Final Essay

Final Essay

In the beginning of the semester you were asked to write an essay on reading and writing. In order to self-assess how far you have come, you will take this essay and reshape it into a new and improved version of the essay. Your first essay will serve as your first draft; you may need to make substantive changes to content as you have surely come a long way since then.

Write a 5-paragraph essay discussing your thoughts feelings and experiences regarding reading and writing so far.

My Sorority Pledge? I Swore Off Sisterhood

Based on the NY Times Article, My Sorority Pledge? I Swore Off Sisterhood, answer the following questions. I'd like you to consider the implications of what the author has written in her essay. Some of your responses will require you to make inferences based on logic and the actual text.

Respond to each question fully and then respond to two of your peers posts for a total of 8 posts.

1. What comparison does the author make about the female and male responses to her unwilling participation in the "ledge party?"
   
2. If you had to choose which side is more "right" than the other?
   
3. What is the author's reason for not reporting this crime either to the police or her school authorities?
   
4. Would treating the incident as a crime have been helpful in healing the pain she experienced as a victim?
   
5. How might reporting the incident have impacted her situation as someone who was ostracized in the sorority and on campus? How does the author's self-image change in the wake of this incident?
6. Why does the author choose to avoid the word "rape" in her essay? How might it affect her essay and you the reader if she chose to include it in her writing? How has this incident impacted the author's life? (Hint: You may find it useful to research the terms "date rape" or "acquaintance rape" in order to get a more rounded perspective on the topic.)
   

Reading Schedule: A Virtuous Woman

• November 13th to page 43
• November 20th to page 93
• December 4th to page 138
• December 11th to page 165
  
  Please formulate two substantive questions for our classroom discussion for each reading. These should be typed and ready for submission..

Essay: Night

Basic English 2
Essay 2: Night


First Draft Due Tuesday November 18th
Second Draft Due: November 25th
Third Draft Due November 9th


In a well-developed five paragraph essay, discuss dehumanization in the novel, Night. Your essay should include at least three specific examples of events that occurred which dehumanized Eliezer, his father, or his fellow Jews.

The essay should be comprised of a thoughtful analysis of the example, and not merely a retelling of the scene or incident that considers the significance of the example. You should also consider what effect this has upon the Jews such as how it impacts their mental state, interactions with one another and their self-concept, as well as how it may influence non-Jews to treat them.

Online discussion: Night

Consider the following from on online source:

"Convincing an average citizen to commit a violent act or to murder a fellow human being is extremely difficult. Our moral code tells us that such acts are immoral and indefensible. However, through the skillful use of dehumanization, leaders throughout history have succeeded in doing just that. Once the enemy has been stripped of humanity and becomes an object worthy of punishment, the idea of mistreating or even destroying this threat becomes morally justifiable." (from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-dehumanization.htm on November 6, 2008)

Discuss at least three specific examples of events that occurred which dehumanized Eliezer, his father, or his fellow Jews.
In your response you should also consider what effect this has upon the Jews such as how it impacts their mental state, interactions with one another and their self-concept, as well as how it may influence non-Jews to treat them.

Posts should be 7-10 sentences each.
For further reading on dehumanization you may consider online sources on the topic such as Wikipedia to inform your opinions.

For Some, Uncertainty Starts at Racial Identity/In Generation Seen as Colorblind, Black Is Yet a Factor

I continue to be impressed with this class and the critical thinking skills you've been building since we first met in September. Tonight we're going to change this up a little bit. You will be discussing sentiments expressed by citizens about race and the upcoming presidential election. You will be making inferences about the ideology of the people interviewed in these articles based both on the text and on your own logic.


Answer each bulleted prompt and then respond to two of your peers' comments. This is a total of 10 posts of 5-7 sentences each. There should be enough time to finish the assignment in class, but the remainder may be completed as homework if you run short on time.


In Generation Seen as Colorblind, Black Is Yet a Factor

• What is significance of the sentiments about Senator Obama being expressed on a college campus?
• What does the following excerpt from the article indicate to you about the culture on the campus of the University of Kentucky:

“I might have heard something like that,” he said.

Asked if what he had heard was hard to talk about, Mr. Osborne stopped talking altogether and simply nodded, looking miserable.

• Pick out one significant quote or point of interest from the article and discuss it in a post.
  

For Some, Uncertainty Starts at Racial Identity

• How might the interviewees referencing the Bible in his statement relate to their ideology
• How does this impact your evaluation of their statements?
• Looking at Mr. Reynold's statements on race, provide an analysis:

“I would think of him as I would of another of mixed race,” said Glenn Reynolds, 74, a retired textile worker in Martinsville, Va., and a former supervisor at a Goodyear plant. “God taught the children of Israel not to intermarry. You should be proud of what you are, and not intermarry.”

Mr. Reynolds, standing outside a Kroger grocery store, described Mr. Obama as a “real charismatic person, in that he’s the type of person you can’t really hate, but you don’t really trust.”

• Based on the first part of the statement, how believable is the second part? Explain.
  
• Pick out one significant quote or point of interest from the article and discuss it in a post.

What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage

Please address all of the questions below in separate posts of 5-7 sentences each. In addition you will be responding to two of your peers' comments as well for a total of 6 posts.




NY Times Article: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage

We are often required to use our experience as a guide for how we must act in any given situation. Sometimes when we are not sure how to act, we interpret cues about what is acceptable or unacceptable based on the reactions we get from others.

1. How do people telegraph the treatment they expect from others?


2. Is there a difference between telling someone what you expect of their behavior and showing them by training them. Explain.


3. Is training a spouse acceptable behavior in a relationship? Explain.


4. The author makes a comparison of training husbands to the animal world. Does this implication reflect her feelings toward him in any way? Use parts of the text to support your rationale.
   

Let's Not Get to Know Each Other Better

The essay we read is one of the five essays selected from a contest run by the NY Times:

"Just before Valentine’s Day this year, Sunday Styles did something very unromantic: we asked college students nationwide to tell the plain truth about what love is like for them. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we thought we wouldn’t receive many essays about red roses and white tablecloths.

When the contest deadline passed seven weeks later, more than 1,200 essays had arrived, from 365 schools in 46 states and Puerto Rico. In perhaps typical collegiate fashion, nearly 700 poured in on the last day, 400 over the final hour. We counted only three red roses among them, and one was bestowed in a laundry room.

As for the more complicated stuff, and the uniquely 21st century struggles — those we got by the hundreds, covering everything from how students view communications technology (as a lifeline, a crutch or a scourge) to their ambivalence about the no-strings-attached sexual opportunism of the hookup culture."

In our class discussion of the essay and of love and relationships in modern times, we came to the conclusion that like the author, we all want a committed and loving relationship.  And yet, all of us were very familiar with the type of relationships the author describes in the essay.

Assuming the article is true for many besides our class and we all being forthcoming about the desire for commitment and security in love...

• How do you account for the difference in how people act and what they want?   
• How do people negotiate what they truly want (commitment) in finding love to get what they need.  
• Is there any benefit to "no-strings" relationships-- do they empower or weaken us?  
  

Please respond to the 3 questions posed above and to 2 of your peers' responses for a total of 5 separate postings.  As always, keep your language and expression of ideas academic and respectful.

NY Times Article:  Let's Not Get to Know Each Other Better

Reading Schedule & Resources for Elie Weisel's Night

All readings need to be completed on schedule to ensure that you are prepared for the discussion that the class and assignments are based on. There will be sporadic, content- related quizzes on the reading. These will not be particularly in-depth but will be simple and easy to answer provided you have done the reading, therefore, it is not advisable to fall behind.

• Pages 1-40 October 16th
• Pages 41-65 October 23st
• Pages 66-97 October 30th
• Pages 97-112 November 6th

In addition to reading the novel, you will be forming 2 substantive questions about each week's readings to be asked in class during discussion of that reading. These should be legitimate questions about something you did not understand while reading or be a question you think would produce some insight for our class discussion. Questions should be prepared ahead of time and be typed and suitable for submission as a for-credit assignment.

Here is an example of a substantive/insightful question about the novel Night:

• "Why didn't people do something about the Nazi Army if they knew they were coming anyway?"

Here is a legitimate question that one might ask:

• "What is a Kabbalist and why did Elie's father not want him to learn about it?"

Questions that are not appropriate are ones that are posed merely for the sake of completing the assignment. These are examples of questions that are not appropriate for the assignment.

• "What is the main character's name?
• "What county did the Nazis come from?"

If you have legitimately simple questions such as these, I encourage you to ask them. Please make a note of them and ask them during our discussion, but form more substantive ones as your assignment.

For further information on the Holocaust you can research it using the following online resources:

Wikipedia

US Holocaust Museum

The Man Date- Study Questions

Respond to the following questions based on the NY Times Article "The Man Date."  Please respond online.  You will have approximately 20 minutes to answer.  

As always, your response should reflect appropriate language befitting a college student and respect for diversity.

1. Summarize the article in 4-6 sentences.
   
2. According to the article, what is a "man date?" (please paraphrase)
   
3. Why does a "man date" make some people uncomfortable?
   
4. Give your own example of a man date as the article defines it. 
   

NY Times Article: The Man Date

The Man Date; What Do You Call Two Straight Men Having Dinner?

You may discuss any—or a combination—of the following as long as it results in 4 separate 5-7 sentence paragraphs: 2 to your peers. Please respond to the ideas below-- in particular the italizied portions.

During our in-class discussion, it seems that many of you associate being “intimate” with being “homosexual” or in some cases, with being “feminine.” The obvious question is, then, why is this so? These are two separate concepts, so why have people—in this case, some of you—decided that one is just as good as the other?

Second, in the article it states that men were not always so hesitant to “go out” with each other, and that there have been two factors involved in how men presently feel about “man dates.” Both of these boil down to insecurity with society’s opinions of “manliness.”

So, here, I will ask a less obvious question: Why are men so concerned with what society thinks?

Reading Schedule & Resources for Elis Weisel's Night

All readings need to be completed on schedule to ensure that you are prepared for the discussion that the class and assignments are based on. There will be sporadic, content- related quizzes on the reading. These will not be particularly in-depth but will be simple and easy to answer provided you have done the reading, therefore, it is not advisable to fall behind.

• Pages 1-40 October 14th
  
• Pages 41-65 October 21st
  
• Pages 66-97 October 28th
  
• Pages 97-112 November 4th

In addition to reading the novel, you will be forming 2 substantive questions about each week's readings to be asked in class during discussion of that reading. These should be legitimate questions about something you did not understand while reading or be a question you think would produce some insight for our class discussion. Questions should be prepared ahead of time and be typed and suitable for submission as a for-credit assignment.

Here is an example of a substantive/insightful question about the novel Night:

• "Why didn't people do something about the Nazi Army if they knew they were coming anyway?"
  

Here is a legitimate question that one might ask:

• "What is a Kabbalist and why did Elie's father not want him to learn about it?"
  

Questions that are not appropriate are ones that are posed merely for the sake of completing the assignment. These are examples of questions that are not appropriate for the assignment.

• "What is the main character's name?
• "What county did the Nazis come from?"
  

If you have legitimately simple questions such as these, I encourage you to ask them. Please make a note of them and ask them during our discussion, but form more substantive ones as your assignment.

For further information on the Holocaust you can research it using the following online resources:

Wikipedia

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

DNA Tells Students They Aren't Who They Thought

Please respond to each of the following questions in separate posts of 4-6 sentences each. Then respond to two of your peers' comments, for a total of five comments overall.

It’s clear that a good many of you have varying ideas about race, its importance and relevance in your lives, and how we should proceed from results of a DNA test. Some of you thought that no matter this sort of test’s results, people decidedly should not change who they are, because DNA is only genetic material and does not dictate who we truly are.

Others believed that this test’s results should change who you are insofar as sensitizing people to what it might be like to be from another race, if only from a genetic perspective. Still others believed that the test was either a waste of time, or was a good way to generate discussions in college about race.

I'd like you to consider the following:

1. Why must people think in terms of all or none?  In other words—and thinking outside the box—could it be possible that genetic ancestry is just one piece of the puzzle that makes you, "You?" 
2. Might there be other pieces to this puzzle? What might these be?
3. What do you think it means when Ms. Best says, "Maybe we haven't progressed as much as we thought we had." Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
   

NY Times Article: DNA Tells Students They Aren't Who They Thought

Putting Your Best Cyberface Forward

In our last class, we discussed ways people intentionally or unintentionally craft online personalities to communicate a specific message about themselves. I'd like you to start thinking about these issues in general, both online and in the "real world," since we take in information about one another constantly, no matter how the information is conveyed to us.

Please respond to all three questions and then to two of your peers' responses. As always, keep your language and ideas academic in nature! Each student should have a total of five responses by the end of our lab period.

• How important is a first impression? 
  
• How much can you really tell about a person based on first impressions? Is it accurate?
  
• Is it legitimate to use your first impression to make decisions about a person without knowing him/her?
  

NY Times Article: Putting Your Best Cyberface Forward

Directions: Read This First!

Directions:

So here is how this will work: I will get the online discussion started by positing a consideration, offering an opinion, or posing a set of questions based on an article.

Each of you will not only respond to me first, but to at least three students after your first comment. We'll keep the language professional and academic, as is the case for your homework and in-class assignments. As for a minimum response, let's begin with an "oversized" paragraph of 5-7 sentences per response per individual.



Remember to:

• Proofread your work before you hit that "Publish" button.
  
• Create at least 4 comments (each between 5-7 sentences)—1 to me and 3 to your peers.
  
• Keep the language professional, academic, and on-point.
  
• Sign your full name at the bottom of each response you make.
  
• Comment within the appropriate post.
  

Reminders:

• Do not use IM language (e.g., ";-)," "u r kewl," "lol," "brb," etc.)--this is a college-level discussion, not a private conversation.
  
• Do not use slang--again, this is a college environment where people use professional and academic langauge.
  
• Do not state an opinion without stating why you think/feel the way you do.
  
• Do not re-phrase someone's comment or just agree with him in order to have something to say--"Think before you type" means exactly that.
  

This is what a typical student comment should look like:

Response to Alba: So in other words you're saying that people who are not beautiful have no opportunity in life to succeed because of the way we judge them. I think that is wrong. Children are very sensitive and they can sense when adults make fun of them or treat them differently because of their look. Those children are the same people, that when the grow up, they also become ungly from inside, as a result of the way they were treated when they were child. That is still one of the biggest taboo that we have, judge someone for their look, before we even give them a chance to talk.-- Yuleina Mac Donald

Lastly, the ideas presented in your responses should be your own, or you should be adding something new to the discussion. Hopefully, this weblog will grow as your skills grow and this will also serve to put a new spin on an old "tried and true" method of collegiate discussion.

Participation on this blog counts as an assignment. Inappropriate, rude, or offensive language is unacceptable and will be removed from our blog. Three such offenses during the semester will result in questionable comments being submitted on paper to me, a NC for each offense, and could also result in failure for the course.

Comments that do not meet the minimum requirements will be deleted.