Hello again students! You were wonderful on Wednesday. Hopefully the Writer's Workshop helped you to finalize your papers. Please remember also to read the article from Alan Dershowitz that I handed out. We are going to talk about "A Rose for Emily" and William Faulkner -- and how the story relates to the article and today's issues. See you in class! RD

William Faulkner
September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962

QUOTATIONS (A brief re-cap of Wednesday's class)

•Identify your speaker. Who is this? Make sure the quote and the person are relevant.
•Use only the best quotations. “He said it was great.” What does this add?
•Never use a quotation and move on with your paper. Explain the point of the quotation and its connection to your paper.

•Make the quotation fit grammatically. If you need to change a verb tense, you may. Use [brackets] to indicate that you’ve changed something.
•Quotations that are more than three lines need to be in a block format – indented 10 spaces and still double-spaced. (This is MLA style--check your handbook).

•When you’re finished, read your draft and consider the reader’s viewpoint. Do your quotations support an argument, present a point of disagreement, raise a new point? Do not assume your reader knows why you’re using the quotation. Use signal words and/or phrases, lead the reader through your reasoning.

SIGNAL PHRASES:

•According to (Author/Character), "..."
•As Mark Twain goes on to explain, "..."
•Characterized by John Milton, the society is "..."
•As one critic points out, "..."

SIGNAL WORDS (Check the meanings before using them!)

•acknowledges, adds, admits, affirms, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments, compares, confirms, contends, declares, demonstrates, denies, disputes, emphasizes, endorses, grants, illustrates, implies, insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, responds, states, suggests, thinks, underlines, writes

Please have your final papers in perfect order for tomorrow's class. IF there is no class tomorrow because of the weather, you MUST bring your paper to Monday's lecture -- no exceptions.
If you have any questions or comments or problems, please contact me.
RD

Suggested LiterActive documents for "The Accident": Tim O'Brien, Ted Hughes and Leguizumos Los Vendidos.

To cite these documents: after the quote --"Quote" (LiterActive and Author's Last Name).
Note: the period is now at the end of your cite, not the end of the quote.

Good morning!
On Wednesday, we will be having a Writer's Workshop -- please do not forget to bring a draft of your paper. This should not a "rough" draft -- you should have a thesis statement, an intro, a direction with your paper and a conclusion. It should be typed and virtually error free. Then we will turn them into masterpieces using the workshop worksheet.
If you have any questions about your paper or if you get stuck on something, please contact me by phone, by email, through the blog or come and see me.
See you Wednesday; I am looking forward to a productive class.
RD

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF 'HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY' -- part of in-class lecture on Friday:

1. Choose your topic and what down what you know about that topic -- use the sheet for Paper 1 to formulate your thesis.
2. List what you know and come up with convincing support for each aspect of that knowledge.
3. Brainstorm about historical/cultural influences that may be important to the topic -- i.e. The Accident - Chinese culture; Girl, Antiguan society, colonialism; etc.
4. Focus on the most important aspects on your list -- use them as topic sentences.
5. Why do you care about the topic? Why should the reader care about the topic?
6. How do you plan to make the reader care about your paper?
7. What are you going to teach the reader in the paper? Why is your paper important?

HOMEWORK ASSIGNED FRIDAY, FEB. 19:

1. READ "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner for Monday's lecture. Take notes -- check the blog on notetaking and be prepared for Dr. Pruss's questions.
2. HAVE DRAFT OF PAPER NO. 1 FOR WED.s Class -- Writer's Workshop. If you are unable to write your draft because of extenuating circumstances, please see me BEFORE Wed.
3. CHECK the blog often: Please participate in the discussion of "Hills Like White Elephants." Read what other students wrote and respond to the questions and the other comments.
4. I will hand back your thesis statements with comments on Monday.

Hi Section 11 -- btw, you were all great in Monday's lecture.
So, another snow day ... I hope you are all enjoying your day off from school. I'd like for us to discuss "Hills Like White Elephants" on the blog. That way next Wed. we can move along since we've already missed two classes.
Let's talk about the tone of the story -- how does the dialogue "flow" and what does this lend to the story and what's going on?
Does the vagueness enter into what is really going on? What is the woman "afraid" of? Think about enslavement and how she is enslaved -- there are several issues going on here.

Look at this part of the dialogue:
"They look like white elephants," she said. "I've never seen one," the man drank his beer. "No, you wouldn't have." "I might have," the man said. "Just because you say I wouldn't have doesn't prove anything." The girl looked at the bead curtain. "They've painted something on it," she said. "What does it say?" "Anis del Toro. It's a drink." WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT HIM?
"Could we try it?" WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE?

And, lastly, what about the line:"It isn't ours anymore,"
to what is she referring?

I'm excited to hear what you all have to say!!
RD

Thomas Laupstad Photos from Northern Norway

Hi students. It's Tuesday, and I am thinking that we will not have class tomorrow -- I have no power over this, just a hunch. :) In the case that tomorrow's class is cancelled, I would like to try to have a discussion about "Hills Like White Elephants" on the blog. If enough of you participate and the discussion is didactic (look it up!), I will omit a homework assignment in the near future.

Please check back tomorrow.

Thanks!

RD

Happy Monday! We will be very busy in Wed.'s class catching up ... if class is cancelled this Wed. because of snow, we will be extra busy next week. So, I'm putting up some helpful advice on notetaking. You were all great in lecture this morning, and I saw that some of you had notes on the reading.

NOTETAKING (This is Dr. Pruss-inspired):

1. Do not take notes while reading or with the book open. Read the story twice.
2. The first time -- just read the story.
3. A day or so later, reread the story. Put the book away.
4. NOW: Focus on the main characters and the main things that happened in the story.
5. What is the main conflict in the story? How is it resolved?
6. Why did the author write the story?

Try this for "Hills Like White Elephants" and "Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat" and (if we have time) we can talk about it in class.
If you'd like to blog some notes, please do that also. This is a writing intensive course -- the more writing you do, the better you will become!

RD

Hi students! I hope everyone is having a great weekend. A reminder -- for Wed's class, please write a page or so on the last paragraph of "The Accident" and what it lends to the story.

Make sure you read "Hills Like White Elephants" and "Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat." Be prepared to discuss the themes of the stories and how they relate to enslavement -- jot down notes after you read about what you think is going on in the stories -- metaphors, symbols, etc. We will have a visitor in class on Wed., so we want to be our smiley, lively selves!!

If you have a chance and are feeling ambitious, blog some of your thoughts about "Hills" and/or "Black Man and White Woman ..." I will read your thoughts in class on Wed.

See you in Monday's lecture.
RD