Announcing New Links

Hey all,

If you've forgotten about things like quotation sandwiches and our CATW essay format, refer to the links on the side.  There are new links to your old class handouts.

Literature: Reginald McKnight "The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas"

This is a nice coming of age story that is actually part of the pool of CUNY Start curriculum stories, but one we did not do in class.  You get to enjoy it now.

Reginald McKnight- The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas

Remember to use as you read your Vocabulary Study Tracker

After reading and annotating twice, answer the following questions:

1.     Choose three events in the story that you consider to be important.  Briefly summarize each event (and provide the page number where it can be located) and then discuss why you have selected it.  In what way does the event reveal significant aspects of a character or characters.

2.     How would you describe Clint’s relationships with the two other African American children in his class?  What parts of the text support your ideas?  Use two quotation sandwiches.

3.     How would you describe Clint’s relationships with most of his white classmates?  What parts of the text support your ideas?  Use two quotation sandwiches.

4.     Why do you think Ah-So didn’t speak in class?  What parts of the text support your ideas.  Use two quotation sandwiches.

5.     How would you would describe Clint as a person?  What evidence from the story supports your use of these adjectivs.  Use at least two quotation sandwiches.

Essay Writing: Beyond "Says"

Sometimes articles are just plain informational, but sometimes the author has a strong opinion they're trying to advance.  When summarizing these articles, we want to move beyond writing "the article/the author says."  We should use opinion words: supports, advocates, endorses, criticizes, opposes, rejects, is a supporter of, is an opponent of.

Create a chart of verbs you can use when the article is for something, against something, or has no opinion.

The article ________________

FOR             AGAINST  NO OPINION

1. 2. 3. 4.

1. 2. 3. 4.

1. 2. 3. 4.

Read the following article and write a summary using opinion words.

The Dangers of Reality TV

Reality television reinforces several unsound messages that are molding the minds of its young fans. Among the dangerous messages that reality TV sends out are the importance of competition, the value of image over ability, and the obsolescence of education.
Reality television promotes the old belief that competition is the key to success in a capitalist economy. Whether it’s Survivor awarding winners a million dollars or Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire awarding a husband, reality tv shows reinforce the idea that life is nothing but a competition that we continually engage in with each other. In fact, big business abhors competition. There isn’t a business in America that doesn’t want to become a monopoly serving the needs of 100% of consumers. This is why almost every industry in the United States is shrinking due to mergers and acquisitions.

Reality television also sends the message that the key to success is image rather than ability. On many of these shows a contestant who is often considered the most qualified often loses out to another contestant who presents a hipper image. Whether it is a singer on American Idol who has a better voice but is less attractively “packaged” or someone on The Apprentice who is far more competent at what they do but lacks “personality,” the message is that image is more important than substance. Of course, in the world of television, the message is true. After all, who would tune-in week after week to watch a boring yet infinitely qualified-to-win contestant over a contestant who consistently entertains and surprises?

Probably the single most dangerous message these shows send is that education is completely unnecessary to fulfill the American dream. One need only possess the ability to humiliate oneself on national television, or have absolutely no shame whatsoever, and make more money than many college graduates. Why go to school and face the difficulties of learning something when you can just get on Fear Factor, eat bugs, and walk away with a bucket of money?

By categorizing these shows as “reality,” the makers are insidiously suggesting that they are replicating society. In fact, they aren’t replicating society as it is, but rather as those in power want people to believe it is. And if you have to ask why those in power wouldn’t want you to become educated…well…hey, I think Who Wants to Marry an Idol Survivor who Danced with a Skating Celebrity Named Gotti is on.

Adapted from article by Timothy Sexton. Originally posted on Buzzle.com.

Grammar: Sentence Completion

We remember what makes a complete sentence, right?

1. It begins with a capital letter.
2. It has a subject.
3. It has a verb.
4. It expresses a complete thought.
5. It ends with a period.

If you have more than one subject-verb pairing in the sentence, you have more than one sentence in the sentence.  That's generally fine so long as they are properly combined.

To combine two sentences, you need a comma (,) and a conjunction (and/but/or/yet/so/for/nor).

Two sentences also go into one if one of the two has a dependent word.  The dependent word makes the sentence NEED another sentence to complete it.  Some examples of dependent words are:

Dependent Words

after                         if                                  since                           where        although                  even if                         that                             whether          as long as                  even though               though                        as soon as      because                     in case                        unless                         while before                       just as                         until                            whenever once                       now that                     when                           wherever

So with this quick review, let's try some practice.

Identify is the sentence below is a complete sentence.  Write S if it is, RO if it is a run-on, and F if it is a fragment.  Bonus: Fix the run-ons and fragments.

_____ l. More powerful than a locomotive.

_____ 2. When it's your turn.

_____ 3. The firefighter yelled down the well.

_____ 4. That referee.

_____ 5. The spider fell down the back of his shirt, he screamed.

_____ 6. If you like blueberry pancakes.

_____ 7. Who is standing on the desk?

_____ 8. The man who is standing on the desk is a great teacher, all the students love him.

_____ 9. Under the boardwalk, down by the sea.

_____ 10. My big brother likes motorcycles, my little brother likes lollipops.

_____ 11. The man who came to dinner.

_____ 12. Whispered sweet nothings.

_____ 13. Mother's Day and Halloween.

_____ 14. You are my favorite person.

_____ 15. I don't know the smallest planet, I know the largest.

_____ 16. Sweet Georgia Brown.

_____ 17. The man down on his luck tripped over the pot of gold.

_____ 18. Bandits steal on land, pirates steal at sea.

_____ 19. Before you go.

_____ 20. Destroyed the kitchen.

Essay Writing: Beyond Good and Bad

Often in our writing, when we support something, we will say that it's good and when we disagree with something we will say that it is bad.  The thing is that good and bad don't really tell us anything.

For example,

I ask how you day was.  You say is was "good," or you say it was "bad."

I ask how that movie you watched the other week was.  You say it was "good" or you say it was "bad."

I ask you what you think about sterilizing those convicted on drug charges in exchange for a shorter sentence and you say it would be "good," or you say it would be "bad."

We can use the same words, but are your day, the movie, and the sterilization of drug addicts anything alike?  We need words that are going to be more specific that are going to communicate more what you have to say about the particular issue at hand.

So when we see the words good or bad in our writing, we want to try to replace them with something more communicative.  To do this, we need to ask ourselves, why was it good, or why was it bad?

If I write that my day was good, I ask, why was it good?  Because I didn't have a lot to do so I got to relax a bit.  Now I can say, my day was relaxing.  If I want to write that the movie was bad, I ask, why was it bad?  The acting was terrible and the plot was predictable.  So now I can write that the movie was predictable and poorly-acted.

So here's some writing practice:


Exercise
Directions: Take this paragraph on the article "How to Do One Thing at a Time."  Rewrite the body paragraph replacing the words "good" and "bad" with more specific language.  You may have to use more than one word.  You may even have to use a whole sentence.  The idea is to explain more specifically what the author is trying to describe about multi-tasking.

To begin with, multi-tasking is bad for us.  The article said that “when we attempt demanding tasks simultaneously, we end up neither as well as we should because our brains have cognitive limits.” In other words, when we try doing a lot of things at once, we don’t do a good job at any of them because we don’t have the brain power.  I can certainly relate to this because I multi-task a lot, and when I really think about it, I don’t know why.  Multi-tasking never really works out for me.  One time, I was trying to study for my history exam while watching TV.  They were giving this really interesting episode of Law and Order.  The episode was so good that I didn’t realize I wasn’t really paying attention to my history notes.  As a result, I got a bad grade on the test the next day.  Just like the article said, the brain cannot handle two things at the same time. I tried to study and watch TV at the same time, and I got a bad result.  It’s better to focus on what’s really important like your history exam.

Free-write: Octavio Paz's The Labyrinth of Solitude

En cada hombre late la posibilidad de ser o, más exactamente, de volver a ser otro hombre.

 translation

In every man there is the possibility of his being--or, to be more exact, of his becoming once again--another man.

What does this mean?  We were other people before?  How so?  Reflect on this in a five-minute free-write.

Free-write: Flannery O'Connor

One of my favorite authors Flannery O'Connor wrote in a letter once,

We are a generation of wingless chickens...

What do you suppose she meant by that?  Reflect on it in a free-write for five minutes.

Grammar: Identifying Subjects and Verbs

Basics about Subjects

• Every sentence must have a subject.
• The subject of a sentence is “who” or “what” does the action.
• The subject is always a noun (person, place, thing or idea).
• To find the subject in a sentence, ask yourself: Who or what is doing the action in this sentence?

Gloria writes the answers on the board.

In this sentence, who is doing the action? Gloria is the subject because is doing the action.

The subject could also be a pronoun, such as, she, he, I, we.

She writes the answers on the board.

PRACTICE: Circle the subject in the following sentences:

1. The people applauded.
2. This book inspires me.
3. At noon my journey began.
4. My aunt Judy was a math teacher.
5. He knows how to fly a plane.
6. This semester, I’m working hard.
7. In case of fire, you should run to the nearest exit.
8. This thing is broken.
9. Where are my keys?
10. The door won’t open.

Basics about Verbs

• Every sentence must have a verb.
• Verbs express the action of the sentence.  
• Verbs say what the subject is doing.
• To find the verb in a sentence, ask yourself: What is the subject doing in this sentence? What is the main action of this sentence?

Gloria writes the answers on the board.

What is the subject doing in this sentence?

The subject is Gloria. What is she doing? Writing.
“Writes” is the verb in this sentence.

What is the main action in the sentence?

The main action is “writes.”
“Writes” is the verb in this sentence.

High Action Verbs

Some verbs have a lot of action, like jump, shout, catch, write, climb.  Add a few more HIGH ACTION VERBS:

Low Action Verbs

Some verbs do not show a lot of action, like is, are, were, has, have, had, believe, think. Add a few more LOW-ACTION VERBS:

PRACTICE: Turn to the Practice on the previous page.

You have already identified the subject.

Draw two lines under the verbs in each sentence.

Identifying Subjects and Verbs

PRACTICE: Circle the subject and draw two lines under the verbs in these sentences:

1. My aunt Judy was a math teacher.
2. I have a piece of gum in my pocket.
3. In the trunk of their car, they had a suitcase full of money.
4. In the summer, she’s always at the beach.
5. The article reports an increasing rate of citizens who vote in the national elections.
   
6. She looked like she had been up all night.
7. Puppies will chew anything: old shoes, dirty socks, glossy magazines.
8. During my sister’s graduation, we all sat outside in the miserable heat.
9. On my birthday, my boss and co-workers made a point of being nice.
10. During the civil war, women disguised themselves as men and went to battle.        
11. The laces on these shoes never stay tied.
12. Exercise reduces stress.
13. At night, my cat sleeps under my bed.
14. Hoping to find a good restaurant, we walked in circles for hours.
15. In the article, the author states that laughing is good for our health.
16. Many people believe they are leaders, not followers.