Friday, Feb. 24th, 2012

Greetings:

Below you will find three major items:
1. Out of class essay assignment #2, which was assigned in class today, Friday, the 24th of February. If you happened to be absent today, you will need to consult a fellow student for notes. There is a lot of important information that was discussed that is NOT on the prompt.

2. Handout on Notecards and Bibliography Cards, which was distributed and discussed in class today, Feb. 24th. Again, if you were absent today, you will need to consult a fellow student as to how to fill out the blank spaces.

3. Packet #4 (due to be read by Wednesday, Feb. 29)

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English 1A, Sections 7 & 9
Spring 2012
Course Theme: The Significance of Home
Instructor: C. Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #2 (worth 200 points total)

Assigned: Friday, Feb. 24th
ROUGH DRAFT: If you wish to have me review a rough draft of this assignment, please submit it to me NO LATER than Wednesday, March 14
Due: Monday, March 26
(YOU HAVE FOUR WEEKS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND WRITE YOUR ESSAY…PLAN YOUR TIME ACCORDINGLY)

• Essay must follow MLA format exactly.
• Essay must be typed and double spaced.
• Thesis statement must be underlined.
• Do not write a formulaic five paragraph essay.
• Essay must have a minimum of five sources on the Works Cited page. You are welcome to use the Internet for sources, but at least one of your sources cannot be found on the Internet (for example, use a book, watch a film, conduct an interview, etc.)
• You may certainly utilize the Wikipedia website to gain background information and to locate reference sites, but you may not use it as one of your documented sources on the Works Cited page.
• You must submit the essay as instructed in class—please record the requirements during the discussion.


Essay Prompt:

• For this essay, you will first select a group of people from another culture/country that you are genuinely interested in finding out more about.
• You will then conduct research in order to discover and then write about at least three significant ways in which someone from this culture/country must adapt to life in the United States.
• You will then begin by writing a thesis that is assertive and debatable.

For example, imagine that you selected the adaptation of the Hmong once they arrive in the US. After conducting some research, you decide to present information on male and female roles in marriage, religious practices and diet as the three areas of adjustment you feel are most significant and would make the most interesting reading.

Your thesis might read something like the following:

Hundreds of Hmong people immigrate to the United States every year and face many difficult challenges, particularly in the areas of religious practices, changes in diet and male/female roles within a marriage.

There are several ways to approach this topic and make it your OWN. The prompt can be interpreted in various different ways, as we discussed at length today in class.
(An essay that asks you to address a topic such as this one would be difficult to complete in less than five or six pages, approximately.)
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MLA Research Documentation—English 1A—Prof. Fraga

Bibliography Cards: 3 x 5
Note Cards: 4 x 6

Sample Bibliography Card:
1. Record reference exactly as it would appear on your Works Cited page.
2. Remember, these cards are for your use; write legibly. This will save you so much time later when you are ready to type your Works Cited page.









Sample Note Card:
1. A note card without a source line is useless.
2. You need not record anything at the top except for the info. that will go in the in-text citation.
3. One idea or fact per card.
4. To further help you organize your essay, you may want to note the section in the essay where the information may appear. Put this in the upper right hand corner of the note card.







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PACKET #4

1. "War Revisited"
by Nick Miller and Kel Munger
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/war-revisited/content?oid=928683

2. "Boots to Books: The Rough Road from Combat to College" (this is a video approx. 14 minutes in length)
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=8c310eacfeb08aba2e7f1e29411543e9

Saturday, February 18th, noon

Hello,
just a quick note to remind those students who submitted a rough draft to me on Friday that I will have those back to you with my comments on Monday. ALSO, please attach the rough draft with my comments to the back of your final draft when you submit on Wednesday. Thanks so much!

Wednesday, February 15, 9 pm

Greetings:

If you wish to watch Daughter from Danang again before the in-class essay on Monday, it is available on YouTube.

FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH
Print out the discussion questions below and bring to class. You need not write out answers, but come to class prepared to discuss these questions. If you have specific and logically supported responses to each of these questions, the in class essay on Monday should go well for you.

DAUGHTER FROM DANANG--DISCUSSION QUESTIONS---THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

1. One reviewer describes the film as a “gut-wrenching examination of the way cultural differences and emotional expectations collide.” Would you agree this is an accurate description? Why or why not? Explain specifically.

2. Were there parts of the film that made you feel uncomfortable? If so, what were those parts and can you articulate why they made you feel uncomfortable?

3. Heidi acutely feels that she has been rejected by two mothers: her birth mother who gave her up and her Tennessee mother, whose cold, untouching demeanor drove a wedge between them. How does this fact impact Heidi and what she ultimately experiences when she returns to Vietnam?

4. The film is considered a very powerful one by many other small filmmakers as well as many reviewers. In your opinion, what makes this an effective or ineffective film?

5. What preconceived ideas about home are proven inaccurate after viewing the film?

6. In an interview with the filmmakers, they admit that when they decided to film Heidi’s return to Vietnam, they assumed that the reunion would be a healing story, a kind of full circle coming home. The war in Vietnam was long over and they felt they could create a film that would ease the collective pain that is still connected to the war. Instead, what they did discover?

7. Some viewers have condemned Heidi for representing an aspect of American culture that they believe is selfish and individualized. What do you think and feel about Heidi’s reaction for the family’s request for money?
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REMINDER FOR MONDAY--remember to bring a blue or green book. Size does not matter--small or large--either is acceptable.

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Below you will find Packet #3, due on Wednesday February 22nd. Remember! A Q & C is due for this packet.

PACKET #3 (two short stories to read)

1. "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck
http://nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/4/steinbeck/chrysanthemums.htm

2. "A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver
http://christchurchlr.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/A-Small-Good-Thing.pdf

Wednesday, late evening, February 8, 2012

Greetings...
As promised, below you will find a copy of the Out of Class Essay #1 Assignment AND a copy of the handout from today's class regarding documentary and narrative film viewing.
See you Friday!


English 1A, Sections 7 & 9 – Spring 2012
Instructor: C. Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #1
100 points possible

Assigned: Wednesday, Feb. 8
Rough Draft Due (optional): no later than Friday, Feb 17
Final Draft Due: Wednesday, Feb. 22

This essay must follow MLA format for the set-up of your essay. No Works Cited page is required since you will not be conducting any outside research for this essay.
Your essay must be double-spaced and in Times New Roman font.

You have two weeks to brainstorm, plan, write, revise and proofread/edit this essay. Your essay will be evaluated in part based on the length of time you have to complete this assignment.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HOME
Essay Prompt: This essay asks you to employ your narrative, descriptive and analytical writing skills.

Consider your childhood and write about a place where you felt most comfortable, safe, happy and content. This place COULD be your actual house, or a room in your house, but it could be ANYWHERE. (your grandparents’ home; the school yard; the playground at a neighborhood park; Little League games; dance class; the tree house your dad built for you, etc.)

Your essay must include a detailed description of this place and the story of this place—what happened here? Why did this place bring a sense of comfort and safety and enjoyment to you? What did you do when you were at this place? And finally, why do you think it was so significant and memorable for you? Looking back, does this place in any way reflect or symbolize or help define who you are today? Why or why not? Be specific.

Your goal is for the reader to actually SEE this place and UNDERSTAND its importance and effect on you as a young child. Perhaps the reader will also get a sense of your personality and sensibility and passions.

REQUIRED LENGTH:

I do not believe in giving my students a specific page length requirement or word count requirement. Part of being a successful writer is knowing how to address a prompt accurately and fully and knowing when to stop writing. I WILL suggest that it would be challenging to complete this assignment in less than at least three to four pages. Not impossible, but challenging.

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English 1A
Prof. Fraga

In preparation for viewing the second film for the semester
and for viewing a documentary next week.

Purpose:
Just as reading fiction, non-fiction and poetry can aid in the development of a discriminatory, critical mind—and lead to critical writing and analysis in ANY area or topic—the viewing of films can elicit the same result.

A narrative film is a work of fiction.

A documentary film is a form that purports to report on the world as it exists. The documentary filmmaker uses various well-known techniques taken from the world of news reporting:

• reporting events as they happen,
• recording interviews with participants, and
• utilizing photographs and testimony of historical figures to portray past events.

Sometimes, the distinction between narrative and documentary has to be carefully drawn.

For example, occasionally actors are used to portray characters in historical documentaries such as Ken Burns’ Jazz, usually in voice-over. On the other hand, narrative films will often borrow various documentary techniques: Steve Soderberg in Traffic used hand-held cameras and a complicated interweaving of different stories to mimic a documentary “feel.” Nevertheless, it is clear that Traffic is a narrative film, and Jazz is a documentary.

It is generally assumed that documentaries will not deliberately falsify a view of reality…however, it is true that inevitably the documentary will reflect the filmmaker’s point of view, resulting in some manipulation of the absolute truth. The main way documentaries shape the story is through

• choosing the interview subjects,
• selecting certain shots and framing devices,
• and most importantly by editing the material to support their vision as filmmakers.

To be sure, the director of a documentary may often attempt to show a balanced point of view by posing questions regarding a problem or by advancing various solutions.

But often a documentary will abandon such an attempt and use powerful evidence to advance a certain ideological argument, as in the classic Harlan County, USA, about a miners’ strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1973. Here, the miners’ side in the strike is presented through emotional interviews, songs, meetings, and events on the picket line, while what little we see of the owners’ point of view is presented in a negative light. This kind of documentary that presents an argument is called a rhetorical form of documentary.

In evaluating a documentary it is important to understand what kind we are judging and thus what the filmmaker’s objectives are:

• Is the filmmaker trying to put forth his or her own point of view or attempting to show a balanced point of view?
• What techniques are being used to reveal the point of view?
• What methods are used to gather data?
• What are the criteria for choosing the people to be interviewed?
• What kind of shots are used to portray the subjects, and how does editing contribute to the ideological and emotional effect of the film?

THE NARRATIVE FILM—how to evaluate

In evaluating whether a film is “good” or not, it is important to consider a few main points that will aid in discussion and in writing a critical response.

1. Do the most important filmic elements such as photography, acting, editing and design support and complement each other? Is this unified style supportive of a strong theme? Does the film fit into a certain genre? Does it imaginatively add something to the traditions of that genre or does it merely copy them in a clichéd manner?
2. Do events flow naturally, and in this flow of action are there surprises and twists that engage an audience’s interest? Is there a strong climax and resolution? If the structure is nonlinear, do these varied elements build to some powerful emotional and/or intellectual effect? Does the dialogue seem appropriate to the style and environment of the film? If it is meant to be a realistic film, is the dialogue natural and spontaneous?
3. Do the characters and relationships seem specific and real? Do we identify with their goals and problems? Do the actors seem convincing? Do the actors present well-observed character details? Is there emotional truth in the playing? Is the acting style appropriate for the specific film genre?
4. Finally, looking at the film as a WHOLE…Common sense issues are very relevant. For example, does the film hold our interest throughout? Do we care about what happens on the screen? After the film, does it have a powerful effect on us? The answer to this last question separates the great films from the merely good ones.