Assignments for EWRT 1A

Assignments—Dates listed are due dates.

Sept. 26/27        Short Response to “People Like Us,” Question 5a or  5b
                          Read:  pp. 2-17 in LBR

Oct. 1 /2            Short Response to pp. 9-16 of TGC:
                          Do you think Jeannette’s parents are abusive?

                          Read:  pp. 20-42 in LBR

                          “What to Do When You’re Stuck,” ROT

Oct. 3/4              Rough Draft of Essay #1

Oct. 8/9              Final Draft of Essay #1

Oct. 17/18          Read:  pp. 373-381 in LBR

                           “A Proposal to Abolish Grading”
                           Short Response:  #3 and/or #4

                           “In Defense of Testing
                           Short Response:  #3 and/or #4

                           “Two Cheers for Examinations”
                           Short Response:  #1 and/or #2 

Oct. 22/23          Final Draft of Essay #2

                           Read:  Part 2 of TGC finished by today

                           Read in Rules of  Thumb

                           "Consistent Pronouns"

                           "Correct Pronouns"

                           "Vague Pronouns"

Essay Topics for Essay #3

1.  What is a “fair grade”?  Write an essay that describes the characteristics of a fair grade.  Make sure you explain each of the characteristics and give some examples for each one.  Draw some conclusions about what makes absolutely fair grading difficult to achieve in high school or college.

2. Think about one of the standardized tests you have taken in your educational life—STAR tests, high school exit tests, SAT tests.  Describe the test—What is its purpose? What is it testing? What is its format?  How is it administered? Who does the test benefit?  Who funds the test?  Do you think the test accomplishes its purpose?  Give some examples that would support your answer.  Are there better alternatives for accomplishing the same purpose?  Draw some conclusions about whether the costs and drawbacks of the test are outweighed by the benefits or not. 

3. If you were an admissions officer for a prestigious college deciding between two students—one with high SAT scores and average grades and one with average SAT scores and uniformly outstanding grades—which would you choose?  Why?  Do tests indicate something that grades do not or vice versa?  Give some examples to support your decision.  Based on your discussion of this scenario, draw some conclusions about the nature of tests and grades in assessing people.

4. Compare a graded learning experience—such as classes at school—to a learning experience that is not graded—such as learning done on your own, on the job or in a camp or club setting.  Describe how these learning experiences differ. Use some specific examples to illustrate how they are different.  Draw some conclusions about how graded learning experiences could be improved by incorporating some of the characteristics of non-graded learning experiences. 

5. Imagine a change in the educational system that eliminated grades in high school classes; instead, students’ qualifications would be determined by a standardized, end-of-the-year exam in each subject.  How would students’ relationships to their teachers and their classmates change?  How would their approach to their courses change?  Describe what would be different, giving some examples to support your ideas.  Draw some conclusions about the ways this changed system would or would not be beneficial to students. 

Oct. 24/25                   Discussion of The Glass Castle Short Response Questions for The Glass Castle pp. 41-125

1. How does the Walls’ unconventional life affect their children’s education?  Give some examples to support your conclusion. 
2. Choose ONE of Rose Mary or Rex Walls’ opinions about childrearing, wild animals, stealing, civilization, narrow-minded conformist sticks-in-the-muds,” wearing glasses, juvenile delinquents, education, pets —or anything else.  Find a quotation of one of their opinions and discuss whether their idea makes any sense at all and whether it makes sense in this particular case.
3. This section contains descriptions of more violent and dangerous situations.  Do you, as a reader of the memoir, react to these situations differently than the young Jeannette does?  Choose one example and explain the differences between the two reactions.  Why do you feel differently about the situation than she did?
4. What do you think about Rex Walls’ method of teaching Jeannette to swim?  Would you use this method with your kids? 
5. Are you sympathetic toward Jeannette’s parents’ dreams?  Should Rose Mary give up her dream of being an artist?  Should Rex give up his dreams of finding gold and building a glass castle?  How would giving up their dreams affect their children?

Oct. 29/30                   In-Class Essay

Nov. 5/6                      Final Draft of Essay #3

                                     See Assignment on Oct. 22/23

Nove. 7/8  Short Responses to Readings

"The Good Neighborhood":

Look at Jacobs' definition of a good neighborhood in the 2nd paragraph.  Would you say your neighborhood suited yoru desire for privacy and "contact, enjoyment or help"?  Give some specific examples.

"A Conversational Style"

Give an example of a situation you experienced where miscommunication happened due to different ideas of what's "polite."

Nov. 14/15 Draft of Essay #4 Due

Essay #4

Rough Draft Due November 14/15

Final Due November 26/27

Tannen talks about the constant balancing act of closeness and independence.  Choose one kind of relationship—parent/child, friends, couples, teacher/student, employer/employee—and discuss how these needs for both involvement and independence affect people’s behavior in these relationships.

Classify friendships into different categories based on Tannen’s involvement/independence scale.  Describe how people decide which category a friendship belongs in and how a friendship might change categories.   

“Common Ground” presents one kind of unconventional living arrangement.  What factors affect people’s choices about their living arrangements?  What factors make the suburban, nuclear-family home such a popular choice in America?

Describe how people’s day-to-day lives, attitudes and behavior might change if there were no alternative and everyone lived in a more communal living situation, such a co-housing or other communal housing. 

Jacobs says that good neighborhoods balance the need for privacy and the need for “contact, enjoyment and help.”  What other characteristics might make a neighborhood desirable and popular? 

What can be done to change a “bad” neighborhood to a “good” one?  What could cause that change to occur?

Choose a current event/issue and discuss it in terms of the community/individual or involvement/independence balance.  The event/issue might be a local, national or personal one.  Discuss what factors might tip the balance toward one side or the other in the issue. 

Make sure you’re following the prompt.

Compose strong introductions and conclusions

Use excellent examples.

Use quotations or examples from readings we’ve done in class.

Create sentences that use pronouns correctly, are concise and are correct.

Use third person except when relating a personal example.

Punctuate properly.

Short Responses to The Glass Castle, Part 3

1. What does Jeannette learn about Rex Walls in Part 3 and how does her new perception of him affect her opinion of him?  Is your view of Rex different from hers?
2. In Part 3, we see Jeannette engaging in some activities that aren’t entirely ethical—stealing, fighting, lying—activities that could be the beginning of a path toward more serious crimes or failings.  We can see the possibility that Jeannette will become like her parents.  Why do you think Jeannette doesn’t head down that path?  What keeps her heading toward a more productive future?
3. Several possible solutions are considered for the family—welfare, foster care, moving on.  All of these are rejected by Jeannette or her mother.  Do you think that any of these would have been a better solution?  Why?
4. Although living in Walsh was much worse for the Walls in many ways than living in the West, it does provide some advantages for Jeannette.  What are they?  Are the advantages worth the disadvantages?