ENG 090 Last Class on May 7 and 8

Don't forget that you need to turn in two copies of your narrative essay: one in MLA format and the other without the identifying information.

ENG 090 April 30

Section 006--We completed evaluations, looked at a sample narrative essay, and reviewed the narrative essay worksheets.

Section 004--We completed evaluations, looked at a sample narrative essay, and practiced writing dialogue.


Use the links at http://del.icio.us/eclark131/narrative to find more sample essays.

ENG 090 April 23 and 24

We reviewed process essay drafts. The final essays are due on April 25 and 26, depending on which class you're in.

ENG 090 April 18 and 19

First we looked at some sample process essays:

• "Kool-Aid, Oh Yeah"
• "Bath Time"
• "How To Prepare for a Final Exam" (page 206 in Evergreen)

Then we completed and reviewed the process essay worksheets and introductions.

Due April 23 and 24: Rough draft of process essay

ENG 090 April 16 and 17

We discussed the two types of process writing (instruction and explanation), practiced writing instructions, and worked on the Process Essay Worksheet. The completed worksheet is due next class.

ENG 090 April 9

We watched a video of "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. Then we wrote stories in class.

REMINDER: The final five-paragraph essay (along with all preliminary work) is due the last class this week.

ENG 090 April 4 and 5

We went over common copyediting marks and then practiced editing with the essay on 12 Angry Men.

ENG 090 April 2 and 3

In class we did peer reviews and instructor reviews of drafts of the five-paragraph essays. The final essays and all preliminary work and drafts will be due on April 11 or 12 depending on what section you're in.

ENG 090 March 21 and 22

We reviewed thesis statements for the five-paragraph essays and talked about parallelism. In groups, you wrote an introduction or conclusion to an essay about 12 Angry Men. Then individually, you completed the Five-Paragraph Essay Worksheet. (Click on the ENG 090 Files link to access the handouts.)

Due after Spring Break: First draft of essay

ENG 090 March 19 and 20

After freewriting and clustering on the topic for your first essay, we discussed thesis statements and looked at some sample essays.

ENG 090 March 14 and 15

At the beginning of class I discussed the first essay you'll be writing. Click on the ENG 090 Files link to the right to get the Five-Paragraph Essay handout.

Then I held individual conferences to go over current grades.

For next class: Select the topic for your first essay.

ENG 090 March 12 and 13

We reviewed pronoun agreement (Writing @ RRCC 475-77) and worked through an exercise (Pronoun Agreement Exercise 1). For more practice, go to Grammar Bytes.

In groups, the students wrote paragraphs about characters from 12 Angry Men who used logic and reason--rather than emotion--to make their decisions. Eventually, we'll use these paragraphs to create an essay.

Descriptive paragraphs were due. I'll accept them on Wednesday or Thursday without deducting points, but I won't accept them after that.

ENG 090 March 7 and 8

We watched the rest of 12 Angry Men and did peer reviews of the description paragraphs. Next week we'll be writing about the movie, so don't forget what you saw.

Also, next week, please bring Writing @ Red Rocks with you to class instead of Evergreen.

Due next Monday and Tuesday: Final descriptive paragraph with worksheet and draft(s)

ENG 090 March 5 and 6

Peer reviews of the descriptive paragraphs have been postponed to next class. We watched the first part of the movie 12 Angry Men as an introduction to critical thinking and, hopefully, a starting point for the first essay.

Next class, we'll finish watching the movie, discuss it, and conduct peer reviews of the paragraphs.

I've made some changes to the syllabus because we're behind schedule. I'm cancelling the group essay, which should put us back on track. In order to keep the total points for the class at 1000, I've distributed the 75 points for that essay as follows:

Comparison-contrast paragraph -- 50 + 10 = 60
Descriptive paragraph -- 50 + 15 = 65
Five-paragraph essay -- 125 + 25 = 150
Process essay -- 150 + 25 = 175

ENG 090 (all) Wednesday and Thursday

We discussed similes and metaphors and looked at two sample descriptive paragraphs. Then you had time to complete the descriptive paragraph worksheet and go over it with me.

Due next Monday and Tuesday: Drafts of descriptive paragraphs

ENG 090 Feb. 26 and 27

I collected the comparison-contrast essays. (I'll accept them on Wed., Feb. 28, and Thurs., Mar. 1, without counting them late, but I won't take them at all after that.) We went over Practice 7 on pages 458 and 459. I then handed out instructions for the description paragraph, and we looked at the example on pages 84-86 in Evergreen. The in-class writing exercise including planning and writing a paragraph describing a picture I provided.

For next class: Decide on the topic for your descriptive paragraph.

ENG 090 (all) Wednesday and Thursday

In class you practiced writing descriptions, and we reviewed how commas are used (Chapter 35 in Evergreen).

Due Next Class: Final comparison-contrast paragraph along with worksheet and draft(s) and Review 7 (will not be collected) on pages 458-59 in Evergreen (due Feb. 26 for sections 006 and 004 and due Feb. 27 for section 003)

ENG 090 (all) Monday and Tuesday

In my Monday classes, we discussed active- and passive-voice sentences. In all three classes, you peer reviewed drafts of the comparison-contrast paragraphs and met with me to go over your graded initial paragraph.

The first class of next week, the final draft (and the worksheet and earlier drafts) of your comparison-contrast paragraphs are due. The final drafts must be done on the computer in MLA format.

ENG 090-003 Day 10

We decided to wait and do peer reviews on the comparison-contrast paragraphs next Tuesday. The final versions (along with all preliminary work and drafts) are due on Thursday.

After spending a few minutes talking about RSS feeds, tags, and social bookmarking, we went over active- and passive-voice sentences and sentences beginning with "there are" and similar phrases. We also looked at some commonly confused words:

• accept/except
• affect/effect
• its/it’s
• knew/new
• through/threw
• their/there/they’re
• then/than
• weather/whether
• who/whom

ENG 090-004 and -006 Day 9

After I collected your initial paragraphs, we talked some more about comparison-contrast paragraphs and looked at examples at the beginning of Chapter 10 in Evergreen. We also talked about possible plans for this type of paragraph.

Most of class time was dedicated to completing the worksheet for the comparison-contrast essay, writing a preliminary topic sentence, and developing a plan for it. As each student finished, I reviewed what he or she had done.

Monday: The draft of your comparison-contrast paragraph is due.