First Days
ASSIGNMENTS
| Date | Homework Due | Class Work |
| Day 1 Sept. 7 |
Diagnostic Essay Test and Reading Validation Test. Introduction to course website. Textbook. Index card intros. | |
| Day 2 Sept. 8 |
Read pp. 43-45 in The Presence of Others. Then write a story, capturing an experience of yours, in which you discover something about what education is for or perhaps what it should be for. Include detail to make the story dramatize/show, not just tell, what you want the reader to understand (about 2 pages, typed). E-mail me your story, not as an attachment. Read through syllabus on line. Be prepared for quiz on it. | Review diagnostic essay. Recognizing where the reader needs detail to understand you. Reading your stories for themes: the wellspring for ideas in essays. Reading one or two of your classmates' stories for the themes around what education is for. In-class writing to think about your theme and how others relate to it. |
| Day 3 Sept. 12 |
First, read Chapter 1 in A Reader's Guide. In the margins of the Guide or in a Word document, identify the reading techniques (1) that you already use, (2) that you've tried but discarded, and (3) that look useful and would like to try. Read Hart's "How to Get a College Education" (126). Write a 1-2 page response to whatever you have a strong reaction to in Hart's essay. | How we read. Review placement-test essay. (Schlesinger). Double-entry journal. |