Class 1 Summer Session 2010

Eh 200 Summer Session

Class One

Zero Tolerance: *Cell Phone Policy: “Off” and “On”*

Course Introduction:

• Review the Policy and Procedure Page (Suggested: 10 minutes)

• English 123/124 Reminder: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

This course will require you to exercise all the skills you acquired in English 123/124.

From the outset, you need to understand that your writing in this course must follow the composition requirements of EH 123/124.

It is NOT the professor’s job to remind you of these requirements, or to “grade you easier” until you remember them. You must know them “now.”

By virtue of the fact that you earned a grade of C or higher in Eh 123 /124 — or in equivalent courses – it is assumed by the professor that you are familiar with these requirements.

If you have forgotten this information, please re-visit your Eh 123 and 124 portfolios, as they will contain all the important examples you will need. You should also speak with your professor during his or her office hours, as he or she may be able to help you.

For example, your writing must adhere to these basic guidelines, as well as others:

1. 1. Only complete sentences will be considered in submitted work.

2. 2. All paragraphs must be approximately 6-8 sentences in length and develop a single idea.

3. 3. All prose should be formal. Slang and colloquial language will be ignored, generally.

4. 4. Only heavily-proofread work will be considered by the professor. Sloppy work will simply be handed back to you, and you will not receive any credit for it – period. Your professor is _not_ your proofreader.

Now that we have covered all of that, we can begin our work together.

Introductions: Who are you? Who am I? (Suggested: 5-7 minutes)

In-Class writing: (Suggested: 7 minutes)

• In your journal, explain to me what the difference between work and play is to you. Where do we learn about work? Where do we learn about play? How are the ways in which you work and play different from the ways your parents work and play?

Group Discussion: (Suggested: 7 minutes)

• How has your understanding of work and play changed over the last academic year? Come up with a list of advice you would share with someone coming to Husson University as a first-year student on this topic. Compile your findings for a brief class presentation.

Group Presentations: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

• One group representative from each group will stand before the class and deliver the group’s findings.

Class Discussion: (As needed)

• Our initial definition for play will be as follows: activities undertaken for amusement.

Break

In-class Journal #1 (two parts): (Suggested total: 15 mins)

Part One: What do the terms lower-income, middle-income, and upper-income mean to you? Be specific.  Be sure to be using your basic writing skills from Eh 123/124!

Part Two: How do people from different economic backgrounds relax and have fun, or recreate? Describe how you envision lower-income, middle-income, and upper-income people your age recreating.  What are the similarities and differences?

Group activities: (Suggested total: 15 mins)

Part One: Workshop journal entries for sentence structure and paragraph structure.

Part Two: Talk about the first meaningful job you held and what was it about that job that you liked the most and least. Keep a list of your responses. Everyone needs to contribute two unique facts or ideas.

In-Class Journal Assignment: (Suggested: 15 Minutes)

Part One:  What does the word “class” mean to you when it is used to signify someone’s social status? Is there a distinction to be made between someone’s “class” and his or her lower-,middle-, or upper-income lifestyle? Why or why not?

Part Two: How has your concept of play changed over the course of your life? In particular, you must identify three major phases in your understanding of play. Did your economic standing or class change at any point over this period?

Group Discussion (7-10 minutes)

Groups talk about how one’s understanding of class may impact one’s understanding of play. Groups keep a list for class discussion.

Group Presentations: (Suggested 5 minutes)

Class Discussion of group findings: (Suggested: 5-7  minutes):

Discuss group work.

There is a meaningful distinction to be made between class and income.

You can have “class” even if you don’t have “income.” This is a foundational premise of the course!

Homework:

Pre-Reading Assignment:

• 1 Page: Expand on the definition for “play” we developed in class. What is the point of play? What are its personal and social functions as you understand them? Be specific, and you need to be careful to adhere to the writing requirements listed above. Put your Eh 123/124 training to good use!

Reading Assignment:

• The Untold Lie by Sherwood Anderson (50-56)

• Precis of “The Untold Lie”

The Précis (Pray-SEE)

There are three simple parts to a Précis.

The point of a précis is to lay out an argument for an audience who needs to know about a text without reading the entire ten-, twelve- or twenty-page document. We have to inform the audience on the argument without “dumbing it down” or oversimplifying it!

To write a précis, you will need to incorporate direct quotations from a story to express those points that are better articulated by the author than you yourself could articulate them.

You will sometimes need to use words in quotes to emphasize the author’s original tone. It is hugely important that you do not comment on or editorialize the story. Do not use “I” anywhere in this piece.

You will need to paraphrase quite a bit in this document. The point here is to report on the narrator’s comments, and to leave your own opinions at the door (there will be time enough for voicing your opinions in the future).

The three parts of the précis: Situation, Issue, Thesis

*Each section should be titled as such. This is okay in a précis.

Situation

• The very beginning of your précis.

• It should lay out what the audience needs to know about the author, the full title (including subtitle), and whatever publication info you have in MLA style (except for the author’s name which should be done first name first).

• Next, you need to establish the basic context for the writing: who is writing it (what do we know about the author and or his or her position, profession etc), to whom are they addressing the piece (audience), when was it written, and whether there is any particular EVENT that has driven this response. Some stories may have this, and some may not. You can expect to take the better part of a paragraph to convey this information.

• SITUATE the writing for an audience who WILL NOT READ THE FULL STORY. What general information do they need to know about it in order to have a clear idea of what the story is about?

Section II

Issue

• The author may use culturally specific lingo in the argument. You need to begin your ISSUE section by defining these terms for the contemporary reader. Clarify for the ready any terms or phrases you think may cause him or her difficulty.

• Lay out the basic questions that the author addresses or raises about the nature of play (NOT the answers).

• END WITH THE MAJOR QUESTION ABOUT THE NATURE OF PLAY AND SETTING. The major issue question is the question the author attempts to illuminate.

Section III

Thesis

• Thesis section. This is where the THESIS appears (the statement or argument the story appeasts to be making about the nature of play)

• It is also where the other, secondary claims about the nature of play and evidence for those claims (as well as the major claim) will appear.

• This is the lion’s share of the précis.

We will begin working on this in class, and will start by looking for examples in the reading. This should be two pages of work.