Category: Class Notes

Class Notes 12/17: Final Exam and more

During class time: final exam

During lab time: ENG 1101 class survey; reviewing what’s left to do; final exam debrief

What’s left to do:

  • Project #5: complete your final version. Post it by Wednesday, 12/18, at 5:00pm using the category ENG1101 Project #5 and the tag Deliver, plus any other tags you want to use
  • Post all or as much as you think appropriate of Project #5 to the FYLC site, using the category 2019 Spevack & Rosen, plus any tags you want to use; also due Wednesday, 12/18, at 5:00pm.
  • Comment on at least 2 classmates’ posts on the FYLC site by Thursday, 12/19 at 9:00am.
  • Any glossary entries left to do? Make sure you have 14! By Thursday, 12/19 at 9:00am.
  • Any other missing materials? Make sure I see them by 12/19 by 11:30am.
  • Any revisions you need to do? Make sure I see them by 12/19 by 11:30am.
  • Class on 12/19: come talk to me about your grades, ask questions about your projects, talk about next semester, etc.

Class Notes 12/12: Project #5 and Prep for Final

How do we read actively, with pen in hand?

  • look for words to look up
  • annotate each paragraph
    • to say what it’s about
    • to say what it’s doing
  • what are your thoughts–maybe paragraph by paragraph
  • write a summary
  • questions:
    • what questions do you have?
    • what questions could the final exam ask?
    • Question A: 1-names the title, author(s), short summary; 2-your task: agree or disagree with a specific claim from the reading; 3-write a thesis-driven essay; 4-use any evidence; 5-use evidence from the text [include at least one quotation and explain how it relates to your argument]
      • addresses the central argument of the reading
      • asks you to address that central argument as well
    • Question B: 1-names the title, author(s), short summary about a specific part of the text, not the whole. 2-elaborating on the point raised in sentence 1; 3-your task: write an essay about more general idea from your experience; 4-elaborating on the task; 5-use any evidence; 6-use a thesis, refer to the reading [include at least one quotation and explain how it relates to your argument]
      • more of you recalling your personal experience, less reliant on the text

In the exam, what do you do?

  • read the questions
  • decide which to answer
  • 5
  • reread text or notes or parts of the text
  • find evidence in the reading or from your experience
  • 10
  • notes or outline/organization plan
  • 15
  • then start writing
  • 30
  • re-read a lot
  • maybe pro0fread from the end to the beginning
  • make changes as needed
  • 15
  • done 🙂

Class Notes 12/5: Work on Project #4

As we discussed in class on Tuesday, today’s class session is an opportunity for you to continue working on Project #4. You can work in the classroom, in the library, in the G600 computer labs, the lab in the Learning Center, or elsewhere. If you have questions, ask your classmates, or reply here or email me and I’ll check back after my conference presentation is over.

Please refer to the Class Notes for 12/3 for more information about how to organize Part 4 of Project #4, and for other information about the project and the rest of the semester.

To submit Project #4, please post Part 3 and Part 4 separately, and use the tags Part 3 and Part 4, respectively. For both, use the category ENG1101 Project #4. The deadline is currently the end of the day today, 12/5. If you have questions or concerns about that or anything else, please reach out to me.

Class Notes 12/3: Project #4 and more

What do you need to do to finish the semester in all of your classes? What advice do you need? What advice do you have to offer your classmates?

  • how do I know what my grades are?
  • how do I improve my grades between now and the end of the semester?
  • how do I pace my work?
  • how do I avoid procrastination?

Advice

  • break up the work into manageable parts
  • do some at school and some at home (G600 Mac Lab, or Mac Lab in the library, Voorhees 2nd floor, which lets you print 150 pages for the week, library study rooms for 3+ people, Pearl 1st floor COMD)–or wherever you like to work (home, subway, BPL on Remsen)
  • Math tutoring Library building Ground Floor.
  • finish it and then you have Winter Break
  • Ask for clarification or advice
  • take advantage of office hours

What’s left?

  • Project #4: parts 3 and 4 due 12/5 end-of-day
  • Review for final 12/10 and 12/12
  • Project #5 due 12/12
  • Glossary wrap-up due 12/17
  • final exam 12/17
  • final critique 12/19

Review statements made for Project #4.

  • What are the features of your chosen format?
  • What makes it that kind of statement?
  • How is it different from other formats of statements?
  • What resources did you use to know how to craft your statement?
  • Complete this sentence: According to ______, a feature of this format of statement is ________.
  • What needs revision to help it match your chosen format?

Possible outline for Part 4:

Intro: this is what statement I chose because xyz

Next: and what one feature is

Next: This is what I did

Next: This is another feature

Next: this is what I did

Intro: this is what statement I chose because xyz

I wrote about x:

X is a feature of the format

I used y

Y is a feature of the format

I expressed z

Z is a feature of the format

 

Post Part 3 and Part 4 separately, using tags to differentiate

UPDATES:

12/5: finish Part 4 of Project #4, submit all parts by the end of the day on 12/5

Practice final exam: vote=no practice final

12/12 Field trip: should we go? if so, to which, the Brooklyn Museum or the Brooklyn Public Library? Other options?

Presentations on statements

What do we want to present about each format/statement type?

  • definition: what is it?
  • steps to make your own statement
  • format
  • length
  • audience: who, what level, what understanding?
  • tone and style, vocabulary
  • what is it used for?
  • examples

As a group preparing for the presentation, what is your process?

  1. look at what’s in the annotated bibliography!
  2. decide which sources to use, and for what
  3. start making a list
  4. post your list on the OpenLab
  5. present your ideas!

Class Notes 11/14

Thinking about combining text and visual content, we considered:

  1. palimpsest
  2. ekphrasis/ ekphrastic poetry
  3. collage poetry
  4. found poetry
  5. blackout poetry
  6. concrete poetry
  7. diastic poetry

Try one of these! How might you use any of these techniques to bring text into your Ways of Seeing collection?

As we consider your creative motivations and expression as designers, we can ask what we call the statement you write to express those aspects of your creativity and vision.

Let’s read together this December 2011 multi-part inquiry into the subject:

“What is a Designer Statement?: Reinfurt, Goggin, Dixon”

“What is a Designer Statement? (Part 2): Krishnamurthy, Ibarra, Pesko, Heller, Experimental Jetset”

 

Class Notes 11/5

Library session: What stands out from the library session on 10/31?

  • know the source
  • know how reliable the source can be
  • biased vs unbiased
  • sometimes we don’t get the information directly from the source
  • +sometimes information comes to us instead of us going to get it–we need to question it.
  • academic source–what is it, do we want to use it, why?
    • research article, from a research journal
    • usually written by professors, graduate students, other academic workers,  researchers at related or  non-academic institutions
  • questions about research as you’re doing Project #4 or any other work?
  • does the author get paid? does it matter?

Project #3 drafts:

  1. In one or two sentences, what is your Project #3 about?
  2. What claim or argument do you make? this is the So What of your project.
  3. what is the juxtaposition? what are the two elements you’re comparing?
  4. are you doing all the things that the Project #3 assignment asks for?
  5. when someone reads your draft or listens to you talk about your project, what do you want them to tell you?
    • what is the claim or argument (high order)
    • what stands out or is significant about the juxtaposition
    • does the claim or argument make sense (high order)
    • comparison details: enough, too  much, not enough?
    • make sure you quote 2 passages and incorporate them into your argument about your juxtaposition
    • questions that they want to know more about
    • grammar (low order)
    • sentence structure
    • vocabulary

Class Notes 10/29

What juxtapositions can we find in Saul Steinberg’s “View of the World from 9th Avenue” or “View of the World from 9th Avenue”?

we see City/Not City

In the City, we see cars, people (but fewer than we might expect), buildings, water towers, windows of different shapes, parking lot, awning, signs, mailbox, highway. No trees or nature.

In the Not City: multiple countries (Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, Russia) with no detail; Jersey has its own color and border; states and cities are jumbled up and wrong details if any details–not accurate

In this piece, Steinberg argues that …

… what’s outside of NY doesn’t matter to him

… no other place could compare to NY

… what’s inside NY is more important than what’s outside

… he can juxtapose the difference in the details and importance.

By juxtaposing the details and importance between New York and the rest of the world, Steinberg argues that no other place can compare to NY, and that NY’s details matter more than anything outside of NY.

As we read and discuss Janny Scott’s “Here, Poverty And Privilege Are Neighbors; Income Gaps Are a Source Of Resentment and Guilt,” work with your classmates to answer these questions:

What kinds of juxtapositions does Scott write about?

  • building style/use
  • economic diversity: people at either extreme of the wealth/poverty spectrum
  • fascination with difference vs resentment and guilt

What kinds of data does Scott use in her article?

  • top 5th and bottom 5th of the income bracket in a given area
  • top 30 tracts with the biggest income disparity
  • census data
  • immigration data, neighborhood demographics both historical and current

Who are the experts Scott refers to, and how does she let us know their qualifications?

  • Academics
    • Andrew A. Beveridge, sociology prof at Queens College, CUNY
    • William Kornblum, sociology prof at the Graduate Center, CUNY
    • David J. Halle, (prof) sociologist at University of California at Los Angeles but living in NYC
    • Annelise Orleck (see below) (prof)  historian at Dartmouth
  • Residents (former or present) of the neighborhoods
    • Chastity Davis
    • Pablo Aviles
    • Annelise Orleck
    • Mary-Powel Thomas

What is Scott’s argument in the article?

What passages might you quote in Project #3?

What would you use those passages to argue?

 

As we think about Project #3 and our juxtapositions, what is your juxtaposition? what is the SO WHAT? What does it matter that you’re looking at this juxtaposition? Why does this juxtaposition matter?

“Reading Lucy”

Focused freewrite: Think about a time when you became engrossed in or even obsessed with something you were learning, studying, or experiencing. What did you do to feed and develop that interest, and what was the result?

“Reading Lucy” by Jennifer Egan

  • How is Egan’s research experience an example of what we just wrote about?
  • How is “Reading Lucy” a research essay? how is it different than what we would expect from a research essay?
  • What kind of research is included, and how do we experience it?
  • What does Egan learn about Lucy that makes her feel like they are friends?
  • Where do we see overlaps and juxtapositions?
  • What words do we need defined? What questions do we have?
  • Additional materials: letters, photo

Read and make notes in the margins to help you think about these questions.

Project #3

  • What overlaps or juxtapositions can we find in “Reading Lucy”?
  • What research can we do to prepare for the Project #3 walk?

Field Trip

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