1-4B: Taking a Position, Part Two

Choose ONE of the following quotes.  Agree or disagree with the quote, clearly explaining the reason for your position.  Support your reasoning by explaining 1-2 specific examples that support your views.  These examples may come from your life, society, literature, movies, TV, history, science, etc.  Include the quote as the first sentence in your post so that everyone knows which quote you chose.

“Character – the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life – is the source from which self-respect springs.” – Joan Didion

“The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.” – Matthew Arnold

“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what is required.” – Winston Churchill

Reminder: DO NOT repeat your classmates’ ideas or examples, but DO discuss your ideas in relation to theirs.  Make sure you read your classmates’ responses carefully before posting yoru own!

All responses are due by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2^nd.

1-4 A: Taking a Position, Part One

Choose ONE of the following quotes.  Agree or disagree with the quote, clearly explaining the reason for your position.  Support your reasoning by explaining 1-2 specific examples that support your views.  These examples may come from your life, society, literature, movies, TV, history, science, etc.  Include the quote as the first sentence in your post so that everyone knows which quote you chose.

“Things do not change; we change.” – Henry David Thoreau

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” – Nelson Mandela

“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” – Aldous Huxley

“A goal without a plan is just a wish” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Reminder: DO NOT repeat your classmates’ ideas or examples, but DO discuss your ideas in relation to theirs.  Make sure you read your classmates’ responses carefully before posting yoru own!

All responses are due by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2^nd.

1-3: Blogs as biography?

Choose a personal blog (we'll go over specific guidelines and search suggestions in class on 10/19 or 10/20) that reveals the author's personality through its posts.  This blog could focus on family and life OR it could incorporate those elements into posts that seem to be about another topic (like sports or books or movies).

Read through the blog you chose (read back through older posts) to learn about the author.  Look for information about interests, family, personality, school or job, etc.  When you write your analysis, focus on two or three different posts (different dates) on the blog; make sure you incorporate the date for each post into your discussion.  Include the blog's title and url in your first sentence. Your analysis will describe the author, will explain how you discovered this information about the author, and will explain what you learned from analyzing the blog.

Multiple people may analyze the same blog; however, you must focus on different posts on that blog.  Do NOT go over the same information someone else explained.

All responses are due by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, October 25th.

1-2B: Reading the old-fashioned way

People constantly are claiming that print material (books, newspapers, magazines) is losing popularity because many people only read if they can read the material online (or with an electronic device).

Why do you believe that this statement is false, or that it should be false?  In other words, why does society still need printed books?  Provide examples from society and/ or from books to support your reasoning.  Remember, you must develop your arguments into approximately 2 paragraphs of insightful analysis.

DO post your response in conversation with your classmates; DO NOT repeat ideas presented by your classmates.

All responses are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 15th.

1-2A: Reading with Technology

Why is reading important in our daily lives?  What are some types of reading material that you can find online?  Is reading of online material less important than reading of print material?

Choose one specific piece of online writing (1 article, 1 site, 1 blog, etc.) and use it to guide your response; make sure you include a link to the piece of writing!  You do not need to respond to all of the preceding questions; you do, however, need to explain the reasoning behind your ideas and to organize your response into approximately 2 cohesive (smooth) paragraphs of insightful ideas.

DO post your response in conversation with your classmates; DO NOT repeat ideas presented by your classmates.

All responses are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 15th.

1-1B "First Confession" and other stories

In "First Confession," the narrator adopts a humorous tone when he relates his first experience going to confession.  Despite this humor, the narrator does learn and grow from the experience, changes that the adult narrator reveals through his comments.  Why does humor help people when they're telling stories about serious subjects?  Are there times when humor would NOT be appropriate?

Choose another story (short story, novel, play, movie, or TV show) that relates a milestone in the main character's life (a few examples: first penance, first communion, first day of school, the day a younger sibling was born) that connects in some way with O'Connor's experience.  Explain why you think the experiences connect (people, events, emotions, etc.), making sure you incorporate specific evidence from both stories.  Then discuss whether or not humor would help or hinder the telling of the story you chose.  Make sure you explain the reasons behind your position!

If you choose the same story (or a similar story) as one of your peers, make sure you do NOT include similar ideas or evidence.  Focus on different arguments and evidence (or different interpretations of the arguments and evidence); remember, you will be graded on your unique ideas, not on your regurgitation of other people's ideas.

All responses are due by 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 7th

1-1A "First Confession" and your memories

In "First Confession," the narrator adopts a humorous tone when he relates his first experience going to confession.  Despite this humor, the narrator does learn and grow from the experience, changes that the adult narrator reveals through his comments.  Why does humor help people when they're telling stories about serious subjects?  Are there times when humor would NOT be appropriate?

Choose a milestone in your life (a few examples: first penance, first communion, first day of school, the day a younger sibling was born) that connects in some way with O'Connor's experience.  Explain why you think the experiences connect (people, events, emotions, etc.), making sure you incorporate specific evidence from the story and specific details from your life.  Then discuss whether or not humor would help or hinder the telling of your experience.  Make sure you explain the reasons behind your position!

Unlike many of your blog assignments, this assignment might not connect with your peers' comments; however, if your memory is similar to a classmates' example, make sure you discuss different aspects and incorporate different arguments and different evidence from the story.  DO NOT write a post that sounds like someone else's!  You might, however, mention a post with similar events to demonstrate how your thinking differs from that other post.

All responses are due by 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 7th.