Author: Professor Sean Scanlan (Page 3 of 6)

Weekly Folder, April 20 – 27

Topics:

1—Zoom Link

2—Virtual Coffeehouse Prompt (Due Sunday, April 27)

3—Discussion: How to Read Short Stories, and Ha Jin’s Story: “A Good Fall”

4—Homework: Readings and Journal 6 (Due Sunday, April 27)

Hi Class,

Thank you very much for doing such a good job on three fronts. First, your Virtual Coffeehouse posts were so fun to read—thank you for doing such a great job. Second, the draft were great—I read each one, and they were all coming along nicely. Third, the peer reviews were really strong; most of you were able to provide seriously helpful advice.

1—Zoom Link:

Topic: Sean Scanlan’s Zoom Meeting

Time: Apr 20, 2020 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/91885968572?pwd=QUFMOTVvdk5vL1lJRG5GTnBrVXg1dz09

Meeting ID: 918 8596 8572

Password: 088762

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2—Virtual Coffeehouse Prompt: Write about a problem that has recently occurred. It can be a simple problem: how do I make my own mask? Or a complex one: should I change my major? It does not have to be a personal problem that requires too much sharing. Describe the problem and then how you solved it—or how you intend to solve it. (Due Sunday, April 27, by 10pm)

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3—Short Stories. Our last essay of the semester will be a literary research essay that will ask you to examine the connections between short stories and five types of ethics. To that end, we need a reading tool…much like the tools we developed for non-fiction essays and poetry.

First, what is a short story:  A short story is an invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)

Second, let’s read this short story by Borges:

The Captive

by Jose Luis Borges, published 1960

The story is told in Junín or in Tapalquén. A boy disappeared after an Indian attack. People said the Indians had kidnapped him. He parents searched for him in vain. Then, long years later, a soldier who came from the interior told them about an Indian with blue eyes who might well be their son. At length they found him (the chronicle has lost the circumstances and I will not invent what I do no know) and thought they recognized him. The man, buffeted by the wilderness and by barbaric life, no longer knew how to understand the words of his mother tongue, but indifferent and docile, he let himself be led home. There he stopped, perhaps because the others stopped. He looked at the door as if he did not know what it was for. Then suddenly he lowered his head, let out a shout, ran across the entrance way and the two long patios, and plunged into the kitchen. Without hesitating, he sank his arm into the blackened chimney and pulled out the little horn-handled knife he had hidden there as a boy. His eyes shone with joy and his parents wept because they had found their son.

Perhaps this recollection was followed by others, but the Indian could not live within walls, and one day he went in search of his wilderness. I wonder what he felt in that dizzying moment when past and present became one. I wonder whether the lost son was reborn and died in that instant of ecstasy; and whether he ever managed to recognize, if only as an infant or a dog does, his parents and his home.

                               Source: Borges, Jorge Luis. Collected Fictions. Translated by Andrew Hurley. Penguin, 1998, p 300.

Third: how should we read this? Let’s explore our five-part short story reading tool (Readings menu tab)

Fourth, let’s briefly explore Ha Jin’s “A Good Fall” by using this short story tool.

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4—Homework: Read the following four short stories.

“New York Day Women” by Edwidge Danticat (our textbook)

“Mrs Manstey’s View” by Edith Wharton (our textbook)

“Assimilation” by EL Doctorow (Readings)

“Wave Hello, Say Goodbye” by Tony Parsons (Readings)

JOURNAL 6: Select one story that you liked the most and use our short story reading tool to examine it (300 words). Post this journal to a new Category labeled: Journal 6. (Due: Sunday, April 27, by 10pm)

As always, email any questions.

Best,

Sean

Hi Class. Thanks for coming to our Zoom class today. Here are three updates:

1–REVISED PEER REVIEW PROCESS:

Instead of doing the peer review in groups, I’ve decided to open things up and let each student decide who to review. The way this will work is that students should select the draft they want to review, but students cannot review a draft that already has two reviews. So, if students see a draft that has two reviews, then  please select a different one to review. This is a “first come, first served” approach. This process should work, even if there is an odd number of drafts.

2–Spell and Grammar Checks:

There is a built-in spell and grammar check on the OpenLab site that works when you type into the dialog/editing box. But it is not powerful. Sometimes the red underline appears, and sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve posted links to two free Spelling and Grammar Checks in the sidebar of our site (to the right). Please make sure to click the “Lookup” or “Check Text” box and not the “Deep Lookup” or “Premium Upgrade” box. The bottom line is: do not pay for these checkers.

3–Here are the four tips that I covered today:

1—One connotation is not enough. Too few connotations shuts down the many meanings that the poem can provide. Remember, the emphasis on meanings (not meaning).

2—Repetition of sounds such as alliteration, assonance, or consonance convey meanings and feelings. Go beyond simply noticing that a sound is repeated.

3—Make sure to proofread your work:

–Read your essay out loud!

–Get a family member or friend to read it!

–Read backwards! Read the last sentence, then the second to last sentence, and so on!

–Use a grammar and spell check!

4—This assignment is mainly to explore many meanings inside two lines of poetry by using the poetry terms we have discussed. So, don’t try to summarize and lock in the “one true meaning” of the poem.

Best,

Sean

ps. Email any questions!

Hi Class,

Thanks to those able to attend Monday’s class. I hope many will be able to attend tomorrow (Wednesday).

Here are the Zoom details for Wednesday’s 9am class.

Sean Scanlan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Sean Scanlan’s Zoom Meeting
Time: Apr 15, 2020 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/96038283808?pwd=T0VoRmtRa2dFOFNMeTVDUEVGMUtUUT09

Meeting ID: 960 3828 3808
Password: 043100

Best,

Sean

Weekly Folder for April 13-17

Summary:

1—Zoom Details for Monday’s Class at 9am

2— Peer Review for Explication (Due Sunday, April 19 by 10pm)–See revised process above–top post.

3— Virtual Coffeehouse (Due Sunday, April 19 by 10pm)

4— Read the short story “A Good Fall” by Ha Jin (Due Sunday, April 19 by 10pm)

[Note: We will begin the class with a general discussion of how things are going.]

1—Zoom Details for Monday’s Class at 9am

Sean Scanlan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Time: Apr 13, 2020 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/96148994137?pwd=dmcxZE80MW9KQ1V1d3dBcDhGRVlpQT09

Meeting ID: 961 4899 4137

Password: 027858

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2— REVISED PROCESS FOR Peer Review:

Instead of doing the peer review in groups, I’ve decided to open things up and let each student decide who to review. The way this will work is that students should select the draft they want to review, but students cannot review a draft that already has two reviews. So, if students see a draft that has two reviews, then  please select a different one to review. This is a “first come, first served” approach. This process should work, even if there is an odd number of drafts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The peer reviews must be done by Wednesday at 5pm so that students have time to consider the reviews, rewrite as needed, and proofread by Sunday at 10pm.

Directions:

1—By Monday morning (April 13) each student should have posted their drafts to the Explication Draft menu tab (the deadline was today)

2—Each student must review two other drafts. If a draft already has two reviews, then select another one. So, in the end, each student will write two reviews and receive two reviews. Make sure to spend time when writing comments—Please proofread your work and always approach a peer review in the spirit of kindly offering help. See my example for language that is encouraging.

3—Post your peer review as a Comment: See my example above.

4—By Wednesday night, each student should be able to start revising their draft with the two reviews in mind.

5—Post the Final Draft of the explication to the new menu tab: Final Draft Exp.

Due Sunday, April 19. By 10pm.

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3— Virtual Coffeehouse prompt: Write two paragraphs in which you reflect on a new thing that you have enjoyed in the past two weeks; it could be a new activity you have started, or a new game you now play, or new music, or new movies/shows, or new social media events, or Zoom parties, or new food you tried to make. Post to the Virtual Coffeehouse menu tab. Due Sunday, April 19.

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4— Read the short story “A Good Fall” by Ha Jin in our textbook, page 336. It is also in PDF form in our Readings menu tab. In your notebook, write down a list of the main characters. Due Sunday, April 19.

**If you think you are missing work, please contact me via email so we can work together to solve any issues.

Best wishes,

Sean

Walt Whitman (Sean’s Example)

Essay 2-Poetry Explication

April 12, 2020

Prof. Scanlan, ENG 1121

Music and Meaning in “We Real Cool”

Gwendoyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool” is a short, formal verse poem that has 5 stanzas. It is about 7 pool players at a place called the Golden Shovel. But it is also about the toughness of these guys, an interpretation reinforced by the short, choppy lines, the cool, jazz-like rhythm and rhymes. I will explicate two lines in the middle of the poem: “Lurk late. We/Strike straight. We.” These two short lines are fascinating because they point out both rhymes and meanings that are important to the group of pool players. While many lines are important to the poem, I highlight and explicate these two because they have something to do with a type of attitude and sense of violence that has a lot to do with the prospect of death—the last line. In order to track down these meanings, I will dive into alliteration, rhyme, repetition, and some of the connotations of key words. I’m not sure if the music drives this poem or the poem seems a type of music, but diving deep into this one was rewarding…so much packing into a short space. I was surprised by my own conclusion.

The alliteration of the repeated “L” of “Lurk late” gives off the sound of music, like singing. And the next line repeats the “S” sound in “Strike Straight.” So much repeated sounds suggest a cool humming and the “S” sound reminds me a snake. But the repeated “We” at the end of both lines is sort of nice and gives a higher sound, like a bird. So, the sounds are cool and low but the “E” in we (assonance), breaks up the song they seem to be singing.

Many denotations and connotations and are inside these two lines. The idea of lurk means to be hidden or to wait in ambush. That gives the connotation of sinister feelings or possible danger and darkness. These connotations are reinforced by “late.” This word means both late in the day—possibly night—and it means to arrive tardy, not on time. These ideas remind me that they are not in school, so they wait for something to happen late at night, possibly an activity not very nice. Next the pair of words “Strike straight” require some unfolding. The word strike has many many meanings, but some central ones are to hit, to think of a new idea (both as verbs), and to refuse to work (as a noun). The three meanings suggest the ideas that these guys are not working, not in school, waiting to hit something—or even to be hit. Also, because they are at a pool hall, the balls are being struck, so that is hitting.

Lastly, they idea of “We” is important and needs unfolding. The meaning of we is together. So, this group is together, they have a family of sorts and that helps them to lurk and strike as a team. This term to me is mostly positive, while the words lurk and strike are mainly negative. Does the positive we balance out the negative hitting or ambushing? Maybe the answer is suggested by the last line: “Die Soon.” And I can’t forget that in many cases in this poem, the “We” is cut off from the next line, meaning that the enjambment creates tension and suggests they are more separate than together, more alone. Though I love this poem, I am left with the conflicting meanings that to lurk late and strike straight is sad and dangerous and will cut them off from others.

(613 words)

Hi Class,

Thank you to all the students who have attended this week’s classes! It was great to hear your voices.

Four things:

1–Here are the notes I typed up while working on the  “We Real Cool” explication:

UPDATED-WITHCLASS-NOTES-we real cool

2–Here are the notes I typed up while working on the “Dulce et Decorum Est” explication:

UPDATED Dulce-et-Decorum-Est-Explication-Example-1121 (5)

3–Later today, I will post the Zoom recording of today’s class and put it in the Video’s menu tab.

4–400 word draft of the explication is due by Monday, April 13.  Post your draft to the Category: Explication Drafts.

Have a great mini-break. See you April 13  at 9 am for our next class.

Sean