Class #8

I return your journals.

We go over grammar a bit (click on "a bit" for help with combining ideas), and groups work on Exercise 24.2, discuss Alice Walker's piece and share beginnings.

Peer review.

Homework

1. Read in Reid "The Red Chevy" pages 145-148.

2. Create the final version of the Remembering paper. Edit carefully, with special attention to fragments, c.s. and run-ons.

3. In your journal write out a completely different beginning for your Remembering essay. Try to think of a totally new way to begin -- it won't necessarily be better, but it should be different.

4. Make sure that in your journal you list the beginnings you brought to class for today.

5. Two vocabulary words.

Class #7

First off, I talk about memoirs, including fake ones , Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggars. If you want to read that book, try to get the paperback edition because he changed it between editions.

We discuss "Lives on the Boundaries."

Grammar practice: coordination and subordination, again. Everyday Writer Exercise 24.2.

Peer Review of draft #1 of the Remembering Essay.

Beginnings: examples of hooks famous, infamous, good and bad. Here are some by Mitchell Melville , Dickens, and the man himself, Bulwer-Lytten. And then there is Solzhenitsyn.

Homework

1. Read Alice Walker's "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self" pages 117-124 in Reid.

2. Write Draft #2 of your Remembering Essay. Now is the time to focus in on your dominant idea and make sure that you are having the effect you desire.

3. Bring examples of three different beginnings of books or articles to class. They can be either effective or ineffective hooks, in your estimation. When you have your journal back, you will list what these are in your journal.

4. Two vocabulary words (to add to your journal when you have it back).

Class #6

Final versions of the Observation Paper, with all drafts and comment sheets, were handed in.

We discussed the techniques for writing about memories in Reid.

We looked at an example of this kind of writing, and then groups read and annotated "The Boy's Desire" by R. Rodriguez.

I handed out the assignment sheet for the next paper, and then we discussed Section 24 in the Everyday Writer. Exercises 24.1 was assigned.

Extra practice with subordination and coordination can be found here.

Homework

1. Read in Reid "Lives on the Boundaries" pages 109-116.

2. Fill at least one page of your journal with notes and freewriting, collecting ideas for your Remembering essay.

3. Then create Draft #1 of your Remembering essay to bring to class Tuesday.

4. Journal check Tuesday. Be prepared to turn your journal in to me. PLEASE make sure that your vocabulary words are numbered so I don't have to count them. They are each worth three points (word, context, definition); you should have twelve.

5. Two vocabulary words.