Two Feet In | Writing and the Institution

Part I – Claims. Please identify as specifically as possible the type of claim used in the argument. 1. Because of recent actions, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, is well on his way to becoming the defacto emperor of Central and South America. 2. Cheating on a college final exam is just like getting help from your mom when you didn't understand your 1st grade math homework. After all, grades are all that matter. 3. The Global Warming Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark will create policies that will save the world. 4. Global Warming is a cruel hoax designed to remake the world with a decidedly socialist agenda. 5. Iran and North Korea should be allowed to do whatever they please in regards to producing and testing nuclear weapons. 6. Pledging allegiance to Barak Obama is not like blind obedience or communism. 7. The recent revelations from the media that 1) drug manufacturers are preemptively raising the prices on prescription drugs before any health care plan is p...

Most papers from UH ENGL 1303 have been turned in, though two were absent and sent their papers in via e-mail. One male, however, who did not participate in peer review, failed to show yesterday as well. He's one of the brightest students in the class, and has hopes of transferring to Chicago, but he has a poor attitude and feel supercilious towards me and other students. He has strong religious beliefs and has little patience for non-believers. Yet, occasionally, I can see some insecurity, as for example when he approaches me one-on-one to ask a specific question about his writing -- never about class or ideas, but specifics about appropriate format, etc. He rarely turns in daily work, and is often late for class. Because "professionalism" makes up 10% of this grade, he will not get an A. If he fails to turn in this paper, he'll fail the course as well. As of 1411 Tuesday, I'm still writing my research paper on Edmund Hickeringill for Dr. Rothman. It's a st...

For 30 April 2010: Masculinity, long a topic of interest for psychoanalytic and new historicist critics, has become central to recent work by feminists, cultural materialists, queer theorists, and social historians, with contemporary studies often complicating long-held notions of monolithic patriarchal culture. This conference aims to engage and interrogate variant notions of the early modern man as he manifests in literature, art, theater, culture, music, science and philosophy. Through what representational strategies (sartorial, gestural, vocal, rhetorical, erotic) is manhood staged in early modern theater and culture? How is masculine identity inflected by distinctions of social status, age, wealth, profession, sexuality, nationhood, or race? How did early modern men negotiate the variant, and sometimes contradictory, prescriptive masculinities? What was women's role in shaping notions of masculinity? Topics for papers or panels might include, but are not limited to: * m...

1. History of Comp 2. Restoration & 18th Century Lit (Rothman) 3. History of Narrative (Wood) History of Narrative is out there -- supposedly written for Writers, but the description was more open, so Kofford allowed me to get it. It's more a scheduling thing more than anything else. I'll work with Lone Star in the future and work for morning classes I guess. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed/concerned that there are in fact so few lit courses offered, compared to writing. Good grief -- there should be 3-4 Shakespeare seminars and others on Marlow, even Dryden (?), 20th century American novel, 20th century American drama, etc. Kessler -- never enjoy spending time with her. We met, she doesn't have anything for me yet so will contact me later. I always feel she's talking down to me.

I would hope that grading a paper, the mark and comments, would be some learning experience for the student, but I think that the majority of students pay no heed to these comments and don't even look at comments other than the grade. Believing that, I often feel that making comments is a waste of my time, and in fact only a way to cover my ass in case a student challenges the actual mark. On the other hand, there are some students who learn and want to improve their writing, or at least want to improve their grade. I think sometimes I grade, especially hard on the first papers to show students how ill-prepared for college their high schools have been for them. This isn't fair, nor is it productive. I do know tht I can be offended at student writing, and my comments can reflect that (though I hide this offense in academic jargon) -- sometimes offended at their ideas, but more likely offended at their lack of ideas. Is this intellectual snobbery (and if so, does it matter?). ...

"Though the scenarios Pink presents deal primarily with the business world, I wonder how adult (or late adolescent, in our case) learners could also respond to the same principles if we, as educators, trust them enough to give them autonomy in their learning, opportunities to master their work, and help them find purpose in freshman-level composition courses." Linked

A brief lesson plan for the third paper of the 1303 semester