What Happened Saturday 102

the instructor talked about drama: conventions, plot, characters, realistic theatre.
Students turned in drama papers. The drama quiz will be on the last day of class and paper will be corrected in class.

We watched a video about writing for an audience. It also had to do with critical thinking.

The instructor handed out two worksheets on semicolons. Students are to read the Hacker section on semicolons and place as many semicolons correctly as they can on one of the worksheets. The other worksheet is based on Lukeman and will be filled out in class when we watch the semicolon presentation next week.

Next week the final research paper is due.

Social Advocacy

Students turned in outlines and the instructor will give them back next Tuesday.

The 3-minute speeches will begin next Thursday.

The instructor talked about legal activism and told the class how she and a colleague formed a pro se association to help people who wanted to do their own legal work.

Event Planning

We looked at pictures in a Powerpoint presentation of the Guidance Counselor Event. We looked at signs, student participation, the luncheon, campus pictures, etc. Students gave some input on the event and their participation in it.

During the last 15 minutes of class, students met with their colleagues re the presentations next week.

Some students had examples of the work they had done for the presentations.

Writing 102, What Happened

Thursday:

Instructor finished lecturing on drama handout. We covered elements of plot, tragedy, comedy, Theatre of the Absurd and social criticism.

We then took the drama quiz. We will correct it at our next class.


Tuesday:

We reviewed drama terms from the previous lecture.

We discussed the use of the word "soliloquy" by a New York Times writer.

The instructor lectured on conventions in drama, covering Greek plays through realistic.

We then discussed attendance and worked on our grade sheets. The instructor gave each person their attendance records and told them how it affected their grade.

This coming Thursday will be the drama quiz.

We decided to put the last quiz, Lester, on the last day of class, May 8. At that time, the instructor will review the notebooks and issue a notebook grade while the students take the quiz. We will then correct the quiz in class and students will know enter their grade on the grading sheet and hand it in.

102 Students: Use of "Soliloquy"

The New York Times uses the word "soliloquy" in a story about the disastrous anchoring by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulis in the Democratic primary debate last week:

Next to such knuckleheaded obtuseness, Mr. Obama’s pratfall may strike many voters as a misdemeanor. He was probably rescued as well by the typical Clinton campaign overkill that followed his mistake. Not content merely to piously feign shock about Mr. Obama’s San Francisco soliloquy (and the operative political buzzword here is San Francisco, which stands for you-know-what), Mrs. Clinton couldn’t resist presenting herself as an unambiguously macho, beer-swilling hunting enthusiast. This is as condescending as it gets, topping even Mitt Romney’s last-ditch effort to repackage himself to laid-off union workers as the love child of Joe Hill and Norma Rae.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/opinion/20rich.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

What do you think about the use of the word in this context?

Writing 102 Saturday What Happened

Because the building was locked, we had the first part of the class in the gazebo where we read an article on academic titles.

After reading the article, the building opened up and we went upstairs where the instructor lectured on drama.

Each person put the title of their research paper on the board and we voted on which paper we most wanted to read. We examined why. Then we worked on titles in class, making them clearer and more appealing to the reader.

Next we went through the grading points for the research paper. We traded papers and each person evaluated a colleague's paper for points and for pointing out such items as the preview statement, the thesis/claim, and the "need" (benefit to the reader).

The last task was to look at the grading sheet for the semester and check to see if grades were recorded on the sheet. The instructor explained the point system on the research paper, which includes two points on the 10 for handing in each section on time.

The research paper is due May 3. Paper will be returned on May 10.

Notebook check is on May 3. At that class, we will watch a literary film while the instructor grades the notebooks.

On the last day of class, May 10, we will have the drama quiz and the open book quiz on Lester. The quizzes will be graded in class.

Event Planning

Class today is the activity at the Guidance Counselor event. If you are participating, I will see you there. Class members who are not participating may want to stop by to see how the event theme is displayed. There is no class in the classroom.