Tuesday, May 5th, 2015--6:30 pm

Greetings,
for your convenience, I have recorded below the Oral Presentation schedule for both classes.

ENGLISH 5, SECTION 19

Monday, May 11
Tyler S.
Kathryn
Jessica
Jasmine
Kyle
Shelby
Cerise
Sam
Charles
Adrian
Jordan
Andrew

Wednesday, May 13
Coledan
Marissa
Diana
Branden
Kira
Hailee
Julio
Asma
Sierra
Kaitlynn
Alica

ENGLISH 5, SECTION 5

Monday, May 11
Julia
Nicholas
Brian V.
Tyler Mah
Erika
Caitlynn
Hewut
Ryan
Lacey
Nancy Vang
Jordin
Bryan Herman

Wednesday, May 13
Manuel
Anthony
Jessica
Tristen
Nancy Soto
Manroop
Myron
McKayla
Tyler R.
Ajinae
Maleigha
Ulambayar
Stephanie

SECTION 5 STUDENTS, PLEASE READ ASAP. (Saturday, May 2, 2015--7:30 pm)

Class will be held on Monday, May 4th,  in Alpine 147.

This is ONLY for section 5 students at 11 am.

PLEASE READ ASAP-----Wednesday, April 29th--5:30 pm

GREETINGS,

As I mentioned in class today, there are only two weeks left of classes and below you will find a mini summary of what will be occurring during these weeks. Please refer to this summary now, and not your syllabus calendar.

(I received a phone call this afternoon from a colleague who is very ill and asked me if I could take her place in presenting a paper at a meeting of English professors throughout Northern California. The meeting is Friday morning, which means I will have to cancel class this Friday, May 1.)

WEEK 14--May 4-8
--sign up for oral presentations (Monday)
--view documentary film, Home (Monday)
--Discuss Packets 8 and 9 (Wednesday)
--Complete Prof. Fraga's Self-Designed Course Evaluation (Wednesday)
--Friday (no class)

WEEK 15--May 11-15
--oral presentations (Monday)
--oral presentations (Wednesday)
--BRING TO CLASS THE FOLLOWING: all graded work; your grade sheet filled out; a calculator;
any final revisions of essays, if applicable. (Friday)

FRIDAY, MAY 15TH, IS THE LAST DAY TO SUBMIT REVISIONS.

ALSO, IF YOU NEVER SUBMITTED ANY OF THE OUT OF CLASS ESSAYS, YOU MUST SUBMIT BY FRIDAY, THE 15TH. REMEMBER, EVEN IF THE ESSAY HAS ALREADY EARNED A FAILING GRADE DUE TO LATENESS, YOU STILL MUST WRITE AND SUBMIT ALL THREE OUT OF CLASS ESSAYS IN ORDER TO PASS THE COURSE.
(see syllabus)

Tuesday, April 28th--5:40 pm

Greetings,

Below you will find a copy of the handout distributed in class on Monday. I will be completing the lecture on Wednesday in class.

Also, there were a very large number of absences on Monday. 

Not attending class because there is no activity that earns points is a lot like show students in high school view learning. I do not know for sure why there were so many absences, but I did not receive any explanations from anyone. When you miss class, you always miss something important. Education is not about how many points one earns toward a grade on a transcript. (okay, I am now finished with my mini-rant.  :)   )

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 you 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.

Please read ASAP--Wednesday, April 22--7 am

Unbelievable!
I awoke just now with some kind of stomach flu.
Ugh.

I apologize!

Tuesday April 21, 2015--8:30 pm

Hello,

there still seems to be some confusion about the due date for out of class essay 3.
As discussed last class session, and on the day I assigned the essay, the due date was moved from tomorrow to Friday.
Check the prompt.
I also, on the day I assigned essay 3, changed the due date on the syllabus posted on the blog.

:)

Please make an extra effort to attend class tomorrow because I need all in attendance to give the dept. course evaluation. Thanks so much.

Monday, April 20th, 2015--5:40 pm

Greetings,

just a reminder--that if you keep up with the blog, there should be  no confusion. For example, there is no reason why any student should not have known about the in class essay today, or the fact that Packet 7 was moved to Wednesday. It was posted on the blog on Friday, April 17th, as well as discussed in class.

Also, there was a bit of confusion about the link to "Why Marriages Fail." The link DOES have Chinese characters around the borders, but the reading IS in English. If you have any problems, please let me know as soon as possible.

Friday, April 17th--9 pm

Greetings,

for the few students who had to leave class today in section 5 in order to get to their next class, here is a quick explanation of how the film ended:
Ray decides to give herself up to the authorities and  go to jail for the four month sentence due to her smuggling attempt. Lila goes to her mother in law's and takes back her young son to raise. Ray asks Lila to take her place and help care for her two boys while she is in jail. She also gives Lila all the money to purchase the single wide home for now. A tribal policeman visits Troy Jr. and brings the Native American woman with him that Troy deceived with the phone scam. He asks Troy to apologize to her. The film ends with a shot of the single wide rolling down the highway towards Ray's home. 

Below are the assignments for the remaining packets.
Since the in class essay #2 takes place on Monday, Packet 7 is not due until Wednesday.
And a reminder, out of class essay #3 is due Friday.

PACKET 7:

"Why Marriages Fail" by Anne Roiphe
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_49291d2d010003h8.html

"The Good Marriage" (this is an introduction to a full length book)
http://www.ofspirit.com/tw-thegoodmarriage.htm

PACKET 8: 

"Boots to Books: The Rough Road from Combat to College"

(this is a video approximately 14 minutes in length)
https://vimeo.com/5748000

PACKET 9:

"My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant"
by Jose Antonio Vargas
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html?_r=0

ATTENTION SECTION 5 STUDENTS ONLY!!!

HELLO,

we will be meeting tomorrow, Friday, in Douglass Hall 209.
Please make an extra effort to be on time, if not a little early, if possible.

This is ONLY for Section 5 students in the 11-11:50 am section.
See you tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 15th--11:15 pm

Hello, I apologize for those section 19 students who were confused as to where to meet for class today. I mistakenly reminded section 5 students by writing English 5 students in the last blog posted.
I was hoping that you would follow the instructions JUST for section 5 students from the April 10th post. (And I also talked last week about the fact that section 19 students did NOT have to move to another room to view the film because the section 19 class was already set up with a projector, etc.)
Anyway, again, I apologize.

FOR SECTION 5 STUDENTS ONLY...
please check the blog before class on Friday, as I still do not know what room we will be meeting in.

Below you will find the handout distributed in class today. Along with the synopsis of the film, there are three essay prompts. Those are the choices you will have on Monday for the in class essay on the film. This way you can prepare specifically for a particular prompt.

FROZEN RIVER (2008)------Full Synopsis

A desperate single mother living in upstate New York resorts to smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States as a means of making ends meet in first-time feature director/screenwriter Courtney Hunt's emotionally wrenching drama, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Ray Eddy is in an impossible position; it's two days before Christmas and her husband has suddenly disappeared with all of the family savings. Now, as the newly single mother of two realizes the futility of attempting to cover the house payments on her meager Yankee One Dollar Store wages, her children are forced to exist on a nutritionally devoid diet of popcorn and Tang. Deciding that her only hope for survival is to find a man who will support her and her children, Ray sets out to find a husband but instead makes the acquaintance of street-smart Mohawk Lila Littlewolf. Lila, too, has been struggling to keep her head above water amidst economic despair, and has recently stumbled across a rather unconventional solution to her dire financial situation. Lately, Lila has been earning a living by smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S., but her tribal elders vehemently disapprove of the scheme and have recently attempted to stop it by forbidding the local auto dealers from selling her a car. As fate would have it, Ray's Dodge Spirit may just be the only thing the destitute mother can count on anymore, and as this unlikely pair gas up the tank for a daring dash across the iced-over St. Lawrence River, their fates become forever intertwined in ways that neither could have ever anticipated. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

(Melissa Leo (Ray) was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress and Courtney Hunt was nominated for an Academy Award for Best First Screenplay)

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

Do you consider the film, Frozen River, an authentic film? In other words, do you believe Lila and Ray’s lives are portrayed by the writer/director in a genuine and realistic manner

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

Frozen River appears to be a film that is littered with symbolism. Some of the elements that could be considered symbolic of a particular theme or idea are:

·      the frozen St. Lawrence river

·      the double wide trailer

·      the landscape

·      the infant in the duffle bag

·      the blowtorch

·      Ray’s collection of bubble bath that she never uses

DO YOU SEE OR NOTICE OTHERS?

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

How might you complete this sentence?

The film, Frozen River, is less about________________________________________________

and more about________________________________________________________________________.

PLEASE READ BEFORE TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15

GREETINGS,

As mentioned in my last post, we will be viewing a film tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday.
The in class essay 2, based on the film, will be on Monday, April 20th. Remember to bring a blue or green book to class.

SECTION 5 STUDENTS ONLY:
WE WILL STILL BE MEETING IN:
Eureka 113
ON WEDNESDAY.
THE ROOM FOR FRIDAY'S CLASS HAS YET TO BE DETERMINED.

PLEASE READ--CLASS CANCELLED FOR MONDAY, APRIL 13

Due to unexpected personal issues, I am regrettably going to have to cancel classes tomorrow. I deeply apologize for this huge inconvenience. Not at all what I had planned.

We will view the film on Wednesday and Friday.

Saturday, April 11th--10:30 pm

Greetings,

below you will find a sample student essay in response to out of class essay assignment #3.

I want you to consider this response a fairly strong, well focused and developed essay.

Suzie Student

Prof. Fraga

English 5, 12

5 November 2014

Successful Marriage: It’s no Cakewalk

            Marriage for many Americans has become a cliché for the precursor of divorce. Yet thousands of couples continue to make the plunge every year, hoping that their marriage will be the exception to the trend. Marriages fail for several different reasons; however, many couples manage to avoid the treacherous pathways that lead to divorce, and instead, continue for years in a successful and happy marriage. It is an interesting task to pinpoint the tenets of a successful marriage, because it can vary from couple to couple. There are, however a few commonalities that contribute to a successful and long lasting marriage. Four of the most important elements for a successful marriage include open communication, complete honesty, respect for each other’s boundaries, and self-actualization.

            The first significant ingredient for a strong marriage is open communication. Communication is a broad category that sparks much discussion, but is usually defined as respectful, open, and honest dialogue between spouses that fully conveys the meaning of what needs to be said. For example, many couples communicate by talking to each other at various times during the day. However, sometimes all couples are doing is talking at each other. Simply talking on and on about what happened during the day is polite pleasantry between spouses, but that is not the level of communication that strengthens a relationship. Communication where it counts includes eye contact and fully paying attention to what the other person is saying as well as contributing full heartedly with ideas and input from the other party. Communication, however, does not mean that partners always have to agree. According to Ranell (my aunt), “[My husband and I] usually communicate pretty well, but there are times when you just have to back away and let things cool down for awhile.” (Burch, Ranell). Communication can become tricky when people do not agree on the expressed ideas. Couples who were interviewed often expressed that everything is fine when there is no disagreement. However, when it comes to discrepancies, navigating marital life is frustrating. For instance, suppose a husband and wife are trying to communicate financial issues. One feels that forming a joint account would be beneficial whereas the other feels that it would be better to keep the accounts separate. Often when discussing financial worries, things become tense. Dr. Amy Bellows explains: “We often immediately reject another’s perceptions, especially when our views differ.... We find ourselves ready to dispute the things our spouse has to say, to challenge them, or to hear them as threats. Obviously, such an attitude interferes with two-way communication. The first step to improved dialogues is to respect your partner.” This was reflected in my Aunt Ranell’s sentiments: “We don’t force each other to have the same opinion. I mean, if you love somebody, you can’t force him or her to think of everything the same way you do” (Burch, Ranell). The ultimate thing to remember is that communication is a two-way street that both the husband and wife must drive down responsibly.

            The second crucial element for a lasting marriage is complete honesty. This requires full disclosure between partners. Honesty includes fidelity between spouses and no hidden secrets that have the potential to undermine the stability of the marriage. Lack of commitment towards marriage is one of the leading causes of divorce (“Top 10 Reasons for Divorce”). If one spouse can not commit to being sexually active with his or her wife or husband, then there are serious issues between the parties concerned. Often one spousewill try to hide the fact that he or she is having an affair, and leads to irrational acts out of guilt. One of the problems here is the overwhelming guilt. If a man or a woman feels deep guilt about hiding an indiscretion, chances are that he or she shouldn’t be committing these acts, or, at the very least, that person should not be hiding the acts from his or her spouse. My uncle David feels that “if you’re in love with someone, but you’re worried about their relationships with other people, you’ll end up being worried and miserable. If you truly love each other then you don’t worry about it” (Burch, David). However honesty extends beyond infidelity to everyday manners. When I asked my sister what she feels one of the most valued parts of her marriage is, she replied, “Honesty, because not only does it keep my relationship with my husband open and functional, it allows us for a greater understanding of each other as spouses and people” (Lovallo). Clearly, honesty exists in every realm of the marriage is crucial. Lies and secrets only hurt the trust between spouses. Even if the question is, “Does this dress make me look fat?” an honest answer given is a reflection of how committed the two partners are to their relationship.

            A third ingredient for an enduring marriage is respecting one another’s boundaries. It is easy for couples to become so intertwined within each other’s lives that there is no individual space. This can put some extreme stress on the marriage. My father mentions that one of the reasons for his separation from my mother was that “she didn’t allow me enough living room for me to be myself. She was constantly there seemingly controlling everything I did. Sometimes a guy just has to be a guy” (Krawczyk). It is interesting to note the difference between a loving marriage and a smothering marriage. On one hand, many of the spouses I have talked to desire to be around each other as much as possible. However, many of these individuals expressed a desire to have some time on their own. When interviewing my sister whose husband James is currently in Iraq, she expressed, “I have trouble giving my husband privacy. I want to be involved in every aspect of his life which makes it difficult for him to be his own person at times” (Lovallo). It can be difficult for many couples to respect each other’s limitations and personal space. From many of the interviews, I have found that couples feel that having time to think and just be alone can make marriage better as well. Sheri and Bob Stritof state, “People tend to feel guilty about taking time for themselves. Perhaps they wouldn't if they realized that doing so gave them more energy to devote to the ones they love” (Stritof). What it boils down to is that people need time to themselves. In order to have a successful marriage, spouses need to learn to give each other a creative outlet where they can be seen as an individual as opposed to a component of a couple.

            The fourth and quite possibly the most important element of a successful marriage is staying true to oneself. So often, spouses give up and compromise what makes them who they are. Some of my married friends expressed that they do not know who they are anymore because they have dedicated so much to marriage that they feel like they have lost some of themselves in the process. In the April 2006 issue of Glamour, Kristin Armstrong reveals: “If you aren’t careful, [marriage] can tempt you to become a ‘yes woman’ for the sake of salvaging your romantic dream. It can lure you into a pattern of pleasing that will turn you into someone you’ll hardly recognize and probably won’t like” (Armstrong 209). It is easy to commit to a marriage out of love, but sometimes that love turns into control and making the other person bend to your will until that person doesn’t even know who they are anymore. What I have found through second hand research is that people often turn themselves into someone they think their spouse wants and they somehow lose themselves in the process. All of a sudden, that person isn’t who the spouse fell in love with in the first place. This need for someone to be perfect for the person they love changes them into someone that neither person recognizes. If the person in question does not accept the other person for who that person is, then marriage is probably a bad idea. In an interview, my sister relates, “It is liberating to be married to someone who loves you for you.  I have seen people change themselves completely for their husbands only to find out that that isn’t who they wanted to be with anyways, and then things get ugly” (Lovallo).

            The Internet, as well as popular and professional publications, are full of information on how to have a successful marriage. Many may purport contradictory things, but most of them are written with admirable intentions.  I am definitely not in a place in my life where I can dedicate myself to what it takes to have a successful marriage. However, I now know at least four things I will consider if and when I ever get married.

Works Cited

Bellows, Amy. “Good Communication in Marriage Starts with Respect.” Psychcentral.com. 10 Mar. 2009. < http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/good-communication-in-marriage-starts-with-respect/>

Burch, David. Personal interview. 14 Mar. 2009.

Burch, Ranell. Personal interview. 14 Mar. 2009.

Lovallo, Melissa. Personal interview. 18 Mar. 2009.

Krawczyk, Bill. Personal interview. 13 Mar. 2009

Stritof, Sheri & Bob. “When You or Your Spouse Desire More Space.” About.com. 10 Mar. 2009. < http://marriage.about.com/od/practicalities/a/space.htm>

“Top 10 Reasons For Divorce” Ygoy.com. 19 Mar. 2009. < http://women.ygoy.com/top-ten-reasons-for-divorce/>

ATTENTION: SECTION 5 STUDENTS -- PLEASE READ ASAP.

HELLO,

As I mentioned in class on Wednesday, I was hoping to locate a different classroom for us to meet on Monday and Wednesday next week to view the film. The television set in our current classroom is just not ideal at all.

So...please note the room changes below for just next Monday and Wednesday.

Monday, April 13th--meet in Douglass Hall 106

Wednesday, April 15th--meet in Eureka 113

If you are planning to submit a RD for out of class essay # 3-----please read

Thursday, April 9th--6:30 pm

Hello,
I announced in class yesterday, Wednesday, that if you plan to submit a rough draft of out of class essay 3, you must email it to be as a Word document no later than tomorrow, Friday, April 10th, by midnight. This is because we are not meeting for class tomorrow.

Thursday, April 9th--12:25 am

Greetings,

just a brief re-cap of what went on in class yesterday, Wednesday.

Below you will find a copy of the take home exam on The Unwanted that was distributed and discussed in class yesterday. After spending two days discussing the memoir, I decided to give you the prompts yesterday instead of waiting until Friday. Thus, as you already know, we are not meeting on Friday. I know you could use the time to work on the take home exam as well as on out of class essay #3.

Also, remember to check the blog before Monday. We will most likely be meeting in a different classroom to view the film on Monday and Wednesday next week. This applies only to section 5 students.

*******

English 5, Spring 2015, 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. You need not title your responses. As usual, please address each question fully and thoughtfully.

This test is due on Friday, April 17

1.  SELECT A ‘CHARACTER’ FROM THE MEMOIR, THE UNWANTED. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT CHARACTERISTICS (at least three) 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. (50 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. (5O POINTS)

Tuesday, April 7th--5:45 pm

Greetings,
below is a copy of the handout that was distributed and discussed in class on Monday.

English 5

The Unwanted:  A Memoir of Childhood by Kien Nguyen

On the Value of Character in Story Telling

We have discussed the signifcance of character in fiction: the more the reader becomes engaged with the characters, the more interesting and provocative the story. As we see in this memoir, the same assertion holds true. We learn so much about the characters in this real life drama by what they say, what others say about them, how they act, how they think, etc.

For Example, let us look closely at  Kien’s persona/character. What kind of boy/young man is he and how do we know this?

(pages 5-255 only)

Kien is an unusually observant boy for his age.

Page 7:  “My mother was not a typically thin Asian woman. She had heavy breasts and round hips, joined by a thin waist.  Her eyes, big and rimmed with dark mascara, concentrated on the image before her. Years spent watching my mother gaze at herself in the mirror had convinced me that she was the rarest, most beautiful creature that ever walked the face of the Earth.”

Kien is a very sensitive, caring young boy.

Page 113:  “Please don’t hurt her. She can’t walk very well,” I begged, reaching under his fingers to take her back.

Page 125:  “She looked at me with hope in her eyes.  There was also something else I detected on her face – a sense of helplessness.  I found myself promising her what she needed to hear.”

Page 134:  “Get up and come with me,” I whispered in his ear.”

“Don’t ask any questions.  Just take your pillow and follow me.”

Page 157:  “Silently I cried in the dark, not so much to mourn for her disappearance but because of the uncertainty of my future and my sense of responsibility for the rest of my family. Morning came, and I returned to the bus station.  At the end of the day I returned home alone once more.”

Kien is often naive and vulnerable to the horrors of war and its aftermath.

Page 142:  “Of course you will be here, helping other students,” I said.  “Where else could you go?  You belong in a classroom, Miss San.”

Friday, April 3, 2015--5 pm

Hello,
Below you will find copies of all the handouts discussed and distributed in class today:
1.  Out of Class Essay Assignment ##
2.  The Importance of Being Specific in Essay Writing
3.  Sample intro paragraph and first body paragraph for essay 3

English 5, Spring 2015

C. Fraga, Instructor

Course Theme: The Significance of Home

Out of Class Essay Assignment #3

Assigned: Friday, April 3

Optional RD due: no later than Friday, April 10

Final Draft due: Friday, April 24

TOPIC: What are the best ‘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; family friends, 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 CSUS library website 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. UNDERLINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENT.

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; 12 point font

• Must have in text citations and a Works Cited page.

• Use at LEAST three academic, professional resources and information from at least three interviews. In other words, these six minimum resources will be found on your Works Cited page as well as cited within your essay.

AS ALWAYS, NO WIKIPEDIA.

 ****************

English 5

C. Fraga

Sample introduction paragraph based on the prompt for Out of Class Essay #3

            My Uncle Bill was a very formidable man with a rather booming voice and a lust for life. The thing I remember most about him is the way he acted whenever he was near his wife, my Aunt Vangie. Although I was only a child, I could still see how much he adored her; everyone noticed it. When he told a joke, he always looked at her first to be sure she was laughing. He brought her a glass of lemonade before he served anyone else. He complimented her about what she wore and he held her hand when they walked together. When my oldest sister got married, Uncle Bill toasted the couple at the wedding reception and announced that the key to a lasting and happy marriage entailed just being nice to each other.

            Although my Uncle Bill’s seemingly simple advice might appear too obvious, many couples today might benefit from his instructive words. Currently, nearly half the marriages in the United States end in divorce (Donaldson 2).  Marriage counselors, TV talk show hosts, married couples, divorced couples and religious leaders all seem to have an opinion about what constitutes a successful marriage. After researching the apparent secret to a successful marriage, four main ingredients, or elements, seemed the most logical and sensible. The most important elements of a lasting marriage are:  respect, kindness, communication, and devotion.

 ***********

 English 5

C. Fraga

THE KEY TO INTERESTING AND COMPELLING WRITING

IS USING SPECIFICS!

Probably the most frequent advice from writing instructors to their writing students is “be more specific.” Or perhaps, “needs more development.”

Interestingly, being specific and developing our assertions in writing is also the most challenging task as a writer. Part of the reason for the difficulty is simply because most of us are more comfortable with communicating verbally. When one communicates verbally, there is rarely a need to use a lot of supportive details to make our point and be easily understood by the listener.

However, writing is a completely different task than communicating verbally, where we rely on voice inflection, tone, and body language to heighten our communication.

Let’s look at a sample paragraph from a rough draft of essay 3. What advice can we offer the writer for improvement?

            The third ingredient in having a successful marriage is commitment. This ingredient is one that needs to be established from day one.  The definition of commitment in a marriage is to pledge, promise and show obligation to your spouse.  When you take your vows, that is a proven statement that you will stay committed to your husband or wife until the day you die.  When this ingredient disappears your entire life and marriage disappears because commitment is what marriage is all about.  In an interview with my grandmother Marie who has been married for fifty years, she stated that, “When you put that ring on your old life is over, and your new life as being one with your husband started.”  This quote shows that in order to love and respect your spouse, you must be one hundred percent committed to the marriage you are in.  When you are fully committed there will be no secrets, or affairs, but instead a love that is truly unbreakable.

            

Tuesday, March 31st--10 am

Greetings,

as you are finalizing your editing and proofreading of Essay 2, you may want to use the following as a "checklist." It is the scoring rubric I will be using to evaluate and score your essay.

*********** 

NAME_________________________________________________ENGLISH 5, section_________

Evaluation of Out of Class Essay # 2—THE RESEARCH PAPER

How to Read this Evaluation: This evaluation is divided into two sections: Content and Organization and MLA Documentation. The overall strengths of the essay are noted first. Problem/errors in each of the two sections will be checked if applicable. Please note that all items checked will be marked directly ON your essay at least once. However, ALL errors are not marked. If you submitted a rough draft and choose to revise, you will need to take this into consideration.

Strengths Found in this Essay:

Content and Organization—worth 200 points--_______(points earned)

Problems that Impact Readability:

_____sentence structure (comma splices; run on sentences; fragments; punctuation errors; tense shifts; misspelling; issues with capitalization)

_____wordiness

_____repetitiveness

_____lack of sentence variety and length

_____flat, uninteresting vocabulary

_____lack of sufficient development

_____weak or non-existent transitions between paragraphs

_____uses “you” and “your”

_____too many main ideas in one paragraph

_____thesis statement is not underlined

_____thesis statement is not an assertion and is not debatable or opinionated

_____unacceptable errors found (number found:_________) THESE WILL BE CIRCLED.

_____other issues:

MLA Research Documentation—worth 200 points--_______( points earned)

_____note cards out of order                                    _____incorrect set-up of essay

_____bibliography cards out of order            _____essay missing a title or title not in

                                                                                                MLA format

_____problems on Works Cited page                        __________lack of academic sources

_____problems with in-text citations

_____too many direct quotations—not enough paraphrasing

_____missing page numbers or pages numbered incorrectly

_____other issues:

Total Score Earned:____________(400 points possible)

Monday, March 30th--5:30 pm

Hello,

Again, I am so sorry that I had to cancel class unexpectedly today.

A student has just emailed me asking for clarity about the due date for out of class essay 2.
If you are following the syllabus, the syllabus is correct. It is due on Wednesday, April 1st.
The prompt also indicates April 1, but it reads "Friday, April 1." That is an error--since the 1st is a Wednesday.

PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY--Monday, March 30th

Good morning,
I have been fighting huge waves of nausea since very early this morning.
I have always prided myself on VERY rarely missing class due to illness.
I apologize for this huge inconvenience.
Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to make it to my classes today.
Take care and have a positive, safe day.

(You will be submitting your last Q & C on Wednesday since I will not be in class today.)

Monday, March 16th--6:40 pm

Greetings,

a few reminders--
please bring to class Wednesday the following:
--Flashes of War
--Packet #5

Also, one student asked about the Q & C assignment #4. As you can see from the syllabus, this Q & C will be a response to pages 5-135 in the memoir: The Unwanted. The requirement is the same as it was for the first three Q & Cs:  a minimum of eight sentences; less summary and more analysis.

Second Posting for Monday, March 9th--11:25 pm

Hello,
Below you will find the assignments for Packet 5 and Packet 6

PACKET FIVE (one essay)--see below:

The Magic of the Family Meal--by Nancy Gibbs

Close your eyes and picture Family Dinner. June Cleaver is in an apron and pearls, Ward in a sweater and tie. The napkins are linen, the children are scrubbed, steam rises from the green-bean casserole, and even the dog listens intently to what is being said. This is where the tribe comes to transmit wisdom, embed expectations, confess, conspire, forgive, repair. The idealized version is as close to a regular worship service, with its litanies and lessons and blessings, as a family gets outside a sanctuary.

That ideal runs so strong and so deep in our culture and psyche that when experts talk about the value of family dinners, they may leave aside the clutter of contradictions. Just because we eat together does not mean we eat right: Domino's alone delivers a million pizzas on an average day. Just because we are sitting together doesn't mean we have anything to say: children bicker and fidget and daydream; parents stew over the remains of the day. Often the richest conversations, the moments of genuine intimacy, take place somewhere else, in the car, say, on the way back from soccer at dusk, when the low light and lack of eye contact allow secrets to surface.Yet for all that, there is something about a shared meal--not some holiday blowout, not once in a while but regularly, reliably--that anchors a family even on nights when the food is fast and the talk cheap and everyone has someplace else they'd rather be. And on those evenings when the mood is right and the family lingers, caught up in an idea or an argument explored in a shared safe place where no one is stupid or shy or ashamed, you get a glimpse of the power of this habit and why social scientists say such communion acts as a kind of vaccine, protecting kids from all manner of harm.

n fact, it's the experts in adolescent development who wax most emphatic about the value of family meals, for it's in the teenage years that this daily investment pays some of its biggest dividends. Studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use. "If it were just about food, we would squirt it into their mouths with a tube," says Robin Fox, an anthropologist who teaches at Rutgers University in New Jersey, about the mysterious way that family dinner engraves our souls. "A meal is about civilizing children. It's about teaching them to be a member of their culture."

The most probing study of family eating patterns was published last year by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University and reflects nearly a decade's worth of data gathering. The researchers found essentially that family dinner gets better with practice; the less often a family eats together, the worse the experience is likely to be, the less healthy the food and the more meager the talk. Among those who eat together three or fewer times a week, 45% say the TV is on during meals (as opposed to 37% of all households), and nearly one-third say there isn't much conversation. Such kids are also more than twice as likely as those who have frequent family meals to say there is a great deal of tension among family members, and they are much less likely to think their parents are proud of them.

The older that kids are, the more they may need this protected time together, but the less likely they are to get it. Although a majority of 12- year-olds in the CASA study said they had dinner with a parent seven nights a week, only a quarter of 17-year-olds did. Researchers have found all kinds of intriguing educational and ethnic patterns. The families with the least educated parents, for example, eat together the most; parents with less than a high school education share more meals with their kids than do parents with high school diplomas or college degrees. That may end upacting as a generational corrective; kids who eat most often with their parents are 40% more likely to say they get mainly A's and B's in school than kids who have two or fewer family dinners a week. Foreign-born kids are much more likely to eat with their parents. When researchers looked at ethnic and racial breakdowns, they found that more than half of Hispanic teens ate with a parent at least six times a week, in contrast to 40% of black teens and 39% of whites.

Back in the really olden days, dinner was seldom a ceremonial event for U.S. families. Only the very wealthy had a separate dining room. For most, meals were informal, a kind of rolling refueling; often only the men sat down. Not until the mid--19th century did the day acquire its middle-class rhythms and rituals; a proper dining room became a Victorian aspiration. When children were 8 or 9, they were allowed to join the adults at the table for instruction in proper etiquette. By the turn of the century, restaurants had appeared to cater to clerical workers, and in time, eating out became a recreational sport. Family dinner in the Norman Rockwell mode had taken hold by the 1950s: Mom cooked, Dad carved, son cleared, daughter did the dishes.

All kinds of social and economic and technological factors then conspired to shred that tidy picture to the point that the frequency of family dining fell about a third over the next 30 years. With both parents working and the kids shuttling between sports practices or attached to their screens at home, finding a time for everyone to sit around the same table, eating the same food and listening to one another, became a quaint kind of luxury. Meanwhile, the message embedded in the microwave was that time spent standing in front of a stove was time wasted.

But something precious was lost, anthropologist Fox argues, when cooking came to be cast as drudgery and meals as discretionary. "Making food is a sacred event," he says. "It's so absolutely central--far more central than sex. You can keep a population going by having sex once a year, but you have to eat three times a day." Food comes so easily to us now, he says, that we have lost a sense of its significance. When we had to grow the corn and fight off predators, meals included a serving of gratitude. "It's like the American Indians. When they killed a deer, they said a prayer over it," says Fox. "That is civilization. It is an act of politeness over food. Fast food has killed this. We have reduced eating to sitting alone and shoveling it in. There is no ceremony in it."

Or at least there wasn't for many families until researchers in the 1980s began looking at the data and doing all kinds of regression analyses that showed how a shared pot roast could contribute to kids' success and health. What the studies could not prove was what is cause and what is effect. Researchers speculate that maybe kids who eat a lot of family meals have less unsupervised time and thus less chance to get into trouble. Families who make meals a priority also tend to spend more time on reading for pleasure and homework. A whole basket of values and habits, of which a common mealtime is only one, may work together to ground kids. But it's a bellwether, and baby boomers who won't listen to their instincts will often listen to the experts: the 2005 CASA study found that the number of adolescents eating with their family most nights has increased 23% since 1998.

That rise may also reflect a deliberate public-education campaign, including public-service announcements on TV Land and Nick at Nite that are designed to convince families that it's worth some inconvenience or compromise to make meals together a priority. The enemies here are laziness and leniency: "We're talking about a contemporary style of parenting, particularly in the middle class, that is overindulgent of children," argues William Doherty, a professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and author of The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties. "It treats them as customers who need to be pleased." By that, he means the willingness of parents to let dinner be an individual improvisation--no routine, no rules, leave the television on, everyone eats what they want, teenagers take a plate to their room so they can keep texting their friends.

The food-court mentality--Johnny eats a burrito, Dad has a burger, and Mom picks pasta--comes at a cost. Little humans often resist new tastes; they need some nudging away from the salt and fat and toward the fruits and fiber. A study in the Archives of Family Medicine found that more family meals tends to mean less soda and fried food and far more fruits and vegetables.

Beyond promoting balance and variety in kids' diets, meals together send the message that citizenship in a family entails certain standards beyond individual whims. This is where a family builds its identity and culture. Legends are passed down, jokes rendered, eventually the wider world examined through the lens of a family's values. In addition, younger kids pick up vocabulary and a sense of how conversation is structured. They hear how a problem is solved, learn to listen to other people's concerns and respect their tastes. "A meal is about sharing," says Doherty. "I see this trend where parents are preparing different meals for each kid, and it takes away from that. The sharing is the compromise. Not everyone gets their ideal menu every night."

Doherty heard from a YMCA camp counselor about the number of kids who arrive with a list of foods they won't eat and who require basic instruction from counselors on how to share a meal. "They have to teach them how to pass food around and serve each other. The kids have to learn how to eat what's there. And they have to learn how to remain seated until everyone else is done." The University of Kansas and Michigan State offer students coaching on how to handle a business lunch, including what to do about food they don't like ("Eat it anyway") and how to pass the salt and pepper ("They're married. They never take separate vacations").

When parents say their older kids are too busy or resistant to come to the table the way they did when they were 7, the dinner evangelists produce evidence to the contrary. The CASA study found that a majority of teens who ate three or fewer meals a week with their families wished they did so more often. Parents sometimes seem a little too eager to be rejected by their teenage sons and daughters, suggests Miriam Weinstein, a freelance journalist who wrote The Surprising Power of Family Meals. "We've sold ourselves on the idea that teenagers are obviously sick of their families, that they're bonded to their peer group," she says. "We've taken it to an extreme. We've taken it to mean that a teenager has no need for his family. And that's just not true." She scolds parents who blame their kids for undermining mealtime when the adults are co-conspirators. "It's become a badge of honor to say, 'I have no time. I am so busy,'" she says. "But we make a lot of choices, and we have a lot more discretion than we give ourselves credit for," she says. Parents may be undervaluing themselves when they conclude that sending kids off to every conceivable extracurricular activity is a better use of time than an hour spent around a table, just talking to Mom and Dad.

The family-meal crusaders offer lots of advice to parents seeking to recenter their household on the dinner table. Groups like Ready, Set, Relax!, based in Ridgewood, N.J., have dispensed hundreds of kits to towns from Kentucky to California, coaching communities on how to fight overscheduling and carve out family downtime. More schools are offering basic cooking instruction. It turns out that when kids help prepare a meal, they are much more likely to eat it, and it's a useful skill that seems to build self-esteem. Research on family meals does not explore whether it makes a difference if dinner is with two parents or one or even whether the meal needs to be dinner. For families whose schedules make evenings together a challenge, breakfast or lunch may have the same value. So pull up some chairs. Lose the TV. Let the phone go unanswered. And see where the moment takes you.

PACKET #6: (two items)

"Becky Blanton: The Year I was Homeless"
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/becky_blanton_the_year_i_was_homeless.html
(this is a video which is a little over seven minutes)

"Homelessness and Hungry with No Excuses" by Rich Linberg
http://www.cdobs.com/archive/syndicated/homelessness-and-hungry-with-no-excuses/