Portfolio assignment

Final Exam: The Portfolio

In this, our last assignment for the semester, you will document your development as a writer during this semester in a portfolio of your work. Please note that this essay assignment should produce neither triumph narratives (“I didn’t get it and now I do!!!!!”) nor paeans to your instructor’s many virtues (“And it’s all because of Jen Buckley!!!!”).  This assignment is intended to help you figure out where you are as a writer, how you got there, and where you want to go.

You will:

·         Collect the essays you wrote for the course -- the memoir and the three argumentative essays.

·         Write a one-paragraph introduction to each of these essays, in which you:

o   Identify at least two aspects of essay writing that you worked on this piece. Provide specific examples of your writing that display this work; quoting your paper is appropriate here. The elements you discuss may be structural, grammatical, or stylistic.

o   Make sure you discuss any elements of essay writing that you struggled with in each essay. If you completed revisions, include multiple drafts and point out where and how you revised.

·         Choose two pieces of informal writing for the course.

o   These can be in-class writing assignments and exercises, brainstorming sessions, blog posts, etc.

o   Write a brief introduction in which you explain what you learned, or perhaps did not learn, by writing the piece.

·         Write a one-page conclusion to the portfolio in which you explain more generally which aspects of essay writing you feel you have improved or mastered, and which you still need to work on in future courses.

Due date: Friday, December 17, in hard copy, in my faculty mailbox (ask at the Information desk).

Another article on for-profit colleges

Those of you writing on for-profit colleges may find this recent article in The New York times interesting.

Readings for week of 11/29 and blog post prompt

Hello, all --

Here is the link to the first of the readings for this week -- an editorial from Inside Higher Ed by Jonathan Kaplan and Terry O'Banion arguing for the importance and effectiveness of for-profit colleges.

And here is the link to the second reading -- a fiery editorial by Gail Mellow, the president of LaGuardia Community College in New York -- arguing that for-profit colleges are basically a scam.

And, finally, here is the blog post prompt for this week: Which of these editorials is more persuasive? Do you think that community colleges are capable of handling the increasing pressure put upon them to re-train the middle class for the new economy? If so, what resources do they need to accomplish this objective? Or do you think that for-profit colleges have an important role to play? And, most importantly -- why do you think as you do about this issue?

Essay 3 Assignment

In third and final formal essay for this course, you will make an argument about one aspect of community college education in the United States. This assignment will require you to:

-- choose one current issue, problem or controversy faced by community colleges generally, or by Kirkwood in particular

-- research that issue, using at least one database (not Google Search)

--You must incorporate at least three secondary sources into your essay.

-- At least two of these sources must be “argument” sources.

-- form an opinion of your own on the issue

-- outline an argument in which you:

-- describe the issue, giving enough background information so that a reasonably intelligent but not very well-informed reader will understand it

-- explain your position on the issue

-- support your argument using verifiable facts

-- You must explain how your position is similar to or different from that of your “argument” sources.

-- You must correctly cite all facts, figures, and other sources using MLA documentation style.

-- write a full-length first draft

-- participate in an in-class writing workshop in which you share portions of your draft with your fellow classmates

-- substantially revise that draft, taking into account the constructive criticism of your peers and your teacher

-- polish the revised draft, editing for sentence clarity

While evaluating your essay, I will pay special attention to your incorporation of quotations and paraphrases into your own sentences and paragraphs.

Due dates:

First draft: Tuesday, 12/7

Final draft: Tuesday, 12/14

Reading for Thursday, 11/18

An article on one community college that is increasing its retention rate despite the fact that it faces all of the institutional challenges we discussed today in class.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/11/AR2010111107782.html

And the link to the Inside Higher Ed op-ed piece on the "completion agenda" and its implications for community colleges: here.

Readings for Tuesday, 11/9 and Thursday, 11/11

I'm sorry to have posted these links so late. Please read these essays and come prepared to discuss the structure of each argument in class. Pay special attention to the way each writer deploys and analyzes evidence in order to support his argument. Come to class ready to discuss. Please do print out these essays and bring them with you.

Tuesday, 11/9: Mauro E. Mujica, "English: Not America's Language?"

http://www.theglobalist.com/printStoryId.aspx?StoryId=3229

Thursday, 11/11: Geoffrey Nunberg, "Lingo Jingo: English-Only and the New Nativism"

http://www.prospect.org//cs/articles;jsessionid=a6DUm8nyjZ7-uP1opV?article=lingo_jingo

Essay 2 Assignment

Essay 2 Assignment

In your second formal essay for this course, you will examine the uses and/or abuses of language, as the writers whose essays we have read for this unit have done. This assignment will require you to:
-- Choose one current issue, problem or controversy concerning spoken or written language, either in the United States or abroad
--research that issue, using at least one database (not Google Search)
-- at least one of these sources must be an “argument” source
-- at least one of these sources must be printed
-- Form an opinion of your own on the issue
-- Outline an argument in which you:
-- describe the issue, giving enough background information so that a reasonably intelligent but not very well-informed reader will understand it
--explain your opinion on the issue.
-- Support your argument using verifiable facts.
--You must explain how your position is similar to or different from that of your “argument” source
--You must correctly cite all facts, figures, and other sources using MLA documentation style.
-- Write an essay proposal, in which you explain what you want to write about, what your argument might be, and what sources you might use.
-- Write a full-length first draft.
-- Participate in an in-class writing workshop in which you share portions of your draft with your fellow classmates.
-- Substantially revise that draft, taking into account the constructive criticism of your peers and your teacher.
-- Polish the revised draft, editing for diction (word choice) and sentence clarity.

While evaluating your essay, I will pay special attention to transitions and to your conclusion, as well as to the clarity of your sentences.

Due dates:
Essay proposal: Thursday, 10/28
First draft: Tuesday, 11/9
Final draft: Thursday, 11/18

Blog post, week of 10/18

I had asked you to bring in an example of published prose that meets George Orwell's criteria for bad writing. Very few of you did so. I'd like you to complete that assignment now, and to post at least one sentence of bad writing, along with a brief explanation of how the piece violates Orwell's rules.

Because Orwell's essay is ultimately about politics, I'd especially like to see examples of bad political writing. That said, please don't insert your own political opinions into your comments. Remember, Orwell spreads the blame equally, among all the political figures of his day, and I'm sure we could do the same.

(Those of you who did complete the assignment on time can simply post a selection from what you brought to class.)

Readings for Tuesday, 10/26

Here are two brief informational articles on recent events in the "English-Only" debate -- one describing a ballot initiative in a large city, Nashville, and the other reporting on a very small town, Jackson, NY.

Please read them for Tuesday. We will read two argumentative essays -- one by a writer on each side of the debate -- later next week, but for now, these articles will give you the basic outlines of the issue. If you detect a bias towards one side or the other in these articles, do let me know in class!

Here is the article on Nashville,

and

here is the article on Jackson, NY.

Assignments, week of 10/18

10/19: Orwell, "Politics and the English Langauge" (in Fields); also, bring in a piece of published writing that Orwell would consider bad (at least one paragraph)

10/21: Amy Tan, "Mother Tongue" (in Fields)
Essay #2 assigned

By midnight on Sunday: Blog post on Orwell or Tan