Friday evening, Dec. 2nd, 2011

Hello,
Here are the five items for the Optional Extra Credit on the take home final.
Each is worth 2 points.
Also, you will see below a copy of the Take Home Exam that was distributed today in class.

EXTRA CREDIT:
WHO SPEAKS THESE WORDS?
1. "It's okay, sir...You may be our community leader, but you have also worked so hard to relocate your wife and daughter from Hanoi. They are finally here after fifteen years...It's only right that you should be home celebrating with them. We can take care of our own misfortune."
2. "I have a name for her, Loan. I want to call her Lulu."
3. "Stop! He is just a child, for God's sake. Haven't your children gone through enough already?...Why don't you find out from him instead of beating him up like he was your enemy?"
4. "You whore. You killed my child. I only did what I had to do to get even. You have no right to put me here."
5. "Stop talking! Why do you have to be so smart all the time?...Just look at yourself, and look at me. Do we look like we belong together? You with your stupid Communist accent, it sickened me from the very first day we met..."





English 1A, Fall 2011, Professor Fraga

TAKE HOME TEST ON THE UNWANTED (200 POINTS)

DIRECTIONS: Please respond to the following questions in essay format. All questions must be numbered and typed, double-spaced. There is no minimum length requirement. As usual, please address each question fully and thoughtfully. This test is due on Monday, Dec. 5.



1. SELECT A ‘CHARACTER’ FROM THE MEMOIR, THE UNWANTED. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT CHARACTERISTICS (at least two) ACCURATELY DESCRIBE THIS PERSON? FOR EVERY ASSERTION YOU MAKE ABOUT THIS PERSON, YOU MUST SUPPORT IT WITH AT LEAST THREE VERY SPECIFIC SUPPORTS FROM THE BOOK. THIS RESPONSE WILL BE EVALUATED ON YOUR ABILITY TO MAKE AN ASSERTION AND SUPPORT IT LOGICALLY AND ARTICULATELY. (100 POINTS)



2. WHICH SCENE IN THE BOOK AFFECTED YOU MOST DEEPLY? EXPLAIN HOW IT AFFECTED YOU AND WHY. (40 POINTS)



3. THIS MEMOIR REFLECTS A WEALTH OF VARIOUS THEMES/TOPICS, INCLUDING OUR SEMESTER-LONG THEME OF HOME. SELECT ONE THEME THAT THE MEMOIR SUGGESTS TO YOU AND OFFER EXAMPLES FROM THE BOOK TO SUPPORT YOUR ASSERTION. (6O POINTS)

Monday, November 28, 2011--2nd posting for the day

Hello again,
I almost forgot!
If you decide you are going to use any of the information from the documentary we watched today in class, here is how you would cite it on the Works Cited page.

Love, Lust and Marriage: Why we Stay and Why we Stray. John Stossel, narr. 1997. Television.

(be sure to double space and indent the second line, of course! :-)....)

Monday, November 28, 2011

Hello!
Below you will find a few items:
1. a copy of the handout from the first week of classes that I distributed and explained regarding oral presentations.
2. a schedule of the oral presentations for each of the three 1A classes.

YOU MUST ATTEND CLASS ON BOTH DAYS, DEC. 7 AND 9--it is important to be present for your fellow classmates to provide support and an audience, even if you are not presenting that day.


English 1A, College Composition I
Fall 2011
Instructor: Catherine Fraga

Oral Presentation Assignment

The Significance of Home
Assigned: First week of semester

Due: Wednesday or Friday, December 7 or 9

For this assignment, please select an article, observation, photograph, painting, collage, film, song, poem, essay or anything else that offers some message or reflection on the theme of home. It could have a personal meaning for you, but it does not have to.
After you have selected your “item,” write a minimum of one page about the item. Include a brief description of the item and a detailed explanation of why you chose this item; include a thoughtful commentary. Proofread carefully for unacceptable errors as well as other proofreading mistakes. THIS MUST BE TYPED, DOUBLE SPACED, please
On the day of presentations, please do not read your essay to the class, but simply summarize the main points aloud to the class. The presentation usually takes only a few moments. You will submit a copy of the essay only to me.
As the semester progresses, you may get ideas for your presentation from our readings, the films we will be viewing, or from class discussions.
Remember that you will not receive this short essay back nor will you receive any credit for the assignment if there are ANY unacceptable errors present.
Please do not take this assignment lightly. It is worth 100 points.
***************************************************************************
English 1A, Section 1
DECEMBER 5:
TK
DECEMBER 7:
Carrie, Rami, Michael, Alejandra, Kendall, Josh, Justin, Chris, Corben, Scott, Darryl, Letha
DECEMBER 9:
Ellie, LIz, Dennis, Christian, Rachel, Christina, Bao, Jasina, Niccolais, Enrique, Mac

English 1A, Section 84
DECEMBER 7:
Joel, Luis, Ashley, Taylor, Abby, Alanna, Dagoberto, Eleazar, Natalie, Jesse, Maricruz, Jewel
DECEMBER 9:
Adriana, Debbie, Issac, Bea, Duke, Josiah, Kerissa, Melinda, Kevin, Lawrence, Alberto, Daniel

English 1A, Section 4
DECEMBER 7:
Emily, Rachelle, Nhan, Tien, Ravneet, Isabela, John, Ina, Ruby, Morgan, Dustin, Nicholas S., Tania
DECEMBER 9:
Robert, Alonzo, Tommy, Carly, Nicholas A., Angela, Paramvir, Amber, Elleana, Lauren, Brandon, Matthew

Sunday afternoon, November 27th, 2011

Greetings,
I hope all of you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving week.
Below is a message from Prof. Hecsh that she asked me to pass on to Section 84 students only.
See all of you tomorrow.

SECTION 84 ONLY:
Would you please remind everyone on Monday that we are meeting (on Monday) in Library 11 to screen a documentary called Beautiful Youth and to meet the film maker and folks who work at WIND, a center for homeless youth.

Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011

Hello,

I have had a few students ask me how to cite the essay by Anne Roiphe that you were assigned to read a few weeks ago, "Why Marriages Fail." Below is how it should appear on the Works Cited page...that is, if you decide to use it in your third essay. (the second line would be tabbed in, of course)

Roiphe, Anne. "Why Marriages Fail." Rites of Passage: A Thematic Reader. Eds. Judie Rae and Catherine Fraga. Boston: Heinle &

Heinle, 2002. 270-273.


HAVE A WONDERFUL AND SAFE HOLIDAY...! SEE YOU MONDAY.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011--530 pm

Reminder...

In class essay #2 on Friday...please remember to bring a blue or green book to class.

Below are three main issues from the film to think about before you come to class.

It is an 'open notes' exam, so any notes you took during the film can be used during the writing of the essay. You will have the entire 50 minutes to write the essay. Use your time wisely and be sure to spend at least the first five minutes planning your response--your thesis and your main supports.


1. Considering the film, weigh the pros and cons of having a marriage arranged. How do you think most Westerners respond to the idea of an arranged marriage and why? Could it be a possible solution to lowering America’s high divorce rate?

2. Consider the two main characters, Rochel or Nasira. Both young women experience a rite of passage; in other words, each woman seems to experience new insights during the process of having their marriage arranged. What do they gain as a result of their experience?

3. What do you think was the screenwriter's purpose for including the following two characters in the film: the school principal and the young boy that Rochel tutors? Be specific. What do they contribute to the film and its many topics/themes?

Monday, November 14, 2011--7 pm

Hello, greetings...

A few things:

1. In case you have not heard yet, there will be no class held next week, Thanksgiving week. However, please understand that your other classes MAY be holding class. The university is officially closed only on Thanksgiving day and the day following.

2. Please be sure you have a blue (or green) book purchased for in class essay #2 on Friday.

3. As indicated on the course outline, we will finish the viewing of the film we started today, on Wednesday. In case you want to view the film again before the essay on Friday, and you have a Netflix account, it is available on Instant View. It may be available elsewhere on the Internet, too, but I am not certain.

See you Wednesday! :-)

Monday, November 7, 2011--330 pm

Greetings,
Below is a copy of Out of Class Essay 3 that was assigned today.


English 1A, Fall 2011
C. Fraga, Instructor
Course Theme: The Significance of Home

Out of Class Essay Assignment #3

Assigned: Monday, November 7
Rough Draft due (optional) no later than Wednesday, Nov. 16
{please note: if you choose to submit a rough draft, it is due by next Wednesday. That allows you a week and a half only. This is due to the Thanksgiving week holiday)
Due: Wednesday, Nov. 30

TOPIC: What are the ‘ingredients’ for a successful marriage?


A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. (Mignon Mclaughlin)

Marriage is not just spiritual communion, it is also remembering to take out the trash. (Joyce Brothers)

To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong admit it;
Whenever you're right shut up. (Ogden Nash)

Assignment: Even with the current high divorce rate in the United States, couples continue to choose marriage as a way of life. Most couples marry with the intention and confidence that their marriage will be successful and will last forever.

Write an essay in which you explore the ingredients (or elements) required for a marriage to be successful and long lasting. Focus on a minimum of four ingredients/elements.

Conduct research and talk/interview those who you feel might have some helpful, interesting and relevant opinions and experience with this topic.

The most important thing to remember about this essay is that you will need to be very SPECIFIC. Avoid rambling and using mostly vague terms. Your essay will benefit from specific examples from professionals as well as interviewees.

Suggestions for people to interview: your parents; your grandparents; relatives; siblings; teachers; neighbors; marriage counselors, etc.

Information/opinions about what constitutes a successful marriage is quite simple to locate. I spent only 20 minutes doing a cursory search on the Internet and found many intriguing articles.

Your Game Plan:
1. Research and read read read as much as you can about the topic.
2. Interview at least three people about this topic.
3. From your research, reading and interviews select the four elements YOU feel are the MOST ideal and necessary ingredients for a successful, lasting marriage.
4. Write your thesis statement—an assertion based on your findings.
5. Plan the organization of your essay.
6. Write your essay.
7. Proofread and edit very carefully and thoroughly.


Reminders:
• Follow MLA format.
• Double space entire essay.
• Must have in text citations and a Works Cited page.
• Use 12 pt., Times New Roman
• Use at LEAST three outside resources and at LEAST information from three interviews. In other words, these six minimum resources will be found on your Works Cited page as well as cited within your essay.

Sunday evening, November 6, 2011

Hello,

A few things...

1. For section 1 students, if you choose to revise Essay 2, it is due no later than Monday, November 14th.

2. I will be returning Essay 2 tomorrow to sections 4 and 84. If you choose to revise the essay, it is also due no later than Wednesday, November 16th.

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Hello,

Below are Packets 6 and 7 for next week. Remember that there is a Q & C due for Packet 6.

PACKET 6:

This is actually a video to view...it is approximately 17 minutes long.

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

PACKET 7:

"Why Marriages Fail" by Anne Roiphe
http://www.hearttoheart.com.cn/english/jiazuo/20050808005404.html

Monday, October 17th, 730 pm

Hello,
Below you will find information you will need to print out for our class lecture and discussion on Wednesday.
Please come to class with a copy of it in hand. See you then!



How to Critically Read an Essay

Educated adults exist in a delusional state, thinking we can read.

In a most basic sense, we can.

However, odds are, some of us cannot read, at least not as well as we would like.

Too many college students are capable of only some types of reading and that becomes painfully clear when they read a difficult text and must respond critically about it.

Intelligence and a keen memory are excellent traits and most students have learned to read in a certain way that is only useful for extracting information. Thus, students are often fairly well skilled in providing summary.

However, the act of reading to extract information and to read critically are vastly different!

The current educational system in American primary schools (and many colleges) heavily emphasizes the first type of reading and de-emphasizes the latter.

In many ways, THIS MAKES SENSE.

Reading to extract information allows a student to absorb the raw materials of factual information as quickly as possible. It is a type of reading we all must engage in frequently. However, each type of reading calls for different mental habits. If we do not learn to adjust from one type of reading to another when necessary, we cripple our intellectual abilities to read critically.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN READING TO EXTRACT INFORMATION AND READING CRITICALLY.

1. They have different goals. When students read to extract information, usually they seek facts and presume the source is accurate. No argument is required. On the other hand, when students read critically, they try to determine the quality of the argument. The reader must be open-minded and skeptical all at once, constantly adjusting the degree of personal belief in relation to the quality of the essay’s argument.
2. They require different types of discipline. If students read to learn raw data, the most efficient way to learn is repetition. If students read critically, the most effective technique may be to break the essay up into logical subdivisions and analyze each section’s argument, to restate the argument in other words, and then to expand upon or question the findings.
3. They require different mental activity. If a student reads to gain information, a certain degree of absorption, memorization and passivity is necessary. If a student is engaged in reading critically, that student must be active!!! He or she must be prepared to pre-read the essay, then read it closely for content, and re-read it if it isn’t clear how the author is reaching the conclusion in the argument.
4. They create different results. Passive reading to absorb information can create a student who (if not precisely well read) has read a great many books. It creates what many call “book-smarts.” However, critical reading involves original, innovative thinking.
5. They differ in the degree of understanding they require. Reading for information is more basic, and reading critically is the more advanced of the two because only critical reading equates with full understanding.

ULTIMATELY, WHAT WE WANT IS THE CONSCIOUS CONTROL OF OUR READING SKILLS, SO WE CAN MOVE BACK AND FORTH AMIDST THE VARIOUS TYPES OF READING.

FIVE GENERAL STAGES OF READING

1. Pre-Reading—examining the text and preparing to read it effectively (5 minutes)




2. Interpretive Reading—understanding what the author argues, what the author concludes, and exactly how he or she reached that conclusion.




3. Critical Reading—questioning, examining and expanding upon what the author says with your own arguments. Skeptical reading does not mean doubting everything your read.



4. Synoptic Reading—putting the author’s argument in a larger context by considering a synopsis of that reading or argument in conjunction with synopses of other readings or arguments.



5. Post-Reading—ensuring that you won’t forget your new insights.

Friday, October 14th, 1130 am

Hello,

I do hope all of you managed to get the message about class being cancelled today BEFORE you went to class. I did post it on the blog, but not until I actually found out about the fire, which was after 10 pm. I also sent an email to all of your SacState email addresses. A few things to tell you:

1. We will move Group 3 Exercise to Monday.

2. Below is the reading for Packet #5, due to be completed by Friday.

3. Be sure to bring Made for You and Me to class on Monday.

PACKET #5:

THE WIG

By Brady Udall
(First Prize: Story’s Short Short Competition)

My eight-year-old son found a wig in the garbage Dumpster this morning. I walked into the kitchen, highly irritated that I couldn’t make a respectable knot in my green paisley tie, and there he was at the table, eating cereal and reading the funnies, the wig pulled tightly over his head like a football helmet. The wig was a dirty bush of curly blond hair, the kind you might see on a prostitute or someone who is trying to imitate Marilyn Monroe.

I asked where he got the wig and he told me, his mouth full of cereal. When I advised him that we don’t wear things we find in the garbage, he simply continued eating and reading as if he didn’t hear me.

I wanted him to take that wig off but I couldn’t ask him to do it. I forgot all about my tie and going to work. I looked out the window where mist fell slowly on the street. I paced into the living room and back, trying not to look at my son. He ignored me. I could hear him munching cereal and rustling paper.

There was a picture, or a memory, real or imagined, that I couldn’t get out of my mind: Last fall, before the accident, my wife was sitting in the chair where now my son always sits. She was reading the paper to see how the Blackhawks did the night before, and her sleep-mussed hair was only slightly longer and darker than the hair of my son’s wig.

I wondered if my son had a similar picture in his head, or if he had a picture at all. I watched him and he finally looked up at me but his face was blank. He went back to his reading. I walked around the table, picked him up, and held him against my chest. I pressed my nose into that wig and it smelled not like the clean shampoo scent I might have been hoping for, but like old lettuce. I suppose it didn’t matter at that point. My son put his smooth arms around my neck and for maybe a few seconds we were together again, the three of us.

Please read IMMEDIATELY!!!!

HELLO!
I just now found out that Mariposa Hall is closed for clean up due to a fire today on campus.
Which means...My section 1 class will not be meeting tomorrow morning.
This is going to throw off my other two classes as well, since they are all on the same class schedule.
So,
I am going to go ahead and cancel all three sections of 1A for tomorrow, Friday, October the 14th.
Sections 1, 4, and 84.
I will keep you posted about how we will move the Group Two exercise to next week.

Sunday evening, October 9th, 745 pm

Hello,
just a quick reminder for those planning to revise out of class essay #1.
For section 84, revisions are due by tomorrow, Monday the 10th.
For sections 1 and 4, revisions are due by Wednesday, the 12th.
See you tomorrow...with your Rules of Thumb Handbook in hand! :-)

Friday evening, October 7, 2011--8 pm

Hello everyone,

Just a quick reminder...to be sure to bring your Rules of Thumb Handbook to class on Monday.
The quiz is open book. You will have the full 50 minutes to complete the quiz.
Become familiar with the documentation pages in your Handbook.

Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday, October 6, 2011, almost noon

Hello,
As you know, we did not have an opportunity to focus on Packet 4 yesterday, so be sure to bring it along with you on Friday to class. We will also be completing Group Work #2 on Friday.
Happy rainy day to all of you.
See you tomorrow.

Sunday, October 2, 2011--330 pm

Greetings,
I received an e-mail from a student asking if the quiz scheduled on the course outline for Monday is still going to occur.
Yes.
Of course.
As you know, and as I mentioned on the course outline and in class, I cannot remind you all the time to read the syllabus.
If you follow the syllabus, you should do absolutely fine in the course. As you will in any course. :-)
Hope you are having a great weekend...I am thoroughly enjoying my birthday!
See you tomorrow.
And as always, when you have something due to be read, you bring that source to class.

Friday evening, Sept. 30, 2011, 9 pm

Greetings:
Below you will find two major items:
1. Out of class essay assignment #2
2. Packet #4 (due to be read by Wednesday)

A couple of reminders too:
1. If you missed class today (or if you miss ANY day) be sure to get notes from a fellow student. Today I gave a lot of information that is NOT on the essay prompt below.
2. Against my better judgment, I have been a bit lenient for a few students who have not kept current with the course outline and due dates. There will be no more of this. You are ultimately responsible for reading the course outline and the blog. If you stay focused and current, you will have no major problems passing the course. That is true for any college course. It is an issue of fairness AND an issue of learning repercussions. :-)


English 1A, Sections 1, 4 and 84
Fall, 2011
Course Theme: The Significance of Home
Instructor: C. Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #2 (worth 200 points total)

Assigned: Friday, Sept. 30
ROUGH DRAFT: If you wish to have me review a rough draft of this assignment, please submit it to me NO LATER Monday, Oct. 24.
Due: Friday, Oct. 28
(YOU HAVE FOUR WEEKS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND WRITE YOUR ESSAY…PLAN YOUR TIME ACCORDINGLY)

• Essay must follow MLA format exactly.
• Essay must be typed and double spaced.
• Thesis statement must be underlined.
• Do not write a formulaic five paragraph essay.
• Essay must have a minimum of five sources on the Works Cited page. You are welcome to use the Internet for sources, but at least one of your sources cannot be found on the Internet (for example, use a book, watch a film, conduct an interview, etc.)
• You may certainly utilize the Wikipedia website to gain background information and to locate reference sites, but you may not use it as one of your documented sources on the Works Cited page.
• You must submit the essay as instructed in class—please record the requirements during the discussion.


Essay Prompt:

• For this essay, you will first select a group of people from another culture/country that you are genuinely interested in finding out more about.
• You will then conduct research in order to discover and then write about at least three significant ways in which someone from this culture/country must adapt to life in the United States.
• You will then begin by writing a thesis that is assertive and debatable.

For example, imagine that you selected the adaptation of the Hmong once they arrive in the US. After conducting some research, you decide to present information on male and female roles in marriage, religious practices and diet as the three areas of adjustment you feel are most significant and would make the most interesting reading.

Your thesis might read something like the following:

Hundreds of Hmong people immigrate to the United States every year and face many difficult challenges, particularly in the areas of religious practices, changes in diet and male/female roles within a marriage.

There are several ways to approach this topic and make it your OWN. The prompt can be interpreted in various different ways, as we discussed at length today in class.
(An essay that asks you to address a topic such as this one would be difficult to complete in less than five or six pages, approximately.)
************************************************************

PACKET #4

1. "War Revisited"
by Nick Miller and Kel Munger
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/war-revisited/content?oid=928683

2. "Boots to Books: The Rough Road from Combat to College" (this is a video approx. 14 minutes in length)
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=8c310eacfeb08aba2e7f1e29411543e9

Tuesday, Sept. 27th, 2011, 8 pm

Hello,
Just in case you have misplaced your Unacceptable Errors Handout, see below.

In English 1A, students should already be very proficient in word usage. We do not have time for grammar lessons. (I will, however, provide short ‘mini’ lessons when I feel they are warranted.) The following errors that are commonly made on student papers are considered unacceptable.

For out of class essays, each unacceptable error takes ten points off your final earned grade. You may correct unacceptable errors and receive the points back if you choose to revise. In class essays that have unacceptable errors CAN always be corrected to earn back the points lost.

1. there – place Put it over there.
2. their – possessive pronoun That is their car.
3. they’re – contraction of they are They’re going with us.
4. your – possessive pronoun Your dinner is ready.
5. you’re – contraction of you are You’re not ready.
6. it’s – contraction of it is It’s a sunny day.
7. its – possessive pronoun The dog wagged its tail.
8. a lot – always two words I liked it a lot.
9. to – a preposition or part of an
infinitive I like to proofread my essays carefully.
10. too – an intensifier, or also That is too much. I will go too.
11. two – a number Give me two folders.
12. In today’s society Instead use “Today” or “In America” or “Now” etc
13. right(s)/write(s)/rite(s) rights are a set of beliefs or values in which a person feels entitled: His rights were read to him before he was arrested for stalking Dave Matthews. Writes is a verb indicating action taken with a pen, pencil or computers to convey a message: Michelle writes love letters to Dave Matthews in her sleep. Rites are a series of steps or events which lead an individual from one phase in life to the next, or a series of traditions that should be followed: The initiate began his rite of passage ceremony at the age of thirteen.
14. definitely/defiantly This error USUALLY occurs when a writer relies solely on spell-check. You really must learn to become the final editor of your work. Definitely is an adverb and it means without a doubt. Mary will definitely miss the Dave Matthews Band concert. Defiantly means to show defiance. She was in a defiant mood. It is an adjective. Or it could be used as an adverb. She was defiantly rude and sullen towards the professor.
***********************************************************************
An accumulation of the following errors can affect your grade, but not one error, ten points down. The number depends on how serious the error is, and how often you make it. Some do not slow up the reader as much as others.
• Misuse of the word “you”. You must actually mean the reader when you use the word “you”.

• Avoid use of contractions in formal expository writing. (can’t, shouldn’t, didn’t, etc.)

• Agreement of subject and verb. Both must be either singular or plural.

• Fragmented sentences, comma splices and run-ons. Be sure to proofread your papers carefully before turning them in.

You will not pass English 1A if you cannot write an intelligent sentence in correct English.

Monday evening, September 26, 10 pm

Hello,

for those of you who submitted a rough draft for me to review...
please attach that rough draft with my comments to your final draft when you submit it on Wednesday. Thanks!

Also, I plan to have the in class essays you wrote today graded by Friday...that is my goal anyway! :-)

See you Wednesday.

5 pm Friday, Sept. 23, 2011

Good afternoon,

I apologize for the trouble you are having reading the sample student essay I posted on the blog. I will make copies for you and distribute them on Monday. (It is a PDF file and I cannot seem to transfer it to a file you can read....at least not past the first page!)

I am attaching the list of study questions to consider when you are preparing for your in class writing #1 on Monday.
I am also attaching the sample introduction and supportive paragraph.
Both of these handouts were distributed in class today, along with the student sample essay.

See you Monday with blue (or green) book in hand. :-)
Happy weekend.

SAMPLE INTRODUCTION AND SUPPORT PARAGRAPH

Much has been written about the importance of reading to young children beginning from the moment they are born. In fact, many parents insist that starting the pattern of reading aloud to one’s child should begin while the child is still in the womb. Besides for the need to expose young people to books and the joys of reading in their early years, the subject matter of these books should also be considered as significant. Exposing children to a wide variety of topics certainly aids in feeding their imaginations. For example, the theme of home is found in hundreds of children’s picture books and it is a compelling theme that invites a wide variety of approaches and sensibilities.
Beloved children’s author, Beatrix Potter, wrote Peter Rabbit, a story about a little rabbit who ventures away from home, gets into mischief, and when he arrives back home, is exhausted and ill and falls directly to sleep. Certainly young listeners learn about right and wrong and what happens when a parent’s words are not heeded. Yet, even though Peter knows his mother will be disappointed in his behavior, he still wants to go home. Potter suggests that home is a safe place, away from Mr. McGregor. Potter writes, “Peter never stopped running or looked behind him till he got home to the big fir tree. He was so tired that he flopped down upon the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole and shut his eyes” (27). David Jorgensen’s pastel and watercolor illustrations depict Peter as content and rather relieved as he sleeps on the floor, and later in his bed. Peter is out of harm’s way at home and he is obviously loved by his mother, who feeds him chamomile tea to soothe his upset stomach and tucks him into bed. Potter’s message about home is very clear and very comforting for children to learn: home should be a safe and forgiving place of solace and love.


THIS IS A SAMPLE ESSAY: INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH AND FIRST SUPPORTIVE PARAGRAPH ONLY.
********************************************
DAUGHTER FROM DANANG--DISCUSSION QUESTIONS---THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

1. One reviewer describes the film as a “gut-wrenching examination of the way cultural differences and emotional expectations collide.” Would you agree this is an accurate description? Why or why not? Explain specifically.

2. Were there parts of the film that made you feel uncomfortable? If so, what were those parts and can you articulate why they made you feel uncomfortable?

3. Heidi acutely feels that she has been rejected by two mothers: her birth mother who gave her up and her Tennessee mother, whose cold, untouching demeanor drove a wedge between them. How does this fact impact Heidi and what she ultimately experiences when she returns to Vietnam?

4. The film is considered a very powerful one by many other small filmmakers as well as many reviewers. In your opinion, what makes this an effective or ineffective film?

5. What preconceived ideas about home are proven inaccurate after viewing the film?

6. In an interview with the filmmakers, they admit that when they decided to film Heidi’s return to Vietnam, they assumed that the reunion would be a healing story, a kind of full circle coming home. The war in Vietnam was long over and they felt they could create a film that would ease the collective pain that is still connected to the war. Instead, what they did discover?

7. Some viewers have condemned Heidi for representing an aspect of American culture that they believe is selfish and individualized. What do you think and feel about Heidi’s reaction for the family’s request for money?

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Hello!

Hope you are having an excellent weekend.

Remember to read the synopsis of the film you are watching next week that I posted on the blog.
I am looking forward to talking about the film with you on Friday.

About your out of class essay 1 assignment...

I hope that the two sample student essays (the one I distributed in class and the one I posted yesterday on the blog) have been helpful. I have received a few questions via email. Feel free to do that if you have any issues with the essay.

Yes, you can use the pronoun "I" if it is really YOUR experience. Just avoid using the redundant, unnecessary phrases: I think, I believe, etc.

A few students have asked if they can focus on songs that may not necessarily be about the theme of home but they are songs that remind them of home for many reasons...through their own personal experiences and history. That is absolutely fine!

Aloha.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

http://www.mediafire.com/?e5ofzo7gz75al21

Aloha,

above is a link that will take you to a pdf download of a sample student essay. This essay is one written on song lyrics and home. Just another sample for you to read through to see how one other student handled the prompt.

And remember, email me with any questions.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Hello, greetings...

Below you will find a few items:
1. Background about the film you will be viewing next week on Monday and Wednesday.
2. Out of Class Essay assignment #1, which was assigned today in class.

Please check the blog later this evening. I am going to address a few more things about the essay assignment.

English 1A, C. Fraga----About the Film--Daughter from Danang (2002)
This documentary often upsets the viewers’ expectations of happily-ever-afters. It is a riveting emotional drama of longing for home, grappling with identity issues, and witnessing the personal legacy of war.
To all outward appearances, Heidi is the proverbial “all-American girl”, hailing from small town Pulaski, Tenn. But her birth name was Mai Thi Hiep. Born in Danang, Vietnam in 1968, she’s the mixed-race daughter of an American serviceman and a Vietnamese woman. Fearing for her daughter’s safety at the war’s end, Hiep’s mother sent her to the U.S. on “Operation Babylift”, a Ford administration plan to relocate orphans and mixed-race children to the U.S. for adoption before they fell victim to a frighteningly uncertain future in Vietnam after the Americans pulled out.
Mother and daughter would know nothing about each other for 22 years.
Now, as if by a miracle, they are reunited in Danang. But what seems like the cure for a happy ending is anything but. Heidi and her Vietnamese relatives find themselves caught in a confusing clash of cultures and at the mercy of conflicting emotions that will change their lives and their definition of home forever. Through intimate and sometimes excruciating moments, Daughter from Danang profoundly shows how wide the chasms of cultural difference and how deep the wounds of war can run--even within one family.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.


_________________________________________________________________________________________


Eng. 1A, Sections 1, 4 & 84, Fall 2011, Instructor: C. Fraga

ASSIGNMENT: OUT OF CLASS ESSAY #1
• Assigned: Wednesday, September 14
• Rough Draft due, typed & dbl. spaced (optional): no later than Friday, September 23rd
• Due: Wed. Sept. 28th

You have two weeks to work on this essay. Your final draft should reflect this fact.
Please select one of the prompts below and write an interesting, informative, well
supported analysis response.
Requirements:
• Must be typed and double-spaced and have a title.
• Must follow MLA format (I will explain what my expectations are for this paper)

Since the purpose of this course is to strengthen your exploratory, expository and analytical writing with an emphasis on utilizing research and reading skills…AND because the theme for this course is the significance of home…I offer you a selection of three different essay prompts that each require you to carefully and deeply examine the theme of home in a particular genre. It is my intention that you will be drawn to one of the three enough so that you are motivated and even excited to conduct your research and write the essay.

Prompt #1:
For this essay you will research the theme of home as it is found in children’s picture books. After perusing several picture books, you will select a minimum of six to discuss, analyze and review for their success (or failure) in presenting the theme of home, through both words and illustrations. In your analysis, be sure to consider the intended audience.

Prompt #2:
For this essay you will research the theme of home as it is found in song lyrics. After perusing and studying many song lyrics, you will select a minimum of six songs to discuss, analyze and review for their success (or failure) in presenting the theme of home.
In your analysis, be sure to consider the intended audience.

Songs/Lyrics you may NOT analyze (please)! ☺:
“Home” (Chris Daughtry)
“Sweet Home Alabama” (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
“Home” (Michael Buble)
“Can’t Take me Home” (Pink)



Prompt #3:
For this essay you will research the theme of home as it is found in three different films (OR at least three episodes from a television series). You will discuss, analyze and review each film (or episode) for its success (or failure) in presenting the theme of home. In your analysis, be sure to consider the intended audience.
************************************************************************
IN ORDER TO ADDRESS ANY OF THESE THREE PROMPTS FULLY AND ADEQUATELY, YOUR ESSAY SHOULD BE AT LEAST 5 PAGES IN LENGTH (approximately)

Phrases you may NOT use in your title or anywhere in your essay. Doing so will lower the overall grade you earn for the essay:

• There’s no place like home.
• Home sweet home.
• Home is where the heart is.
• Home means different things to different people.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Hello,

Looking ahead in the course outline, Packet 3 is due to be read by Wednesday, September 28. There is a Q and C due for this Packet. The Packet consists of two articles, and you will find the links to these articles below. Be sure to print out copies and bring to class on the 28th.

"The Magic of the Family Meal"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760,00.html


"Down & Out in Fresno and San Francisco"
http://www.esquire.com/features/down-and-out-0709

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday. See you tomorrow.

Wednesday evening, Sept. 7th, 9 pm

Hello,

I completely forgot that one of the two poems in Packet 2, "Flies" by Donald Hall, cannot be cut and pasted from the Internet site.

However, thanks to a student in my 10 am class (thank you Tania!!!!) here it is! She typed the entire poem and emailed it to me. (see below)

(and just a quick note...this IS a poem, even though it does not LOOK like one. It is called a prose poem. It is still short, like most poems, but more of a narrative)

See you Friday.


“Flies”
By: Donald Hall

A fly sleeps on the field of a green curtain. I sit by my grandmother’s side, and rub her head as if I could comfort her. Ninety-seven years. Her eyes stay closed, her mouth open, and she gasps in her blue nightgown—pale blue, washed a thousand times. Now her face goes white, and her breath slows until I think it has stopped; then she gasps again, and pink returns to her face.

Between the roof of her mouth and her tongue, strands of spittle waver as she breathes. Now a nurse shakes her head over my grandmother’s sore mouth, and goes to get a glass of water, a spoon, and a flyswatter. My grandmother chokes on a spoonful of water and the nurse swats a fly


In the Connecticut suburbs where I grew up, and in Ann Arbor, there were houses with small leaded panes, where Formica shone in the kitchens, and hardwood in closets under paired leather boots. Carpets lay thick underfoot in every bedroom, bright, clean with no dust or hair in them. Nothing looked used, in these houses. Forty dollars’ worth of cut flowers leaned from Waterford vases for the Saturday dinner party.

Even in houses like these, the housefly wandered and paused—and I listened for the buzz of its wings and its tiny feet, as it struggled among cut flowers and bumped into leaded panes


In the afternoon my mother takes over at my grandmother’s side in the Peabody Home, while I go back to the farm. I nap in the room my mother and my grandmother were born in.

At night we assemble beside her. Her shallow, rapid breath rasps, and her eyes jerk, and the nurse can find no pulse, as her small strength concentrated wholly on half an inch of lung space, and she coughs faintly—quick coughs like fingertips on a ledge. Her daughters stand by the bed, solemn in the slow evening, in the shallows of after-supper—Caroline, Nan, and Lucy, her eldest daughter, seventy-two, who holds her hand to help her die, as twenty years past she did the same thing for my father.

Then her breath slows again, as it has done all day. Pink vanishes from cheeks w3e have kissed so often, and her nostrils quiver. She breathes one more quick breath. Her mouth twitches sharply, as if she speaks a word we cannot hear. Her face is fixed, white, her eyes half closed, and the next breath never comes.


She lies in a casket covered with gray linen, which my mother and her sisters picked. This is Chadwick’s Funeral Parlor in New London, on the ground floor under the I.O.O.F. Her fine hair lies combed on the pillow. Her teeth in, her mouth closed, she looks the way she used to, except that her face is tinted, tanned as if she worked in the fields.

This air is so still it has bars. Because I have been thinking about flies, I realize that there are no flies in this room. I imagine a fly wandering in, through these dark-curtained windows, to land on my grandmother’s nose.

At the Andover graveyard, Astroturf covers the dirt next to the shaft dug for her. Mr. Jones says a prayer beside the open hole. He preached at the South Danbury Church when my grandmother still played the organ. He raises his narrow voice, which gives itself over to August and blue air, and tells us that Kate in heaven “will keep on growing . . . and growing . . . and growing”—and he stops abruptly, as if the sky had abandoned him, and chose to speak elsewhere through someone else.


After the burial I walk by myself in the barn where I spent summers next to my grandfather. I think of them talking in heaven. Her first word is the word her mouth was making when she died.

In this tie-up chaff of flies roiled in the leather air, as my grandfather milked his Holsteins morning and night, his bald head pressed sweating into their sides, fat female Harlequins, while their black and white tails swept back and forth, stirring the flies up. His voice spoke pieces he learned for the lyceum, and I listened crouched on a three-legged stool, as his hands kept time strp strp with alternate streams of hot milk, the sound softer as milk foamed to the pail’s top. In the tie-up the spiders feasted like emperors. Each April he broomed the webs out and whitewashed the wood, but spiders and flies came back, generation on generation—like the cattle, mothers and daughters, for a hundred and fifty years, until my grandfather’s heart flapped in his chest. One by one the slow Holsteins climbed the ramp into a cattle truck.


In the kitchen with its bare hardwood floor, my grandmother stood by the clock’s mirror to braid her hair every morning. She looked out the window toward Kearsarge, and said, “Mountain’s pretty today,” or, “Can’t see the mountain too good today.”

She fought the flies all summer. She shut the screen door quickly, but flies gathered on canisters, on the clockface, on the range when the fire was out, on set-tubs, tables, curtains, chairs. Flies buzzed on cooling lard, when my grandmother made doughnuts. Flies lit on a drip of jam before she could wipe it up. Flies whirled over simmering beans, in the steam of maple syrup.

My grandmother fretted, and took good aim with a flyswatter, and hung strips of flypaper behind the range where nobody would tangle her hair in it.

She gave me a penny for every ten I killed. All day with my mesh flyswatter I patrolled kitchen and dining room, living room, even the dead air of the parlor. Though I killed every fly in the house by bedtime, when my grandmother washed the hardwood floor, by morning their sons and cousins assembled I the kitchen, like the woodchucks my grandfather shot in the vegetable garden which doubled and returned; or like the deer that watched for a hundred and fifty years from the brush on ragged mountain, and when my grandfather died stalked down the mountainside to graze among peas and corn.


We live in their house with our books and pictures, writing poems under Ragged Mountain, gazing each morning at blue Kearsarge.

We live in the house left behind; we sleep in the bed where they whispered together at night. One morning I wake hearing a voice from sleep: “The blow of the axe resides in the acorn.”

I get out of bed and drink cold water in the dark morning from the sink’s dipper at the window under the sparse oak, and fly wakes buzzing beside me, cold, and sweeps over set-tubs and range, one of the hundred-thousandth generation.

I planned long ago I would live here, somebody’s grandfather.

Tuesday, September 6th, 3:15 pm

Hello,

Just a very quick reminder...
(I had a student email me about this so I thought it best to remind you again...)

As we discussed in class...
about question and comment homework...
you must write a separate question (optional) and comment (mandatory) for EACH of the readings in the packet.
For example,
for Packet 2, there are two readings, so you will have TWO separate question and comments to submit.

See you tomorrow.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Greetings...
I hope all of you are thoroughly enjoying this Labor Day holiday weekend.

Below you will find the two poems that comprise Packet 2. Remember, your first set of Q & C's are due for this Packet on Friday, Sept. 9th. All out of class work must be typed and double spaced and in MLA format. Refer to your class notes, your course outline, and sample Q & C homework handout. And...remember to bring a print out of the poems to class on the day they are due to be read.

PACKET 2

"Flies" by Donald Hall
(note: the link below will take you to an entire collection of Hall's poems. The poem I want you to read, "Flies," is on pages 144-147.)

http://books.google.com/books?id=AiEq7VTaKK4C&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=%22Flies%22+by+Donald+Hall&source=bl&ots=8CPm1fSFa6&sig=jlxPa4GvcLfYmOPKudwXLpLIY3g&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false


"Arturo" by Maria Mazziotti Gillan

http://www.pccc.edu/home/cultural-affairs/poetry-center/maria-mazziotti-gillans-poems2

Tuesday, August 30th--second posting of the day

Hello, below you will find Reading Packet #1, due to be read by Wednesday, Sept. 7. There are four poems to read. Two of them are provided in full text below and the other two are to be found on the Internet. Print out all four poems and bring to class on the 7th. You will also note that NO question and comment homework is due for this packet.


POETRY READING PACKET #1 (four poems)

“Taking my Son to School”
by Eamon Grennan

(do a google search of the above poem exactly as it is written above. The first posting will be a commencement speech give by Mr. Grennan. Open this and you will see the poem right at the beginning of the speech. Focus only on the poem, not the speech)
************************************************************************************
"One Home”
By William Stafford

Mine was a Midwest home—you can keep your world.
Plain black hats rode the thoughts that made our code.
We sang hymns in the house; the roof was near God.

The light bulb that hung in the pantry made a wan light,
but we could read by it the names of preserves—
outside, the buffalo grass, and the wind in the night.

A wildcat sprang at Grandpa on the Fourth of July
when he was cutting plum bushes for fuel,
before Indians pulled the West over the edge of the sky.

To anyone who looked at us we said, “My friend”;
liking the cut of a thought, we could say “Hello.”
(But plain black hats rode the thoughts that made our code.)

The sun was over our town; it was like a blade.
Kicking cottonwood leaves we ran toward storms.
Wherever we looked the land would hold us up.

*************************************************************

“Where Children Live”
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Homes where children live exude a pleasant rumpledness,
like a bed made by a child, or a yard littered with balloons.
To be a child again one would need to shed details
till the heart found itself dressed in the coat with a hood.
Now the heart has taken on gloves and mufflers,
the heart never goes outside to find something to do.
And the house takes on a new face, dignified.
No lost shoes blooming under bushes.
No chipped trucks in the drive.
Grown-ups like swings, leafy plants, slow-motion back and forth.
While the yard of a child is strewn with the corpses
of bottle-rockets and whistles,
anything whizzing and spectacular, brilliantly short-lived.
Trees in children's yards speak in clearer tongues.
Ants have more hope. Squirrels dance as well as hide.
The fence has a reason to be there, so children can go in and out.
Even when the children are at school, the yards glow
with the leftovers of their affection,
the roots of the tiniest grasses curl toward one another
like secret smiles.

**********************************************************************
“To a Daughter Leaving Home”
by Linda Pastan
(please google the poem and you will find it on PoemHunter.com)

Tuesday, August 30th--11 am

Greetings!

Below you will find a copy of the course outline as well as the Grade Worksheet distributed yesterday in class.

ALSO!
Attention, 1A students in my Section 4 class only (10-10:50 am) !!!!!
We are changing rooms!!!!
Beginning tomorrow, we will be meeting in Mendocino 1030.
See you there!

My other two sections of 1A will meet as usual in the originally scheduled room.

****************************************************************

FALL 2011, CSU SACRAMENTO
COURSE: English 1A: College Composition I
Section 1, MWF, 8-8:50 AM (Mariposa 1010)
Section 84, MWF, 9-9:50 AM (A LEARNING COMMUNITY) (Brighton 109)
Section 4, MWF, 10-10:50 AM (Mendocino 1030)
INSTRUCTOR: Catherine Fraga
E-mail: sacto1954@gmail.com
Office Hours: CLV 149, MWF 11-11:50 AM or by appointment

CLASS BLOG: http://English1AFall2011Fraga.blogspot.com

Prerequisites: Placement by examination OR successful completion of English 1 or its equivalent.
************************************************************************
REQUIRED TEXTS & MATERIALS
• Made for You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home—A Memoir
By Caitlin Shetterly
Publisher: Voice

• The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood
by Kien Nguyen
Publisher: Bay Back Books

• Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers—8th Edition
by Jay Silverman, Elaine Hughes, Diana Roberts Wienbroer
Publisher: McGraw-Hill

• 8 1/2” x 11” lined notebook paper (paper that is torn out of a notebook without a straight edge will not be accepted).

• Stapler

• Reliable access to a computer and a printer.

• Two (2) Blue (or Green) Books for the two in-class essays
(these can be found in the university’s bookstore—they are available in two different sizes—either size is acceptable)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
English 1A is a freshman writing course that offers students the opportunity to learn and develop the reading and writing skills that will be most useful to them during a four-year college program. The course is designed to help students improve their ability to understand and critically judge reading material and to write an essay which has a single controlling idea and which is coherently developed using idiomatically and grammatically correct English.

The heart of the course is readings that require a range of narrative, analytical, reflective and research writing skills.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Attendance and punctuality are required. I have designed this course so that it depends on your presence and participation. If you’re absent, you are still responsible for finding out what you’ve missed (including lecture notes, handouts, changes in due dates, etc.) Refer to your class phone list.

2. Having more than three absences will seriously alter your final grade. This is not because I do not consider you mature enough to make a commitment to a class; it is because if you do miss more than 3 classes, you miss group work, or in class writing, or a journal assignment, or a quiz, or an in class essay assignment, and/or a bevy of other possible events, all of which affect the grade you earn. Please communicate with me. I am very understanding and reasonable.

If you must miss a class on a day an assignment is due, you are still responsible for getting the assignment to me on time. Again, use the phone list, call your mother, or??? This is merely a fairness issue; we all have life situations that are often difficult and unexpected, and if others manage to still get their work in on time, I cannot give special exceptions to just a few.

3. There will be numerous reading and writing assignments in this course. I expect you to complete them on time and come prepared to class. We may not get an opportunity to discuss everything we read for class, but that is inevitable in any college course.

4. You will complete a question and comment assignment for several of the reading assignments. The question is optional, but the commentary is not. Your commentary must be a minimum of eight sentences in length. (I know ALL the shortcuts students may try. Be assured that if you write eight very short, simple sentences you will not receive credit for the assignment. A thorough explanation of what is required for these question and comment assignments and a sample will be provided.) No late homework will be accepted.

5. Out of class essays may be handed in late, but there is a stiff penalty. For every day your essay is late, the grade for that essay will drop a full ten points. This includes weekends. Points subtracted for lateness cannot be made up during the revision process.

6. Journal writing assignments are assigned and completed in class and are not allowed to be made up.

7. Quizzes: There will be three scheduled quizzes on the Handbook and five unannounced, unscheduled quizzes during the semester. If you come prepared to class the quizzes should present no problems for you.

8. A note on classroom etiquette:
If you feel you cannot survive each class session without the use of your cell phone, iPod, iPad or laptop computer, please do not enroll in this class. (I own three of these devices, and value each of them, but I do not plan on using them during my classroom time with you. Simply, it is the highest degree of rudeness and disrespect.) If I see you busy texting, etc. I will not hesitate to ask you to leave. (IF THERE IS A COMPELLING REASON THAT YOU MUST KEEP YOUR PHONE ON VIBRATE FOR AN EMERGENCY PHONE CALL THAT MAY OCCUR DURING CLASS HOURS, PLEASE INFORM ME BEORE CLASS.) Each cIass session is a mere 50 minutes long and plan to give you my full attention for 50 minutes and I expect the same from all my students. (Of course, if you have documented paperwork from the university indicating the need for a computer in the classroom, that is perfectly fine!)

9. HOW YOUR GRADE IS EARNED:
See attached grade roster. At no time should you wonder how you are “doing” in the course. The grade worksheet makes it very easy to keep track. Simply record your scores as you receive back your graded work. Do not discard any assignments that are graded and returned to you until the semester is over.

10. English 1A is graded A, B, C, D, or F. Do not assume that because you have not submitted an out of class essay assignment, you will still be able to pass the course. Even though you have missed the due date, and have an automatic “F” for that assignment, YOU STILL MUST WRITE AND SUBMIT ALL THREE OUT OF CLASS ESSAYS TO PASS THE COURSE, as well as earning passing scores on your other work.

Theme: The Significance of Home

• We will consider home as our course-long theme. The significance of home – as a place of beginnings, as a starting point, as a place of comfort, regret, anguish, joy, personal growth, and loss – fuels a meaningful, intriguing collection of themes. Home is a base from which all of us emerge.

• Most of us have pre-conceived notions of home as a place of love, comfort, security. For millions of children, however, these definitions do not fit their reality of home as a place to escape: escape from cycles of poverty, mistrust, abuse.

• The course will explore not only home as a safety net, but also the illusions we have of home perpetuated by Madison Avenue advertising agencies.

• What are our expectations of home? Again, does our “real” home live up to the expectations society has created? How do different cultural values and priorities play a role in determining what home should and should not be? Attempting to answer these questions is the task I have set for us during this semester.

• What does it mean to leave home for the first time? What does it mean to be rootless, without a home?

• Finally, how can we reconnect to the earth as home, knowing full well that the lives we have created for ourselves impact the finite planet all of us call home?

• We view at least two films which explore the theme of home. These films will allow us to observe and witness concepts we have read about and discussed.

COURSE OUTLINE
(Please note: Bring this outline to class each session; changes could occur at a moment’s notice. Also, most reading and writing assignments are noted -- other class exercises and lectures may not be noted specifically)

ALL OUT OF CLASS ASSIGNMENTS (HOMEWORK, ESSAYS, ETC) MUST BE TYPED AND DOUBLE SPACED UNLESS INSTRUCTED OTHERWISE. PLEASE USE TIMES NEW ROMAN, 12 POINT FONT.

Week One (August 29-Sept. 2)
• Introduction to the Course (course theme explained)
• Course Outline Distributed (handout)
• Question/Comment Homework Explained
• Unacceptable Errors (handout)
• Oral Presentation Assigned (for last week of class)
• Discussion: Reading and Evaluating Poetry

Week Two (Sept. 5-9)
• MONDAY, SEPT. 5, NO CLASS, LABOR DAY, CAMPUS WIDE HOLIDAY
• Read Packet 1 (Wednesday)
• In class Journal #1 (Wednesday)
• Read Packet 2 (Friday) Q & C #1 due today
• Group Work #1 (Friday)

Week Three (Sept. 12-16)
• Quiz based on pgs. 2-60 in Rules of Thumb (Monday)
• Discussion: How to Evaluate a Documentary Film (Wednesday)
• Out of Class Essay #1 assigned today (Wednesday)
• Discussion: Reading and Evaluating the Short Story (Wednesday)
• No class today. Get started on Essay 1! (Friday)

Week Four (Sept. 19-23)
• View 1st half of film in class (Monday)
• View 2nd half of film in class (Wednesday)
• Preparation for in-class writing next week (Friday)
• IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY, I RECOMMEND THAT YOU START READING MADE FOR YOU AND ME. THE FIRST 65 PAGES IS DUE TO BE READ BY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12TH.

Week Five (Sept. 26-30)
• In-class Essay #1 (Monday)
• Out of Class Essay #1 due today (Wed.)
• Read Packet #3 (Wed.) Q & C #2 due today
• Out of Class Essay #2 assigned today (Friday)
• Discuss MLA Documentation in class (Friday)

Week Six (Oct 3-7)
• Read pgs. 112-134 in Rules of Thumb (Monday)
• Quiz on pgs. 112-134 (see above) (Monday)
• Read Packet #4 (Wednesday)
• Group Work #2 (Friday)

Week Seven (Oct.10-14)
• Read pages 136-149 in Rules of Thumb (Monday)
• Quiz on pages 136-149 (see above) (Monday)
• Read pages 1-65 in Made for You and Me (Wed.)
• In class Journal #2 (Wed.)
• Group Work #3 (Friday)

Week Eight (Oct. 17-21)
• Read pages 66-152 in Made for You and Me (Monday)
• Discussion: How to Read and Evaluate Essays (Wed.)
• Read Packet #5 --Q & C #3 due today (Friday)

Week Nine (Oct. 24-28)
• Read pages 152 through to the end of the book Made for You and Me (Monday)
• In class Journal #3 (Wed.)
• Out of class essay #2 due today (Friday)

Week Ten: (Oct. 31-Nov. 4)
• Read Packet #6--Q & C #4 due today (Monday)
• Read Packet #7 (Wed.)
• Review of all Sentence Level Errors (Friday)

Week Eleven: (Nov.7-11)
• If you have not already, begin reading The Unwanted. Please have pages 5-136 read by Wednesday of this week.
• Out of class essay #3 assigned (Monday)
• Discuss The Unwanted, pages 5-136 (Wednesday)
• Veteran’s Day, Campus Closed, Holiday (Friday)

Week Twelve: (Nov.14-18)
• View film in class (Monday)
• Complete viewing of film in class (Wednesday)
• In class essay #2 on film viewed this week (Friday)

Week Thirteen: (Nov.21-25)
• Thanksgiving Holiday, Nov. 24 and 25, no classes

Week Fourteen: (Nov. 28-Dec. 2)
• By today you will have read the entire memoir, The Unwanted (Monday)
• Out of class essay #3 due today (Wed.)
• Discuss The Unwanted in class (Wed.)
• In class Journal #4 (Wed.)
• Group Work #4 (Fri.)
• Take home test on The Unwanted distributed today (Friday)

Week Fifteen (Dec. 5-9) LAST WEEK OF INSTRUCTION
• Take home test on The Unwanted due today (Monday)
• Grade Sheet Check and Oral Presentations (Wed.)
• Oral Presentations (Friday)
• Last class day (Friday)

Week Sixteen (Dec. 12-16) FINALS WEEK)
• (there is no final exam in this class)


***A NOTE ABOUT REVISIONS***
Since this is a composition course, where the goal is to become a better writer and a more sophisticated thinker, you are invited to revise one of the three out of class essays. If you choose to revise an essay, the revision along with the original, is due no later than one week after you receive the graded essay back. You MUST highlight all changes and additions you make on your revised essay.








English 1A, Fall 2011, Prof. Fraga
GRADE WORKSHEET-----1975 POINTS POSSIBLE
Stapler Check (25 pts.)
Wednesday, Sept. 7—stapler in your possession!______
Oral Presentation=(100 pts.)
Oral Pres._____(100)
Out of Class Essays (400 points)
Out of Class Essay 1_____(100 pts.) Out of Class Essay 2_____(200 pts.) Out of Class Essay 3_____(100 pts.)
Rules of Thumb Quizzes (300 points)
Pgs. 1-60 (100)_____ Pgs. 112-134 (100)_____ Pgs 136-147 (100)_____
Unannounced Quizzes (250) (50 points each)
Quiz 1____Quiz 2_____Quiz 3_____Quiz 4_____Quiz 5_____
Journals=(100 pts.)
Journal 1 (25) _____Journal 2 (25)_____Journal 3 (25)_____Journal 4 (25)_____
Homework=(200 pts.)
Q and C #1 (50)_____Q and C #2 (50)_____Q and C #3 (50)_____Q and C #4 (50)_____
In Class Group Work (200 pts.)
Group Work 1 (50 pts)_____Group Work 2 (50 pts)_____Group Work 3 (50 pts)_____Group Work 4 (50 pts)_____
In Class Essays (200 pts.)
In class essay #1 (100)_____In class essay #2 (100) _____
Take home essay on The Unwanted (200)_____
**************************************************************************************
How to assess your grade earned: Divide the points you earn by 1975 to find the percentage. Then see chart below.
100-94=A 63-60=C- Example: 1725 pts. earned=87%=B+
93-90=A- 59-54=D Example: 1444 pts. earned=73%=C+
89-84=B+ 53-0=F Example: 1901 pts. earned=96%=A
83-80=B Example: 1808 pts. earned=91%=A-
79-74=B-
73-70=C+
69-64=C
63-60=C-
59-54=D
53-0=F

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Welcome to your College Composition I blog!
Enjoy the rest of your summer break and be safe.
I look forward to meeting all of you on Monday, August 29th!
Prof. Fraga

I recommend that you purchase your required materials for this class as soon as possible. The university bookstore is VERY busy during the first week of classes. The three required texts are listed below for your convenience.

• Made for You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home—A Memoir
By Caitlin Shetterly
Publisher: Voice

• The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood
by Kien Nguyen
Publisher: Bay Back Books

• Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers—8th Edition
by Jay Silverman, Elaine Hughes, Diana Roberts Wienbroer
Publisher: McGraw-Hill