Author: janemlucas

Posted in Check, Please!, English 1103, Teaching

ENG 1103: Model Assignment for Check, Please! Lesson Two

Posted on by janemlucas
https://checkpleasecc.notion.site/Check-Please-Starter-Course-ae34d043575e42828dc2964437ea4eed

Today’s blog post features my version of the second Check, Please! assignment, which you submitted at the beginning of class on yesterday. In preparation for submitting your worksheet for lesson three, review this post as well as the assignment notes that I posted on September 3.

Check, Please! Lesson Two

In the second lesson of the Check, Please! Starter Course, Mike Caulfield, author of the course and a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, focuses on investigating a source, the second step in the SIFT approach, which he introduces in lesson one.

One of the most useful practices presented in lesson two is Caulfield’s follow-up to the Wikipedia strategy, which he outlined in the previous lesson. After he reviews that strategy, Caulfield explains how to use the control-f keyboard shortcut (command-f on a Mac). Typing control-f (or command-f) will open a small textbox in the upper right of the screen. Typing a word you are searching for will highlight the first appearance of the word in the text. Hitting return will highlight each subsequent appearance of the word.

Lesson two introduced me to fauxtire, a term for websites such as World News Daily Report, based in Tel Aviv, that present themselves as satirical but in fact serve primarily to perpetuate disinformation.

Perhaps the most memorable portion of lesson two was the side-by-side comparison of the websites for the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Pediatricians. Though at first glance the two appear comparable, using the Wikipedia strategy reveals their profound differences. While AAP is the premiere authority on children’s health and well-being, ACP was founded to protest the adoption of children by single-sex couples and is widely viewed as a single-issue hate organization.

Work Cited

Caulfield, Mike. Check, Please! Starter Course, 2021, https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/front-matter/updated-resources-for-2021/.

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips.

Posted in English 1103, Teaching, Writing

ENG 1103: Revising Your Literacy Narrative

Posted on by janemlucas

This morning, after I collect your Check, Please! worksheets for lesson two, I will return your drafts, and you will have the remainder of the class period to begin revising your literacy narratives on your laptops. You will have an additional week to continue your revision work before you submit the assignment to Blackboard and publish it as a WordPress blog entry. The due date is next Wednesday, September 11 (before class). The hard deadline is Friday, September 13 (before class). Directions for submitting your literacy narrative are included on your assignment sheet and on the Blackboard submission site. I will also guide you through the submission process step by step in today’s class.

As you continue to revise your literacy narrative, consider visiting The Writing Center. If you do so, you will earn five bonus points for the assignment.

To schedule an appointment, visit https://highpoint.mywconline.com, email the Writing Center’s director, Professor Justin Cook, at jcook3@highpoint.edu, or scan the QR code below. To earn bonus points for your literacy narrative, consult with a Writing Center tutor no later than Thursday, September 12.

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble.

Posted in Check, Please!, English 1103, Teaching

ENG 1103: Notes on Check, Please! Lesson Two

Posted on by janemlucas
https://checkpleasecc.notion.site/checkpleasecc/Check-Please-Starter-Course-ae34d043575e42828dc2964437ea4eed

Tomorrow, at the beginning of class, I will collect your worksheets for the second Check, Please! lesson. If you were absent on the day that I distributed copies of the worksheet or you have misplaced your copy, download the file from Blackboard and print it.

In preparation for submitting your assignment, review the notes below.

  • A summary is a third-person objective synopsis. In the first paragraph of your assignment, your summary, you should not use first- or second-person pronouns, singular or plural. In other words, “I,” “me,” “we,” “us,” and “you” should not appear in your summary. Your summary should also be free of commentary. If you use such words as “effective,” “useful,” and “instructive,” you have shifted from summary to commentary. Turn to commentary in your second paragraph.
  • Check, Please! is a nonprint source, which means that you do not include parenthetical citations with page or paragraph numbers (because, after all, there are no paragraphs or page numbers). Think of citing a website such as Check, Please! the way you would cite a film. Any lines that you include verbatim are enclosed in quotation marks, and the reader knows from the context that the lines are spoken in the film. The works cited entry at the bottom of the text provides the reader with the necessary source details.
  • Not all lists require a colon. Use one only if the clause (a group of words containing a verb) that precedes the colon makes sense on its own.

Consider the difference between these two sentences with lists:

  • In lesson two, Mike Caulfield continues his instruction in the four-step approach to determining the reliability of a source, which he terms SIFT: (1) “Stop,” (2) “Investigate,” (3) “Find better coverage,” and (4) “Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.”
  • The steps of SIFT include (1) “Stop,” (2) “Investigate,” (3) “Find better coverage,” and (4) “Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.”

The second example above does not include a colon because the clause before the list does not make sense on its own.

  • A work cited entry has a hanging indent, which means its appearance is the opposite of a paragraph’s. The first line of a paragraph is indented five spaces or one-half inch, and the remaining lines of the paragraph are flush left. In a works cited entry, the first line is flush left, and the remaining lines are indented.
  • Include concrete details. Specificity not only enables the reader to see your subject, it also demonstrates to the reader that you have examined your subject carefully.

Consider the difference between the two passages below.

  • Lesson two includes two websites that show how similar two can be even though one is propaganda.
  • Perhaps the most memorable portion of lesson two is the side-by-side comparison of the websites for the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Pediatricians. Though at first glance the two appear comparable, using the Wikipedia strategy reveals their profound differences. While AAP is the premiere authority on children’s health and well-being, ACP was founded to protest the adoption of children by single-sex couples and is widely viewed as a single-issue hate organization.

The two passages above address the same websites featured in lesson two, but the first example provides the reader with no specifics.

Next Up

At the beginning of class on Wednesday, I will collect your worksheets for the second Check, Please! lesson and return the drafts of your literacy narratives. You will have the class period to begin revising on your laptops, and you will have an additional week to continue your revisions. The due date for posting your revision to Blackboard and to your WordPress blog is Wednesday, September 11 (before class); the hard deadline is Friday, September 13 (before class).

Posted in English 1103, Reading, Teaching, Writing

ENG 1103: A Second Look at Sedaris, a First Glimpse of Heller, and . . .

Posted on by janemlucas
Author David Sedaris in New York on August 3, 2018 / Robert Deutsch USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2018/08/03/david-sedaris-hates-word-awesome-but-loves-sequined-culottes-calypso-bookmark/900667002/

Today, along with returning to our study of Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” we will examine “The Day Language Came into My Life,” the first pages of Chapter Four of Helen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life.

One of the aspects of Sedaris’s essay that you examined last Wednesday was his movement from summary to scene. The first of those occurs with these words of his teacher’s: “If you have not meimslsxp or lpgpdmurct by this time, then you should not be in this room” (167).

You also identified Sedaris’s hyperbole “front teeth the size of tombstones” (168), and his use of metaphors and similes, including these:

  • “not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage at a fashion show” (167).
  • “everybody into the language pool, sink or swim” (167).
  • “like a translation of one of those Playmate of the Month data sheets” (168).
Helen Keller, https://www.biography.com/activists/helen-keller

Together, Sedaris’s essay and Keller’s chapter excerpt demonstrate two vastly different ways to present a literacy narrative. “Me Talk Pretty One Day” offers a quirky look at the challenges of learning French from a sarcastic, soul-crushing instructor. Keller’s story poignantly recounts learning to make meaning through the sign language of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, learning that certain finger positions mean “water” for those who cannot hear it, and for others, like her, who can neither see nor hear it.

Works Cited

Keller, Helen. “The Day that Language Came into My Life.” The Story of My Life. https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/life.html.

Sedaris, David. “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” Me Talk Pretty One Day. Little Brown, 2000. pp. 166-73.

. . . Sample Student Essays

Today in class we will examine two literacy narratives written in a previous semester. After you read and annotate the essays, you and two or three of your classmates will collaboratively compose a short assessment of each narrative.

In each assessement, consider whether the essay focuses on one of the following options for topics:

  • a memory of a reading or writing assignment that you recall vividly  
  • someone who helped you learn to read or write
  • a writing-related school event that you found humorous or embarrassing
  • a particular type of writing that you found (or still find) especially difficult or challenging
  • a memento that represents an important moment in your development as a reader or writer

Also determine whether each essay fulfills the requirements listed below.

  • a well-told story
  • vivid detail
  • some indication of the narrative’s significance
  • a minimum of 600 words

After you have composed your assessment, you will review the grade criteria listed below, and assign a letter grade to each narrative.

  • An A literacy narrative complies with all of the assignment guidelines: it presents a well-told story, includes vivid details, and conveys the story’s significance in a way that demonstrates a depth of understanding. An A literacy narrative is also well organized and relatively free of surface errors.
  • A B literacy narrative complies with all of the assignment guidelines but may convey the significance of the story in a superficial way, may have issues with organization, or may be flawed by surface errors.
  • A C literacy narrative complies with most but not all of the assignment guidelines and may also be flawed by issues of organization and/or surface errors.
  • A D literacy narrative complies with only a few of the assignment guidelines and may also be flawed by issues of organization and/or surface errors.
  • An F literacy narrative fails to comply with most or all of the assignment guidelines and may also be flawed by substantial issues of organization and/or surface errors.

Next Up

On Wednesday you will continue work on your own literacy narratives. At the beginning of class, after I collect your second Check, Please! worksheets, I will return your rough drafts with my notes, and you will have the remainder of the class period to revise on your laptops. You will have an additional week to continue revising before posting your literacy narrative to Blackboard and to your WordPress blog. The due date is Wednesday, September 11 (before class); the hard deadline is Friday, September 13 (before class).

Posted in English 1103, Scrabble, Teaching

ENG 1103: Two-Letter Words, B-E

Posted on by janemlucas

The first Scrabble blog post of the semester featured playable two-letter words beginning with “a.” Learning those two-letter words, as well as the others that follow in the alphabet, will enable you to see more options for play and can increase the number of points you earn in a single turn.

Here’s a list of the playable words beginning with “b,” “d,” and “e.”

  • ba: the soul in ancient Egyptian spirituality
  • bi: a bisexual
  • bo: a pal
  • by: a side issue
  • de: of, from
  • do: a tone on a scale
  • ed: education
  • ef: the letter f (also eff)
  • eh: used to express doubt
  • el: an elevated train
  • em: the letter m
  • en: the letter n
  • er: used to express hesitation
  • es: the letter s
  • et: a past tense of eat
  • ex: the letter x

Next Up

In class on Monday, we will revisit David Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and examine Hellen Keller’s “The Day Language Came into My Life” as well as two student literacy narratives.

Posted in English 1103, Scrabble, Teaching

ENG 1103: “What’s in a Name?” Follow-Up

Posted on by janemlucas

Last Friday’s blog post offered you the opportunity to earn bonus points if you posted a response that identified the names of students in sections nineteen and twenty with first and last names that are also common nouns, making them playable Scrabble words. The lists below include those students’ names with the playable names in bold.

Section 19

  • Willow Conley (a tree or shrub)
  • Bailey Dawkins (an outer castle wall)
  • James Emery (a granular corundum)
  • Dalton Holbrook (a unit of atomic mass)
  • Tai Marchese (an Italian nobleman)
  • Lexi Painter (one who paints)
  • Stephanie Salters (pl. of salter, one who salts)
  • Ananda Williams (extreme happiness)

Section 20

  • Allie Early (near the beginning)
  • Chase Eller (to pursue)
  • Stella Galindo Haas (a formerly used coin of the United States)
  • Eva Kelly (a bright green color)
  • Steven Lee (shelter from the wind)
  • Mark McLaughlin (to make a visible impression on)
  • Bo Raitto (a friend)
  • Melody Smith (an agreeable succession of musical sounds, a metal worker)
  • Brad Weiner (a metal fastener, a hotdog)

Congratulations to Check, Please! bonus-point recipients Cait Bartlett, Jed Negley, Leyla Oruc, Stephanie Salters (section 19), and Chase Eller, Stella Galindo Haas, and Zach Moellendick (section 20) for identifying their classmates’ playable names.

Continue to review last Friday’s blog post, both to increase your word power and to put your classmates’ names with faces.

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, look to the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips.

Posted in English 1103, Reading, Teaching, Writing

ENG 1103: Beginning Your Literacy Narrative

Posted on by janemlucas

Today in class, you will begin planning and drafting your first essay assignment, a literacy narrative, which is an account of a learning experience involving reading, writing, or learning to speak a language.

Begin by asking yourself some of these questions: How have you come to think about yourself as a reader or writer? What were some of your most formative experiences as a reader or writer? What are some of the do’s and don’ts you have learned about writing? How has what you have learned about reading or writing enhanced your confidence and skill in that role? You don’t need to respond to all of those questions. Try picking one or two as a starting point, then begin bringing one of those experiences to life.

Your aim is to recreate your experience on the page and then to reflect on its significance. Your focus may be any one of the following:

  • a memory of a reading or writing assignment that you recall vividly  
  • someone who helped you learn to read or write
  • a writing-related school event that you found humorous or embarrassing
  • a particular type of writing that you found (or still find) especially difficult or challenging
  • a memento that represents an important moment in your development as a reader or writer
  • learning to speak a second langauage

Detailed instructions are included in the assignment handout that you will receive in class today. An additional copy of the handout is posted on Blackboard in the essay assignments folder.

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, review the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review tomorrow’s Scrabble post.

Posted in Check, Please!, English 1103, Teaching

ENG 1103: Check, Please! Lesson One

Posted on by janemlucas
https://checkpleasecc.notion.site/Check-Please-Starter-Course-ae34d043575e42828dc2964437ea4eed

Tomorrow, at the beginning of class, I will collect your worksheets for the first Check, Please! lesson. If you were absent on the day that I distributed copies of the worksheet or you have misplaced your copy, download the file from Blackboard and print it.

My sample assignment for lesson one appears below, as well as on the worksheet, itself.

Check, Please! Lesson One

In the first lesson of the Check, Please!, Starter Course, Mike Caulfield, author of the course and a research scientist at Washington State University’s Center for an Informed Public, introduces the four-step SIFT approach to determining the reliability of a source: (1) “Stop,” (2) “Investigate,” (3) “Find better coverage,” and (4) “Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.”

One of the most useful practices presented in lesson one is what the author terms the “Wikipedia Trick.” Deleting everything that follows a website’s URL (including the slash), adding a space, typing “Wikipedia,” and hitting “enter” will yield the site’s Wikipedia page. The Wikipedia entry that appears at the top of the screen may indicate the source’s reliability or lack thereof.

The most memorable segment of lesson one is the short, riveting video “The Miseducation of Dylann Roof,” which begins with the narrator asking the question, “How does a child become a killer?” Produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center, it documents how algorithms can lead unskilled web searchers down paths of disinformation. In the worst cases, such as Roof’s, algorithms can lead searchers to the extremist propaganda of radical conspiracy theorists.

Work Cited

Caulfield, Mike. Check, Please! Starter Course, 2021, https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/front-matter/updated-resources-for-2021/.

Check, Please! worksheets are designed to be handwritten, and I prefer for you to complete them by putting pen to paper. If, however, you wish to type them, you are required to follow MLA style manuscript guidelines. See the sample file posted in the Check, Please! folder on Blackboard.

Next Up

Tomorrow’s class will be devoted to planning and drafting your literacy narratives. Next Wednesday, September 4, I will return your handwritten drafts with my notes, and you will have the class period to begin revising your narratives on your laptops and tablets. After that class, you will have an additional week to continue your revision work. The due date for posting your revisions to Blackboard and to your WordPress blog is Wednesday, September 11 (before class); the hard deadline is Friday, September 13 (before class).

Posted in English 1103, Teaching, Writing

ENG 1103: David Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day”

Posted on by janemlucas

This morning in class, after we review some of your collaborative writing from last Wednesday, we will examine David Sedaris‘s essay “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” and you and three of your classmates will collaborate on an exercise that asks you to examine–and subsequently address in writing–these elements of his literacy narrative:

  • scene and summary–you will examine how and where Sedaris shifts from one to the other
  • hyperbole
  • metaphors and similes

Each of these elements can play an important role in a narrative, none more so than scene, which is vital to a story’s life. Without it, a narrative falls flat. With summary, a writer compresses time to offer an overview of events. Through scene, a writer lets time unfold in front of the readers’ eyes, which is what readers prefer. They are drawn into a narrative when they can see for themselves what is happening.

Next Up

In class on Wednesday, you will begin drafting your first major writing assignment longhand. The assignment, a literacy narrative, is an account of a learning experience involving reading, writing, or learning to speak a language. As part of your prewriting process, look back at “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and consider how you might incorporate into your own essay some of the same elements that David Sedaris includes in his.

Posted in English 1103, Scrabble, Teaching

ENG 1103: “What’s in a Name?”

Posted on by janemlucas
Section 19 (L-R): Cait Bartlett, Ananda Williams, JonCarlos Altamura, Nicole Edelman

To help us put names with faces, I have included in this post pictures of all of you in sections 19 and 20 with picture captions that list your names. I encourage you to review this page frequently. In between the pictures, I have included lists of first names that are also common nouns, making them playable in Scrabble.

Section 19 (L-R): Vince Nicholson, Willow Conley, Lexi Painter, Lindsay Dimenna
  • Al: a type of East Indian tree
  • Alan: a breed of hunting dog (also aland, alant)
  • Alec: a herring
  • Ana: a collection of miscellany about a specific topic
  • Ananda: extreme happiness
  • Anna: a former Indian coin
  • Ava: at all, of all
  • Bailey: an outer castle wall
  • Barbie: a barbecue
  • Belle: a pretty woman
  • Ben: an inner room
  • Benny: an amphetamine pill
  • Bertha: a style of wide collar
  • Beth: a Hebrew letter
  • Biff: to hit
  • Bill: to charge for goods
  • Billy: a short club
  • Bo: a friend
  • Bobby: a policeman
  • Bonnie: pretty (also bonny)
  • Brad: a small nail or tack
  • Brock: a badger
Section 19 (L-R): Aidan Garcia, J.J. Pollender, Ryan Kelley, Tai Marchese
  • Carl: a peasant or manual laborer (also carle)
  • Carol: to sing merrily
  • Celeste: a percussive keyboard instrument (also celesta)
  • Chad: a scrap of paper
  • Charlie: a fool
  • Chase: to pursue
  • Chevy: to chase (also chivy)
  • Christie: a type of turn in skiing (also christy)
  • Clarence: an enclosed carriage
  • Dalton: a unit of atomic mass
  • Dagwood: a large, stuffed sandwich
  • Daphne: a flowering shrub with poisonous berries
  • Davy: a safety lamp
  • Deb: a debutante
  • Devon: a breed of cattle
  • Dexter: located to the right
  • Dom: a title given to some monks
  • Don: to put on a piece of clothing
  • Donna: an Italian woman of repute
  • Erica: a shrub of the heath family
Section 19 (L-R): Dalton Holbrook, Madison Kline, Leyla Oruc, Jed Negley
  • Fay: to join together closely
  • Florence: a former European gold coin
  • Franklin: a nonnoble medieval English landowner
  • Fritz: a nonworking or semi-functioning state
  • Gilbert: a unit of magneto-motive force
  • Gilly: to transport on a type of train car
  • Graham: whole-wheat flour
  • Hank: to secure a sail
  • Henry: a unit of electric inductance
  • Herby: full of herbs
  • Jack: to hoist with a type of lever
  • Jacky: a sailor
  • Jake: okay, satisfactory
  • Jane: a girl or woman
  • Jay: any of various birds, known for their crests and shrill calls
  • Jean: denim
  • Jenny: a female donkey
  • Jerry: a German soldier
  • Jess: to fasten a strap around the leg of a bird in falconry (also Jesse)
Section 19 (L-R): Stephanie Salters, James Emery, Annalise Lindsay, Bailey Dawkine
  • Jill: a unit of measure equal to to 1/4 of a pint
  • Jimmy: to pry open
  • Joannes: a Portugese coin (also johannes)
  • Joe: a fellow
  • Joey: a young kangaroo
  • John: a toilet
  • Johnny: a hospital gown
  • Jones: a strong desire
  • Jordan: a type of container
  • Joseph: a woman’s long cloak
  • Josh: to tease
  • Kelly: a bright shade of green
  • Kelvin: a unit of absolute temperature
  • Ken: to know
  • Kent: past tense of ken
  • Kerry: a breed of cattle
  • Kris: a curved dagger
  • Lars: plural of lar, a type of ancient Roman guardian deity (also lares)
  • Lassie: a lass
  • Laura: an aggregation of hermitages used by monks
  • Laurel: to crown one’s head with a wreath
  • Lee: to shelter from the wind
  • Louie: a lieutenant
  • Louis: a former gold coin of France worth twenty francs
Section 20 (L-R): Bo Raitto, Cristique Duvall, Lydia Henderson, Maddie McClean
  • Marcel: to make waves in the hair using a special iron
  • Marge: a margin
  • Mark: a line, figure, or symbol
  • Martin: any type of the bird also known as a swallow
  • Marvy: marvelous
  • Matilda (a hobo’s bundle (chiefly Australian)
  • Matt: to put a dull finish on (also matte)
  • Maxwell: a unit of magnetic flux
  • Mel: honey
  • Melody: an agreeable succession of musical sounds
  • Merle: a blackbird
  • Mickey: a drugged drink
  • Mike: a microphone (also mic)
  • Milt: to fertilize with fish sperm
  • Minny: a minnow
  • Mo: a moment
  • Molly: a type of tropical fish
  • Morgan: a unit of frequency in genetics
  • Morris: a type of folk dance from England
  • Morse: describing a type of code made of long and short signals
  • Mort: a note sounded in hunting to announce the death of prey
Section 20 (L-R): Kaitlyn Krause, Steven Lee, Moriah Evans, Claire Farrington
  • Nelson: a type of wrestling hold
  • Newton: the unit of force required to accelerate one kilogram of mass on meter per second
  • Nick: to make a shallow cut
  • Norm: a standard
  • Pam: the name of the jack of clubs in some card games
  • Parker: one who parks a motorized vehicle
  • Peter: to lessen gradually
  • Pia: a fine membrane of the brain and spinal cord
  • Randy: sexually excited
  • Regina: a queen
  • Rex: a king
  • Rick: to stack, hay, corn, or straw
  • Roger: the pirate flag
Section 20 (L-R): Melody Smith, Sean Zalaquett, Abby Jacavanco, Stella Galindo Haas
  • Sal: salt
  • Sally: to make a brief trip or a sudden start
  • Sawyer: one who saws wood
  • Shawn: past tense of show
  • Sheila: a girl or young woman
  • Sol: the fifth note on a diatonic scale (also so)
  • Sonny: a boy or young man
  • Sophy: a former Persian ruler
  • Spencer: a type of sail
  • Tad: a young boy
  • Tammie: a fabric used in linings (also tammy)
  • Ted: to spread for drying
  • Teddy: a woman’s one-piece undergarment
  • Terry: a soft, absorbent type of cloth
  • Tiffany: a thin, mesh fabric
  • Timothy: a Eurasian grass used for grazing
Section 20 (L-R): Brad Weiner, Roshan Tamadddon, Eva Kelly, Chase Eller
  • Toby: a drinking mug in the shape of a man or a man’s face
  • Tod: a British unit of weight for wool equal to twenty-eight pounds
  • Tom: the male of various animals
  • Tommy: a loaf or chunk of bread
  • Tony: very stylish
  • Vera: very
  • Victoria: a light, four-wheeled carriage
  • Warren: an area where rabbits live, or a crowded maze-like place
  • Webster: one who weaves
  • Will: to choose, decree, or induce to happen
  • Willow: a tree or shrub
  • Willy: to clean fibers with a certain machine
Section 20 (L-R): Mark McLaughlin, Allie Early, Zach Moellendick, Aiden Bazzell

Bonus Point Opportunity!

Students who correctly respond to the playable first names and last names question below will earn five bonus points for their first Check, Please! assignment.

How many students in English 1103.19 and 20 have first and/or last names that are playable Scrabble words? Keep in mind that only playable first names appear in the lists above. Some students in each section may have playable last names.

Directions for Finding and Submitting Your Answer

  1. Review the list of playable first names, compare it with the students’ first and last names in the photo captions above, or on the class page, and determine which of the students’ first and last names are playable in Scrabble. If you aren’t sure whether a name is also a common noun, you can consult the Scrabble website’s dictionary
  2. Compose a response of one or more complete sentences that includes (1) the number of students with playable names, and (2) the first and last name of each student with a playable name. Indicate which name, first or last, is playable.
  3. Post your comment as a reply to this blog post by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, August 26.
  4. To post your comment, click the title of the post, “What’s in a Name. . . . ,” then scroll down to the bottom of the post. There you will see the image of an airmail envelope with a white rectangular box for your comment. Type your comment in the box and hit return. Voila! You have submitted your answer. Good luck! I will make the comments visible before class on Monday, August 26.

Next Up

For class on Monday, you will read David Sedaris’s essay “Me Talk Pretty On Day,” In class we will examine Sedaris’s essay as well as some of the collaborative writing that you composed on Wednesday.