Super Toys Last All Summer Long!

Teddy, "Why not do it again in crayon?"

Having read Super-Toys Last All Summer Long, blog your answers to questions 2-7.

This story was made into a fairly haunting movie with Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law in 2001 called A.I. (directed by Steven Speilberg) if you're interested.

Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!

Take another look at Zora Neale Hurston's short story Sweat. There's really a lot going on in this piece. The questions in our book will help you get at things. Blog 1-3, 5-8 (we talked briefly about 4 in class).

For number 9, write a bit about what she is saying about how men should be. Pay special attention to her "Greek Chorus" on the porch of Joe Clarke's shop.

Enjoy the sunshine, but be glad it isn't so hot that "The heat streamed down like a million hot arrows, smiting all things living upon the earth. Grass withered, leaves browned, snakes went blind in shedding and men and dogs went mad." :)

On a completely unrelated note, they were just able to scan and reproduce the wax record that has Alexander Graham Bell's voice on it. So, for the first time outside his century, we know what he sounded like.

No Unmarked Woman

Charge of the jumpsuits!

So, this idea of marked and unmarked gender styles is interesting. The more I think about it, the more I think it is true. But Deborah Tannen's article is constructed in an interesting manner as well. To examine that structure and the techniques she used to get her point across, blog the questions 1-8 on page 393. Due Wednesday.

Tomorrow is a Timed Write Tuesday.

Women's Brains

Brains....brains....braaaaaiiiiiiinnnnnssss

As we wrestle with the unpleasant, but important to understand Women's Brains by Stephen Jay Gould, work on the Rhetoric and Style questions 1-12 on pages 354-55 of the TLC book. They are due Monday. 

As you work with this essay, think about the implications of the ideas in the essay -- both those of Gould and of those he quoted. Are there echoes of those ideas alive and kicking today? How? When? Where? To what extent? ;) Append a brief reflection on those questions at the end of questions 1-12.

Next week we'll look at some more gender themed stuff while also hitting the test prep with another timed write and more multiple choice.

Works Cited, Easybib, and Plagiarism

Remember that citing sources is just a convention to point your reader back to where you got ideas, facts, and quotes for your essay. It also gives credit to your sources for the help they provided in you writing your paper.

A sample MLA Works Cited page is here. That will also get you to the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University which has a great deal of citation information as you will see by the links on the left of their site if you click through to them from here. Their site does not appear to be optimized for mobile, but it can be extremely useful from a computer or tablet.

For those of you interested, Easybib has a free mobile app. I tried it out briefly last night. It allows you to email your bibliography or upload it directly to Google Docs, even choosing what folder you want to put it in.   It's pretty basic at this point, but by the time you're in college, it should have a pretty awesome feature set.

Android app
iPhone app

Plagiarism
If you're concerned about plagiarism, you can find resources to help you both understand and avoid it here and here.

Weekend Homework

Friday we are in the lab to work on our papers.

1st period: Eng/SS Lab
6th Period: Library Lab

Monday we are also in the lab to work on our papers, but that time both periods are in the Eng/SS Lab.

For those in Canada, have a great trip and see you Monday.

Speaking of travel, if there is anyone still on the fence about going to Europe (who wouldn't want to go to Europe?), we still have spaces available for you. Don't miss out!

Pop Culture Paper

TV Bad! TV Good? Orwell, Huxley, Postman Oh My!!!

Anyway.

Write to prompt 3 on page 787 of your book. Keep it to 1000 words +/- 10%.

Remember that a synthesis paper is essentially a research paper in that you are using sources. Those sources need to be cited. So, remember to look over the research paper resources for how to do that. Also, Easybib.com is your friend and he loves to help out with works cited pages.

It is due on Thursday April 18th.