Author: Professor Sean Scanlan (Page 1 of 4)

Hi Class,

Today (12/9) was our last class! Thank you for sticking with me during this tough semester. I hope that you learned a lot and even found some ideas to take with you into the future.

End of Semester Information:

Final Essay Deadline: Monday, Dec 14 Midnight!!!!

Method: post to OpenLab (Category: Final Essay)

Helpful tip: read over the student example on OpenLab, use Purdue Owl for help with quotations and Works Cited. See my Proofreading Advice at the end of this post.

Final Exam Deadline: Wednesday, Dec 16 Midnight!!!

NOTE: I will post the Final Exam to OpenLab by 5pm on Friday.

Method: Use a spell/grammar check and send to me via City Tech email.

NOTE: Make sure to type a clear subject line: Full name, ENG2001 Final Exam

Late work: deadline is Monday, Dec 14 Midnight!!!

** SET—student evaluation of teaching? Please fill out this form (it was sent to your City Tech Email)

** Missing work: email me ASAP

** I will have office hours this week and next.

Exam Review: the exam will consist of three sections. First section: short definition and example. Second Section: Quotation Identification. Third Section: brief essay. The exam is designed to take roughly 1:15 to complete, but take the time that you need. Make sure to proofread, revise, and spell/grammar check before emailing your exam to me. You may use your notes and the website while writing the exam.

 

Concepts:

 

– 5 part reading tool

– SOP—“The Black Cat,” Edgar Allen Poe

– Todorov

– Central Gothic Irony: in our definition handout, see Lloyd-Smith (5).

– Gothic Emotions, Gothic Actions, Gothic Hallmarks, Gothic Elements

– Global Fiction—Globalization, review the chapter on Globalization by Manfred Steger

– Modernist Fiction—Modernism

– Ethics-5 types

 

Stories:

 

– “The Veldt”

– “The Enormous Radio”

– “A Rose for Emily”

– “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”

– “Sonny’s Blues”

– “Say Hell, Wave Goodbye”

– “A Good Fall”

– “The Interpreter of Maladies”

– “Assimilation”

– “A Very Short Story”

– “Tender Buttons”

– “The Lottery”

How to punctuate titles and quotations:

• At the end of his story “Assimilation,” by E.L. Doctorow, the main characters Jelena and Ramon decide to run away.
• At the end of “Assimilation,” Leon, Ramon’s brother, says “Let the war begin.”
• Ramon says three things about Jelena, who he says is “beautiful”: she is “shy,” “mean,” and “great.”

Revising and Proofreading Advice:

1. Offer to trade essays with a classmate.
2. Read the essay out loud. Enunciate each word. If something is wrong, the ear usually picks it up.
3. Read “backwards.” This is a technique used by professional editors and proofreaders: starting at the end of your essay, read each sentence in reverse order (don’t read the words in reverse order).
4. Revise each topic sentence to reveal exactly what the paragraph is trying to claim/assert.
5. Replace all weak verbs to strong verbs; change passive verbs to active verbs.
6. Make sure that topic sentences are aligned with the thesis. Do they help support the overall thesis? They should.
7. Make sure that the thesis, topic sentences, and conclusion speak to each other–that they are linked. Revise as needed.
8. Make sure that commas are inside the quotations.
9. Make sure to use grammar check and spell check. Set the grammar check in MS Word to “formal.”

Stay healthy and best wishes to all!

Sincerely,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Thanks for joining class today; I hope I provided some guidance on how to finish your essay.

Reminders:

*Please remember to fill out the SETs (Student Evaluation of Teaching) that were sent to your City Tech email.

*All late work/missing work is due on Monday, Dec 14 at midnight. Email me if you have questions.

*The final essay deadline is Dec 14 at midnight (post to OpenLab)

Homework for Wednesday (last class):

Bring your notes for a final exam review. Also, bring in any questions about your final essay.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

I was encouraged by everyone’s ability to identify key scenes in their chosen stories. I have a good feeling that you are all on the right track.

Here is the quotation example the we went over today:

Goal:

A student wants to convey the following information:

• Leon = most interesting of the main characters

• Story title, author, where published

•Quote: “Snatched from under their foreign eyes […] I should have known” from page 12

• Why important: shows he underestimated his brother and also seems proud

The plan:

The first sentence will introduce the character, then the story details, and then the quote. The second sentence will say why this quote is so important.

Final Result:

Leon, the most interesting of the main characters in the short story “Assimilation,” by E.L. Doctorow, published in The New Yorker in 2010, indicates that Ramon has saved Jelena when he says she was “Snatched from under their foreign eyes […] I should have known” (12). This is so important because it shows Leon underestimated his brother and yet, at the same time, he seems proud of him.

**Note: this example is not perfect, and it assumes that the story and author has not yet been stated. It is more common to have already stated these details. See the Student Example for how this might look.

Homework:

Review the Final Essay Student Example found in the Readings menu tab. Then write your own first page that includes an original title, a clear introduction, a specific thesis, and a method. Be prepared to read your first page in class on Monday.

Best wishes,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Great discussion today. I could tell that everybody read the two stories. Maximum participation points were attained by all!

For Wednesday:

1–Reread the handout on Five Types of Ethics.

2–Write a 300-word Coffeehouse post for Wednesday that asks you to revise/expand this morning’s freewrite. The questions to address are:

• What is your favorite story and why?

• Who are the main characters in this story and what major decisions do they make? • What are two important scenes in which characters act or speak?

• Although we did not address this question this morning specifically, write down the types of ethics that the main characters seem to follow–this can be more than one type.

**Please post your Coffeehouse to the category “Coffeehouse #5”

The more you can write down for this Coffeehouse, the better positioned you will be to finish the final essay on a strong note.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

**Remember: NO CLASS THIS WEDNESDAY!!

For next Monday:

1–Read the final two stories: “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, ” by Parsons and “Assimilation” by Doctorow.

2–Complete Quiz 3 (the form is on the right sidebar).

**Note: Coffeehouse #5 will be due December 2.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Thanks for the contributions today.

For Monday: Read “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri

In your notes, answer these questions:

1—Who is Mr. Kapasi, and what is he like?

2—Describe Mr. and Mrs. Das. Why are they in India?

3—How do they act toward their children?

4—Why is Mrs. Das interested in Mr. Kapasi’s other job?

5—What is the malady that she wants him to interpret?

6—What happens to Bobby at the hills?

7—What do you think will happen to the Das family in the future?

8—What is the importance of photography/photographs in the story?

9—What sort of ethics do the three adults seem to follow?

10—Describe how the four forms of globalization are at work.

 

Best wishes,

Prof. Scanlan

****Note: If you need to turn in any work this semester, no matter how late, please email me so we can set up a timeline for submission.

Homework for Wednesday: Review Steger and Jin, then answer these questions:

 

1–What is the definition of these four Social Forms of globalization:

a–Embodied Globalization:

b–Disembodied Globalization:

c–Object-Extended Globalization:

d–Organization-Extended Globalization:

 

2–What four distinct qualities does each social form of globalization possess?

a:

b:

c:

d:

 

3–What is the parable of the elephant and why is it important?

 

4–What are Steger’s short and very short definitions of globalization?

 

Questions related to “A Good Fall”:

1–Why is Ganchin in NYC?

2–Does this story exhibit any modernist or gothic characteristics?

3–Does this story contain forms or qualities of globalization? What are they?

4–What types of ethics are at work? Does Ganchin exhibit a different type of ethics from Zong? Cindy?

 

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Thanks for your contributions today. Those were great quotes.

For Monday:

1–Read Manfred Steger’s definition of globalization (in Readings)

2–Read “A Good Fall” by Ha Jin (in Readings)

3–Write down at least one question about either of these readings.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Thanks for your contributions today. We will continue to work on “Sonny’s Blues” on Wednesday. I hope to hear more favorite quotes.

I want students to present an ethical decision from the story and think through one type of ethics.

For example, today we approached this decision from page 22:

Should the narrator give money to Sonny’s friend? Why or why not? Is he going to help or hurt himself with the money?

Virtue ethicist: gives money because he thinks it is the right thing to do. He wants to be nice/generous. He always gives some money to him.

Deontologist: uses a rule to give money…for example, I put myself in another person’s shoes. Or, I follow the rule: give money to those in need.

Utilitarian: giving $ maximizes my happiness and his.

Global ethicist: Equality matters, so equal pay helps raise his finances.

Feminist ethicist: he is an addict and is in pain, therefore he should be helped.

**I recommend reviewing the handout before tackling this homework.

Email any questions,

Best,

Prof. Scanlan