home and bored

Hi all:

Okay, I am itching to read some research projects and view some films. Please email anything you want me to take a look at. Or, just post a note and let me know what's happening.

KK

Monday, 12/14/09

Hi all:
I am out sick for Monday and Tuesday but plan to be back in class for Wednesday. I realize that this is a terrible time not to get any feedback on your projects, but please do the following:

• continue to write your papers and complete your films
• email me: kkeane@bergen.edu if you have any issues
  

On Wednesday, the issues that I would to address in class center around using research information successfully - and in a balanced way. Also, I'll hand out information to help you formulate your Works Cited pages (this doesnt apply to the film folks).

If you are really worried about your paper, please go to the Writing Center located on the first floor across from the registrar.

You can also post here.

Keep working. You can all do it!!!!

Looking forward to seeing all of your projects (print and film) on Thursday.
Best,
Prof. Keane

Thursday, 12/10

Class updates:

EBS 014/015/002A

• Today we learned a lot about movie making and figured out work arounds in terms of technology. A big thank you goes out to Dr. Kaur for coming to B107 and helping us out.
• You should all think about the movie that we previewed today and the ways in which color transitions, and storytelling come together.

EBS 014/015/015 & 020A

Paper

• Today you all worked on your detailed outlines for your papers. My goal is to take a look at them all tonight and then provide you with some feedback for tomorrow.
• This weekend should be all about you drafting your paper.
• Tues and Wed - Works Cited in class

Film

• Even though we couldn't get the DVD to play, curse you technology gods! - we did have a good conversation about visual storytelling.
• In the next few days, your projects need to really take shape. Don't forget about the Bergie's!

Best,

Prof. Keane

Tuesday, 12/8

IMPORTANT:
Do not forget to send your screenplays or your central arguments with sources. I need to see them by today.

Email me with any questions, or post below.

Best,
KK

Monday, 12/7

Good morning all:
We now officially have two weeks left to the semester. Hard to believe how quickly the time is moving. At this point, you must be working fully on your final project (film or paper).

For the film project, if you need to borrow a Flip Camera overnight, please contact me ASAP to arrange for this. If you are using your own camera, then just let me know.

For the paper project, I would really like for you to think about perspective - or the point of view that you are going to write your paper from. For example, are you going to write from your own vantage point as someone who has to make good choices in less than idea conditions? If this is the case, then you would want to use "I" since you are talking about the way the research affects you. If you are writing in support or in opposition of the lawsuits against McDonalds, then you would take a third person approach.

Make sense?

If you are confused or need help, please make sure to contact me ASAP. Please remember the regardless of whether you do the film or the paper, all projects are due on December 17th at the start of class. I will not, for any reason, accept any late projects.

Best,
Prof. Keane

Some links for Final Project - Paper

Hi all:
If you need some additonal resource info for you paper, try these links:

• http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2007/wang_adult_obesity.html - obesity rates from Johns Hopkins
• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070827155540.htm - more statistical information about obesity rates from Science Daily
• http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html - Obesity rates by state from the Center for Disease Control
• http://www.cdc.gov/pdf/facts_about_obesity_in_the_united_states.pdf - Obesity fact sheet from Center for Disease Control

Hope this helps round out your research.

Prof. K

Tuesday, 11/24

Good morning:

Class is cancelled today, but I will be in tomorrow. For today's class time, you need to do the following:

• Click the links posted regarding your final project - go through all of the materials, so you have a good understanding of what is expected of you. I will hand out all of the articles at the end of class on Wednesday.

In class tomorrow, I will hand back your graded exit exams and Writing Assignment 3.

See you all tomorrow.

Best,

KK

Final Project - Read!

Hi all:
You may be a bit confused trying to figure out which link to look at for your project because I didn't put the words "Film" or "Essay" in the titles. Click through both and thens follow the one that your class voted for.
Best,
KK

Final Projects

Hi all:
Here are the links for the final projects for our class. Please make sure to follow the one that pertains to the assignment that you have selected.

• EBS 014/015 002A and part of 015 please click here [http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATBmCBZiCEggZGhuZHdjY2NfMTM0aGt0N2NtZGY&hl=en]
• EBS 014/020A and part of 015, please click here [ http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATBmCBZiCEggZGhuZHdjY2NfMTM1Zmh4M3JqZnI&hl=en

I will hand out this assignment in class as well as all articles.

Please remember that all projects will be due according to the assignment details. I look forward to some really creative viewing/reading.

Best,

Prof. Keane

Nov 11, 2009

Good evening all:
Today was really fun for me. In class, we dsicussed and analzed poems by Robert Frost and Sherman Alexie. Part of our work involved learning about:

• numbering lines
• counting stanzas
• figuring out rhyme schemes (A B B A, etc.)

Additionally, we worked through an understanding of:

conformity non conformity

and thought about how Junior in True Diary might be defined.

Tomorrow, we are going to look at our research packets and think about how to add it to our writing our claims.

Best,

Prof. Keane

November 10th

Dear all:
Today in class, we looked very carefully at one student's writing in terms of:

• structuring an introduction with a citation, summary, movement to drawing, and central argument
• structuring one example paragraph in terms of using a cartoon to anchor your work

Please remember that your WA 3: Middle Drafts are due at the start of Friday's class. The Middle Draft must meet the following objectives:

• solid foundational draft answering the essay questions
• one or two instances of outside source material from research packets

If you feel like you need extra help, please see me for an available conference time, or please visit the Writing Center in L125.

Best,

Prof. Keane

Nov 5, 2009

Good evening all:

In class work:
Search and Categorize
1. We went over each and every cartoon that Junior created. Additionally, we created categories and placed cartoons into these categories. It was tough work, but it helped going over the text in a different way and perhaps helped us to understand more of Junior's writing.

Writing Assignment 3
2. Each one of the categories (family, identity crisis, death, depression, culture, friends, etc.) can be a theme that Junior explores in his drawings. It is your job in WA3 to select one of these themes and create an essay around it.

Homework

• select a theme to work with
• decide which examples you will use
• provide a rationale (explanation) for the cartoons that you will use - why you will use some but not the others - explain the connection between them.

See you in class tomorrow. Remember: One week down, and two more to go!

Best,

Prof. Keane

Nov 4th

Hi all:

Today in class we went over the final half of the novel by working through scene after scene. We also looked at specific passages and throught about the ways in which scenes connected.

For homework, you all need to take a look at the cartoons from the entire novel and start doing some categorizing. This means that you have to start finding some things that Junior tends to draw about such as: family, identity crisis, alcoholism, friends, etc.

Identity Family Alcoholism Friends

Then, make a list of cartoons that fit in each category. We'll start discussing these themes in class tomorrow as they relate to WA 3.

Looking forward to tomorrow's class.
Best,
Prof. Keane

Tuesday, November 3rd

Hi all:
Today was a good day because we got a great deal accomplished. In fact, we have now gone over the following:

• Schedule to Thanksgiving - keep the energy up!
• Writing Assignment #3
• Second half Alexie's novel notes

Keep working hard because before you know it, Thanksgiving - and a break :) - will be here!

As always, if you would like to schedule an appointment with me to get some extra help, please let me know.

Best,

Prof. Keane

Correct link

Hi all:
Use this link for the first story: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E6DC1F3EF935A15751C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1. The other link brought you directly to page 2.

Sorry about that.
KK

Some fantastic reading

Hi all:
One of my favorite writers wrote two pieces for the New York Times about three years apart. Here are the two links:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E6DC1F3EF935A15751C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/fashion/18Love.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Ann%20Hood&st=cse

Please make sure to read them in this order.

I would really love it if you posted questions and/or reactions.
Best,
Prof. K

**the Beatles were a fantastic and world changing band in an era gone by.

October 22, 2009

Hi all:
Today was our first Grammar Blast - and what a blast we had. Okay, bad joke.

We covered the following elements:

• setting up a document
• puntuating titles Books and "Articles"
• referring to the author - after the first mention
• commonly confused words (their/there/they are - then/than)
• strange groupings (might of / might have)

Please go over your drafts with these elements in mind because you will be held accountable for them in your essays.

For tomorrow, please bring:

• your flash drives ready to print your final drafts
• middle and discovery drafts
• True Diary of a Part-time Indian

See you all tomorrow!

Best,

Prof. Keane

October 21, 2009

Dear all:
My apologies for not blogging in the past few days. All of your essays hae kept me very, very busy. Now that I am sitting at my computer, it is hard to really recap all that has happened, but I will give it a try.

First, you should all be in the final stages of getting your content set for WA 2. We have been talking extensively about the way Rose builds his argument, and I have been pushing you all to think about your audience and what they need to understand Rose and the field of basic reading and writing - and I ahve also been pushing you all to get closer to Rose's text. This means that your examples come from his article and not your own thinking. I hope this is getting easier for you all.

Next, we went over the grading rubric for this assignment. Make sure to look at the rubric and compare your essay with the four main categories: Content, Organization, Mechanics and Source Information. Maybe it will help guide a revision for you.

Finally, we started to get into some grammatical concerns. We are going to do a series of "grammatical blasts" in the next two days. This means that you are going to learn a structure in the larger group and then head off to your individual drafts to make your corrections/revisions. We will do this a few times.

Okay, I am stated to get way too tired to continue to make sense. The only thing that I will leave you with tonight is that I am proud of all of the hard work that you are putting into your work. Keep going!
Best,
Prof. K

October 16, 2009

Hi all:
Well, we all worked pretty hard this week between journal writing, essay revising/submitting, and learning about Sherman Alexie. I now have all of your "middle" drafts and look forward to reading and commenting on them.

For next week, you really need to dig into True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. If you are curious, here are some links to follow to help you learn more about him and his text:

• http://www.fallsapart.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Alexie
• http://www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/05/alexie/
• http://www.fallsapart.com/PDF%20Files/True%20Diary%20Discussion%20Guide.PDF
• http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/189691/october-28-2008/sherman-alexie

If you find any other good links, please pose them.

Have a great weekend and read your book! I really think you will enjoy it!

Prof. Keane

October 14, 2009

Hi all:
Today in class we finished up with the groups. I will compile all of my notes and let you know your grades soon. For the most part, you all did a nice job.

In addition, we went over some issues that you were all having with Writing Assignment 2. While we went over some smaller issues like: punctuating titles, naming the author, etc., our main work focused on the differences between:

Perception (judgement w/o facts) vs. Reality (judgements with some facts)

both of these concepts are:

• subject to change
• connected to the Rose text
• helpful for our readers to know in the introduction

We then thought about ways to bring this conversation into our writing.

Have a great day and keep re-working your drafts based on our class work.
Best,
Prof. Keane

October 13, 2009

Hi all:
Today was a really fun day in class. We started by making a list of elements that you will now be responsible for in your writing. They include:

• appropriate heading
• creative title
• punctuating titles (shorter pieces in quotes; book titles in italics)
• central argument
• paragraphing

Next, you all took control of the class discussing by covering sections of Graff and Birkenstein's chapter 4: "Three Ways to Respond." While I did push many groups to clarify their thinking - along with finding specific examples from their own writing, I do think that each group did lead their portion of the discussion. Tomorrow, we will continue on with the groups that have not yet presented.

Comming Soon:
WA 2: Middle Draft = due on Friday. I am thinking about having you submit it electronically and then handing in your WA: Discovery Drafts in person, so I can see where you are moving in your work. What do you all think? Did the electronic submissions work okay?

Wednesday's class
We are going finish the graded group presentations and then get into some issues that I see cropping up in your discovery drafts. I am looking forward to this conversation.


Sherman Alexie's True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - start reading!!!

Take care,
Prof. Keane

Rose on YouTube.com

Hi all:
Faiz from the 11:25 class found this clip from Mike Rose on Youtube and thought it might for us to understand more of what Rose is all about.

Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcpElcBVYKM

Thanks, Faiz.

Best,
Prof. Keane

Oops forgot journal reminder!!!

Don't forget to write Journal #3. It is based on the Graff and Birkenstein chapter 4 entitled "Yes/No/Maybe But."

8:00 am and 10:15
Due on Tuesday


11:25
Due on Monday

Thursday, Oct 8th

Hi all:
I wanted to start off tonight's blog with a link to Mike Rose's blog: http://mikerosebooks.blogspot.com/ It might help you write your essay if you can get a better feel for who he is as a person and an educator.

Reminder: Tomorrow, Friday, we do not have class because I will be at an all-day conference. Instead, you must send your WA 2 Discovery Drafts as an attachment to an email and send to me at: kkeane@bergen.edu. I will send you an email confirmation if I have received your file successfully.

Feel free to email with questions, or post some here.

Take care,
KK

Wednesday, Oct 7th

Hi all:

Sorry for not posting for the past few days. They seemed to have rushed by in a flurry!

Now for the update:

8:00 am and 10:15 am

Review the Radley Balko article "What You Eat is Your Business" and decide Balko's perspective (agree, two minds, disagree). We will finish this discussion in class and get to writing WA 2 discovery draft in class tomorrow.

11:25

You have already finished the Balko article. Your focus now is to write your discovery draft to be submitted by Friday @ 2pm.

For all classes:

• WA 2 Discovery Drafts are due by Friday @ 2pm. You should label your file = lastname_WA_2_DD.doc (or .docx). Please remember that I can't open files that are not saved as .doc or .docx.
• Journal 3 is based on chapter four of They Say I Say by Graff and Birkenstein. You will need to do 6 journal entries. Please remember the format:

#1 "passage" (Graff and Birkenstein #).

Response..........

• Journals are due on Monday for the 11:25 class and Tuesday for the 8 am and 10:15 class.

Best,

Prof. Keane

October 1, 2009

Hi all:

Welcome to the first day of October. A chill is in the air, and it seems like the fall is really starting to arrive.

In class today, we worked through all of our questions regarding "Our Children and Our Schools" by Mike Rose. Additionally, you broke up into pairs and worked through the handout helping you to organize your thoughts and ideas - which will help you in your discovery draft.

I have to say that I am really conflicted about Writing Assignment #2. Should we focus only on Rose, or should we spend some time with Rodriguez tomorrow? If you have an opinion, post it here - or see me at the start of class.

Stay warm, and I'll see you all tomorrow (TGIF)..

Best,

Prof. Keane

Wednesday, September 30th

Hi all:
Well, it is the last day of September, and I can honestly say that we are working harder today than the first day that we met. In most classes, Mike Rose's Article "Lives on the Boundary" was the hot topic. We discussed the various labels for students who test into basic writing and math courses and thought hard about how Rose built his argument.

Some important points that we covered today:

• claim vs. fact
• statistical analysis (hard but worth the effort)
• social history (learning by the artifacts of the time [letters, art, news, ecoomics, politics, etc])
• schools reflecting society's inability to deal with race, class and gender (huge thought that needs to be broken down

In terms of the specific classes, here are the assignments

8 am and 10:15 am

Re-read the article from beginning to end. Get ready to summarize the whole piece tomorrow.

11:25

Your group is a little bit ahead of the other classes. You all need to go through the article and create a list of questions (at least 5) where the article doesn't make sense. Then, you need to try to answer your questions.

On a final note, I am reading through and grading all of your final drafts for Writing Assignment 1. I am enjoying the work that you are all doing and thinking about the material that we need to cover this semeter. I will return about 10 a day for the next few days until I am finished.

Best,

Prof. Keane

Tuesday, September 29th

Hi all:

Since all of the classes are working on slightly different paces, I am going to write up the summaries a little differently. First, though, I would really like to thank everyone for their hard work with Mike Rose's piece. It is tough going, but I feel like we are really starting to make some inroads in understanding his central argument.

Okay... for today's work:

8 am
We spent most of our time today talking about the final draft of WA #1 and in understanding how to figure out "work-arounds." A work-around is when you come up with a problem that you can't solve, but you do need to deal with in order to get what you want. This was a great class discussion, and I am appreciative for all of your honest input.

HW: Review Mike Rose 1-14

10:15 am
This brave class dug deep into Mike Rose's piece. We discussed various terms: remedial, develpmental, basic writer and how they felt different from "unprepared." Additionally, we spoke at length about how grammar (Go Grammatica!) really can mess with a person's head - and their perception of self. Also, we worked the concept of Tone into our discussion. Rose really hit home with this line:

"These are the truly illiterate among us" (Rose 3).

We decided that sarcasm is a pretty cool thing to find in writing.

11:25 - Bring on the statistics!!!
In our class, we tried not to think about lunch. Instead we focused hard on how a writer could use statistical evidence to either prove or disprove a claim. This idea launched another discussion on the differences between Claim and Fact.

We also ran through all of the numbers and learned that there is not actually an increase of students who are labelled "basic" or "remedial" writers. Instead, there is an increase of students going to college - and that the percentage of this increase who test into basic skills is actually consistent with the past. So.. the presidents of Harvard and Brown really ought to stop complaining about "Why Johnny Can't Write."

HW for this class: read from 14 - end and be ready to discuss

To all, thank you for the hard work, and I look forward to another great class tomorrow.

Best,
Prof. K

Thursday: 8am, 9:30, and 11:25

Hi all:

Thank you for all of your posting today. I know the technology is tricky sometimes, but I do think it will be worth in.

Now for the important news:

DON"T COME TO CLASS ON FRIDAY - I have to be out for the day. If you see this and you know some phone numbers for other students in the class, please call, text, or email them.

WA #1 Final Draft

Bring everything for Monday (11:25) and Tuesday (8am and 9:30). We'll do tomorrow's work then.

My apologies for not letting you know earlier, but this is how it goes sometimes.

Best,

KK

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

8 am, 10:15 and 11:25

Good morning:
Today we are having in-depth literary discussion on Rodriquez, Rose, and Dumas. In class, you are all breaking up in groups of three and are working on different sections of these stories. Additionally, you are structuring your presentations in a They Say, We Say format.

They Say = what you all believe the author is saying
We Say = what your group thinks might be the bigger, deeper, other meanings of the text

After you meet in your groups and do the above work, you will present it to the class and initiate a discussion.

EXTRA Credit
Post your group's notes in the comment section below.

Take care,
Prof. Keane

Tuesday, September 22

8 am, 10:15, and 11:25

Hi all:

Well, today was a pretty productive day. In all three courses, we took a look at introductions and the ways in which they work for us (the writers). We thought about pre-game shows for football games and why specific networks would want to hold us in our seats for the duration of the game. We also looked carefully at the first few paragraphs of The Lovely Bones - a favorite of Prof. K's... and how the narrator - Susie Salmon - has us completely mesmerized.

After this lesson, we all practiced taking some chances with our writing by drafting new introductions. Everyone seemed to come away with a new way to get into their drafts.

Reminder for Friday: Submit Draft 1, 2, 3 and Reflection (class work for Friday).

Looking forward to another fantastic day tomorrow.

Best,

Prof. Keane

**I also collected journal entries. The writing looks good, but you all need to review your format a bit :).

My dog

This is my dog in the stream by my house...

Friday, 8, 9:30, and 11:25

Hi all:

I have all of your essays and am working hard to provide you with enough feedback to turn in your finished drafts. We will only have Monday (for my 11:25 class) and Tuesday for my 8 am and 10:15 class to work on the drafts this week. You will have the one day to read through your draft and ask me any questions that you would like. Then, you will revise on your own and be ready to hand in your final draft (typed, stapled, brilliant) on Friday - no exceptions!

Our main focus next week will be on the readings that you are completing journal entries for this weekend. We are going to use our journal entries to initiate discussion in small groups in order to dig deep and understand more. Make sure you are doing 6 journal entries in the appropriate format. Remember, all journals are due on Tuesday - no exceptions!

On a final note, I want you all to be proud of the hard work that you are doing. The drafts look better - messy and in process - but still better. I know that writing is tough work, but hang in there.

Best,

Prof. K

REMINDER: Essay Contest deadline is Oct 6th. Have you made an appointment to work with me yet?

Thursday: 8am, 9:30, and 10:50

Hi all:

Today we worked on understanding about research - where to find it (Internet vs. library vs. print sources) and explored several search engines:

• Google
• Ask
• Bing
• Teoma
• Yahoo

We also looked at the meanings behind those suffixes and how we might get different perspectives depending on the type of site that we were on.

• gov
• net
• com
• org
• edu

Finally, we discussed how many moments (pieces of research) one should have in a 2-3 page paper, and we decided that about 2-3 instances would be most one could possibly have.

For Friday:

• bring in your printed (no handwritten copies accepted) draft for review
• bring in the three story packets that I handed out today

Reminder: If you would like to enter the essay-writing contest, please email me (or post below), so I can reserve some time in my schedule to work with you. Notice I am writing in GREEN - the color of $$$.

Take care and stay healthy!

Best,

KK

Grammar Link

Hi again,

I found a pretty cool grammar link: http://www.myenglishteacher.net/runonsentences.html

This site explains run-on and also the structure of a sentence: subjects, verbs, and complete ideas. It is worth looking at.

If you guys find some good links regarding grammar, please feel free to post them. Just make sure you post them as links.

Best,

KK

EBS 014/015 8 am, 10:15, and 11:10

Hi all,

Today, we did a lot of work on central arguments. We learned how to recognize them and then add them into our essays. Additionally, we had our first lesson in grammar: Run-on sentences.

Students learned that they have choices when it comes to fixing run-ons:

• period
• semi colon (impress those bosses and English profs)
• , coordinating conjunctions (FAN BOYS)

Homework: Revise discovery drafts for central argument.

Thursday: Get ready to research!!

Best,

KK