Homework for Friday

As we discussed in class, bring a copy of your draft to class tomorrow -- it's our last class! We'll meet in the lab and you can put some final touches on your paper.

Be SURE to bring an electronic copy -- email it to yourself or bring a flash drive.

See you then!

We will meet again for our final exam date (a short writing exercise) next Weds, Dec 21, from 1-3.

Homework for Monday

Complete your outline; it is the last page of your packet. This means you will need 4 main ideas and quotes for each of those ideas. I saw lots of good work in class today (Weds). If you weren't there feel free to email me and share your 4 ideas with me, or let me know if you are struggling.

In addition, read through your source to see what issues connect to your paper; start to highlight, annotate, or write down quotes. You can easily search for key words, like "violence", "drugs" or "overcrowding".

Here is a link to an article that has quite a bit of information. I found it on Gale; I think it is different from the one we looked at together earlier.

Please give yourself plenty of time for this project -- this is your final paper!

Also, note the following dates:

Our last regular class meeting: Friday, Dec 16, 12:30-1:20
Our scheduled final exam time: Wednesday, Dec 21, 1-3

Homework for Monday, Dec 5

Hi all -- For Monday, finish reading through chapter 6 in A Place to Stand. Be prepared for a test. Hint: the questions will be a good way to prepare!

As you read, look for issues of the prison system that Jimmy faces.

Homework for Wednesday and the long weekend

Hi all -- I hope you enjoyed the start of the film today! As we discussed, you will be able to use the movie in your paper, so take notes on how it reveals problems of the prison system. As you did in class, use the chart or take notes in your notebook.

Please also read through chapter 6 for Monday, the 28th, and chapter 7 for Friday Dec 2.

We will meet in the library on Monday, Nov 28th.

Here is the link to the database for the film! It's called Kanopy. Just enter the name of the film, A Place to Stand, and it will come up! We watched 28 minutes in class today.

Here's a link. Please email me if you have any trouble finding it: kvogel@hcc.edu

See you soon!

Homework for Monday

Nice poem today! For those who missed it, here is a "Name" poem for Jimmy:


Juvenile
Intelligent
Matured
Mischievous
Youthful

For weekend homework, read chapter 5. If you have finished 5, begin reading 6. We'll discuss 5 and 6 on Monday.

We also looked at our final project in class, on the prison system. This is your final paper for the semester.

See you in class!

Homework for Friday

Hi all -- I hope you enjoyed the video of Jimmy Baca on Wednesday!

For Friday, finish reading chapter 5. We'll start to look at his journey to prison now.

See you in class!

Homework for Wednesday

Hi all -- Your drafts are coming along! Good work organizing your topic sentences and supporting ideas; I look forward to seeing the results of your hard work when you turn in your paper!

Remember to staple your works cited page to the end of your paper; it is part of your essay. Copy the page provided you in the essay packet.

Due Wednesday in your folder:

Cover letter
Final essay (with works cited page attached!)
Rough draft of essay
Peer review sheet

Keep reading, too. We'll start to focus on Baca's time IN prison after this. This occurs in chapter 5, so plan to read through chapter 5 by Friday.

Remember that I have my office hour on Friday at 10am. If you are struggling with the paper you can use your late coupon and (if it works for you) I can talk to you during my office hour about the paper.

See you in class!

Homework for Monday, Nov 14

Hi all -- No classes on Friday, for Veteran's Day! Thanks to our veterans!

For Monday, keep working on your draft and bring it to class. Make sure your introduction mentions the title and author (full name), and that this book is a memoir. Here are 2 sample ways to write a sentence with all this information combined (but you are welcome to write your own):

A Place to Stand is a memoir by Jimmy Santiago Baca.
In the memoir, A Place to Stand, Jimmy Santiago Baca discusses his childhood and how he ends up in prison.

Work on your topic sentences, too. Make sure they are focused on just one main idea.

Make sure quotes connect to your topic sentences, and make sure to introduce and cite them. Example: Baca writes, "..." (Baca 25).


AND -- as we discussed, FANBOYS are an important words that help you combine sentences. FANBOYS are 7 small words:

FOR
AND
NOR
BUT
OR
YET
SO

Go through your own paper and find 3 examples of those words. Underline the sentences. Look at the sentences and see if they are being used to connect sentences correctly. We'll look further at this on Monday.

I will return your draft to you on Monday as well.

Have a good weekend and see you in class!

Homework for Wednesday

Hi all -- For Wednesday, write your rough draft using the four main reasons you think most contribute to Baca going in prison.(I will post an essay format later; this was handed out in class).


As we discussed, your thesis goes in your introduction and should make a statement about what those reasons are: is it because of his family? because of his bad decisions? or a combination? Craft a "working" thesis for the introduction (this is like a "rough draft" thesis).


Please bring 2 copies to class.


If you didn't get the hand out in class, please review our text from earlier this semester, Read, Write, Connect; see thesis section. (I will post page numbers here later today.)


Good luck! I will be available before class on Weds between 12-12:30 if you would like to meet to discuss your paper.

Weekend homework

Hi all -- Sorry to miss you today! I will see you on Monday. Finish chapter 4 if you haven't already. Keep reading, too! Chapter 5 will be due a week from Monday. Please also bring Read, Write, Connect to class on Monday. 

For Monday, develop your outline further. You should already have 5 examples that support why you believe Jimmy lands in prison (that was today's homework). Choose 4 of those, and follow the steps below to grow your paragraphs. If you do this you will be well prepared for your draft next week! Good luck!

For each body paragraph, do the following:

Body Paragraph 1:

(P) Topic sentence: what is an event or experience that affects Jimmy Baca and, do you believe, most affects how he lands in prison? 

(E) Explain this idea a bit more; try adding 1-2 more sentences

(I) What quote from the book supports your idea? Don’t forget to include the page # from the book, and the author (Baca ___). 

(E) Explain what this quote means. What is being said and why?

Body Paragraph 2:

(P) Topic sentence: what is an event or experience that affects Jimmy Baca and, do you believe, most affects how he lands in prison? 

(E) Explain this idea a bit more; try adding 1-2 more sentences

(I) What quote from the book supports your idea? Don’t forget to include the page # from the book, and the author (Baca ___). 

 (E) Explain what this quote means. What is being said and why?

Body Paragraph 3:

(P) Topic sentence: what is an event or experience that affects Jimmy Baca and, do you believe, most affects how he lands in prison? 

(E) Explain this idea a bit more; try adding 1-2 more sentences

(I) What quote from the book supports your idea? Don’t forget to include the page # from the book, and the author (Baca ___). 

 (E) Explain what this quote means. What is being said and why?

Body Paragraph 4:

(P) Topic sentence: what is an event or experience that affects Jimmy Baca and, do you believe, most affects how he lands in prison? 

(E) Explain this idea a bit more; try adding 1-2 more sentences

(I) What quote from the book supports your idea? Don’t forget to include the page # from the book, and the author (Baca ___). 

(E) Explain what this quote means. What is being said and why?

Homework for Friday

Hi all -- Good examples from Chapter 3! Now, work on reading Chapter 4! Please work on finishing this chapter -- it's an important one!!


For homework, use our chart to find the 5 most important events or experiences that affect Jimmy and, according to you, have the biggest affect on him landing in prison. This can be an event early in his life, or later -- it's really up to you. Please list your reasons (typed!) with your supporting evidence, like this:


Reason 1: ___________
Supporting evidence: Please type out the entire quote, and cite it with author and page number, like we have done in class. Sample:  "Quotes go in quotations" (Baca 22).


Reason 2:....


Do this for all 5 examples.


For those who have not turned in the Educational Autobiography, please complete this as well.


Please note that I will not have office hours this Friday, but can meet with you next week instead.


Good luck and see you in class!


Here is the Educational Autobiography assignment, below. (If you didn't write this at the beginning of the semester, please do that assignment instead. Email me if you need that assignment.)


Educational autobiography assignment, Part 2:

Post-essay Self-Reflection

The purpose of this reflection is for you to reflect on your learning right now in the semester.  You can organize it however you like, but here are some questions I’d like you to consider:

·      Re-read the “Educational Autobiography” you wrote at the beginning of the semester.  Where are you now on the things you discussed in that essay?

·      How are you doing at developing mastery as an academic reader?  What do you see as your strengths?Your areas for improvement?  What has helped you develop your mastery this semester?  Are you reading differently than you did in the past?

·      How are you doing at developing mastery as a critical thinker?  What do you see as your strengths?  Your areas for improvement?  What has helped you develop your mastery so far this semester?  Are you thinking differently than you did in the past?

·      How’s your mastery of academic writing coming along?  What do you see as your strengths?  Your areas for improvement?  What has helped you develop your mastery so far this semester?  Are you writing differently than you did in the past?

·      Describe your motivation this semester.  What is motivating you to do the work of the class?  How much was based on your personal motivation, and how much was rewards and avoiding punishments?  Have there been there moments when your motivation dropped—if so, what was going on?  Have there been moments when your motivation was especially high—if so, what was going on?

·      Describe 1-2 moments from the class that stand out in your mind as positive experiences.

·      If you were going to sum up 2-3 major things you’d like to work on, what are they?

·      If you were going to sum up the 2-3 major things you’re learning, what are they?

Homework for Wednesday

Hi all -- Good focus on paragraph-writing today! For Wednesday, keep it up, by finishing the paragraph we started in class. Here's what we have so far:

     Baca meets Marcos and is introduced to a new lifestyle selling drugs. Before this, he had a real job
and didn't want to end up on this new path. Baca explains, "I put my head down, ashamed, as they led us though the lobby.....(fill this part in)...honestly" ( Baca 54). Baca does not like this new path he is on.

Add 2 more (E) sentences to this paragraph. Remember that if you have trouble with what to write, refer to the packet's 2nd page where it says how to add more (E)xplanation to your paragraph.

Also, finish chapter 4. We'll have a quiz.

Have a happy Halloween and see you in class!

Weekend homework

Great insights and ideas today, everyone. For the weekend, keep reading through half of chapter 4 -- pages 71-81. (The chapter only goes to page 87, though, so feel free to finish it!)

Also, please write your "Educational autobiography" part 2. The assignment is below if you don't have it any more. It should be about 2 or 3 pages, double-spaced. Please refer to your completed essay #1 as well as your first Educational Autobiography before writing it.

Have a good Halloween weekend!!


Educational autobiography assignment, Part 2:

Post-essay Self-Reflection

The purpose of this reflection is for you to reflect on your learning right now in the semester.  You can organize it however you like, but here are some questions I’d like you to consider:

·      Re-read the “Educational Autobiography” you wrote at the beginning of the semester.  Where are you now on the things you discussed in that essay?

·      How are you doing at developing mastery as an academic reader?  What do you see as your strengths?Your areas for improvement?  What has helped you develop your mastery this semester?  Are you reading differently than you did in the past?

·      How are you doing at developing mastery as a critical thinker?  What do you see as your strengths?  Your areas for improvement?  What has helped you develop your mastery so far this semester?  Are you thinking differently than you did in the past?

·      How’s your mastery of academic writing coming along?  What do you see as your strengths?  Your areas for improvement?  What has helped you develop your mastery so far this semester?  Are you writing differently than you did in the past?

·      Describe your motivation this semester.  What is motivating you to do the work of the class?  How much was based on your personal motivation, and how much was rewards and avoiding punishments?  Have there been there moments when your motivation dropped—if so, what was going on?  Have there been moments when your motivation was especially high—if so, what was going on?

·      Describe 1-2 moments from the class that stand out in your mind as positive experiences.

·      If you were going to sum up 2-3 major things you’d like to work on, what are they?

·      If you were going to sum up the 2-3 major things you’re learning, what are they?

Homework for Friday

Hi all -- For Friday, finish reading chapter 3 of A Place to Stand. We'll have a short quiz and review the chapter; we'll also discuss a bit more of PIE paragraph development.

See you in class!

Homework for Wednesday

Hi all -- Great ideas today. You're really coming up with some important insight into Jimmy's life. If you missed class, be sure to look at a class member's chart to get ideas from our discussion.


For homework, keep reading chapter 3. You don't need to finish it, though, until Friday -- that's when we'll have our quiz. So take your time to read, and/or get caught up on anything you didn't get to this weekend.


We'll talk about paragraphs and quotes on Weds; these will be important elements for your essay.


See you in class!

Homework due Monday, Oct 25

Hi all -- Lots of interesting ideas today! Thanks for letting me know how/why you got tripped up with the reading, and if you didn't, thanks for sharing what you knew!

For homework, read half of chapter 3, from page 45 to the top of pg 56. If you get confused, work on the questions and make notes on what answers you have trouble answering. Or, write questions on what is confusing. We'll have a quiz on this section.

Remember that it's normal to struggle with reading or to forget what you read. If that describes you, read only small sections at a time, take notes, and/or re-read (or at least skim, after you've read once already.) This will really help you when it's time to write the essay.

In addition, fill in 2 rows in the chart handed out today. We'll share some of those ideas on Monday.

Keep up with your character chart, too. New characters will come up and it's important to write them down.

Have a great weekend and see you in class!

Homework for Weds, Oct 19

Hi all -- Lots of interesting insight today! I look forward to hearing more of your ideas about the book, A Place to Stand, by Jimmy Santiago Baca.

For Wednesday, read 1/2 of Chapter 2 -- pages 20-30. Annotate and/or use the questions as you go; many of you are doing this, which is great! If not, please do use them to help your understanding of the book. If you're getting low quiz scores, please email and/or talk to me about the reading....we can find ways to support your reading and understanding of the book.

We'll have a short quiz on Weds at the beginning of class on pages 20-30.

See you in class!

Weekend homework!

Hi all -- Lots of great responses and ideas in class today!

For homework, finish reading and annotating Chapter 1. Read and answer the questions; we'll have a short quiz on this as well (and we will for every chapter from now on).

Enjoy the weekend and see you in class!

Homework for Friday Oct 14

Hi all -- I hope you are enjoying the book, A Place to Stand, so far. Please make sure to get your copy as soon as you can, and let me know if you are having any trouble.


For Friday, read to the bottom of page 13 in Chapter 1. This is the first half of the chapter, and your homework is to finish Chapter 1 for the weekend. If you are a little behind, please start from the beginning and work your way up! Don't skip any sections.


Remember to use the questions, too. Questions 1-7 for Chapter 1 will take you through page 13. Try to answer each one as you go, and if there's anything that's confusing, make a note and ask me in class. Please annotate vocabulary and make notes on each page!


See you Friday, and remember that I have my office hour from 10-10:50 on Friday, too.

Homework for Wednesday, Oct 12!

Hi all -- Congratulations on finishing essay one! If you are using the late coupon, your essay will be due at our next class meeting, on Weds Oct 17.

Remember, too -- no class on Friday Oct 7, Monday Oct 10, OR Tuesday Oct 11! (Tuesday is a Monday schedule for all your classes, but we will not be meeting.) So I will see you Weds Oct 12.

For next Wednesday, please read the Prologue to Jimmy Santiago Baca's memoir, A Place to Stand. (The Prologue is like an introduction to the book and is about 6 pages.) This was handed out in class. If you weren't in class, please get your copy of the book (at a bookstore or online) and make sure you've read by Weds.

Also, please type answers to the following questions on the Prologue:

1. Describe and explain in your own words how Jimmy feels when he visits his father in prison (pgs 1-2). Use quotes from the book to support your answer.
2. Look up the word “deviant” (pg 4). Why does Jimmy describe himself as one?
3. Jimmy says that prison was the place of his “downfall” (pg 4). What does this mean? Look it up if you are not sure.
4. Jimmy also says prison was the place of his “ascent” (pg 4). Look this up too if you are not sure. How does prison become his “ascent”? Explain this in your own words.
5. Jimmy states that writing in general, writing poetry, and writing this book were helpful for him. Why? How?

Vocabulary:

In addition, make sure to note unfamiliar vocabulary words as you go. Look up 5 of them and write the definition and original sentence with your homework. 

See you in class!