Are you ready for a great semester of writing?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
ENC 1101 Wallwisher by SBS
ENC 1101 Wallwisher by SBS
This link will take you to Wallwisher which is a sticky post notice board that can be used in a variety of educational ways.
I am planning to use this board in my composition classroom throughout the school year for students to post feedback, questions, notes, short summaries, etc.
This link will take you to Wallwisher which is a sticky post notice board that can be used in a variety of educational ways.
I am planning to use this board in my composition classroom throughout the school year for students to post feedback, questions, notes, short summaries, etc.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Hendry-Glades Mini-Summer Writing Institute
Here is a photo story of the NWP Florida Gulf Coast University Hendry-Glades Mini Summer Writing Institute held in June at LaBelle Middle School.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Week 14: Day One
We did a review for the final test today in class. Students each took a chapter and wrote a series of questions around that chapter. We had some time at the end of class to do a competition pitting one side of the room against the other answering the questions.
I went over the top visual argument papers which I will post here for your review. The visual argument was accompanied by a letter to the instructor in which the student had to evaluate the visual argument that was made. The questions the students were to address were the following:
Erica's Bystander Effect PowerPoint
Here is Carly's PowerPoint on Ritalin
Check out Mckenzee's PowerPoint
Last but not least is Rolando's PowerPoint on Carbon Credits
I went over the top visual argument papers which I will post here for your review. The visual argument was accompanied by a letter to the instructor in which the student had to evaluate the visual argument that was made. The questions the students were to address were the following:
Erica's Bystander Effect PowerPoint
Erica b's paper 3 visual argument
View more presentations from BolducSimpson.
Here is Carly's PowerPoint on Ritalin
Carly hamilton s_paper_3_visual_argument
View more presentations from BolducSimpson.
Check out Mckenzee's PowerPoint
Revised mckenzee stephens paper_3_final
View more presentations from BolducSimpson.
Last but not least is Rolando's PowerPoint on Carbon Credits
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Week 13 Day Two
Today's online class assignment was a blog post....the last one. I chose to assign the Gordon Parks essay called Flavio's Home. It is one of my favorite pieces in The Longman Reader. Gordon Parks was not only a journalist, but a photographer as well. I found a picture of Flavio on the internet. Here it is.
Here are the directions to the post. The students had to respond to two questions.
This is a photo taken by Gordon Parks of Flavio. This picture says it all. In two paragraphs summarize the essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home and then write a personal response to the essay.
2. The problem of poverty has provoked a wide array of proposed solutions. One controversial proposal argues that the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control. Argue for or against this proposal, state at least two reasons with supporting evidence. Be sure and cite any sources you use.
There were many excellent response to the post. Below is Valerie's post.
In my opinion, poverty is probably the saddest thing in the world. It breaks my heart to hear about a family like Flavio's with barely any food and with sick siblings. Sometimes I wish I could save them all at the same time, but it is very hard. People do not realize what they take for granted. People think they need new clothes every week, new shoes, their nails and hair done, and etc. But they do not realize that there are people out there who need food and shelter to survive. I wish people all around the world could help end poverty so that there would be less families like Flavio's.
2. I understand that the problem of poverty has provoked a wide array of proposed solutions and that one controversial proposal argues that the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control, but I disagree with this solution. I do not think it is right that women are not allowed to have as many kids as they want. It is their body, and they should be able to do whatever they want with it. I read in an article that "The Women's Health & Justice Initiative and the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic condemn Representative John LaBruzzo's recent legislative plans to pay poor women to get sterilized and reward rich, educated people to have children. The sterilization policy currently being advocated by Representative LaBruzzo is a blatant form of reproductive violence and population control policies of blame and disenfranchisement, rooted in this country's long and continual history of eugenics." How can people do this to humanity? These people seem like people who would be for abortion. This is very wrong.
"A Feminist Response to LaBruzzo's Sterilization Plan
A Katrina Reader." Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Home Page. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .
This is a photo taken by Gordon Parks of Flavio. This picture says it all. In two paragraphs summarize the essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home and then write a personal response to the essay.
2. The problem of poverty has provoked a wide array of proposed solutions. One controversial proposal argues that the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control. Argue for or against this proposal, state at least two reasons with supporting evidence. Be sure and cite any sources you use.
There were many excellent response to the post. Below is Valerie's post.
"Creating Hope and Opportunity in Haiti for Extremely Poor Women and Their Families." BRAC Blog. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .
1. The essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home is about him visiting a favela in Brazil named Catacumba and meets a 12 year old boy named Flavio de Silva who changes his life. Parks visits this favela to interview a father with a family who is in poverty. They interviewed what he is going through and his beliefs on his situation. During their time there, they meet the 12 year old boy, Flavio, and they had a feeling that this boy would have a better story than any other father, because his legs were like sticks that were just screwed into his ankles. Parks and his partner visited Flavio's family and realized that Flavio's health was really bad. They took him to the clinic to try to get a doctor to help him but Flavio had sypmtoms of bronchial asthma, malnutrition and tuberculosis, which didn't give him much longer to live.In my opinion, poverty is probably the saddest thing in the world. It breaks my heart to hear about a family like Flavio's with barely any food and with sick siblings. Sometimes I wish I could save them all at the same time, but it is very hard. People do not realize what they take for granted. People think they need new clothes every week, new shoes, their nails and hair done, and etc. But they do not realize that there are people out there who need food and shelter to survive. I wish people all around the world could help end poverty so that there would be less families like Flavio's.
2. I understand that the problem of poverty has provoked a wide array of proposed solutions and that one controversial proposal argues that the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control, but I disagree with this solution. I do not think it is right that women are not allowed to have as many kids as they want. It is their body, and they should be able to do whatever they want with it. I read in an article that "The Women's Health & Justice Initiative and the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic condemn Representative John LaBruzzo's recent legislative plans to pay poor women to get sterilized and reward rich, educated people to have children. The sterilization policy currently being advocated by Representative LaBruzzo is a blatant form of reproductive violence and population control policies of blame and disenfranchisement, rooted in this country's long and continual history of eugenics." How can people do this to humanity? These people seem like people who would be for abortion. This is very wrong.
"A Feminist Response to LaBruzzo's Sterilization Plan
A Katrina Reader." Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Home Page. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Week 13 Day One
Today's lesson was based on an essay by Star Parker called Se Habla Entitlement. This essay focuses on the claim that illegal immigrants have no rights or entitlements in the United States, and they are a strain on U.S. society.
This author's rhetorical stance is in sharp contrast to Roberto Rodriguez's essay The Border on Our Backs. Rodriguez claims that illegal immigrants should no longer accept the second-rate status they have been allotted in the United States.
Here is a YouTube video that had 3 million hits. You will see why it is so good.
Both essays were opinion pieces targeted for a sympathic audience. I had as an activity to do a debate on a slightly different proposition:
Should America maintain/increase the level of legal immigration?
The class was divided up into pairs with each pair given a pro or con reason. I got the argument from a great site called Balanced Politics. It can be found at http://www.balancedpolitics.org/
From that site, the Pro and Con Arguments were as follows:
PRO
1. Some of the most intelligent and ambitious individuals, who are unsatisfied with their own countries bring skills to America.
2. It increases the diversity and expands the culture of the country.
3. immigrants often take the low-paying jobs( like food service and hotel cleaning) that most Americans don't want to do at such low wages.
4. Decreasing or eliminating legal immigration will inevitably create more incentive to come to the country illegally, which leads to less assimilation and fewer taxpaying, law abiding citizens.
5. It improves the overall image of America internationally, as it is seen as an open, welcoming country; and immigrants who return home or maintain contact with family back home have a true image of America, not the one propagandized in much of the international media.
6. Adding an additional group of cheap labor adds to the flexibility of business, leading to cheaper prices, better quality products, and higher profits.
7. It gives struggling people all over the world an opportunity for a better life. This country was built on immigrants who sought opportunity, political and religious freedom.
CONS
1. More immigrants means more opportunity for terrorists, drug dealers, and other criminals to enter the country.
2. Immigrants, especially the poorer ones, consume a high amount of government resources (health care, education, welfare, etc.) without paying a corresponding high rate of taxes.
3. The national identity and language is disappearing. The great "melting pot" is being replaced by divisive multi-culturalism.
4. The emigration to the United States hurts the home country, as much of the male population, workers, and top intellectuals often leave their country.
5. Less skilled citizens earn less money and have fewer job opportunities because they must compete with immigrants in the job market.
Alex and Tim provided excellent evidence to back up their pro argument related to business.
Ryan and Rikki provided examples of citizens being forced to take low paying jobs by providing examples of Disney and the cruise ship industry but failed to go into detail. I had heard that Disney was a great company to work for in terms of benefits. I would have liked information on the salary ranges.
Brittany and James provided lots of stats using the Pew Research Center survey.
Rolando and Kasie also provided lots of stats on the con side of the argument.
Carly and Valeria actually found the balancedpolitics.org site and copied the information related to their pro argument. I was hoping the students wouldn't find the site because the site goes into detail on each of the reasons.
Okay, so this perfectly planned lesson that I imagined would ignite the masses to engage in a fiery debate fizzled. I know why.....I was micromanaging the whole thing by critiquing each person's evidence in the attempt to teach how evidence should be collected and presented.
The next time I do this kind of thing, the students will have a presentation of how evidence should be linked to reasons in a claim. I put the cart before the horse. Therefore, the whole activity became a chore. I didn't allow the cons to say anything. What I should have done was to have one pro present, followed by a rebuttal and then a con, then a rebuttal, a pro, etc.
The students were trying to engage in the debate and I held them off.
I think the activity is a good one. The procedure needs work. In the process, I found that great balanced politics website. I noticed that lots of students wrote down the link, so that was good for any students writing in other classes.
Two more weeks of classes. I think everyone is tired. Alas...always pidgeons in the grass.
This author's rhetorical stance is in sharp contrast to Roberto Rodriguez's essay The Border on Our Backs. Rodriguez claims that illegal immigrants should no longer accept the second-rate status they have been allotted in the United States.
Here is a YouTube video that had 3 million hits. You will see why it is so good.
Both essays were opinion pieces targeted for a sympathic audience. I had as an activity to do a debate on a slightly different proposition:
Should America maintain/increase the level of legal immigration?
The class was divided up into pairs with each pair given a pro or con reason. I got the argument from a great site called Balanced Politics. It can be found at http://www.balancedpolitics.org/
From that site, the Pro and Con Arguments were as follows:
PRO
1. Some of the most intelligent and ambitious individuals, who are unsatisfied with their own countries bring skills to America.
2. It increases the diversity and expands the culture of the country.
3. immigrants often take the low-paying jobs( like food service and hotel cleaning) that most Americans don't want to do at such low wages.
4. Decreasing or eliminating legal immigration will inevitably create more incentive to come to the country illegally, which leads to less assimilation and fewer taxpaying, law abiding citizens.
5. It improves the overall image of America internationally, as it is seen as an open, welcoming country; and immigrants who return home or maintain contact with family back home have a true image of America, not the one propagandized in much of the international media.
6. Adding an additional group of cheap labor adds to the flexibility of business, leading to cheaper prices, better quality products, and higher profits.
7. It gives struggling people all over the world an opportunity for a better life. This country was built on immigrants who sought opportunity, political and religious freedom.
CONS
1. More immigrants means more opportunity for terrorists, drug dealers, and other criminals to enter the country.
2. Immigrants, especially the poorer ones, consume a high amount of government resources (health care, education, welfare, etc.) without paying a corresponding high rate of taxes.
3. The national identity and language is disappearing. The great "melting pot" is being replaced by divisive multi-culturalism.
4. The emigration to the United States hurts the home country, as much of the male population, workers, and top intellectuals often leave their country.
5. Less skilled citizens earn less money and have fewer job opportunities because they must compete with immigrants in the job market.
Alex and Tim provided excellent evidence to back up their pro argument related to business.
Ryan and Rikki provided examples of citizens being forced to take low paying jobs by providing examples of Disney and the cruise ship industry but failed to go into detail. I had heard that Disney was a great company to work for in terms of benefits. I would have liked information on the salary ranges.
Brittany and James provided lots of stats using the Pew Research Center survey.
Rolando and Kasie also provided lots of stats on the con side of the argument.
Carly and Valeria actually found the balancedpolitics.org site and copied the information related to their pro argument. I was hoping the students wouldn't find the site because the site goes into detail on each of the reasons.
Okay, so this perfectly planned lesson that I imagined would ignite the masses to engage in a fiery debate fizzled. I know why.....I was micromanaging the whole thing by critiquing each person's evidence in the attempt to teach how evidence should be collected and presented.
The next time I do this kind of thing, the students will have a presentation of how evidence should be linked to reasons in a claim. I put the cart before the horse. Therefore, the whole activity became a chore. I didn't allow the cons to say anything. What I should have done was to have one pro present, followed by a rebuttal and then a con, then a rebuttal, a pro, etc.
The students were trying to engage in the debate and I held them off.
I think the activity is a good one. The procedure needs work. In the process, I found that great balanced politics website. I noticed that lots of students wrote down the link, so that was good for any students writing in other classes.
Two more weeks of classes. I think everyone is tired. Alas...always pidgeons in the grass.
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