Prose & Paragraphs Summer 2020
Zoom meeting ID: 144-879-222
Zoom meeting ID: 144-879-222
2020.07.16
We wrapped things up Thursday by going over Chapter 10 in the text, working our way through several exercises on sentence structure, including parallelism, sentence fragments, choppy sentences, run-ons, and comma splices.
You now what to do from here on out. Check yesterday’s session if you need a reminder.
Good luck on the exam Monday, and don't forget to upload your final portfolio in the Canvas assignment folder before you take the exam.
See you in the Zoom room!
JBH
2020.07.15
On Wednesday, we got back into argumentative essay writing in chapter 8 of the text. We looked over our wrap-up schedule together as class winds down.
In the text, we discussed techniques and examples of using statistics to support in our essays. We also examined collocations and went over the assignment carefully.
At the end of the session, we left with a homework assignment to write a first draft of the Chapter 8 essay before the end of the workday Thursday (5-6 p.m.).
Then, before the end of the day Friday, make thoughtful, helpful comments on two classmates’ Chapter 8 drafts using the peer review form on page 335. Also, make sure you have already commented on two classmates’ Chapter 4 drafts with help from the peer review form on page 327.
We will take at least part of the session Thursday to talk about Chapter 10, which covers parallelism and sentence problems. We may also have time to look at some student writing together.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.07.14
Today we made a good start on Chapter 8 in the text, which deals with Argumentative Essays. We looked over a model essay, talked about a few collocations, and looked at the organizational structure of an argumentative essay before focusing in on introductions. We will continue Wednesday talking about using statistics as support in essays, and get started on a draft of the chapter writing project.
As this fast-paced course winds down to a close, please understand that we simply don't have as much time to spend talking about every student's writing as we do during the regular semester. However, on Friday, July 17th, you can sign up for a one-on-one session to talk about any questions you may have about your writing. We will not have regular class that day.
A shared Google document is posted in the Class Canvas page under Announcements. These sessions will be more productive if you have questions or areas that you want comments about, instead of simply asking me to take a quick look at your paper and tell you what I think. Help me by coming with more specific questions or concerns.
On our last day of class, Monday, July 20th, you will do a timed writing assignment during class time. Also that day, please turn in your best revision of the assignments for three of the chapters we have worked on in this class. Choose one paragraph from either Chapter 1 or 2, along with the essays from Chapters 4 and 8. These three scores, together withyour score on the timed writing exam, will make up the quality points part of your total class score (50 percent). Another 40 percent will come from homework score (Canvas and chapter quizzes), and the last 10 percent is for attendance and participation.
When you hand in your writing assignments on July 20th, make sure they are in the correct format for an academic paper. That means 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced. Also, please combine all your assignments in one Microsoft Word document labeled "Your Name/Portfolio." Make sure each assignment starts on a new page of the complete portfolio (don't start any papers in the middle of the page). Use the drop down menu "insert" and select "page break" so each paper starts on a new page.
If you do not understand these instructions, please be sure to ask about them in class.
See you in the Zoom room,
JBH
2020.07.13
In class, we finished Chapter 4 in the text, and continued to talk about writing essays.
We then looked at a student paper together and offered some feedback, before moving on to look at an exercise in title writing. Remember: titles are very important elements in making an essay more interesting, and interesting counts. Interesting papers earn higher grades, not just inthis class, but in ever class.
Tomorrow we will move ahead to Chapter 8, looking at argumentative essays.
See you then,
JBH
2020.07.10
We got started on Chapter 4 today, which gets us moving into writing essays.
We began by looking at the overall structure of an essay, and then went deeper into the specifics of thesis statements.
Please continue reading and answering questions in the chapter over the weekend, as well as writing the first draft of the essay assigned on page 98-99 before class time Monday. We will continue talking about the chapter then, and take some time to look at some student writing on screen as well.
Have fun!
JBH
2020.07.09
We kept going through Chapter 3 about using outside sources in our writing. We moved from the rules of the road on quotations to best practices for paraphrasing and summarizing text from outside sources.
We will get into Chapter 4 Friday and start writing essays instead of paragraphs. Be ready to zoom and expect a writing assignment over the weekend. We will not have a mid-term exam, but we will have a final timed writing exam at the end of the course.
For homework Thursday night (due before class time Friday), please refer to the Peer Review form on page 325 and give helpful, thoughtful comments to a classmate about their summary posted on Canvas. Your comment should be a reply to their summary post.
Thanks!
JBH
2020.07.08
We continued going over details of using outside sources in our writing in the text today, starting off going over the answers from yesterday’s exercise in correctly formatting APA style in-text and reference list citations.
Students were asked to write and post theirdraft of an article summary, following the instructions in the Chapter 3 writing assignment on page 70.
Please post this draft in the class Canvas discussion area using the subject heading “Your Name/ Summary.” We will discuss our summaries on Thursday before wrapping up the chapter and moving on to start writing esays in chapter 4.
Have fun!
JBH
2020.07.07
We got started looking at using outside sources for research writing in Chapter 3 and will continue in this chapter on Wednesday. Please continue pre-reading and answer all individual questions in Chapter 3 before we meet.
Also for Wednesday, please write complete in-text citations and references for a reference list to the following sources in a word document. Be ready to share your answers on the screen during class.
1. A quotation from page 122 of the book Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Published by Grand Central Publishing in 2017.
2. A magazine article online at this address: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/09/how-college-changes-parent-child-relationship/598630/
3. A New York Times article headlined South Korean Challenger Sees A Rigged Presidential Election. Author not listed. Published Feb. 7, 1971, page 20. Can be found online at https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/07/archives/south-korean-challenger-sees-a-rigged-presidential-election.html
You can get lots of info on citing in APA style here and here.
Have fun,
JBH
2020.07.06
We zoomed through Chapter 9 today, talking about different types of clauses (dependent and independent) and sentences, including simple, compound, complex, and compound/complex.
I did not leave the class with a writing assignment for Tuesday, but be sure to improve your chapter 2 writing after receiving feedback from classmates and using your own ideas.
Please pre-read and pre-answer as many individual questions in Chapter 3 as possible before we meet again Tuesday (July 7th). We will have regular class Wednesday, continuing with Chapter 3, but will do a timed writing exam for our Mid-term Thursday (July 9th).
See you tomorrow,
JBH
2020.07.03
We went over the remainder of Chapter 2 on this fine Friday, where we continued talking about coherence, repetition of key words such as nouns and pronouns, and transitions. Remember to use them enough, but not too much.
Homework for Monday: Please refer to page 323 in the textbook for suggestions to write helpful, thoughtful comments as feedback to two classmates’ Chapter 2 writing in the Canvas discussion area. Also, please pre-read and pre-answer all individual questions in Chapter 9 (yes, I said Chapter 9!). We want to give that chapter a quick go-over Monday and we may well start with a quiz to see if you’ve been paying attention.
After we zip through Chapter 9, we’ll probably write the paragraph at the end of the chapter. Then we'll start moving again on our writing in Chapter 3.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.07.02
We went over the exercises in Chapter 2 through page 30. Then we looked over the Chapter 2 writing assignment on pages 42-45. Please complete your first draft of this assignment and post it to the Canvas discussion area before class time tomorrow. Remember to double-check your draft with the writer's self-check form on page 324. (posted to Canvas files) When you post your paragraph to Canvas, use the subject heading "Your Name/Chapter 2."
We will wrap up Chapter 2 tomorrow and we may look at some student writing in class before we move on in the text.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.07.01
We took a quiz covering the material in Chapter 1 and scored ourselves,
learning a thing or two about sentence topics and controlling ideas. Then
we looked over a few student paragraphs on Canvas, giving helpful
feedback and suggesting improvements. Then we took time to look over a couple of our classmates’ paragraphs, offering our best helpful, thorough feedback.
For tomorrow, please use the peer review and self-check forms uploaded to the files area of Canvas to give the same kind of helpful, thorough peer review to at least two classmates. Your comments should be posted as replies to their original paragraph posts. No one expects you to write a book. However, please do mention some specific positive points and suggestions for improvement using ideas from the feedback form in Canvas (files).
Also, please work through the first several pages of Chapter 2, through page 30, to be ready to discuss the chapter in class. Please read and complete all individual tasks up to that page before we meet next time. You do NOT need to write the Chapter 2 essay ... yet.
Thanks,
JBH
2020.06.30
In our second Zoom session of the semester, we got started in the text for real. We began by looking at a model paragraph, analyzing its structure. We also looked at vocabulary, particularly the common features of word families.
We then went deeper into paragraph structure, getting started talking about topic sentences, supporting sentences, and conclusions. We also previewed at the writing assignment on pages 17-20.
Chapter 1 of the text is posted under "files" on our class Canvas page.
Please write the paragraph as assigned and post a draft to the Canvas discussion area before class time on Wednesday, using "Your Name/Chapter 1" as the subject of the post. We will be looking at some student writing and feedback together in class tomorrow before moving on to Chapter 2.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.06.29
Hi everybody and welcome to Prose & Paragraphs!
This is a writing class, which means we are going to be writing -- a lot.
Please bring paper and pencil to class every day, along with your textbook, and be prepared to write some things after class too.
Did I mention that we will be writing?
It's a writing class.
Expect to write every day.
In English.
For this first session, please check out my webpage (profjbh.com), read and pre-answer Chapter 1 in the textbook at least through page 17, and be ready to talk (and write) about the text when we meet again.
You will also get an email invitation from Canvas to join our online class discussion. Follow instructions to sign on and post a self-introduction based on the questions I asked you in class:
1. Who are you?
2. What do you want (from this class)?
3. Why do you need to write?
4. What can you add (to this class)?
Please write a few paragraphs addressing the questions you wrote about in class and introducing yourself as a student writer to the rest of us in class. Post your paragraphs in the Canvas discussion area (create a discussion) and respond to at least two classmates in a sort of online conversation. Please post your first post before class time Tuesday and respond to two classmates before we meet again on Wednesday.
For the discussion subject or title use "Your Name/Intro".
Please get the book ASAP.
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It is available at the HUFS bookstore or from online booksellers.
Then, please pre-read and pre-answer ALL questions in Chapter 1 through page 17 before tomorrow’s class and be ready to discuss all the topics in class.
We will move on to the writing assignment in chapter 1 after our second class session, posting it in an online class discussion and giving each other feedback on our writing. We will go over instructions for posting our writing and feedback to the blog when we meet next time.
See you tomorrow!
JBH
2020.06.26
Click the link in the Zoom invitation I emailed you, download the Zoom app, and I'll see you online in the Zoom room Monday. Get a textbook ASAP too.
JBH
Click the link in the Zoom invitation I emailed you, download the Zoom app, and I'll see you online in the Zoom room Monday. Get a textbook ASAP too.
JBH
