HW (prompts) – ENG1101-72 English Composition 1, SP2019

Final Blog Post (due Wed, 5/22)

Hi everyone,

For your final blog post, you have the choice of

A) revising one of your previous blog posts

B) writing a response to the article that the final exam is on (a PDF of which is in the Essay Assignments folder)so as to prepare for writing the actual exam.

If you choose B), I will be looking for the following items regarding the final exam article in your post:

Title, Author, Main Idea, Thesis, Your Response, 1-2 ideas from the article, 1-2 ideas about the main idea taken from at least 1 article you find online

Thanks—and best of luck studying!

HW for Friday (1p)

Hi all,
Instead of meeting in person on Wednesday (5/15), please work through the below exercise to prepare for taking the final exam next Wednesday. The article I want you to practice with is once again “Hello, Stranger” (pp. 90-2 in Packet II), but the methods practiced should help you with reading and responding to the article that the real final exam will be on.

A PDF of the actual final exam article can be found in the Assignments folder; you are encouraged to read and research about this article before the exam, but I’m not allowed to discuss it with you, which is why I’m working instead with you on the “Hello, Stranger” practice exam.

Note there will be one final blog assignment, due next Monday 5/20; all essays and blog entries will be due the day of the final exam, next Wed 5/22. Below are the additional prompts on “Hello, Stranger” I’d like you to do.

I. Reading the article (“Hello Stranger,” p. 90-1) for the basics. Fill in the below info.

Title, Author(s):

Topic/Main Idea:

Thesis (this is often different than the topic):

II. Reading the prompts (p. 92). Fill in the below info for each prompt (A and B).

Topic/Main Idea:

Thesis (yours; also think of how this responds to the author’s):

Content you must include:

Content you can include:

III. Researching to prepare and generate content for your response essay. Using a web or library search, find at least one piece of media (text, image, video, etc.) that can add something new to your discussion of the main topic of “Hello, Stranger.” Include a link and a brief note on the article you find below.

HW for Next Week

Read Dunn & Norton’s “Hello, Stranger” (the last reading in Packet II), including the essay prompts (this is a sample final exam to prepare you to take the actual final exam). Continue to write, re-write, and revise Essays 1, 2, and 3. Prepare to present if you haven’t yet.

Note: In addition to the writing prompt below, there will be an additional writing prompt next week, due by Friday at 1p. Then, there will be 1 additional writing prompt to respond to by the following Monday (5/20) at 1p.

Writing Prompt (3 parts; due Monday 5/13 by 1p):

What is Dunn & Norton’s thesis? Describe it in your own words.
Paraphrase in your own words what each of the two essay prompts (on p. 92) are asking for. In other words, describe what the key points you would focus on in each of the two essays that the two prompts call for.
Choose one of the prompts and write 1-2 sentences that outline the essay you would write in response to it.

HW for Mon 5/6

HW: 1. Ensure you are ready to present your group’s Essay 2.
2. Read Gloria Naylor’s essay in Packet 2.
3. A reminder that your revised Essay 1s are due at the final. Grades will be based on how significantly you have revised (simply correcting small typos and grammar mistakes is not an example of significant revision; rewriting and reorganizing paragraphs IS an example of significant revision).

Writing prompt on Naylor’s text (2 parts—do both!; due Monday 1 pm):

A.) In “A Word’s Meaning Can Often Depend on Who Says It,” author Gloria Naylor explains several of the many different meanings of the “n-word.” Identify at least 2 of these different meanings and explain them in your own words. Then connect Naylor’s essay to a story from your own life experience having to do with the “n-word.”

B.) In her essay, Naylor chooses to write out the “n-word” as “nigger.” Do you find this offensive? Why or why not? For you, what are the differences between these three versions of the same word: “n-word,” “nigger,” “nigga”?

HW for Wed 4/10

HW: Finish reading Caraminica’s text on Drake and memes. Read the first half of Imp Kerr’s “Feasts Under the Bridge” (on trolling), pp. 58-68.

HW for Mon 4/8

HW: Finish reading Crawford’s “The Anxieties of Big Data.” Read Caraminica’s “Drake: Rapper, Actor, Meme.”
With your Essay 2 group: search for new articles on your Essay 2 word, make a list of them, decide on 1 of them to read. Read this article and arrive in class next week prepared to write about 2+ quotations from it that feature your Essay 2 word.

Writing Prompt (2 parts)
1. Building connections between words and texts. First, spend a few sentences explaining what the word “normcore” means. Ground your explanation in a quotation from K-Hole’s text “YOUTH MODE.” Second, explain what the word “surveillant anxiety” means when Kate Crawford uses it in her text, “The Anxieties of Big Data” (which starts on p. 46).
Third, explain why you think Crawford discusses “normcore” on p. 48. What is the connection made here between data anxiety and the trend known as “normcore”?

2. Post article info (author, title, publication, link) for the new text your Essay 2 group has found and will be reading this week.

Youth Mode Response

In the article youth mode by Nijhuis and K-Hole claims there to be problems in both the Millennial and Generation X communities definition of identity and the internet. However the authors focuses more on the Millennials. Miss Nijhuis begins by pointing out that identity has been cheapened and corrupted to the point that it can even be forced upon you without your wanting. An example of this that Miss Nijhuis gives is they Horoscope explaining that “you’re a scorpio wither if you believe astrology or not” showing how even regardless of your view of act of star charting personalities (Astrology) it can be force on your social personality. Miss Nijhuis go on to explain how even companies that purposefully change and alter there public appearance don’t even know how to appeal to consumers to the vast different forms of social identities there are and how they all enevidably clash. But personally I don’t necessarily believe that is is even a problem. Of course to be this is quite normal being a Millennial myself. However i see it more of a positive effect of the Cultural diffusion that breeds from the popularization of the internet. Witch bring us to the core of the point that I believe Nijhuis and K-Hole are trying to make and that is the the internet itself is the main reason why the world or the culture has changing so much between the generation. Nor for the better but most definitely not for the worst.

HW for Wed 4/3

HW: Read the first part of Kate Crawford’s “The Anxieties of Big Data” (pp. 46-48 in Packet 2). Work on finding new articles on your Essay 2 topic that you might read with your group and present on to the class.

HW for Mon 4/1

HW: Finish typing your midterm summary into your group’s Google Doc. Read “Youth Mode” by K-Hole as well as Michelle Nijhuis’ “The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention” (both in Packet 2).

WRITING PROMPT:
Working with your Essay 2 group, create a new Google Doc for your essay. Make sure to share the document with everyone in the group as well as with me (street.monroe@gmail.com).
Once the Google Doc is created and shared, I want each of you to type a revised version of your midterm summary in the group’s document. Please paste a link your Google Doc below by Monday at 1p.

HW for Wed, 3/27

HW: Finish reading Lovink’s “The Social Media Ideology.” Also read: Organizing Research and Research Notes (p. 9-10); Keyword Search (13).

HW/Prompt for Mon 3/25

READING

Read the first part of Geert Lovink’s “The Social Media Ideology” (pp. 15-29 in Packet II). Skim “EXAMPLE ESSAY 2” (pp. 25-32) and “Explaining Quotations” (pp. 32-4).

WRITING PROMPT (2 parts):

A) Reflecting on Online Feedback from Classmates (& Me). Read back through all of your blog posts and the feedback you received on them from classmates. Then, write a paragraph summarizing the comments you received and/or what you noticed about your writing. As we pass through the midpoint of the semester, what do you think the strengths of your writing are? What do you—and the classmates commenting on your work—think could be improved in your writing? Be as specific as you can.

B) Explaining Quotations with Key Words. Read the first half of Lovink’s “On the Social Media Ideology” and locate a passage where he discusses the word “ideology.” In the first part of your response, introduce and write out this passage as a quotation. Then use one of the “Templates for Explaining Quotations” (on p. 32) to explain what it means. As part of your explanation, you can include questions about anything that is unclear in the quotation, but I also want you to spend at least 2 sentences speculating about what you think the meaning of the word “ideology” is—as well as how Lovink is using the term in the passage you’ve selected.

HW for Wed (3/13)

HW for Wed: Read Lauren Duca’s “The Viral Virus.” If you haven’t yet, finish reading Graf’s “Yes, No, OK, But…” Disregard the “Grammar Test” on the schedule. (We’ll do something else instead.) Essay 1 final due next Wed!

HW for Mon (3/11)

Hi everyone,

Quickly: a reminder to activate your ID/library card. You need an activated card to do research on Essay 2 from home/off-campus.

…and the reading for Monday: Read Graf, “Yes, No, OK, but…” If you haven’t yet, read Griffiths’ and Martin’s texts that were assigned for this week. Also: continue revising Essay 1.

…and your blog assignment (2 parts to this one, respond as a “reply” to this thread, thanks!):

Reading Response Prompt

Re-read the opening of Dawn Lundry Martin’s “When a Person Goes Missing” and respond briefly to the following reading response questions before moving on to the “Writing Prompt” below.

Notice how Martin opens the essay with a brief, but provocative “scene.”

–What is it exactly that makes this a “scene”? In the opening paragraphs, what are some of the images and actions that Martin shows us?

–What does the essay as a whole seem to be about? How does its opening scene “show us” (and lead us into) what the essay is going to be about? What is the effect on you (as a reader) of Martin’s decision to begin the essay with a “scene”?

Writing Prompt: Beginning with a Scene/Image

Look back over your essay and think of a “scene” and/or image you could begin with. Start writing a new opening section (2+ paragraphs) of your essay, beginning with this scene/image.

E-mail me if you need help!

HW for Mon (3/4)

HW for Mon: Begin revising your Essay 1 and complete any missing blog posts. Read Dawn Lundry Martin’s “When a Person Goes Missing” (available online here).

BLOG POST UPDATE: Enjoy the snow—no new writing due on the blog for Monday! Please take some time to make up any blog post assignments you haven’t yet completed (recall that this includes commenting each week on another student’s post in addition to writing your own) .

Remember: I cannot pass you if you do not participate fully in the online component of the course. Each week of missed blog work counts as an “absence” and more than two of these jeopardizes a student’s final grade.

As a courtesy, I am granting credit for any past blog posts you are able to complete by the end of this week. Going forward, we will follow the original policy and late blog posts will not receive full credit.

See you Wednesday at the library (4th fl Atrium)—

HW for Wed (2/27)

Hi all,

An update on the assignment for Wednesday. Several things…

First, I want you to watch Kriegman and Steinberg’s Weiner (2016), a documentary on former NY congressman Anthony Weiner.

Please remember to bring 2 print copies of Essay 1 to class. In addition, please submit your draft online as a Google Doc.

Lastly, please complete a brief blog post on the film, following the prompt below.

Watch Kriegman and Steinberg’s Weiner (2016). ( <– This is a download link that will only work for 7 days; the film can be streamed—for a fee—here.) Make notes during the film and, at the end, write a paragraph about something in it that connects to something you’re writing about in your Essay 1.

On Wed, I will continue checking in with students wanting help with essays or other work assigned this semester.

Yours,

Monroe

HW for Monday

1. Inverse outlining an essay to see connections within its many ideas. Re-read Adrian Chen’s “Don’t Be a Stranger” (pp. 61-66). Make a numbered list of notes describing the main idea in each of the essay’s 29 paragraphs. Each of your notes needn’t be longer than a phrase.
When finished, look over your list. What do you notice about the overall form of this essay? What is the main topic it seems to be about? Where and how is the main topic introduced? Where and how does the essay meander away from this main idea?
Post your list and a couple sentences responding to 1 or more of these questions.

2. Finish a rough draft of Essay 1 and bring in 2 hard copies of it next week. By Monday night, please turn in a digital copy of your draft as a Google Doc (instructions for how to do so are here).

HW for Wed (no class next Monday)

In the packet, read Chen’s “Don’t Be a Stranger.”
Revise your “Media Analysis” post so that you are asking two specific questions about an enigma or conflict in the media you have shared.
Proofread and revise one of your full-length blog posts.

Essay 1 Assignment Sheet Posted

Direct link to assignment sheet.

Also, check the “Essays” page and click on “Essay Assignments” to watch for updates on this and other assignments.

Blog Prompt Due Mon 2/11

HW for Wed: 1. Edit your “Media Analysis” posts: make sure they are tagged/categorized as “Media Analysis.” Revise/add to your questions so that they focus on the way the image is constructed: i.e., the relationships between objects in it, the framing (what is in the image, what is not), foreground vs. background, etc.

2. Read Gladman, Calamities (excerpts) and Serpell, “Triptych: Texas Pool Party.”

OK, so by Monday at 1pm, please do/respond to the following.

MEDIA ANALYSIS: In a separate post (i.e., don’t reply to this post for #1; create your own post): post a piece of media and 2 discussion questions about a conflict, contradiction, or enigma in this media. The instructions for this post (which we reviewed in class) are here.
Choose between the following prompts on the assigned reading by Denis Johnson and respond in 75-100 words. (Only do 2a or 2b.)
2a. Developing Conflict/Enigma with key details & events. After reading the narrative titled “Silences” (pp 41-44), what do you think the main conflict or enigma of this narrative is? Explain why you think this. Then, describe how Johnson leads us into this conflict/enigma on the first two pages. What are 2 key details or events that you notice in the first 2 pages that are important for building up to this conflict/enigma? Explain.2b. Transitions. After reading “Silences” and “Accomplices,” what do you notice about the way many of the paragraphs begin? How do many of the paragraph-opening sentences work to connect the ideas in the paragraphs together? Lastly, I want you to think about the content of the two stories (“Silences” and “Accomplices”): briefly, what is each story about? Do they seem similar or related? How does the sentence which begins “Accomplices” help build a connection between the two narratives (even if you don’t think there is much of a connection)?
Write 150-200 words on a conflict, contradiction, or enigma based in your own life. This could be something you began brainstorming about on Wednesday or something different. The conflict, contradiction, or enigma might have to do with technology in some way, or it might not.

WRITING PROMPT (Due Mon @ 1p)

HW for Wed: Read Arsanios, “April-May-June” and “Narration.”

By 1pm Monday, respond to the prompt below. By 8pm Monday, reply to a classmate’s response with a specific comment or suggestion for revision (25-50 words).

PROMPT (3 parts):

How does Salz define the genre of the selfie? How does he make clear what is special or unique about the selfie?

1. Make two lists. In one, tally up at least five ways Salz describes what a selfie IS. In the other list, tally at least five things Salz says the selfie IS NOT (or is different from). Refer to page #s from the text to locate each description.

2. Using your lists, write a paragraph of prose (full sentences) that expresses Salz’ multiple ways of defining what a selfie is. Also include any questions you might ask Salz about his essay—as well as any thoughts about the selfie that you have.

3. Copy Salz’ first two sentences (italicized below) word-for-word. Then answer the questions about each sentence.

1: (Hook) We live in the age of the selfie.

–What makes this a “hook”? Why is this the first sentence he uses?

2: A fast self-portrait, made with a smartphone’s camera and immediately distributed and inscribed into a network, is an instant visual communication of where we are, what we’re doing, who we think we are, and who we think is watching.

–What do we notice this sentence doing?How does it build off of the first sentence?

Reading HW for Mon

HW: Finish reading Salz (1-10). Read “Planting a Naysayer” (p. 27 onward).

Writing prompts will be posted Sunday evening. Responses will be due on Monday.

Category: HW (prompts)