Giddings Noodleblog

We are in the computer lab tomorrow.  Please bring your paper, either posted to your blog or on a USB drive so you can work on it.  Rough drafts are due on Thursday.

Period 2, please don’t forget to read The ABC’s of Home Schooling on page 50 of Everyday Use for Friday (half day, bay-bay!).

Your this I Believe essay is due on Wednesday the 10th.  It should be uploaded to your blog and you will be reading it aloud in class as well.  Here are the requirements adapted from the This I Believe submission page (I encourage you to submit them to This I Believe if you wish).

Keep the following in mind when you write your essay:

1. Limit your essay to 350-500 words.
2. Describe an event that shaped your beliefs or a person who inspired them.
3. Avoid sermons and editorials—no soapbox declamations, please!
4. Read more of the This I Believe essay-writing tips.

Remember as you work on your papers tonight that our first graded synthesis timed write is tomorrow.

Other than the timed write, we’ll take a look at another essay that might help with our paper. 

Happy writing and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Our first synthesis paper will be on Entering the Conversation question number 3 on page 787 (in the popular culture conversation section we’ve been working on).  Note that you must use at least three of our conversation sources, though you may also use any of the pop culture essays and articles we’ve read in class.

We will talk about this in class as well and be working through the conversation section essays this week, but I wanted to give you a heads up on this assignment.  Also you may have noticed that the planning page says this paper is due April 24th.  I will be gone that Friday and Saturday at a National Boards class and so thought you might appreciate the extra weekend since I wouldn’t be picking them up until Monday anyway.  I hope that doesn’t inconvenience anyone.

Synthesis Paper Requirements:

• 1200 words
• MLA format (page style, in-text citations, and works cited page — see MLA at Owl and Easybib links under the AP heading to the left as well as this post for class MLA modifications for help on this)
• Synthesize at least three sources from the conversation section (other sources are okay, but not required on this essay)

Due: Monday, April 27th

Suggestions:

• Remember that your argument is paramount and your sources are there to support you, not the other way around
• Key notes on Synthesis in our book are in chapter 3, especially the last sentence before the new section on page 62; the paragraph beginning “Sources should enhance” on page 65; and pages 81-85
• Finish early and revise! When you revise, think about the following:
  • These revision guidelines
  • organization
  • how your sources interact with your audience (see p.69 ff.)
  • transitions!
  • remember that this is an argument, it’s just one that is both informed and formally supported
• Write a clear, convincing, awesome essay!

As you prepare and polish your papers for tomorrow, don’t forget a few things:

1. Revise your paper!
2. Make sure the MLA format is correct.  I will not take papers written in pencil or that are single-spaced.  Presentation may not be as important as your thesis and the depth and complexity with which you deal with your argument, but it does reflect on your effort and attention to detail.
3. Vocabulary test tomorrow
4. 1st graded argument timed write tomorrow

Wow, I didn’t plan it this way (Bwuhahaha), but it seems that much is converging on this Friday.  Makes me think of that Flannery O’Connor story, or at least the title, Everything That Rises Must Converge.

I’m going to be gone at a conference on Thursday.  If we’re going to move the paper due date, we may as well move it to Friday since I won’t be there to pick up the papers on Thursday anyway. 

Before you cheer too much and make further plans to put off working on your papers, you will still have the homework I’d planned for you Wednesday and Thursday nights.  That is not moving.  It’s not onerous, but it’s still 12-15 pages of reading from an argument textbook each night.  For some of you, it will take a while to work through and understand what you’ve read. 

Call it a mixed blessing and use it to your advantage, but don’t let things get out of hand as you may very well have homework in other classes. 

The rough draft for your JFK paper is due on Monday March 9. 

Reminders:

• Respond to the prompt on page 57 of our textbook.  You may use the sample thesis above the prompt if you wish.
• 900-1200 words
• Due Wednesday March 11, 2009 
• Use MLA format with the following caveats: 1) Single-space your heading 2) Leave the page number and last name off the first page.  Format examples are here and examples of the above-noted modifications are here.
• I WILL NOT accept papers that are written in pencil, single-spaced, or with the heading on the right.  Pay attention.  I’ve been lax the first couple of papers as we learned what was expected.  Papers that are not in MLA format will be returned ungraded for corrections and will be counted as late.