IMPORTANT NOTE: Papers on the following topics will not be accepted:
* abortion
* capital punishment
* euthanasia
These topics are far too controversial for the Explaining a Concept Research Paper, which should be informative (not persuasive) in its purpose. Also, I’ve already read more papers on these topics than anyone should in an entire lifetime, so I won’t read anymore. I encourage you to be more creative in selecting your topic.
Purpose:
Most of us use critical reading strategies everyday to effectively process all of the information we are consistently bombarded with. This assignment allows you continue to explore ideas of reading and writing rhetorically, as you will use different strategies to write your summary and your strong response.
The Assignment:
This assignment will have two parts:
1.) Summary
Summarize in 150-200 words the article your instructor has chosen from the assignment: “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” on pages 270-274 of your 9th edition textbook (or on pages 276-279 of your 8th edition textbook or pages 287-291 in your 7th edition textbook). In this summary, you should relay the article’s main points, completely and accurately, in your own words. If you find yourself in a situation in which the author’s words needed to be quoted directly (perhaps for emphasis), you must make it clear that these words are the author’s by using quotation marks appropriately. You will not want to quote anything over one sentence in length, and you will want to limit yourself to no more than 2-3 direct quotes, if you use any at all. Remember that the whole point of this portion of the assignment is for you to restate the author’s points objectively in your own words.
In general, I recommend you structure your first sentence something like this:
In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete, Jessica Statsky…
This will function as the thesis statement of your summary, so this first sentence will need to convey the main point(s) of the article to give your reader an overall view.
2.) Response
Write a 1 ½ to 2 page response to “Children Need to Play, Not Compete.” Before you even begin drafting, you will want to decide on the terms of your response. Once you decide on the terms (or grounds) of your response, you’ll want to figure out how you can support your points—using logic, outside evidence, examples from your personal life—whatever is appropriate.
(We will discuss how to determine the terms of your response in Unit 9.)
Please Note: The sample summary for this unit is included on the “Lecture Notes” page.
Write a full, rough draft of your strong response to “Children Need to Play, Not Compete.” (This response should be 1 ½ to 2 pages in length). Please keep in mind the following: Before you even begin drafting, you will want to decide on the terms of your response. Once you decide on the terms (or grounds) of your response, you’ll want to figure out how you can support your points—using logic, outside evidence, examples from your personal life—whatever is appropriate.
Please Note: The sample Strong Response section for this unit is included on the “Lecture Notes” page.
In this unit, you will want to revise your own work to the best possible quality. I strongly recommend that in addition to reviewing your work yourself, you find yourself an outside reader—someone who will read your work and offer you suggestions for revisions.
You have two options in choosing an outside reader:
1.) You can find someone on your own to read your work (ie. your spouse, one of your kids, a friend, a neighbor).
2.) You can sign up for the Peer Review Option by emailing me. (I’ll set up an email list, so that you and 2-3 of your classmates can email each other your drafts and get feedback.)
**Notes :
What is a summary?
A summary is simply a recounting of the main points of an article. But what should it really include? How is the summary formatted? The best way to learn how to write a summary is to read and examine someone else’s summary.
Before you read the rest of this lecture, please read the short essay entitled “Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names” from page 275-276 in your 9th edition textbook. (If you have the 8th edition, please read from the bottom of page 279-281. If you have the 7th, please read 266-267 in your textbook.) After you’ve read this essay, then please continue with the lecture.
A Sample Summary
The following is an example of how one student summarized the article “Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names.” (Remember: “Sticks and Stones” is not the article that you will be reading and responding to. However, this example does provide a good example of how to craft summaries in general.) As you read this example, ask yourself what you notice about the summary—in terms of purpose, focus, tone, organization and formatting.
Summary of “Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names”
In “Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names,” Richard Estrada argues that sports teams should not be allowed to continue using ethnic-based names and mascots. Estrada claims that teams such as the Braves, Indians, Seminoles, and Redskins—no matter how established or popular—should change their team names and mascots, which are degrading to Native Americans. He further suggests that the stereotypes accompanying these mascots, such as “tomahawk chops and war chants,” dehumanize and single out Native Americans, setting them aside from the rest of society. “Nobody likes to be trivialized or deprived of his or her dignity,” Estrada asserts, and yet allowing ethnic-based mascots enables—and even promotes—such trivialization. What makes matters worse, according to Estrada, is that such mascots target one of our nation’s least politically powerful ethnic groups. He provides examples of other possible team names based on other ethnic minorities (such as the “New York Jews”), which would never be tolerated in our society. As a result, Estrada concludes that Native Americans should be treated with simple human dignity, just like everyone else. 178 Words
So what did you notice? What does the summary include? How is it formatted?
Perhaps first you noticed that the student writer’s opinion of “Sticks and Stones and Sport Team Names” is not included. Rather, the student is trying to simply convey the main points of Estrada’s original article. Remember: Whether you liked the article or didn’t like it, whether you agreed with the author or disagreed, your opinion does not belong in the summary.
Second, you may have realized that the first sentence is very important in the summary. The first sentence must to three things clearly and concisely: 1.) Mention the name of the original article; 2.) Identify the author of the original article; 3.) give a sense of the overall claim or point the author was trying to make.
Maybe next you observed that the original author was referred to in some way in every sentences. Richard Estrada argues, Estrada claims, He further suggests, Estrada asserts, according to Estrada, He provides examples, Estrada concludes—these are all called “attributive tags.” Attributive tags are designed to remind the reader that these are Estrada’s ideas (not yours), and thus give proper credit where credit is due. Notice how the student writer in the example above has varied his attributive tags, using different ways to refer to the author (Estrada and he), and using different verbs to explain what Estrada was communicating. The student writer also varied the placement of the attributive tag in several places. (Often the attributive tag comes at the beginning of the sentence, but sometimes an attributive tag will fit into the middle or end of the sentence. You will also want to include an attributive tag in each sentence of your summary, and you will want to vary these references.
You may have also noticed that the student writer who is summarizing Estrada’s work has used direct quotes very sparingly. Any time he did use even a phrase of Estrada’s word-for-word, he put it in quotation marks to indicate this. **NOTE: While in most papers you would need to use intext parenthetical citations such as (Estrada 280) any time you summarized any ideas or material from your source, these are not necessary in a contained summary such as this. They will be necessary in future assignments such as the research paper.
Next, you may have observed how the last sentence of the summary really seems to wrap things up and provide a sense of conclusion. You will want the last sentence of your summary to provide the reader with a sense of conclusion as well.
Finally, you probably noticed the word count, included at the end of the summary. Sticking within 150-200 words is important in the summary, so I will want you to include your word count.
But how do I get from here to there?
I recommend you use the concepts discussed in your reading from Chapter 12 as a sort of step-by-step guide to get you organized to write your summary.
1.) Annotate. Read and re-read the essay “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” and take notes. Mark things in the text that you think are important, especially noting what seem to be the main points of the article. Write questions you have in the margins, and note places where you are convinced or skeptical. (This will also help you in the next unit when you’re trying to get ideas for your strong response.)
2.) Take Inventory. Group your notes in a way that makes sense to you.
3.) Outline. This does not have to be a formal outline in any sense of the term. But it can be a good idea to try to list or map the main points of the article, before you actually start drafting your summary.
4.) Write your summary, restating the article’s main points in your own words.
A Sample Strong Response
The following is an example of how one student responded to the article “Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names.” (Again, remember: “Sticks and Stones” is not the article that you will be reading and responding to. However, this example does provide a good example of how to craft the strong response, in general.)
As you read this example, ask yourself what you notice about the strong response—in terms of purpose, focus, tone, organization and formatting.
Sticks and Stones and False Concerns
I strongly disagree with Richard Estrada’s article, “Sticks and Stones and Sport Team Names.” As a Native American myself, I have no real problem with the use of ethnic mascots. In my opinion, this is the least of our problems. Further, I feel Richard Estrada has no authority whatsoever in writing about this subject.
First, allow me to discuss my own Native American heritage. I am only one-quarter Native American; my father is half. My adopted brother, Reeve, is also half Native American. In other words, our family has a strong sense of heritage when it comes to our respective tribes. (My father’s side is Cherokee; my brother’s tribe is Cheyenne Arapaho.) All three of us are registered with our tribes, and we still occasionally attend tribal events. So I am sensitive—and actively engaged with—Native American issues.
Unappealing mascots, however, are the least of our problems. Most of the Native Americans I know have a sense of humor about the whole mascot issue. They’re surprised people even bother to talk about it. Who cares if a bunch of white people want to flap their arms in public and pretend they even know what a “tomahawk chop” is? Who really cares what goes on at a football game? Who really believes that a bunch of beer-drinking ball-following hicks are seriously capable of demeaning us?
The answer is simple: Not Native Americans. At least not any of the Native Americans that I know.
Our tribes face must bigger problems in the real world. We have been pushed to the corners of this country, environments and economies unsuitable for sustaining our livelihoods. We have sought solace wherever we could get it through generations—including in the bottle. What does Richard Estrada have to say about this? Nothing.
Estrada would claim that mascots are a symbol of cultural appropriation—white society taking what it wants from Native American culture. I agree that the appropriation of our culture is a problem. However, once again, unappealing mascots are the least important aspect of this phenomenon. How many white people own dream catchers, turquoise necklaces, trickster figures and the like? How many of those people know anything about the traditions that are behind all of these “cute little trinkets”? How many of those people know anything real about Native American heritage?
But this, again, is a minor problem in reality. The real problem we as Native Americans face is the appropriation of our voices. How many Native Americans have been asked if they are offended by mascots? How many articles on Native American issues are actually written by Native Americans? The answer is practically none. Instead, the Richard Estrada’s of the world are doing all of the talking. Is Richard Estrada a Native American? I highly doubt it.
As a Native American myself, I’m tired of the false concerns of all of the non-Native-American liberal do-gooders. If you really want to know about the problems of Native Americans, stop talking. Try listening.
Again, what did you notice? What does the strong response include? How is it formatted?
The first paragraph of this section defines the terms of the response and the student’s claims. In the example above, for instance, the student is focusing on his own Native American heritage and how Estrada’s article challenges his beliefs and values. You will want the terms of your response to be clear in the first paragraph as well, so that your reader will know where you’re going.
The last paragraph of this section provides a sense of conclusion and restates the student’s claims/terms of response. You will also want your closing paragraph to wrap things up, and reemphasize your points.
Between the first paragraph and the last paragraph, however, what’s happening? The student is devoting at least one paragraph to each of his claims. For instance, paragraph 2 describes the student’s own Native American heritage. Paragraphs 3-6 offer examples of the kinds of “real problems” that the student believes Native Americans face. Paragraph 7 offers examples and explanation to support the student’s claim that Estrada’s lack credibility. I recommend you use this 1-3 paragraphs per claim structure, which should help keep you organized and the reader on track.
But how do I get from here to there?
As with the summary, I recommend you consider the materials in your chapter as a guide in crafting your strong response. In particular, the last five reading strategies in Chapter 12 offer a helpful guide to determining the grounds of your response.
Ask yourself the following questions:
1.) Do you want your response to focus on the patterns of opposition within the article, and the ways these challenge or support your values and beliefs? In other words, do you want to reflect on the values and assumptions made by the author and how these compare/contrast with your own?
2.) Do you want your response to focus on evaluating the logic of the argument? In other words, do you want to critically analyze whether the reasoning and support offered in the article is believable and sufficient?
3.) Do you want your response to focus on the issue of emotional manipulation? In other words, do you want to discuss areas in the article where the author seems to be exaggerating or using other tools inappropriately to gain your sympathy or compliance to his/her point of view?
4.) Do you want your response to focus on the credibility of the author? In other words, do you want to consider whether the author seems appropriately knowledgeable and fairly considers other arguments or points of view?
You may be able to focus your entire response on just one of the above issues. Or you may decide to discuss two or three issues that seem related. (For instance, in the sample strong response, the student chose to discuss his own beliefs—number 1 on this list and the author’s lack of credibility—number 4 on this list.)
Please keep in mind that while the strong response must be “analyzing” the article in some way, this does not mean that it has to be negative. Despite the example above, a strong response may discuss the ways in which the article is successful and convincing (or the reasons why you agree with the author).
The tips and questions in your reading for this unit are very important, and should help you improve your Summary/Strong Response.
As you re-read your own essays, and ask for the feedback of others, please keep the following questions in mind:
Summary
*Is the summary objective, excluding your own opinions as completely as possible?
*Does the summary cover each of the main points of the article?
*Are transitions and attributive tags used appropriately throughout the summary?
*If direct quotes are used, are they limited to 2-3 quotes total in the entire summary, and are they cited correctly?
*Does the first sentence of the summary clearly express the overall, main point of the article that is being summarized? Does the last sentence of the summary offer a sense of conclusion or completion?
Remember, the summary should be 150-200 words in length.
Strong Response
*Are the grounds of the response made clear in the first sentence?
*Is at least one paragraph devoted to each of your main claims about the article?
*Are appropriate examples/explanations included to support your claims?
* Does the last sentence of the strong response offer a sense of conclusion or completion?
Remember, the strong response should be at least 1.5 – 2 pages in length.
In addition to using these review questions as a guide, please keep in mind that I’ll still be looking for these basics as well: purpose, focus, organization, tone, and editing. (Please review the materials from Unit 1 if you are unfamiliar with these concepts.)
Other than that, I simply want to use your time this unit for revising.
A narrative is simply a story. A personal narrative is a true story, focusing largely on the writer’s own life.
For Essay #2, the Personal Narrative, you will be writing a short essay (at least 3-4 pages in length) about a significant event in your own life. This event need not –and probably should not–be inherently, overly dramatic. Sometimes the most influential moments in our lives are smaller moments, events that we may not recognize as influential until years after the experience. In the personal narrative essay, you will want to tell the story as accurately as you can—search your deep memory—and tell the story from your own perspective. You will also want to exercise your selectivity as a writer, choosing to summarize background information/exposition, and really dramatize important scenes for the reader.
During the course of this unit, you will want to read the examples of the Personal Narrative in Chapter 2. You will want to start brainstorming ideas for your own personal narrative, and–by the end of Unit 5–you will want to have selected a significant event that you wish to focus on in this essay.
Here is one sample personal narrative:
Kyle Terry
“Cops”
Even as a law breaking mischievous youth I had always looked up to Police Officers in my neighborhood. I even looked up to them when they would chase my friends and I when we snuck out at night and kicked sprinkler heads off, or got caught drinking underage. I loved to watch the show “Cops” and always pictured myself in the situations being portrayed on television. In my youth I did a lot of things that most people would look down on and police departments may shun you for, but that didn’t stop me from aspiring to join their ranks.
After serving in the military for over five years and attaining the rank of SGT (P), I was sent orders for recruiting. This was not the path I wanted my career to go down, so I opted to decline the orders. Once I had done this I was faced with a decision, what should I do now? I decided I would try to get hired at a local police department. At the time I was stationed in Manhattan, KS and had to choose between Manhattan, Salina, and Topeka. Topeka and Manhattan were testing on the same days and as fate would have it I decided to give Manhattan a try.
Having no navigational skills in the city I was first challenged in finding the testing sight for the physical agility test. The site was located at the RCPD range, which was off of Pillsbury Drive, near Pillsbury Crossing. When I arrived I was shocked to see that I would be up against forty some odd people fighting for five or six slots. Once I got out of my truck and started talking to other hopeful applicants I became worried. What was I going to do if I didn’t get hired I asked myself. I felt as though I was under qualified after finding out that 60%- 70% of the applicants had degrees in Criminal Justice. I thought for sure that college would be a major hiring point. I had come this far though and had no reason to doubt my ability to prove myself on an obstacle course.
The air was thin and cold on this particular day, making just breathing a chore. Gazing out at the course the towers were tall and a long climb, the walls were high with steep drops to the other side. Tires lined the courses isles to test your agility running through them, and at the end of the obstacle course there was a 170 pound dummy that you had to drag to a safe zone. I felt confident since I was still in the Army and was in the best cardiovascular condition in my life. The lieutenant introduced himself to the crowd and began explaining the course, at the end of his explanation and demonstration he asked for volunteers to go first. In my mind I thought it would be good to volunteer, but I had learned early on in the Army not to volunteer for anything. I held my ground and stayed back to gauge the motivated people stepping to the front. I felt as if watching them would give me an edge. I watched several individuals run through the course until it was finally my turn.
Once I stepped up to the starting line my adrenaline was pumping full blast, I felt unstoppable at that point. I had heard the fastest time was 2:09 through the course on this day and I was determined to beat it. I took off up the steep flight of stairs and down the other side simulating a chase. I felt like a wild animal closing on my prey as I hopped the fence and dropped to the other side. Next I ran through a make shift neighborhood setting and to a high wall I had to climb. Once at the top I ran down the steps and around the turnaround point. It was then that I realized how fast I was moving, I was flying through the course and hurting badly inside. I told myself that it was mind over matter and to suck it up for another 30 seconds. I ran to the shooting simulation and picked the bad guy out of the stand up targets, ran to the dummy drag and drug the 170 pounds 20 yards like a dog carries a flea on a daily basis.
Once I was at the end of the line I heard the scorer yell “2:03.” I had done it. At that point I felt as if the job were in the bag. My score got beat by a fraction of a second later in the day, but I was still proud that I was able to overcome the pain to get to the finish line. After several vocabulary tests, spelling tests, writing tests, and a few oral review boards I was hired. I lived my childhood dream of becoming a Police Officer for three years. It was a thankless job in many ways, but it was also gratifying at times. I have since moved to San Antonio and changed professions, but often reflect on some of the experiences I had. I know I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.
***
Here is another sample personal narrative:
Spc Shannon Thomas
Fort Riley, Kansas
“My Dancing Roots”
Like rain showers breaking the silence of midnight, the thunderous applause poured over that final sustained-for-emphasis A-flat and me. My friends were whistling and hooting like they just heard their favorite song by their idolized music artist at a sold-out concert. I was all smiles. Although it was only my first vocal music recital at my new high school, my new friends truly made me feel celebrated. We were all artists, born and made from the same peculiar passion that drives us to dedicate ourselves daily to the perfecting of whatever it is we do. Family oriented by choice, there was a nurturing and supportiveness that was contagious among the students and faculty. This school required a rigorous two auditions and an interview with the principal and a senior faculty member from the students intended major. The end result, I shared the hallway with only 200+ students from grades eight through twelve. I have experience singing in Italian, Latin, French, German, Hebrew, and Spanish. Being a vocal music major with a minor in performance piano is what I have always done and was always perfectly content doing. Imagine the awkwardness when I found out that this small performing arts high-school was so exclusively “artsy” that for Physical Education credits, students are required to take Ballet Technique Level I to fulfill the requirement! I distinctly remember thinking, “This is going to be the biggest, longest, stupidest waste of time.”
Most non-dancers shared this depressing requiem. Over lunch the 16-year-old prodigy trumpet player laments how a dance teacher tried to make him stretch his legs open, “This wide!” with his arms outstretched like the crucified Man Of Sorrows. The Sophomore painter shows a doodle of the dizzying stars she saw when they tried to teach her to just spin and spin from one end of the dance studio to the other. A Communications student described his tragedy at Ballet I, as an event so calamitous it “should have been televised.” Clumsily dodging the other beginners as he fumbled through each combination looked less like dancing and more like these beginners had synchronized the ants in there pants. “Anti-graceful” was the agreed upon description for all non-dancers. I was definitely not looking forward to my “first class” experience.
The dressing room was a mixed territory of veteran ballerinas and the tenderfoot wannabe’s that would dare hold a class within a mile of their talent. The distinctions in dress between the two groups were strikingly obvious to me. We all hold to the same basic standard of black tights, leotard, and hair in a neat bun or chignon out of the face and off the neck. Still, there were details in the clothing itself that separated the novice from the seasoned. The experts wore hundred-times-washed, simple leotards, tights that used to be footed but now had lost fights with a scissor along the way up their bulging calf muscles, some had leg-warmers borrowed from the 1980’s, with functional-looking shoes that looked danced to death. They were quite unashamed of their neat-pauper kind of look. The aspirants were like seventh-graders on the first day of school, all fixated on making a good first impression with every shred of dance apparel brand new. I noted that the vets looked prepared to break a sweat and the wannabe’s were, of course, clueless.
We filed in slowly like wallflowers, utterly afraid of the open space with a tell-all-your-secrets mirror that spanned one entire wall. The instructor pranced in motivated to embarrass a fresh group of victims assembled for his viewing entertainment. He instead graciously encouraged this group of painters, musicians, and playwrights, with words of affirmation and empathy. He began as a graphic artist himself and got wooed into the dance world. A community of racing pulses instantly slowed to a shared sigh of relief as his speech ended with his humble admission of familiarity to our scary and new world. “Now class, approach the barres.” It was time to begin.
Though he moved like molasses through the first combinations it was surprisingly tough to mimic. Contorting into strange twists and bends was taking a toll on my body after the first week. I finally decided to try to embrace and maybe even think about enjoying being a dance student though I truly would have been happy to simply learn the classical piano music we were wasting on the Dance Department. Over the passing weeks the class, as a whole, improved steadily and we began to respect and admire the craft as well as take on new challenges. One morning my teacher required of us an impossible task . In our first lessons we would do each combo with our beloved instructor in front of us as we all faced the mirror for reinforcement. Now we are being required to dance with him out of our sight for cues. Without him front and center to guide our intended outcome, it was much harder to remember what to make your leg and arm do simultaneously, plus when to do it! Not only did my muscles ache, my brain was now a cardholding member of the, “Organs and Muscle Groups Who Hate Shannon Association”. After painful attempts with some few victories, we eventually got used to not being bottle-fed our choreography. A few of us even acquired a hole here and there in our tights and shoes. Yes!!
When women cry, I have heard it said from men that they can never really tell which emotion has surfaced, so either way a well-meaning hug is usually appropriate. The following year and several thousand dance steps later, I signed up for the next level in dance instruction. My request was denied. A knot got stuck in my throat then found it’s way all the way down to my heart and I said to my self, maybe next semester. I cried. Disappointed, I began wrapping my mind around the fact that I was probably destined to just be a singer who played piano. I showed the transcript to a good friend who pointed out that a certain code did not denote a denial, but a skip to the next level higher than I originally requested. My dance teachers had decided I was progressing rapidly enough to skip all intermediate dance courses and proceed to Advanced level 1. I cried, again Then somewhere in between, this happiness made me jump up and down in the hallway clapping.
I remember the day I entered that same locker room with a new attitude. The newbie’s were still dressed as newbies, and the experts were still identifiable as experts. Where do I fit in? I looked in a small mirror to see that I resembled an expert on the outside, but felt like a newbie that secretly acquired a backstage pass to an expert class. The weeks went by and there were a lot of times I felt like I was a kitten breathlessly struggling to run among cheetahs. The combinations were more precise, and the transitions from one combo to the next were quicker, almost seamless. I was beginning to accept my place in the rankings as the least experienced expert. You know the one who, as a peer, you never really go to with a question, but usually approach with your own good advice and tips. Whenever a new dance move is taught, we all attempt the choreography one by one in a sort of conga line across the floor. The student who performs it the most accurate is called out to express it alone so the rest of the class can learn a bit more about how to correctly execute. One day, we were all taught a brand new type of leap and after demonstrating our attempts one by one, I was called out! I thought I had done something so wrong, I would be told that I represent what NOT to do. Turns out I was the only dancer who demonstrated an understanding of what the leap should look like. I did the combination solo and received smiles, pats on the back, and a reassurance that I was in the right place. I leaped the highest I had ever leaped, right into the stride of a cheetah.
My report back at the lunch table that first day of a new school year was one animated with surprise and excitement as I learned that I was maybe multi-talented! My story began like theirs once did, but I discovered the lesson in my experience was in blooming where I was planted. When I perceived I was plopped into a rocky place unfit for the kind of growth I was interested in, I had to uncomfortably tunnel deeper to find that there was good soil beneath. My dancing roots can now be traced to that famous school of the arts where I had begun dancing and have yet to stop to this day.
Here is another sample personal narrative:
Spc Shannon Thomas
Fort Riley, Kansas
“My Dancing Roots”
Like rain showers breaking the silence of midnight, the thunderous applause poured over that final sustained-for-emphasis A-flat and me. My friends were whistling and hooting like they just heard their favorite song by their idolized music artist at a sold-out concert. I was all smiles. Although it was only my first vocal music recital at my new high school, my new friends truly made me feel celebrated. We were all artists, born and made from the same peculiar passion that drives us to dedicate ourselves daily to the perfecting of whatever it is we do. Family oriented by choice, there was a nurturing and supportiveness that was contagious among the students and faculty. This school required a rigorous two auditions and an interview with the principal and a senior faculty member from the students intended major. The end result, I shared the hallway with only 200+ students from grades eight through twelve. I have experience singing in Italian, Latin, French, German, Hebrew, and Spanish. Being a vocal music major with a minor in performance piano is what I have always done and was always perfectly content doing. Imagine the awkwardness when I found out that this small performing arts high-school was so exclusively “artsy” that for Physical Education credits, students are required to take Ballet Technique Level I to fulfill the requirement! I distinctly remember thinking, “This is going to be the biggest, longest, stupidest waste of time.”
Most non-dancers shared this depressing requiem. Over lunch the 16-year-old prodigy trumpet player laments how a dance teacher tried to make him stretch his legs open, “This wide!” with his arms outstretched like the crucified Man Of Sorrows. The Sophomore painter shows a doodle of the dizzying stars she saw when they tried to teach her to just spin and spin from one end of the dance studio to the other. A Communications student described his tragedy at Ballet I, as an event so calamitous it “should have been televised.” Clumsily dodging the other beginners as he fumbled through each combination looked less like dancing and more like these beginners had synchronized the ants in there pants. “Anti-graceful” was the agreed upon description for all non-dancers. I was definitely not looking forward to my “first class” experience.
The dressing room was a mixed territory of veteran ballerinas and the tenderfoot wannabe’s that would dare hold a class within a mile of their talent. The distinctions in dress between the two groups were strikingly obvious to me. We all hold to the same basic standard of black tights, leotard, and hair in a neat bun or chignon out of the face and off the neck. Still, there were details in the clothing itself that separated the novice from the seasoned. The experts wore hundred-times-washed, simple leotards, tights that used to be footed but now had lost fights with a scissor along the way up their bulging calf muscles, some had leg-warmers borrowed from the 1980’s, with functional-looking shoes that looked danced to death. They were quite unashamed of their neat-pauper kind of look. The aspirants were like seventh-graders on the first day of school, all fixated on making a good first impression with every shred of dance apparel brand new. I noted that the vets looked prepared to break a sweat and the wannabe’s were, of course, clueless.
We filed in slowly like wallflowers, utterly afraid of the open space with a tell-all-your-secrets mirror that spanned one entire wall. The instructor pranced in motivated to embarrass a fresh group of victims assembled for his viewing entertainment. He instead graciously encouraged this group of painters, musicians, and playwrights, with words of affirmation and empathy. He began as a graphic artist himself and got wooed into the dance world. A community of racing pulses instantly slowed to a shared sigh of relief as his speech ended with his humble admission of familiarity to our scary and new world. “Now class, approach the barres.” It was time to begin.
Though he moved like molasses through the first combinations it was surprisingly tough to mimic. Contorting into strange twists and bends was taking a toll on my body after the first week. I finally decided to try to embrace and maybe even think about enjoying being a dance student though I truly would have been happy to simply learn the classical piano music we were wasting on the Dance Department. Over the passing weeks the class, as a whole, improved steadily and we began to respect and admire the craft as well as take on new challenges. One morning my teacher required of us an impossible task . In our first lessons we would do each combo with our beloved instructor in front of us as we all faced the mirror for reinforcement. Now we are being required to dance with him out of our sight for cues. Without him front and center to guide our intended outcome, it was much harder to remember what to make your leg and arm do simultaneously, plus when to do it! Not only did my muscles ache, my brain was now a cardholding member of the, “Organs and Muscle Groups Who Hate Shannon Association”. After painful attempts with some few victories, we eventually got used to not being bottle-fed our choreography. A few of us even acquired a hole here and there in our tights and shoes. Yes!!
When women cry, I have heard it said from men that they can never really tell which emotion has surfaced, so either way a well-meaning hug is usually appropriate. The following year and several thousand dance steps later, I signed up for the next level in dance instruction. My request was denied. A knot got stuck in my throat then found it’s way all the way down to my heart and I said to my self, maybe next semester. I cried. Disappointed, I began wrapping my mind around the fact that I was probably destined to just be a singer who played piano. I showed the transcript to a good friend who pointed out that a certain code did not denote a denial, but a skip to the next level higher than I originally requested. My dance teachers had decided I was progressing rapidly enough to skip all intermediate dance courses and proceed to Advanced level 1. I cried, again Then somewhere in between, this happiness made me jump up and down in the hallway clapping.
I remember the day I entered that same locker room with a new attitude. The newbie’s were still dressed as newbies, and the experts were still identifiable as experts. Where do I fit in? I looked in a small mirror to see that I resembled an expert on the outside, but felt like a newbie that secretly acquired a backstage pass to an expert class. The weeks went by and there were a lot of times I felt like I was a kitten breathlessly struggling to run among cheetahs. The combinations were more precise, and the transitions from one combo to the next were quicker, almost seamless. I was beginning to accept my place in the rankings as the least experienced expert. You know the one who, as a peer, you never really go to with a question, but usually approach with your own good advice and tips. Whenever a new dance move is taught, we all attempt the choreography one by one in a sort of conga line across the floor. The student who performs it the most accurate is called out to express it alone so the rest of the class can learn a bit more about how to correctly execute. One day, we were all taught a brand new type of leap and after demonstrating our attempts one by one, I was called out! I thought I had done something so wrong, I would be told that I represent what NOT to do. Turns out I was the only dancer who demonstrated an understanding of what the leap should look like. I did the combination solo and received smiles, pats on the back, and a reassurance that I was in the right place. I leaped the highest I had ever leaped, right into the stride of a cheetah.
My report back at the lunch table that first day of a new school year was one animated with surprise and excitement as I learned that I was maybe multi-talented! My story began like theirs once did, but I discovered the lesson in my experience was in blooming where I was planted. When I perceived I was plopped into a rocky place unfit for the kind of growth I was interested in, I had to uncomfortably tunnel deeper to find that there was good soil beneath. My dancing roots can now be traced to that famous school of the arts where I had begun dancing and have yet to stop to this day.
**Notes :
Deciding What’s Significant
Again, a personal narrative is simply a story from someone’s own life. But how does one decide what to write about?
In general, what you need to do is to figure out which events in your life have been “significant” in some way. What events have impacted how you see yourself and how you see others? What events have shaped your worldview, values, and beliefs?
Next, you’ll want to choose which event in particular you would like to write about (and are ready to write about). I usually prefer for students to stay away from subject matter and events that are inherently dramatic (ie car crashes, deaths, break-ups, etc.) Instead, I recommend you think about events that did not seem significant at the time, but later–after reflection–you found very important and/or revealing. In other words, “significant” does not mean there has to be coffins or tears, screaming matches or fiery blazes.
Use the activities on pages 40-47 (bottom of page 47) of your 9th edition textbook for brainstorming. (These are pages 42-50 of the 8th edition or 53-59 of the 7th edition.) In addition to the ideas listed in the book, you might examine your own childhood memories. Most of the memories we retain from our deep past stick with us for a reason, so this can provide insight into some significant events that you may have never recognized as “significant” before.
After listing remembered events, and working on recalling key places, people, and conversation, decide which story about your own life you’d like to pursue for this essay.
Elements of Story: Plot, Character, Setting, Dialogue
The following four terms (plot, character, setting, and dialogue) are the four major elements of story. In other words, these are all essentials for your personal narrative.
1.) PLOT: A plot is a pattern of events or actions that lead to a change in a character or situation. In the case of this assignment, the plot of your essay should be limited to a key event or series of events that actually occurred in your real life, and resulted in some sort of change in your character, your relationships with others, your worldview, or your situation.
Plot also always includes some kind of tension or conflict. This conflict may be external, between two people (for instance, a fist-fight with your brother, or a disagreement with your mother). In contrast, the conflict may be purely internal (for instance, a conflict between what you desire and your sense of morality). By the end of your essay, we should have some sense that the conflict has been dealt with somehow, if not entirely resolved.
2.) CHARACTER: A character is any person depicted on the page. We often think of characters in terms of fiction, characters “made-up” or “invented” by the author to further the story or illustrate a point. Even in fiction, however, characters are often based on real-life people. In your narrative essay, you yourself will become a character—even though you must remain true to the facts of your life, personality, etc.—just because you will be reproducing yourself on the page. As a readers, we’ll want to get a sense of who you are as a character on the page in the course of your essay. By the end of the essay, we will also want to know why/how your experience was significant. How did it change you?
To take it even further, beyond the scope of your own life, how was this experience and/or the change it produced significant?
You may also decide to have other characters in your essay, but these must also be real life people who were actually a part of the events you describe. If many people were present during the events you describe, you will need to decide which of those real-life people need to be represented on the page. You will want to limit yourself to including only the characters who played some sort of significant role in the experience. In addition, you will need to decide how much or how little we really need to know about all the characters you include in your personal narrative.
3.) SETTING: The setting includes time and place. When did all of this happen? How old were you? Where exactly did it happen? As a writer, you must decide how much the reader needs to know about what’s happening when and where. However, you should keep in mind that setting is important, setting the stage for the action of your narrative. You should also note that setting can help set the tone of your piece, establishing the “feeling” of the experience and your attitudes about it.
4.) DIALOGUE: Dialogue reports conversation between characters directly, and is usually represented in quotes. Especially if you choose to write about something in your deep past, you may not remember everything that was said verbatim. What you will need to do—if you choose to use dialogue—is to plausibly re-create the conversation, based on what you do remember.
Lecture Project – Student Deliverable #2
Overview
As part of this project, you will publish the research paper on the web and will include graphics and links to related information. Information on your web site must have incorporated instructors’ feedback on research paper and is carefully proofread, spell checked and verified for information accuracy. In addition, your site must not infringe copyrights by using media (e.g. video, images) or text without appropriate permissions.
Project Objectives
• Demonstrate your ability to use web based technologies to communicate your understanding of a selected technology related topic
• Make obvious your ability to seek permission from the originator for the copyrighted material and cite references appropriately
Project Requirements
In this project, you will use X/HTML to publish your research paper. Every page of your research paper is a webpage (title page, content pages, and reference page). There will be a menu on each page of your paper to easily navigate to each webpage of your research paper.
• Note: Use of X/HTML editors (MS Word, Netscape Composer, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc.) is NOT permitted. Cascading style sheets (CSS) – External, Internal and Inline – are NOT permitted. JavaScripts are NOT permitted
• Note: X/HTML tags/elements must follow the Rules of XHTML. The following X/HTML tags/elements CANNOT be used: div, object and span tags
Prior to creating your website, you MUST CORRECT your research paper based on the instructor’s comments on your research paper.
1. Title Page.
• The homepage will be the homepage you created in the lab. The link to the title page will be below the link for the syllabus on homepage using X/HTML unordered list (bullets) for the syllabus and the title of your paper. There will be ONLY two links on your homepage – one to syllabus and one to the title page of your paper. The title page CANNOT be your homepage. The title page content will be same as the title page of your research paper – title of your project, your name, date.
The first step in the research process is selecting a topic that is both interesting and manageable. For this discussion I have chosen the three topics (obesity, smoking, or underage drinking) complete the following:
• Review the Final Research Paper instructions in Week Five, and identify three potential research topics. (obesity, smoking, or underage drinking)
• Describe methods that may be helpful in identifying and narrowing your research paper topic.
• Examine two scholarly sources that may prove valuable as you seek to defend your claims.
• Address why scholarly sources should be used to support your writing on the selected topic.
The initial post should be at least 250 words in length.
To explore and interpret the narrative content and structure of the Mahābhārata, the classic Indian epic that is the central focus of this course, students will be asked to investigate one character in the story, using specific textual passages in the Mahābhārata, in terms of what she or he would have represented in ancient Indian culture, and, by means of analogy, how this character might work within the students’ own cultural context.
Writing Assignment: MBH Character Study
• The idea—Choose one character that interests you from the Mahabharata, and, using specific textual passages from John Smith’s translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, you should explore his or her cultural significance:
• (A) in the context of ancient Indian society, religion, or politics, BACK THEN (150 BCE – 150 CE)
• (B) as an ANALOGY to issues and dilemmas taking place TODAY
• No secondary sources are required
• 5 double-spaced pages, 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman
• Style:
• Inline citations, (Title, page number): “…..” (Mahabharata, 324).
• Block quotes from the MBH: single spaced
• DO NOT ITALICIZE QUOTES!
• NO TITLE PAGE or other space-wasting features.
• PLEASE AVOID “THE FUNNEL”!! (Start your paper with something specific rather than general—maybe a puzzle or dilemma)
I will be attaching 2 lecture slide files that would help with this paper. I prefer the writers to use the slides to help write the paper. It talks about the time in history in which the character study is relevant to.
\”Assessment task 1: Digital Scrapbook: Interrogating the Socio-Technical (Individual). Task: You will create a new knowledge artefact (you need at least 18 artefacts), in the form of an annotated, digital scrapbook, which is a structured review of the material you collect as you construct your own view of social informatics, socio technical concerns related to emerging technologies and the implications for the construction of knowledge. Further information: In this assignment you will develop a digital repository of multimodal “texts “(e.g.: words, images/objects, sounds/songs), critically analysing their social and cultural implications in relation to key concepts of social informatics explored in the subject. For each entry in your collection you will provide a reflective annotation showing how that particular item influences your thinking in relation to the theories of social informatics and themes examined in class and set readings. Critical analysis must be a prominent part of your annotations. Your scrapbook must also include an 800-word introduction explaining and justifying both the structure and content of your scrapbook. \nCriteria: Depth and breadth of reading and investigation evident in various aspects of the scrapbook \nDepth of analysis and reflection with regard to items selected for your collection \nDepth of critical insight: evaluating ways theories and ideas introduced through lectures and readings relate to your personal collection included and analysed in your scrapbook Imagination evident in the collecting and organising of the texts selected for the scrapbook \nQuality of rationale for the organising and structuring of the scrapbook around clearly identified themes (use 3 themes)\n Relevance of the texts collected to the identified themes \nThoroughness and accuracy in acknowledgement of sources \nThoroughness of synthesis of the key concepts of social informatics\n \nNotes you can take under consideration for this assessment: You can use videos, articles and diagrams etc, for the artefacts. Be creative.\”\n
Consider what you have learned from your Choice Book thus far and how it has related to the content in our textbook. The choice of book that I will for the class is Meier, D. & Wood, G. (2004). Many children left behind. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. The reason for reading this book in class is because the book is opening the minds of the American citizens on 2002 federal law ‘no child left behind act’ NCLB. Instead of improving the public schools, which support most of poor, and minority children the law is doing the opposite. How does NCLB support an agenda of privatization and an attack on public school? This book is showing the harsh effects of the NCLB instead of assisting all the children. The book is an essential guide to show the wrong and how to solve it. Also, guide us on where we should go back from. The book name is Meier, D. & Wood, G. (2004). Many children left behind. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Someone in your company helped me write the Journal 1, 2, and 3 now is the Journal 4. Thank you so much. (Later, I will upload the Journal 1, 2, 3 for you).
The introduction of new technologies has significantly affected the social lives of many. These changes, which reflect how people use technology to interact, provide an example of trends that you might examine in your Final Research Paper. For this discussion, identify a significant change that has occurred in the way people communicate and share information, and reflect on the impact this change has had on individuals and society in general today (local and global). Keep in mind that not all social trends affect all groups in society to the same degree. In addition, examine the influence of social media on an individual’s personal and professional pursuits. The initial post should be at least 250 words in length.
In this assignment you will practice participatory design by planning and running a design session with another person for redesigning the university online library catalog.articipatory design by planning and running a design session with another person for redesigning the university online library catalog.