Agenda, May 31

• Due Now: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," by Stephen L. Carter. Take good notes.
• Due Tomorrow: "A Modest Proposal." Take good newts.
• Due Friday: Final Draft of Final Paper 

Today's Agenda:

1. Can I? Should I? Do I have to?
2. Stats Urvey
3. "The Insufficiency of Honesty"
4. Some silly sentences

Agenda, May 30

• Due Now: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," by Stephen L. Carter. Take good notes.
• Due Now: Typed, completed rough draft for peer review. 
• Due Thursday: "A Modest Proposal." Take good newts.
• Due Friday: Final Draft of Final Paper 

Today's Agenda:

1. Are you interested in a social justice leadership program?
2. Peer Review
3. "The Insufficiency of Honesty"
4. Some silly sentences

Agenda, May 26

• Due Now: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," by Stephen L. Carter. Take good notes.
• Not Due Now: Optional Works Cited for feedback only. 
• Due Tuesday: Typed, completed rough draft for peer review. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Are you interested in a social justice leadership program?
2. Can I? Should I?
3. A visit from the counselors
4. "The Insufficiency of Honesty"
5. Some silly sentences

Agenda, May 25

• Due Now: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson. Do you remember how to take good notes?
• Due Tomorrow: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," by Stephen L. Carter. Take good notes.
• Coming tomorrow: A visit from the counselors
• Not Due Friday: Optional Works Cited for feedback only. 
• Due Tuesday: Typed, completed rough draft for peer review. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Can I? Should I?
2. Add an item to the scoring guide
3. Did you do the Speaking and Listening Self-Reflection?
4. "The Ways We Lie"
5. Some silly sentences

Agenda, May 24

• Due Now: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson. Do you remember how to take good notes?
• Due Now: American Essay Outline. Typed. Single spaced okay. If you need guidance on what your outline should look like, see me. 
• Due Tomorrow: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," by Stephen L. Carter
• Not Due Friday: Optional Works Cited for feedback only. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Another opportunity to promote equity at OCHS
2. Can I? Should I?
3. Add an item to the scoring guide
4. Speaking and Listening Self-Reflection
5. "The Ways We Lie"

Agenda, May 23

• Due Tomorrow: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson. Do you remember how to take good notes?
• Due Tomorrow: American Essay Outline. Typed. Single spaced okay. If you need guidance on what your outline should look like, see me. 
• Not Due Friday: Optional Works Cited for feedback only. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Another opportunity to promote equity at OCHS
2. Can I? Should I? (5 min max)
3. Library Time

Agenda, May 22

• Due Wednesday, 5/24: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson. Do you remember how to take good notes?
• Due Wednesday, 5/24: American Essay Outline. Typed. Single spaced okay. If you need guidance on what your outline should look like, see me. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Another opportunity to promote equity at OCHS
2. Can I? Should I? (5 min max)
3. Laptop Time

Agenda, May 19

• Do tonight and Saturday: Go see Miss Chudderly's Fairy Tales with a Twist. 
• Due Now: Optional revision of fight synthesis.
• Due Wednesday, 5/24: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson. Do you remember how to take good notes?
• Due Wednesday, 5/24: American Essay Outline. Typed. Single spaced okay. If you need guidance on what your outline should look like, see me. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Another opportunity to promote equity at OCHS
2. T-shirt proof
3. Can I? Should I? (5 min max)
4. Survey Says ...
5. Be smarter and more balanced: this is not a timed test

Agenda, May 18

• Do all week: Bring ear buds, if you've got 'em.
• Do Thursday, Friday, and Saturday: Go see Miss Chudderly's Fairy Tales with a Twist. 
• Due on or before May 19th: Optional revision of fight synthesis.
• Due Wednesday, 5/24: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson. Do you remember how to take good notes?
• Due Wednesday, 5/24: American Essay Outline. Typed. Single spaced okay. If you need guidance on what your outline should look like, see me. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Can I? Should I? (5 min max)
2. Survey Says ...
3. Be smarter and more balanced

Agenda, May 17

• Do all week: Bring ear buds, if you've got 'em.
• Do Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday: Go see Miss Chudderly's Fairy Tales with a Twist. 
• Due on or before May 19th: Optional revision of fight synthesis.
• Due Wednesday, 5/24: American Essay Outline. Typed. Single spaced okay. If you need guidance on what your outline should look like, see me. 

Today's Agenda:

1. Americans are all different ...
2. Can I? Should I? (5 min max)
3. Survey Says ...
4. Be smarter and more balanced

Agenda, May 16

• Do before May 17th: Click here to order your t-shirt. The link to the order form is in blue at the bottom of the page.
• Do all week: Bring ear buds, if you've got 'em.
• Do Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday: Go see Miss Chudderly's Fairy Tales with a Twist. 
• Due on or before May 19th: Optional revision of fight synthesis.

Today's Agenda:

1. Can I? Should I? (5 min max)
2. Have you seen this?
3. Be smarter and more balanced

Agenda, May 15

• Do before May 17th: Click here to order your t-shirt. The link to the order form is in blue at the bottom of the page.
• Due Monday: Bring ear buds, if you've got 'em.
• Do Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday: Go see Miss Chudderly's Fairy Tales with a Twist. 
• Due on or before May 19th: Optional revision of fight synthesis.

Today's Agenda:

1. How many sources do I need?
2. Can I? Should I? (5 min max)
3. Have you seen this?
4. Three useful essays
5. Be smarter and more balanced

How to Write a College Level Paper

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

(Or: What it Means to Write a “College Level Paper”)

1. I read first. I read all the assigned work for the class, even the boring pieces (except, I confess, for the single most boring piece). As I read, I looked for connections between essays, connections between the essays and my personal experience, and particularly for places that created “disequilibrium” – a disconnect between the writer’s point of view and the world as I understand it.

2. I took notes during the lectures. I took three types of notes: 1) content based notes; 2) ideas for my paper (both thesis ideas and supporting arguments); 3) curriculum ideas for my classroom. I identified ideas for my paper with an asterisk in the left hand margin.

3. I wrote an outline on Saturday, July 19^th. The outline identified four sections of my paper. Each outline section heading was a question. The bulk of my outline consisted of authors and page numbers where I could find textual support to answer the question.

4. I let the essay “cook” until Tuesday, July 22^nd. I thought about the essay, discussed my thesis with classmates, skimmed the class readings, and reviewed my lecture notes, but I did not compose.

5. I wrote one section of my paper each night from Tuesday through Friday. As part of the writing process, I turned the questions from my outline into thesis statements. Yes, my essay has four distinct thesis statements. The main thesis for my essay – the one that operates as an umbrella thesis for the others – first appears at the bottom of page two (not at the end of the first paragraph).

6. The writing process created new questions for me, so I turned to the internet for research. I did not use wikipedia, except to fact check one definition. Often, the websites Google provided were not helpful, but the pages contained links to other pages that met my needs. Ultimately, I found three resources that were both useful and credible: one of my sources was from Indiana State University (after I selected the resource, I googled the author to confirm that he was reliable), the Pew Research Center (a nationally recognized institute), and a government website.

7. Each night, before I began work on a new section, I reread my previous work. This helped with proofreading, maintaining continuity of voice, and creating smooth transitions.

8. On Saturday, I revised. I reread the paper from beginning to end. I fussed with my organization, particularly the transitions. I also created my Works Cited page; it took almost two hours.

9. On Sunday, I gave the essay to my wife to read (in school, this is called peer review). She’s also an English major and an excellent editor. She gave me feedback on diction and voice, audience awareness, grammar and punctuation, and a few logical lapses. She also gutted my conclusion.

10. On Monday, I made the easy revisions. I attempted to revise the conclusion, but it still needed more time to “cook.”

11. On Tuesday, I revised the conclusion. My wife reviewed the new conclusion, offered a few tweaks, and griped that I didn’t accept every single one of her suggestions.

12. Tuesday night, four weeks after I began my reading for this essay and ten days after I began the process of composing, I e-mailed my final draft to my instructor. I sent the essay as a Microsoft Word attachment AND pasted the essay into the body of the e-mail.

Agenda, May 12

• Do before May 17th: Click here to order your t-shirt. The link to the order form is in blue at the bottom of the page.
• Due Monday: Bring ear buds, if you've got 'em.
• Due on or before May 19th: Optional revision of fight synthesis.

Today's Agenda:

1. The bystander effect in action
2. The ceremonial returning of the portfolios
3. What does it mean to be an American?
4. Do y'all remember parallel structure?
5. Let's write cool sentences.

What Does it Mean to be an American?

Craft a research paper of 7-10+ pages that provides your personal answer to the question “What does it mean to be an American?” You may base your answer on your personal reading, research, and events in the news and in your own life. Feel free to scavenge from previous essays (remember, however, that this is a research paper. This paper needs to demonstrate the ability to conduct original, college level research). Classroom texts don’t count as research. 

You may consider other questions, such as what do Americans fear? What do we aspire to? What do we fight for? What American traits are universal? What traits are unique?

This paper requires parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page in MLA format.

Schedule: 
5/22: Laptop Day
5/23: Laptop Day 
5/24: Typed Outline Due
5/26: Not due: Works Cited page for feedback purposes only

5/30: Completed, typed first draft of essay due for Peer Review. Participation grade only.
6/2: Final draft of essay due. You will not be able to revise this essay.

Agenda, May 11

• Do before May 17th: Click here to order your t-shirt. The link to the order form is in blue at the bottom of the page.
• Due Monday: Bring ear buds, if you've got 'em.

Today's Agenda:

1. Congratulations! How'd it go?
2. Order your shirt right now
3. Remind me to talk about Humanities today

Agenda, May 9

• Do before May 17th: Click here to order your t-shirt. The link to the order form is in blue at the bottom of the page.
• Due now, in print or via e-mail: A plan for a Thursday party.

Today's Agenda:

1. Let's Review
2. Last minute reminders: two or three #2 pencils; three or four blue/black pens
3. Are you ready?
4. Remind me to talk about Humanities on Thursday

Period 5 Plans

Post what you're going to bring in the comments below. If you're allergic to anything, let us know.

Period 4 Plans

Post what you're going to bring in the comments below. If you're allergic to anything, let us know.

Agenda, May 8

• Do before May 17th: Click here to order your t-shirt. The link to the order form is in blue at the bottom of the page.
• Due Tomorrow, in print or via e-mail: A plan for a Thursday party.

Today's Agenda:

1. Let's Review
2. Are you ready?
3. A little rhetorical analysis practice
4. So, you wanna write faster?

Agenda, May 4

• Do before May 10th: Click here to order your t-shirt.

Today's Agenda:

1. Let's Review (Per 5 only)
2. Kline gives you what you need
3. A little rhetorical analysis practice
4. So, you wanna write faster?

Agenda, May 3

• Do before May 10th: Click here to order your t-shirt.

Today's Agenda:

1. Who's skipping tomorrow?
2. Let's Review
3. Although and However
4. A little rhetorical analysis practice
5. So, you wanna write faster?

Agenda, May 2

• Do before May 10th: Click here to order your t-shirt.

Today's Agenda:

1. Presentation Rescheduling
2. Who wants an extra two hours of school on Thursday?
3. Let's Review
4. Share your syllogism
5. So, you wanna write faster?

T-shirt order link

Hey! If you want a t-shirt, click here!