Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

Greetings,
I hope all of you are having a most wonderful spring break so far.
Below you will find the assignment for Packet #7 (5 items), due to be completed by Wednesday, April 3rd, the day we return to class. The overall topic is immigration, which rears its head in Breaking Bad, but not too obviously until later in the series. However, it IS a significant issue to study--its history and its rhetoric.

PACKET #6 (due to be viewed and/or read by Wednesday, April 3)

1.  http://www.myimmigrationstory.com/WYSO%2090%20SEC.mp3
(under two minute audio)

2. "Illegal Immigrant Deaths Set Record"
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=130369998&m=130370353
(audio)

3.  "Obama's Immigration Policy--What it Means"
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immigration-questions-20120616,0,4472636.story

4. "Could you Pass a U.S. Citizenship Test?
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0104/Could-you-pass-a-US-citizenship-test/Who-signs-bills
(Please take this on line test and be prepared to discuss the "results" in class.)

5. "Pros and Cons of Illegal Immigration"
http://immigration.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000842

Sunday, March 17th--10:30 am

Greetings,

and for those who celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, have a lovely one!
(my son's name is Patrick Mahony, so you can imagine that it is a big deal in my household. :)..)

1. Writing Response #5 occurs tomorrow, Monday. We will also be discussing episode 6 of Breaking Bad. Additionally, I will be addressing any questions you may still have regarding out of class essay #2. (We will be looking at a sample student essay either Wednesday or Friday this week.)

2. Packet #6, which is due to be read by Wednesday the 20th, is actually posted for you below. It is a handout that you will need to read, print out and bring to class. I will be "filling in" the blanks at the end of the handout during my lecture.

English 20-- College Composition II

C. Fraga

PACKET 6:

How to Critically Read an Essay

Educated adults exist in a delusional state, thinking we can read.

In a most basic sense, we can.

However, odds are, some of us cannot read, at least not as well as we would like.

Too many college students are capable of only some types of reading and that becomes painfully clear when they read a difficult text and must respond critically about it.

Intelligence and a keen memory are excellent traits and most students have learned to read in a certain way that is only useful for extracting information. Thus, students are often fairly well skilled in providing summary.

However, the act of reading to extract information and to read critically are vastly different!

The current educational system in American primary schools (and many colleges) heavily emphasizes the first type of reading and de-emphasizes the latter.

In many ways, THIS MAKES SENSE.

Reading to extract information allows a student to absorb the raw materials of factual information as quickly as possible. It is a type of reading we all must engage in frequently.  However, each type of reading calls for different mental habits. If we do not learn to adjust from one type of reading to another when necessary, we cripple our intellectual abilities to read critically.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN READING TO EXTRACT INFORMATION AND READING CRITICALLY.

1. They have different goals.  When students read to extract information, usually they seek facts and presume the source is accurate.  No argument is required.  On the other hand, when students read critically, they try to determine the quality of the argument.  The reader must be open-minded and skeptical all at once, constantly adjusting the degree of personal belief in relation to the quality of the essay’s argument.
2. They require different types of discipline.  If students read to learn raw data, the most efficient way to learn is repetition.  If students read critically, the most effective technique may be to break the essay up into logical subdivisions and analyze each section’s argument, to restate the argument in other words, and then to expand upon or question the findings.
3. They require different mental activity.  If a student reads to gain information, a certain degree of absorption, memorization and passivity is necessary. If a student is engaged in reading critically, that student must be active!!! He or she must be prepared to pre-read the essay, then read it closely for content, and re-read it if it isn’t clear how the author is reaching the conclusion in the argument. 
4. They create different results.  Passive reading to absorb information can create a student who (if not precisely well read) has read a great many books. It creates what many call “book-smarts.”  However, critical reading involves original, innovative thinking.
5. They differ in the degree of understanding they require.  Reading for information is more basic, and reading critically is the more advanced of the two because only critical reading equates with full understanding.

ULTIMATELY, WHAT WE WANT IS THE CONSCIOUS CONTROL OF OUR READING SKILLS, SO WE CAN MOVE BACK AND FORTH AMIDST THE VARIOUS TYPES OF READING.

FIVE GENERAL STAGES OF READING

1.      Pre-Reading—examining the text and preparing to read it effectively (5 minutes)

2.      Interpretive Reading—understanding what the author argues, what the author concludes, and exactly how he or she reached that conclusion.

3.      Critical Reading—questioning, examining and expanding upon what the author says with your own arguments.  Skeptical reading does not mean doubting everything you read.

4.      Synoptic Reading—putting the author’s argument in a larger context by considering a synopsis of that reading or argument in conjunction with synopses of other readings or arguments.

5.      Post-Reading—ensuring that you won’t forget your new insights.

Thursday, March 14th--3:40 pm

Greetings,
just a quick note.
It just occurred to me that when I returned your out of class essay 1 on Wednesday, I indicated that revisions were to be due in one week, on Monday.  (I am not used to missing class. :)...)
I just wanted to clarify that if you do choose to revise this essay, the first revision is due next WEDNESDAY, March 20th.
See you tomorrow.

Sunday, March 10, 2013--6 pm

Greetings,

I just finished a phone conversation with my mother. My dad is having complications from the surgery and so I am heading down to the bay area in a few minutes.

I have never cancelled two class sessions, ever! Except for the one I tell students about at the beginning of the semester. Again, I apologize! I will be in class on Wednesday and yes, there will be a writing response. Be sure to come prepared having viewed/read the packet due for tomorrow.

See you Wednesday. Thank you for being understanding and patient.

Saturday, March 9, 2012--4:30 pm

Greetings!

As you can imagine, my weekend is filled with grading. Currently, I am grading the out of class essays. Some of them have been a true pleasure.

I have already run into two instances of plagiarism.  If you did plagiarize, please email me and confess...because it really does use up a lot of my time when I could be grading instead of hunting down your source (s).

Hope all of you are enjoying the weekend! See you Monday.

Friday, March 8, 2013--3:15 pm

Hello,
below you will find the assignment for Packet 5, due on Monday.
Also, I have provided a copy of Out of Class Essay Assignment #2.

PACKET #5:

"Why Does Health Care Cost so Much?:
http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/healthcare/art2809.html?getPage=1
(Please note: this article is three pages in length.)

"Abraham Verghese: A Doctor's Touch"--TED TALKS
http://www.ted.com/talks/abraham_verghese_a_doctor_s_touch.html
*************************************************************

English 20, Spring 2013---C. Fraga

Date assigned: Wednesday, March 6

Rough draft (optional): due no later than Wed., April 3

Final draft due: Monday, April 15

Details:

1. MLA format

2. At least 4 outside sources on your Works Cited page. If you utilize personal interviews, at LEAST two of the four sources CANNOT be interviews.

3. Please, no Wikipedia as primary sources

4. No formulaic, 5 paragraph essay

OUT OF CLASS ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #2

Among many things, the series Breaking Bad focuses on the family entity and what happens when something quite extraordinary occurs—how do members of the family cope, adjust, and/or “deal” with the event/situation? (In the case of this series, obviously it is Walter’s cancer that is the ‘event’).

I am not referring to the everyday “bumps in the road” that occur for all families. Instead, I am asking you to consider the family unit when faced with an especially challenging situation. These situations could include but are not limited to:

• death

• birth

• infidelity

• serious injury

• dementia

• serious illness

• divorce

• unemployment

• new employment

• moving to a new home/state/area/country

• the return of a war veteran

• moving BACK home after initially moving OUT

• alcoholism

• drug abuse

Select ONE situation that you are most interested in exploring. You will conduct research (and possibly personal interviews, if possible) in order to write an essay that offers the reader background on the topic and makes an assertion about what elements impact a family in the most challenging of ways and supports it logically and interestingly.

Your thesis might read something like this:

When a family member develops dementia, the challenges are often devastating, yet the disease definitely impacts family members more than the dementia patient.

Or…

When a couple divorces, it most certainly impacts the children still living at home; however, it is the older children who have already moved away that are most affected by the split.