Week | Topics | Assignment Due for Next Monday | |
Week 1 | Introducing ourselves
Discuss the syllabus, course policies, and learning goals Lab: Sentence completion – Chapter 2 of Writing for Success |
Post a photo of yourself to OpenLab and, next to it, write 350 words about a person or place that means a lot to you
Watch Get Out at the library or by streaming it |
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Week 2 | Film: Get Out
Lab: Effective punctuation – Chapter 3 of Writing for Success |
Write a 500 word response to Get Out and hand-in a hard copy | |
Week 3 | Closely ‘reading’ Get Out
Lab: Word choice – exercises on page 170 of Writing for Success |
Write a 500 word response to Boys Don’t Cry and hand-in a hard copy | |
Week 4 | Film: The Aggressives
Closely ‘reading’ The Aggressives Lab: Thesis statements and writing paragraphs; Chapter 9 of Writing for Success |
Write a 4-5 page analysis of one of the two films | |
Week 5 | Peer Review/Conferences
Lab: Identifying metaphor and making revisions – “Notes of a Native Son” and Chapter 7 of Writing for Success |
Revise and complete your film analysis; and read “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin | |
Week 6 | Interpret and respond to “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin
Lab: Transition words – Chapter 7 of “They Say / I Say” |
Begin constructing your personal essay (two pages)
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Week 7 | Analyze Anna Journey’s lyric essay, “Isabelle’s Tongue”
Lab: Creating associative writing |
Write three pages of your personal essay
Read “Afterlife” by Joan Didion |
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Week 8 | Discuss Joan Didion’s piece “After Life.”
Film: Joan Didion – “The Center Will Not Hold.” What are her subjects and how does she engage with them? Lab: Practicing insights and descriptions |
Complete a rough draft of your personal essay | |
Week 9 | Film: Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird”
Peer review and Conferences Lab: Personal narrative of “Lady Bird” and its conclusion
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Complete your personal essay | |
Week 10 | Library days: learn and apply research strategies | Finish your annotated bibliography
Read Thomas Chatterton Williams’s article “How Ta-Nehisi Coates Gives Whiteness Power” |
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Week 11 | Create a thesis statement; practice quoting and analyzing your sources
Lab: “The Art of Quoting” They Say / I Say, page 42 |
Complete a half draft of your essay | |
Week 12 | Conference and peer review
Lab: “And Yet” – page 68 of “They Say / I Say” and extending body paragraphs |
Complete a full rough draft
Read Scott Korb’s article “The Soul-Crushing Student Essay” |
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Week 13 | Creating a reverse outline
Lab: The ‘So What’ question; They Say / I Say, page 92 |
Revise your essay!
Read Sherry Turkle’s article “Let’s Talk” |
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Week 14 | Preparation for the final
Practice writing strategies, including thesis statements, sentence building, transitions, and supporting an argument |
Complete the final draft of your persuasive argument and bring it to the final
Read the article in preparation for the final exam |
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Week 15 | *Final Exam* | *You must pass this exam in order to pass the course* |