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