Tuesday, August 20th--7:15 pm

Hello,

a few things to know before tomorrow:

1. the 10:30 am class will be meeting at noon instead of 10:30

2. remember to bring ALL graded work to class with your tomorrow, along with your Grade Sheet

3.  IF YOU HAVE NOT REVISED AN OUT OF CLASS ESSAY YET, AND YOU PLAN TO REVISE OUT OF CLASS ESSAY #3, IT IS DUE BY THURSDAY AT 3:45 PM. You may either place it in my mailbox in Calaveras 105 OR you may email it to me. If you email it you must be able to highlight the changes AND scan and send me the original with my commentary

4. IF YOU PLAN TO PLACE THE REVISION IN MY MAILBOX, YOU MUST EMAIL ME AND LET ME KNOW THAT IT IS THERE. If you email me the revision and the original, be sure that you receive an email back from me that I have indeed received it

Monday, August 19th--5 pm

Hello,

I am sure you all realize that there is one more quiz left to be taken.
That will take place tomorrow, along with the in class essay #2.

If you sent your Viewer's Journal via email, you may want to bring it to class tomorrow.
Those who attached the journal to their hard copy will receive theirs back tomorrow.
The quiz will be on Packet #9 and on Breaking Bad.

For the Breaking Bad section of the quiz, you will be given quotes from the series and you will identify who spoke the words. (very EASY). Referring to your Viewer's Journal will most likely NOT be  necessary, but just in case....

See you tomorrow.

Friday, August 16th, 1 pm

Greetings....

Packet 9 Assignment (due Tuesday instead of Wednesday)
http://toteachornototeach.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/a-society-with-poor-critical-thinking-skills-the-case-for-argument-in-education/

Other items of interest and importance:

1. If you have NOT revised essay 1 or 2, you now have the option to revise essay 3. This revision of essay 3 is due no later than Thursday, August 22nd, by midnight, via email to me.
Those students who submitted essay 3 via email will receive their graded essay back via email from me before Tuesday. Those who submitted hard copies in my mailbox will receive their graded essay back on Tuesday in class.

2. Remember to bring a blue or green book to class on Tuesday for in class essay 2.

3. Wednesday will be our last class session. Be sure to bring ALL graded work to class. You will be comparing your grade sheet to the one I have maintained for you during the semester.

Have a wonderful and safe weekend.

Wednesday, August 14th--12:15 pm

Greetings,

Reminders and a change of plans.....

As announced in class today, Wednesday, I will be unable to hold class tomorrow due to very significant family issues.

Consequently, there will be no class tomorrow, Thursday, August 15th.

Out of class essay is STILL due tomorrow, the 15th.

You have a few choices as to how you wish to submit the essay.

Choice 1: place it in my department mailbox in room 105 in Calaveras. Be sure to attach the viewer's journal to the essay. Your essay must be in the mailbox NO LATER THAN 3:45 pm tomorrow, Thursday, August 15th. The mail room closes at 3:45 pm.

Choice 2: you may email me your essay NO LATER THAN 3:45 pm tomorrow. If you are able to scan the viewer's journal and email it as well, great. If not, you must bring your journal to class on Tuesday or you will have 20 points deducted from your earned score on the essay. IF YOU EMAIL ME YOUR ESSAY, I WILL COMMENT AND GRADE YOUR ESSAY AND EMAIL IT BACK TO YOU.

Check the blog again for Packet #9 assignment.

Friday, August 9th--9 am

Greetings,

Below are the assignments for Packets 7 and 8. Stay tuned later this weekend for a posting on Packet 9

Packet #7 Assignment (one article and one video):

http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/04/19/human-trafficking-mixing-up-views-on-immigration-to-the-united-states/

http://www.ted.com/talks/sunitha_krishnan_tedindia.html

Packet #8
"Sexual Abuse in Immigration Detention"
http://www.aclu.org/sexual-abuse-immigration-detention

(please note: the article includes three first hand narratives of three women--Raquel, Sarah and Kimberly. Read their complete stories as part of the packet.)

Wednesday, August 7th--6 pm

Greetings:

A few things about Essay 3 requirements:

1. A Works Cited page IS required for Essay 3. At a minimum, you must have Season One listed. If you utilize other seasons, you need to note those as well. And of course, if you utilize any critic reviews, etc., you will also need to document those.

2. Here is how you cite a TV series on your Works Cited page.

Breaking Bad. Season 1. AMC. 2008. Television.

3. You MUST refer to the show at least ONCE in your essay.

4. You do not need to utilize in text citations to indicate what episode you are referencing. If you use any support from OTHER seasons, you do need to at least mention that the event is from a different season than season 1.

ALSO,
I have read through all the Musings on Immigration and have prepared the material for our group exercise tomorrow. I wanted to address a question that one student posed on his or her Musings. It might be a question other students wondered about as well. The question was:

"Anyone who put the minimalist of efforts into this is going to display obvious writing quirks unique to them that most likely appeared in their other writings for this class. Why is this "anonymous"?"

My reply is this:

It is true that as an instructor I can sometimes determine who the writer is based on previous writings I have read from the student. However, it is really not important if I can "recognize" the student's rhetoric. What IS important is that the student feels safe and comfortable enough to express his or her opinion without other students knowing the student's identity. And interestingly enough, I do not know the identity of the student that asked this question. In fact, I honestly only recognized FOR CERTAIN two of the sixty students who submitted. :)

See you tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 6th--6:30 pm

Greetings,

a few things:

1. Reminder: anonymous immigration homework assignment due TOMORROW, Wednesday, August 7th. Typed and double spaced. No length requirement. NO NAME ON ASSIGNMENT, PLEASE. Type at the top of your paper:
MUSINGS ON IMMIGRATION
Then go on to record what comes to mind when you think about the word "immigration." As discussed in class, the format is open. You can write in prose, bulleted points, numbered points, or?
When you arrive to class, please sign your name on the paper I will provide when you submit your Musings.

2. Earlier in the semester, I posted the assignment for Essay 3 on the blog. So it should obviously be no surprise to you. I will NOT be handing out a hard copy of the assignment tomorrow. However, I will post it below, again, for your convenience. :)


3. If you did not revise Essay 1 and you wish to revise Essay 2, the revision is due by Tuesday next week.

English 20, Summer 2013, Instructor: C. Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #3 (200 points)

Assigned: Wednesday, August 7

Optional Rough Draft Due: no later than Tuesday, August 13

Due: Thursday, August 15

Requirements:

• MLA format

• If you utilize any outside sources (not required) you must follow MLA format for in- text citations, Works Cited page, etc.

At the very least, you must have a Works Cited page that lists Season 1 of Breaking Bad.

• Attach your Viewer’s Journal (all 7 entries) to back of essay when submitting.

Before we began viewing the first season of Breaking Bad, I assigned a Viewer’s Journal. You were to record your observations and any other notes you wished in order to eventually select a character to focus on more carefully than others. However, as we have discussed, your first few journal entries, or perhaps more than a few, might just be summary plots and notes regarding several different characters.

This Viewer’s Journal will now be a valuable source as you write your last out of class essay for this course.

Assignment:

Write an in-depth character analysis of one of the characters in the first season of Breaking Bad.

Your essay must include the following:

• Assertion(s) about your character

• Evidence from the episodes that support your assertions (how did you come to the conclusion(s) you did regarding this character?)

Your supportive evidence might include but is not limited to:

• what others observe/say (or don’t observe/say) about the character—either directly or in private

• the actions of the character in particular situations

• the reactions/responses of the character in particular situations

• what drives this character

• what terrifies this character

• what pleases this character

• what does this character long for

• what does this character need

Your thesis must be assertive…it is YOUR opinion as a viewer of these episodes.

·      Whether or not you LIKE or DISLIKE this character is not an issue in this essay.

·      Whether you LIKE or DISLIKE the series is also not an issue in this essay.

Proving to the reader that this character has the attributes (good, bad, layered, shallow) that you assert he or she has is your goal.

Keep in mind that your reading audience HAS viewed each of the seven episodes so avoid writing extensive summaries of each episode.

Your thesis might read something like this:

Once Walter learns of his terminal cancer and begins cooking meth, he appears very unstable and irresponsible; however, his behavior truly represents a very determined, loving, highly intelligent and moral father and husband.

or…

Marie is a very insecure and lonely woman who is unhappy and uncomfortable living in the shadows of her power-driven DEA husband and her happily married and very bright sister, Skylar.