethical Dilemmas Worksheet

2) Using your City Tech New York Times subscription, search for 1 article on a current issue civic, social, or political issue that will be the subject of your Open Letter essay. Print and read/annotate the article. On a separate sheet of paper, summarize the issue and the main points of the author regarding the issue, and then discuss your own views on the issue (i.e., which side do you agree with and why?). Please type your response for collection on Monday, 10/15.

3) Finish the Open Letter template on rumors started in class.

4) Prepare for the Midterm Exam to be held on 10/17. Go over the preparation guidelines and review all the practice exams/questions/reponses. Revise your homework essay based on the feedback returned to you from your in-class essay.

 

Today, the Personal Narrative Essays were collected.

Then, we had a practice midterm exam based on the article, “The Science of ‘Paying it Forward’.”

Homework:

1) Write a 5-paragraph essay in response to the other prompt that you did not choose for the in-class practice exam. Please allow yourself only 1 hour and 15 minutes to write the essay.

2) Print and read the assignment sheet for the Open Letter Essay.

3) Print and read/annotate the 5 readings from Unit 4, under the heading “Rumors,” including:

• Jennifer Aniston “For the Record”
• Philip Roth “An Open Letter to Wikipedia”
• Gregory Rodriguez, “One Man’s Rumor is Another Man’s Reality” 
• Daniel Goleman, “Anatomy of a Rumor: It Flies on Fear”
• Jesse Singal, “How to Fight a Rumor”

4) Grammar Quiz on Topic 3 to be given next week.

5) Reminder: Monday 10/8, no classes. The next time we will meet is Wednesday, 10/10. See you in a week!

Sample Body Paragraph #1

By interacting with strangers, commuters will have a better commute. One advantage is that they can gain confidence in talking to strangers. For example, one morning my brother was having a bad day. He woke up feeling self-conscious about his appearance. The woman next to him noticed his dismay and engaged in a conversation with him. Normally, my brother would just ignore other people on the train, but this time he listened. The woman ended up lifting his spirits by complimenting him on his outfit. That day, he went to school and delivered a brilliant class presentation. Had he kept to himself on the train, my brother would probably have still felt worried and self-conscious. Therefore, talking to strangers is more beneficial than ignoring them.

 

Sample Body Paragraph #2

In addition, interacting with other commuters benefits us by improving our social skills. Some people have anxiety issues that prevent us from effectively communicating with others. Talking to strangers helps them to practice communicating and get out of their comfort zones. For example, I avoided talking to classmates in high school. However, once I started opening myself up to strangers and finding our common interests, I grew more comfortable interacting with others. It made me more proactive in opening up about personal topics I don’t normally discuss, and more comfortable speaking in public. Interacting with strangers can improve our confidence and help us reach our social goals. Therefore, conversing with those around us yield benefits to our social development.

 

Sample Body Paragraph #3

Finally, in reference to the social experiment performed by Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder, talking to strangers yielded “conversations [that] were consistently pleasant.” For instance, one couple in graduate school noticed when the boyfriend, Benjamin, was forced to speak to a stranger, his previous bad mood was lifted. However, when Benjamin spoke with his girlfriend, Liz, he unleashed his full grumpy mood onto her. This left both of them in a bad mood. Talking to a stranger helps us regulate our emotions in order to give a good first impression as opposed to neglecting the impression you give someone with whom you are already familiar. Therefore, I believe that interacting with others could make other people’s day better.

In class, we reviewed the article, “Hello, Stranger,” and discussed students’ responses to both essay prompts A & B.

Students also had a chance to work in groups and critique sample responses to the essay prompts.

Homework:

1) Continue revising your Personal Narrative essay. Again, I encourage you to make an appointment with a tutor at the Learning Center, or schedule an appointment with me, to help you with the revision process. This will help you earn a higher grade on the final draft due on Wednesday, 10/3. **Again, there a number of things you must hand in, so please review these requirements from the previous post on 9/24. Papers that are missing any of the listed components will not be accepted and incur a late penalty.

2) Read and annotate the article handed out in class, “The Science of Paying It Forward,” as if you were preparing for the midterm exam. See the preparation guidelines under the “Exams” tab. We will have a mock-exam in class on Wednesday. The essay questions will be distributed then. (*Please bring looseleaf paper on which to write your essays.)

3) Prepare for the next grammar quiz on Topic 3: Verb Tense & Who vs. Whom. The next quiz will be on Wednesday, 10/10.