English 101 Week 10 Analysis Reflection Agenda Grammar

English 101 Week 10: Analysis & Reflection

Agenda Grammar: Dangling modifiers The personal essay, continued – what examples have you read? What do you recommend? * Listening Workshop Announcements Homework: Essay due Wednesday

Best dangling modifiers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Oozing slowly across the floor, Marvin watched the salad dressing. Waiting for the Moonpie, the candy machine began to hum loudly. Coming out of the market, the bananas fell on the pavement. She handed out brownies to the children stored in tupperware. I smelled the oysters coming down the stairs for dinner. Mrs. Daniel sews evening gowns just for special customers with sequins stitched on them. She carefully studied the Picasso hanging in the art gallery with her friend. Having an automatic stick shift, Nancy bought the car. Freshly painted, Jim left the room to dry. He held the umbrella over Janet’s head that he got from Delta Airlines. He wore a straw hat on his head, which was obviously too small. After drinking too much, the toilet kept moving.

Grammar: Dangling modifiers Although initially relieved to be “safe” and out of any imminent danger, the story show that the physical wounds aren’t the only things the soldiers will have to recover from. Screaming like she’d seen a ghost, the bartender had to make my sister sit down and take deep breaths until she could tell us what had happened. When searching for figs one day, a well dressed man with dark hair and eyes approached him, asking if he’d like to earn a silver penny. While in the hole, the story confirms it is like a cave of treasures. Swimming out into the sea, the current grew stronger. While at the park, the sun shone brightly on the sunbathers. The experiment was a failure, not having studied the lab manual carefully.

A word on dialog She said I’m going to kill you and shot me. Where are you going? Why should I tell you? Do you always have to answer a question with a question? he replied. Why not?

One more great example http: //themoth. org/stories (Hari Kondabolu’s story) but they are all good.

Essay rubric Focus: There is a title, you set the scene clearly and vividly, your story has a point, and your story includes reflection. Support: You use details and descriptions that are engaging, nothing is confusing or unexplained. The reader understands why this story is important to you. You start vividly and end with a bang. Organization: You have topic sentences for each paragraph, the details come in the right order. Nothing is confusing. Mechanics: You use correct punctuation for all the areas we have covered in class. No dangling modifiers or confusion between affect and effect. Spelling has been checked. No sentence fragments.

What’s required for a meaningful personal essay? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Is the scene set clearly in the beginning? Does the author tell a good story? If anything is confusing, underline it. Is there a clear point or moral? Circle it. Draw an arrow next to any reflection and selfawareness you find. Does the story add up? Is there enough development to “earn” the ending? Do you have any other comments or suggestions? Give an overall grade and sign your name!

Homework The final draft of your essay is due BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON WEDNESDAY. Remember that submissions will close Friday night.

Monday announcements New participation policy/scoring ü ü Extra credit ü ü Participation is now 5% of your grade To get the points for the day, you must be in class by 12 Texting or Facebooking in class will lose you those points Not speaking with your group will lose you those points Peer feedback for absent students. Assigning it hasn’t worked, so now it’s volunteer-based, for extra credit. Keep your eyes peeled for gross grammar! Please read the feedback I give you – especially on your essays. I write it to help you get better. If you have questions, let’s meet.

Wednesday agenda Free write: Summer Grammar review Final tweaks to your essay: A word about pain Reflection Bringing words to life Announcements: Final exam, participation grade, returning feedback

Free write Summer

Grammar review 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Jumping over the fence, my ankle got sprained. With her last breath, the doctor closed her patient’s eyes. I had always wanted to sail – and I tend to get very demanding around my birthday – so when Jordan sailed without me, I thought, “Thats it. We’re no longer friend’s. I love ice cream, especially espresso flavored. I love ice cream; and I love pudding, too. Comma splices aren’t hard too find, their everywhere. Grunting like a bear, I strained and strained until I was finally able to get the lid off the barrel of ice cream.

Pain in nonfiction What is a good story without pain? It’s boring – that’s what! Think about all the great stories in the world: go on. * To make it even more difficult, what readers usually want is to get all the suffering in an understated way. They want you to be heroic. What this means is that the more you can describe sadness or suffering as a dispassionate observer, the more effective it will be in your story.

Review of Road Song An accident begins this book--a savage attack by sleddogs on a little girl walking home from school in Alaska. But Kusz doesn't stop with that appalling event, though a lesser writer might have made it the entirety of a sensational text. Instead, Kusz explores how her family survived tragedy and the years of hardship and pain that followed. Survived--not in the sense of simply enduring, but forging stronger family bonds out of these apparently unendurable trials. Kusz's writing is almost painfully sensuous but never overblown. This is an unforgettable book. http: //www. amazon. com/Road-Song-Natalie-Kusz/dp/0374528276

Showing, not telling Take out your draft. Find a paragraph in which you are telling the reader what happened instead of showing it. Think about one scene or discussion or interior dialog that could bring that section to life. Make it so!

Reflection When you write creative nonfiction, the MOST IMPORTANT part, the part that makes it literary and valuable, the part that makes the reader connect to your experience in meaningful ways is reflection.

What is reflection? Reflection shows that you have the ability to understand (and maybe learn something from) your experiences. The action in your story is there not to entertain but to provide a framework that illuminates what you learned.

How to reflect on the page Treat your story self as a fictional character. Try to separate then-you from the now-you. Give a sense of your interior dialog or mental/emotional state – both then and now. Rather than describing your actions, explain why you chose them. Try to give the reader a clear sense of who you were then: your hopes or fears, dreams, motivations, etc – as it relates to your story. Be very in-the-moment: Don’t try to describe your whole life, just what we need to know to understand why this story is important.

Homework Take the information we’ve discussed this week and the sample readings and try to write one more revision before you submit it tonight. I look forward to reading these! Make sure I have paper drafts of the persuasive (if you’ve not turned them in yet), the short story analysis, and the personal essay with feedback from your peers by Monday, June 15, or you will receive an Incomplete for the term.

Announcements Final exam: Thursday, June 18 10: 30 -12: 30 We will review Monday. No class Wednesday but I will be here in my office (4 th floor, 4124) if you have questions. Participation grade: Will be a tally of your attendance minus late arrivals and days when you didn’t have your draft or homework. Returning feedback: Please do your peers the kindness of giving me the paper feedback you received. It’s part of their grade, and part of yours.