October 15

I will be reading your portfolios over the weekend and will send your grades to you by Tuesday. On Tuesday we will begin class by talkig over how your are doing and what is expected for the rest of the term.

In class today you gave your presentations on urban legends - and they were awesome. Good work. You are definitely getting the idea of how to dig into the deeper meanings in a text.

In the computer lab you got started on the pre-writing for your analytic essay. I handed out a copy of the assignment sheet. For anyone who wasn't in class, a copy in in my mailbox beside the English Department office (301).

You did some writing/listing identify a cultural text (movie, video game, tv show, etc) that has at least 3 variations, and then did some more writing about the the main features of the texts, the audience (who they are, what their concerns are, how their lives might connect to the text), and the common features in your three versions.

In class Tuesday you will look at some sample essays and see how other students have set up their drafts. Then we will talk about what points you will need to make to meet the criteria for the assignment & how to organize your essay.

In the computuer lab you will have time to work on your draft.

HOMEWORK: Do some more work on your pre-writing. List + freewrite. Make sure you have identified 3 texts that have enough in common to make them essentially three variations of the same or extremely similar story-lines, formats & functions. Note any differences. Do some more in-depth writing about why the audience might connect to the storyline (you can identify the audience using the principle Brunvand identified= the characters will be similar to the audience). Turn in your pre-writing as a draft before class on Tuesday.

Have a good weekend and see you Tuesday.