Gender Myths

As we approach the midpoint of the semester, we will begin discussing the myths of gender in America. Your next blog response will not be based on the readings, but a two part response based on your ideas on gender.

Part One (completed in class): Imagine for a moment that you were born female (if you're a man) or male (if you're a woman). How would your life be different? Would any of your interests and activities change? How about your relationships with your other people?

Part Two (completed outside of class): Post your in-class writing from part one and analyze why you feel this way. Why would your life be different or the same? What has society taught you is appropriate for each gender role?

These posts are due by 5 pm on Friday, February 25th.

What's a Critical Response?

As I mentioned before this semester my students have to blog critical responses every other week to the readings from our text, ReReading America. Their first response covered readings on Proposition 8 and the myth of marriage in America. They also were allowed to write a response to President Obama's speech, "A More Perfect Union," that we watched in class the second week. While grading the responses it became clear that due to my vague assignment sheet and some people's lack of listening skills during class that most people weren't sure what I meant by a "critical" response. Everyone did a great job summarizing and giving a personal opinionated response to the readings, but very few people actually engaged critically with the material.

So, what am I expecting from a critical response? Simply put I'm expecting you to use the components of either the rhetorical situation or Aristotle's rhetorical triangle to critique the subject matter. Don't just tell me that the essay was really good and changed your opinion on something tell me HOW it changed your beliefs. Was it the author's ethos? Or maybe the reading was boring and you don't feel it belongs in an 1102 class. Why not? What kind of audience should this reading be geared towards? Yes I said that the minimum should be 200 words, but that does not mean you should stop when you get to the 200 word mark if you have not critiqued the reading thoroughly.

Out of both classes only one person received a perfect score on the first reading response. Take a look to find out why: "A More Perfect Union"

So, what do you want again???

After grading the first reading responses, receiving several emails, and a long talk with the students in one of my classes, it seems that I'm not doing a good job of accurately explaining the goals of the assignments. A few people expressed concerns about the assignments being rather vague, and that is slightly intentional on my part. My goal as an instructor is to teach my students "how" to write... not "what" to write. A lot of times the questions people have about the assignments are more in like with the "what" and not the "how."

What do I mean by "how" and "what"? Say a student sends me a rough draft of an essay and they ask me how they can work on their organization. I will look over their essay and point out the places where they are switching topics or where ideas are misplaced. I usually encourage them to try writing an outline of how they think their paper should flow and then compare it to what they've written. Alternatively, if a student sends me an email and says they're having trouble coming up with an argument on the issue of same sex marriage, and asks me my personal thoughts I will respond with a question that helps them come up with their own ideas. So, when you as the student feel that I'm being vague in class what I'm really doing is forcing you to think for yourself. I'm here to give you the tools to write a great paper, but I will not tell you what to write.

A few people asked me if I would use this blog to write responses to the readings as well, and I don't think that's a good idea. If I write a response to the readings, everyone will try to mimick my response style and that's not my goal as your instructor. College is about learning to come up with your own ideas and back them up. Stop worrying about writing what I want to read, and work on writing what you think, but how I ask for it to be done.

"House-Keeping"

Hello world,

This week's post will just be a few housekeeping (ie announcements) issues:

• Tuesday's class will be an out of class writing day. Please use the time wisely (actually writing your essay).
• I emailed everyone a revised course schedule, so make sure you look out for it and pay close attention to what's changed.
  
• I will grade your first reading responses this weekend and let you know the grade during Thursday's class... don't worry I won't post your grade if I leave a comment on the post.
  
• Essay #1 is due next Friday (11th) by 5 pm. Remember to save the file (not the email subject line) as LastNameFirstInitial-E1 (ex. TillmanD-E1). If you don't save it properly I will take off 10%. All essays must be emailed to engdltessays@gmail.com
  

Here are a few helpful resources for your essays:
Tying the Knot
Rogerian Argument source
Rogerian Argument source 2

Happy Writing!!!