Good evening!
Below I have posted the handouts from today:
1. Unacceptable Errors
2. Oral Presentation
3. A Short Guide to Reading Poems
Within the next hour, look again for a new posting with the reading assignment for Monday.
UNACCEPTABLE ERRORS
In English 1A, students should already be very proficient in word usage. We do not have time for grammar lessons. (I will, however, provide short ‘mini’ lessons when I feel they are warranted.) The following errors that are commonly made on student papers are considered unacceptable.
For homework assignments, any unacceptable errors will result in no credit for that assignment. Please proofread and edit carefully. You will be unable to revise a homework assignment.
For out of class essays, each unacceptable error takes ten points off your final earned grade. You may correct unacceptable errors and receive the points back if you choose to revise. In class essays that have unacceptable errors CAN always be corrected to earn back the points lost.
1. there – place Put it over there.
2. their – possessive pronoun That is their car.
3. they’re – contraction of they are They’re going with us.
4. your – possessive pronoun Your dinner is ready.
5. you’re – contraction of you are You’re not ready.
6. it’s – contraction of it is It’s a sunny day.
7. its – possessive pronoun The dog wagged its tail.
8. a lot – always two words I liked it a lot.
9. to – a preposition or part of an
infinitive I like to proofread my essays carefully.
10. too – an intensifier, or also That is too much. I will go too.
11. two – a number Give me two folders.
12. In today’s society Instead use “Today” or “In America” or “Now” etc
13. right(s)/write(s)/rite(s) rights are a set of beliefs or values in which a person feels entitled: His rights were read to him before he was arrested for stalking Dave Matthews. Writes is a verb indicating action taken with a pen, pencil or computers to convey a message: Michelle writes love letters to Dave Matthews in her sleep. Rites are a series of steps or events which lead an individual from one phase in life to the next, or a series of traditions that should be followed: The initiate began his rite of passage ceremony at the age of thirteen.
14. definitely/defiantly This error USUALLY occurs when a writer relies solely on spell-check. You really must learn to become the final editor of your work. Definitely is an adverb and it means without a doubt. Mary will definitely miss the Dave Matthews Band concert. Defiantly means to show defiance. She was in a defiant mood. It is an adjective. Or it could be used as an adverb. She was defiantly rude and sullen towards the professor.
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An accumulation of the following errors can affect your grade, but not one error, ten points down. The number depends on how serious the error is, and how often you make it. Some do not slow up the reader as much as others.
• Misuse of the word “you”. You must actually mean the reader when you use the word “you”.
• Avoid use of contractions in formal expository writing. (can’t, shouldn’t, didn’t, etc.)
• Agreement of subject and verb. Both must be either singular or plural.
• Fragmented sentences, comma splices and run-ons. Be sure to proofread your papers carefully before turning them in.
You will not pass English 1A if you cannot write an intelligent sentence in correct English.
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English 1A, College Composition I
Spring 2011
Instructor: Catherine Fraga
Oral Presentation Assignment
The Significance of Home
Assigned: First week of semester
Due: The last day of course, Wednesday, May 11
For this assignment, please select an article, observation, photograph, painting, collage, film, song, poem, essay or anything else that offers some message or reflection on the theme of home. It could have a personal meaning for you, but it does not have to.
After you have selected your “item,” write a minimum of one page about the item. Include a brief description of the item and a detailed explanation of why you chose this item; include a thoughtful commentary. Proofread carefully for unacceptable errors as well as other proofreading mistakes.
On the day of presentations, please do not read your essay to the class, but simply summarize the main points aloud to the class. The presentation usually takes only a few moments. You will submit a copy of the essay only to me.
As the semester progresses, you may get ideas for your presentation from our readings, the films we will be viewing, or from class discussions.
Remember that you will not receive this short essay back nor will you receive any credit for the assignment if there are ANY unacceptable errors present.
Please do not take this assignment lightly. It is worth 100 points.
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English 1A, C. Fraga
A Short Guide to Reading Poems
Look at the first few lines for how they seem to be operating (form and craft): A
poem’s form and craft will tell you a lot about how to read it in the first few lines. Don’t
worry too much if you don’t know the technical terms for what’s going on. Just take a look
at the first sentence or two: does the poem seem to be more concrete or abstract? Does it
introduce images, or ideas, or both? Does it tell a story or seem to elicit a feeling right away?
Does it operate outside of time or narrate a story inside time? What’s literally happening in
the poem? What do you notice about the poem’s shape or the way the sentences are
working? Notice anything unusual inside the way the language is working.
Let the opening lines guide further reading: Having asked and answered these
questions, you will find that the first lines of the poem set its tone and its operating mode.
That mode will either continue or it won’t—where it breaks down or changes may be an
important clue to the poem’s “turn,” the point in the poem where the poem seems to
broaden its view or become more emotional. You will be able to keep track of important
movements of ideas in the poem by isolating the poem’s initial formal patterns in these early
lines and tracking how they change during the poem’s progression.
Consider the title: Having read these initial lines and gotten your bearings inside the poem,
re-read the title. How has reading the first few lines of the poem helped you to unpack the
title? Or the opposite may be true: the title may help to answer a question you had in
reading the first few lines. If doing so doesn’t help the poem’s meaning emerge, read the
next full sentence of the poem and then reread the title. This is a technique that you can use
at any time during the reading of the poem.
Who’s speaking? In poems, the speaker is not the poet, but there’s a speaker nonetheless,
and he or she is guiding you through the poem. That speaker may not always use a personal
pronoun like “I” or “you,” but the speaker is there, moving through the poem, guiding your
reading. The speaker is just that, a guide, and you can make yourself more comfortable in
the poem just by noting who it is that’s speaking and where they seem to be headed. Is the
poem addressed to everyone, or to a specific person? Is the speaker solving a problem,
writing a letter, describing an event, or something else? Are there other actors in the poem
besides the speaker? Keep track of the pronouns being used in the poem and see how they
change during the course of the poem.
Note the type of language being used: Poems use all kinds of normal, unpoemlike
words, and they also sometimes use an elevated or formal language. Sometimes a poem will
use several different types of language, called registers of language, in the very same poem.
Take a look at where the poem is easy to understand and uses everyday language, and where
it doesn’t. This could have something to do with the “turn”.
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