As you continue to prepare for your presentation, be mindful of the valuable roles that reading and writing play in the process. Although the final product is your group’s three-to-four-minute oral presentation, your work began with reading and writing: reading the article or chapter that serves as your subject, and writing the plan that you composed in class yesterday.
Have you reread the article or chapter that serves as your subject? If not, turn back to the text itself at least two more times before Wednesday. Chances are, on a second or third reading, you will notice details you didn’t notice before, ones that you may want to add to your presentation.
In addition to recording key words on your notecard, write out your portion of the presentation in your journal. Though you will not be permitted to have your journal in hand during your presentation, the act of writing down your remarks and rewriting them will help you commit them to memory.
Remember that your notes are limited to a three-by-five notecard, not a four-by-six one, or a standard sheet of paper. If you do not have three-by-five index cards of your own, ask for one at the Circulation-Reserves counter near the main entrance of Smith Library.
As you practice delivering your presentation, minimize the time you look down at your notecard. Your ability to limit those glances will be greater if you spend ample time rereading the text and writing and reviewing your remarks in your journal.
Also, consider recording your presentation remarks and listening to them today and tomorrow morning. The picture above features my iPhone with the Voice Recorder app that I use to memorize lines for roles in plays, something I’ve done four times already in 2026–twice in plays in Greensboro and twice in Winston-Salem. Whenever I’m in rehearsal, I spend as much time as I can listening to my voice speaking my lines. I listen to them on my daily walks in my neighborhood, when I’m driving, and when I’m pedaling on a stationary bike at the gym. Hearing myself speak the words over and over enables me to learn the lines more quickly than I could by simply reveiwing them on the page.
Another strategy to try is psychology professor Bennett Schwartz’s retrieval practice, the subject of Ulrich Boser’s article “Want to Play Scrabble Like a Pro? . . . . .” Try turning away from the written page–and away from the sound of your voice if you record it–and simply ask yourself what words and phrases you recall. The more often you ask yourself, the more you will remember. As Boser notes, “Indeed, it appears that at a very basic neurological level, grappling with material in a dedicated way promotes a type of shifting in our neural circuits–and a richer form of expertise” (par. 21). In the words of Schwartz, himself, “If we process things too easily, they do not form in our memories (qtd. in Boser, par. 21). Memorizing lines is a tedious process, but embracing the process will help you develop into a stronger public speaker.
Next Up
In class tomorrow, you will deliver your group presentation and you will serve as the audience for the other four groups’ presentations. It’s vital that you pay close attention to your classmate’s presentations and take notes on them because you will have a blog comment assignment that will require you to address your own presentation as well as one of the others.
This morning in class, after your Scrabble debriefing, I will distribute your group presentation assignment, and you will have the remainder of the class period to devote to planning the short presentation that you will deliver in class on Wednesday. An additional copy of the assignment is included below.
As an exercise in collaboration and oral communication, you and two or three of your classmates will plan, rehearse, and deliver a concise presentation focusing on a reading that focuses on one of the articles distributed in class last week or on the first chapter of Ted Chiang‘s “The Life Cycle of Software Objects” in Exhalation (62-74).
Presentation Assignment Directions
Plan a presentation of three or four minutes, total, that addresses the most significant points covered in your group’s designated reading. (The lists of group assignments and designated readings are included below.)
Include in your presentation the following elements: (1) an introduction that mentions each group member’s first and last name (each group member may introduce himself or herself, or the group may assign one member the responsibility of introducing everyone), the title and author, or authors, of the reading, and a brief overview of the text, (2) A close examination of two or more points in the reading, and (3)) A conclusion that provides closure without restating the introduction and that invites questions. One strategy to consider for your conclusion is to address the relevance of the practice (the subject of your reading) to your work in English 1103, your work in other courses, and/or your life outside of the classroom.
Do not create a digital component, such as a PowerPoint or Google Slides show. You will not be permitted to use any digital devices during your presentation. Instead, you will rely only on a single three-by-five-inch index card with your notes.
Aim for cohesion. Turning briefly to the previous speaker and addressing him or her by first name, repeating a word or idea of his or hers, and connecting it to your own remarks are ways to unify your presentation. If your presentation seems to be a series of individual talks rather than a single group presentation, it lacks cohesion.
Every group member is not required to speak for the same length of time, but every member is required to deliver a portion of the presentation.
Directions for Rehearsing
In preparation for rehearsing, write your notes on a single three-by-five-inch index card (one card per group member). If your initial notes are written in complete sentences, rewrite them to include only words and short phrases for your key points. If your notes are too detailed, you will risk relying too heavily on them and making minimal eye contact with the audience. Plan to make as much eye contact as possible, and be sure to make eye contact with people throughout the room rather than fixing your eyes on one or two people.
Practice good posture. As you deliver your presentation, your ears should be directly above your shoulders. If you tend to shift your weight from one foot to the other, stand with your feet perpendicular to each other. If you do so, you will not be able to shift your weight from one foot to the other.
Avoid filler words, such as uh, um, like, and you know. If you tend to use filler words, practice pausing at the points where you are likely to use them.
Take turns delivering your portions of the presentation, and offer feedback to your group members. Offer both suggestions for improvement and words of encouragement.
Group Assignments
Section One
“Blogs vs. Term Papers”: Grace Duffy, Claire Jahnke, Kai Jarvis, Sebastian Olander
“Why Writing By Hand is Better for Memory and Learning”: Madison Haugk, Oliver Henderson, Olivia Lavallee, Bridgett Murphy
“A Break from Your SmartphoneCan Reboot Your Mood . . .”: Michael McNamara, Brenna Murphy, Hayden Porter
“Want to Play Scrabble Like a Pro? Here’s Your Memory Trick“: Gavin Godfrey-Ryan, Nicole Halucka, Ryder Pitek, Alexis Zavalishin
“The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” Chapter One (62-74): Will Roberts, Baylee Shattenberg, Madi Stone, Kel Wadley
Section Eight
“Blogs vs. Term Papers”: Avery Broadbent, Parker Davenport, Ariana Foy, Mackenzie Mossa
“Why Writing By Hand is Better for Memory and Learning”: Skylar Bowry, Dev Broomer, Mariah Robinson, Cole Wilhelmsen
“A Break from Your SmartphoneCan Reboot Your Mood . . .”: Devyn Jones, Ryan Lofton, Leslie Mendoza Arreola
“Want to Play Scrabble Like a Pro? Here’s Your Memory Trick“: Rocco Marcello, Lance Morgan, Layla Rothberg, Sophia Stewart
“The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” Chapter One (62-74): Kathleen Barr, Vivian Lalliberte, Marisol Moreno, Zach Roseman
Scrabble Debriefing, Part II
As a follow-up to your Scrabbble games last Friday, consider the plays addressed in commentaries below.
Surf’s Up First, Join Later
On the board pictured above, the first team began the game with the play of surf for fourteen points. Although surf is an acceptable choice, it isn’t a judicious one. Why would the first team have benefited in the long run from playing only three of the letters in surf for a score twelve? Also, consider the play of join. (The s was added later.)
Playing surf uses one of the four s‘s and one of the four u‘s. If the team’s only vowel was the u, and the team did not have the consonants required to play an all-consonant word, then the team would have no choice but to play the u. However, the team could have avoided using both a u and an s by playing fur for twelve points rather than surf fourteen. Although the opening play of fur would earn fewer points, s is a valuable letter, and seasoned Scrabble players advise not playing one unless you can score at least twenty points.
The play of join placed the j on a double-letter score square, earning the second team an admirable score of nineteen points, but the placement of the j gave the opponents the opportunity to score with a triple-word play, likely one that would earn them more than thirty points. If a team played two blanks and a one-point letter to the right of the j, the triple-word score would be twenty-seven. However, it’s more likley that a team would play three letters worth one or more points each, for a total of thirty-three or more. The first team did not take advantage of that opportunity–and may not have had the letters to do so–but the placement of join did enable them to play zoo for thirty-two points. Later, the second team was able to play jean for the triple-word score of thirty-three.
Q Query
Midway through the game pictured below, the second team played quit for a total of twenty-six points. Although that may have been the highest-scoring play the second team could have made at that point in the game, why would they have been well-advised to hold the q and the u for a later turn?
When the second team played quit in the game pictured above, none of the other three u’s and neither of the blanks had been played, making it very likely that the first team would be able to make a triple-word score play with the q.
Initially, the first team did not have the letters for a triple-word play using the second team’s q. However, a couple of turns later, the first team used a blank for an e to play pique for forty-eight points.
Next Up
In class on Wednesday, you will deliver your group presentations. Afterward, in the second half of class, we will discuss the five readings and consider each as a possible starting point for the research you will conduct in the second half of the semester.
This morning in class, we will reveiw “One Mississippi,” the student analysis that you read and annotated for today, and we will also examine excerpts from midterm reflections and possibly a second sample analysis: “The Strange Fruit of Sosnowiec.”
Before we turn to “One Mississippi,” you will read and annotate three passages from midterm reflections, each of which includes the required quotation from Dan Rockmore’s essay “Should the Classroom Be More Like the Gym?” In your annotations, you will address these questions:
Does the writer demonstrate the relevance of Rockmore’s words to his or her experience in English 1103?
Does the writer provide sufficient context for the quotation?
Do the words that follow the quotation logically connect Rockmore’s ideas to the writer’s own?
As you prepare to write your analysis reflection, which you will compose in class on Wednesday, ask similar questions of the reflection passage that you draft in your journal.
After our discussion of the midterm reflection excerpts, we will read the opening paragraphs of Michael Lewis‘s “Back Story” as a lead-in to our paragraph-by-paragraph study of the student analysis “One Mississippi.
Time permitting, we will examine “The Strange Fruit of Sosnowiec,” an analysis I wrote as a model for my students in a previous semester. If we do not have time to address that essay in class, read it on your own. Make note of where I turn from the summary to my thesis in the opening paragraph. Also, consider which of strategies for conclusions I employ in the last paragraph. (See the list below.)
Strategies for Conclusions
Offer an insight about the text or an additional quotation
Revisit the thesis without stating it verbatim
Point to the broader implications of the analysis
Model Analysis
The October 1 class notes include the introduction and a body paragraph of an analysis of mine in progress. The full text of that analysis, which I completed over fall break, appears below.
Bots in Shining Armor
At first glance, the covers of the early editions of Isaac Asimov’s short story collection I, Robot seem to reveal nothing about “Runaround,” the story that introduces the Three Laws of Robotics. The landscapes of the book jackets could be any planets—no detail designates the setting as Mercury—and the robots that stand guard on the book jackets offer no inkling of the narrative that unfolds: An account of astronauts Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan finding their lives in jeopardy when the photo-cell banks on their life support shields begin to fail. To repair the shields, their robot, Speedy, must retrieve selenium from the planet’s Sunside, a place humans cannot withstand. But rather than completing his mission, Speedy circles the selenium pool, leaving Powell and Donovan in danger of burning alive. The covers illustrate none of that. Yet despite their apparent lack of connection to Speedy’s story, their mechanical men serve as meaningful representations of Asimov’s themes as figures that bear a striking resemblance to medieval knights. That design might seem a mere marketing ploy, drawing on a centuries-old figure evoking Arthurian legend to appeal to potential customers of science fiction. However, a close look at Asimov’s narrative uncovers a notable link between the Mercury mission and its Laws of Robotics and the quests of King Arthur’s knights and their chivalric code.
The word chivalry derives from the Old French word chevalerie (and French chevalier), meaning horse soldier or horseman, and notably, images of the astronauts as ersatz horsemen enter Asimov’s story after Powell summons one of the older robots, from the first Mercury expedition, to find Speedy. In reply, the machine says it cannot proceed with its mission yet because Powell “must mount first” (44). Donovan solidifies the analogy when he responds incredulously, “‘We got to ride him? Like a horse?’” (44). Asimov returns to the image of the chevalerie, or horseman, when Powell spots Speedy in the distance and urges his robot forward, saying, “‘Giddy-up!’” and “thump[ing] his heels spur fashion” (48).
As Powell and Donovan move closer to Speedy, the narration indicates Speedy’s own knight-like quality with a nod to Arthurian legend: “The distance between the men and the errant robot was being cut down momentarily—more by the efforts of Speedy than the slow plodding of the fifty-year-old antique mounts of Donovan and Powell” (48). The word errant, which Asimov uses to describe Speedy, figures frequently in Le Morte d’ Arthur as a descriptor of the knights who wander in search of opportunities to prove their chivalry. As Launcelot says to Sir Tristram, “I am a knight errant . . . that rideth to seek many adventures” (Malory, vol. 2, bk. 10, ch. 86).
For Speedy, Powell, and Donovan, the holy grail is the selenium essential to the astronauts’ survival. Speedy’s initial inability to secure the selenium is not a violation of his chivalric code (the Three Laws of Robotics), but rather the result of his unfailing fidelity to the two Laws in conflict: He cannot obey his orders and protect his existence with the looming danger of volcanic action.
The repeated image in Johannes Regn’s Doubleday cover for I, Robot (1963) seems to pay homage to Edd Cartier’s first-edition jacket (Gnome, Grossett & Dulap 1950) with its solitary robot gazing out from the cover. The silhouettes that span Regn’s cover, in alternating shades of lavender, lead to a pen-and-ink version of the machines at its side. From the indeterminate figures emerges a clearly defined image of the future that evokes soldiers of the past, seen both in the distant past of the Middle Ages and the then-recent past of I, Robot’s first book jackets. The metal body Cartier renders with his paintbrush accentuates the articulated joint guards of medieval armor—pauldrons at the shoulders, couters at the elbows, poleynes at the knees—details that define the iron and steel suits worn by mounted soldiers whose chivalric code informs Asimov’s fictional world. The similarities between the narratives of Arthurian legend and “Runaround”—seen both in the story itself and in Cartier and Regn’s covers—may speak to a basic need in the shadow of A.I. Lifting the visor of a knight’s helmet revealed the windows to the soul. When we examine artificial intelligence, we see no face in the cloud, no soldier in our service sworn to bring us no harm.
Works Cited
Asimov, Isaac. “Runaround.” I, Robot. 1950. Doubleday, 1963, pp. 40-58.
Malory, Thomas. Le Morte d’ Arthur. 1485. Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ files/1252/1252-h/1252-h.htm#chap88.
Next Up
In class on Wednesday, you will compose a reflective essay that documents the process of planning, drafting, and revising your analysis. In your reflection, you will include one quotation, which you will introduce with a signal phrase and follow with a parenthetical citation.
To comply with the requirements for your reflection assignment, you will need to complete the planning exercise in tomorrow’s class notes. In class, you will not be permitted to refer to my blog or any other online resources. You will need to have all the necessary information written longhand in your journal.
This morning, I will return your drafts with my notes, and you will have the remainder of the class period to begin revising your analyses on your laptops. Because next week is fall break, you will have two additional weeks to continue your revision work before you submit the assignment to Blackboard and publish it as a WordPress blog entry. The due date is Wednesday, October 14 (before class). The hard deadline is Friday, October 16 (before class).
Analysis Draft Notes
Along with my handwritten notes on your draft, today you will receive a handout of general notes to review before you begin your revision work. An additional copy of those notes is included in yesterday’s blog post.
Early editions of I, Robot (top row, l-r): 1950 1st edition hardcover by Gnome Press; 1950 dust jacket of 1st edition hardcover by Grosset & Dunlap; 1950 1st book club edition by Doubleday; 1952 1st UK edition by Grayson & Grayson; 1956 Signet cover; (bottom row, l-r): 1958 Digit Books; 1961 Signet 3rd printing; 1968 Signet 6th printing; 1970 Fawcett Crest; 1968 Panther Science Fiction.
Model Analysis in Progress
As a model for you, I am composing an analysis of Isaac Asimov’s “Runaround” that considers the story in relation to some of the early cover art for I, Robot (pictured above). Tomorrow’s blog post will include excerpts from the second draft, along with my commentary on the writing.
After fall break, we will examine “The Strange Fruit of Sosnowiec,” an earlier analysis of mine, as well as the student analysis “One Mississippi.”
The Writing Center
As you continue to revise your analysis, consider visiting the Writing Center. If you do so, you will earn five bonus points for the assignment.
To schedule an appointment, register online here, 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 analysis, consult with a Writing Center tutor no later than Thursday, October 15.
On Friday, October 16, Professor Cook will send me a list of the students who met with Writing Center consultants to discuss their analysis drafts. That record of Writing Center visits will provide the documentation needed for students’ bonus points.
Writing Center Consultations for Literacy Narratives
Section 1: 3 of 19 students, 15.7%
Section 8: 3 of 19 students, 15.7%
If you are one of the students who did not take advantage of the Writing Center when you were composing your literacy narrative, do not miss the opportunity to receive that guidance–and those bonus points–for your analysis, and later for your final essay and annotated bibliography.
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review your journal notes and the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips.
After Fall Break
After fall break, we will examine the student sample analysis “One Mississippi,” which I will distribute in class today. Before class on Monday, October 12, read and annotate “One Mississippi” and complete the journal exercise I will distribute along with it.
This morning, you will compose a reflective essay focusing on your experiences in English 1103 throughout the first half of the semester. Instructions for your reflective essay are included below.
Directions
Plan and compose a midterm reflective essay that documents your work in the first half of the semester, focusing on two or three assignments or aspects of the course that have contributed to your development as a writer and a student. Since you have already written a reflection devoted solely to your literacy narrative, your midterm reflection should focus primarily on other assignments or aspects of the course, including these:
Keeping a journal
Studying one or more of the class readings, including “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” “The Day Language Came into My Life,” the excerpt from To Kill aMockingbird, the excerpt from “The Falling Man,” “Runaround,” or one of the supertoys stories. On first reference, identify the reading by title and the author’s first and last name.
Reading and editing sample student literacy narratives
Creating and maintaining a WordPress blog and writing for an audience beyond the classroom
Collaborating with your classmates on in-class writing assignments
Playing Scrabble and collaborating with your teammates on Wordplay Day
Writing longhand
Limiting screen time
Include in your reflective essay the following elements:
A title that offers a window into your reflection
An opening paragraph that introduces your focus and presents your thesis
Body paragraphs that offer concrete details from your work to support your thesis
One relevant quotation from Dan Rockmore’s essay “Should the Classroom Be More Like the Gym?”
A signal phrase and a parenthetical citation for the quotation
A conclusion that revisits the thesis without restating it verbatim
A work cited entry for Rockmore’s essay.
You are welcome to refer to any of your class handouts and journal notes as you write, but you are not permitted to consult any online sources or use any digital devices as you write. If you followed the preparation guidelines in yesterday’s class notes, the citation information you need is recorded in your journal.
If you choose to include an optional second quotation from another reading for the course, that quote should also be introduced with a signal phrase and followed by a parenthetical citation. You will need to include a works cited entry for that quotation also.
Kudos
Vivian Laliberte posted a blog entry about the HPU Book Fair, where she won a container of kinetic sand, picked up freebies (such as the ones pictured above), and learned about the HPU Libraries‘ resources. For her efforts, she received a bonus assignment credit.
Next Up
On Wednesday, I will return your handwritten drafts (with my notes), and you will have the class period to begin revising on your laptops. Because the first week of October is Fall Break, you have two additional weeks to revise before you submit your analysis to Blackboard and publish it on WordPress. The due date for your revised analysis is Wednesday, October, 14 (before class). The deadline is Friday, October 16 (before class).
Early editions of I, Robot (top row, l-r): 1950 1st edition hardcover by Gnome Press; 1950 dust jacket of 1st edition hardcover by Grosset & Dunlap; 1950 1st book club edition by Doubleday; 1952 1st UK edition by Grayson & Grayson; 1956 Signet cover; (bottom row, l-r): 1958 Digit Books; 1961 Signet 3rd printing; 1968 Signet 6th printing; 1970 Fawcett Crest; 1968 Panther Science Fiction.
Tomorrow in class, you will begin drafting your analysis, which will focus on Isaac Asimov‘s short story “Runaround, one or more of Brian Aldiss‘s supertoys stories, or “Runaround” in conjunction with one or more of the covers of I, Robot pictured above.
In the early stages of your work, pay attention to the details that interest you. Don’t concern yourself with developing a thesis before you begin writing. The preliminary writing itself is a step that will lead to your thesis and the textual evidence that will support that claim.
One of the details you and your classmates addressed in your writing on Monday may figure in your analysis. Review those prompts and your responses, included below. Could any of them serve as a building block for your analysis?
Below are the prompts from Monday’s class exercise, along with your responses. The groups’ statements appear in bold, followed by my notes.
Although “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and “Supertoys in Other Seasons” are sequels to “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” Aldiss’s first supertoys story was published as a stand-alone work of fiction in Harper’s Bazaar magazine in December 1969. (The second and third stories were first published in 2001, in the collection Supertoys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of Future Time, as never-before-seen sequels to the original.) If you chose to analyze “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” as a stand-alone story, what detail would you be certain to include?
Near the end of “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss, the image of “artificial sunlight [. . .] growing long and golden across the lawn” (10) shows evidence of more than just the child robots not being real. It also points to a trend: Everyday things taken for granted may not be real in the future. Note: If you choose to focus on Aldiss’s “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” as a stand-alone story, you might explore how that image of the virtual sunlight and other illusions contrast with the depiction of the real world of the story. How have technological advancements impacted the environment and the people in it?
Towards the middle of “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” Monica asks, “‘Why can’t we communicate?” to which Teddy responds, “‘Because David’s upstairs'” (6). That exchange captures how the relationship between Monica and David is being processed through Teddy. Note: The group’s statement does not convey why Teddy’s role as a go-between is significant. If you choose to focus solely on Aldiss’s first story, you might consider the nature of communication between Monica and the supertoys or between the two supertoys themselves.
Where and how is one or more of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics evident in the actions of David, Teddy, or Jules, the serving-man, or where and how do the actions of one of those characters defy one of the laws?
Near the end of “Supertoys When Winter Comes,” David, in a fit of despair, “had struck the house’s control centre” (21). That led to the house disappearing, which causes a dangerous situation for Monica to be in, breaking the first of the Three Laws of Robotics. Note: David’s violation of the first law causes more than the disappearance of the virtual facade of the Swinton’s apartment, the illusion of a Georgian Mansion. Striking the house’s control centre demolishes the Swintons’ actual apartment, apparently leaving Monica Swinton, Jules, the serving-man, and Teddy in the rubble. If you address one or more of the Three Laws of Robotics in your analysis, the first mention should be followed by a quotation or paraphrase of that law with a parenthetical citation for Isaac’s Asimov’s story: (Asimov 51).
In “Runaround,” one of The Three Laws of Robotics states, “One, a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm” (Asimov 51). David breaks that law in “Supertoys When Winter Comes” when he goes rogue, and it leads to his Mom’s passing: “David struck the house’s control centre, wrenching it from the wall in a fury of pain and despair. Everything stopped playing”(21). That allows the readers to see that nothing is left except David. Note: The group states what David’s actions allow the readers to see, but their statement doesn’t convey the implications of that action. What does his violation of the first law indicate about the laws, the robots, and/or the humans they serve?
Henry Swinton’s words about obesity and malnutrition in “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” are repeated by him, almost verbatim, in “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and the Crosswell Tape and weight gain are also mentioned in “Supertoys in Other Seasons.” How are those issues linked to technology in Aldiss’s fictional world?
In Brian Aldiss’s “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” Henry Swinton states, “Obesity’s our problem, not malnutrition” (3). That observation indicates how becoming reliant on technology leads to unique problems that are not typically faced in the modern day. Note: The group’s statement indicates a contrast between the advances in technology in Aldiss’s fictional world and real-world advancement. In both classes, however, we considered the similarities between Synthank’s Crosswell Tape–the company’s leading product–and the synthetic peptides of GLP-1 drugs.
Throughout Aldiss’s story “Supertoys When Winter Comes,” he connects the conflicts of obesity and malnourishment with technology by mentioning the “safe parasitic worm [that] enables anyone to eat up to one hundred per cent more food and still keep his or her figure” (18). Aldiss continuously references Crosswell Technology to emphasize how technology plays a role in the pursuit of unrealistic beauty standards and issues in population and malnutrition within all three stories. Note: The group’s statement essentially rephrases the prompt rather than moving from observation to analysis. The group introduces the idea of body image, but doesn’t convey how that preoccupation with appearance is linked to Henry Swinton’s Synth company or how the conflicting issues of obesity and malnutrition correlate with technological advancement.
In “Supertoys When Winter Comes,” Monica Swinton tells David he’s “only a little android” (20). Where in the story do her words or actions seem to contradict that assertion?
In “Supertoys When Winter Comes,” Monica Swinton faces terror when her android friend dies. She says, “Oh God! It’s Jules. Poor Jules! He was a friend to me” (20). That contradicts her feelings about David because Jules is an android, but Monica valued him as more than that. Note: The group does mention that Jules is the Swintons’ serving-man, an important detail because his function in the household is different from the supertoys.’ Jules’s role is to serve, but Monica thinks of him as a friend. What does that reveal about her ambivalence regarding AI?
Near the beginning of “Supertoys When Winter Comes,” Monica, says to David and Teddy, “Come in now, children. Go upstairs and play”(14), demonstrating her connection to the boy and bear, the other “little android” (20), as she mourns the loss of her human child. Note: In your analysis, if you choose to address the inconsistencies in Monica Swinton’s exchanges with the androids, you might consider how her desire for a human child in the first story and the death of that child, revealed in the second story, may affect her words and actions.
“Supertoys in Other Seasons” begins in Throwaway Town, which the narrator calls “the land of the obsolete” (24). Who besides the mechanicals becomes obsolete, and who or what leads to his demise?
In “Supertoys in Other Seasons,” there is a parallel between the mechanicals being trashed in “the land of the obsolete” and how Henry’s life values have become obsolete as well. As Henry became increasingly greedy, his work decreased. Henry gets pushed out of the company and is made obsolete by the robot he created. Henry not only loses his company, he loses his wife and his son too. Henry’s life becoming obsolete leads Henry to remember that family is the most important thing and that David is family. That is further demonstrated when Henry asks, “David? Are you David Swinton?” (31). His words show Henry still claims ownership of David and shows that while everything else was lost, David never left. Note: The group refers to Sam Savvy as a robot, but there is no indication that he/it is mobile. Sam Savvy, the Supersoftputer Mk. V. that essentially runs Worldsynth-Claws, may be a form of AI more akin to the agents of Copilot, ChatGPT, and Claude. Also, the group writes that David “never left,” but he does leave the crumbled remains of the Swinton’s apartment for Throwaway Town. Later, Henry finds him.
In “Supertoys in Other Seasons,”Henry says, “My ambition got the better of me . . . my life is a complete cock-up” (33), showing how Henry becomes obsolete and how he leads himself to his demise. Note: The group does not mention that when Henry Swinton is forced into retirement by Worldsynth-Claws, it is Sam Savvy, the Supersoftputer Mk. V.–a product of Henry Swinton’s own company–that dismisses him. It is not only the decisions Henry makes but also his unwelcome proposals (decisions he isn’t permitted to make) that lead to his downfall.
In your brainstorming exercise last Wednesday, all of your groups developed analysis prompts that featured humans’ relationships with robots and the impact of artificial intelligence. Whatever you choose as the focus of your analysis, those two ideas are ones that you will be able to address in your conclusion. There, in your final paragraphs, you can express what your observations about the story (or stories) reveal about humans’ relationships with robots and the impact of A.I.
If your analysis focuses on “Runaround” and I, Robot cover art, you are also welcome to incorporate a study of one or both of the I, Robot covers pictured in the September 14 blog post: the 2020 Del Rey cover designed by Charles Brock and the 2004 Bantam cover designed by Jamie S. Warren Youll.
Seeing Letters and Words Anew
Seeing anew–which means seeing in a different, fresh, or modified way–is an important practice when you are studying your options for Scrabble play or analysis. When you play Scrabble, don’t hold some of the tiles in your hand. Keep all seven on the rack so your teammate can see them. And rearrange them as you consider options. Leaving the letters in one order may lead you and your teammate unable to see other possibilities (such as evil, which the second team missed in the September 4 game).
On the rack above, I have spelled a word, toy, as many players will when they first recognize a word among the seven letters. But leaving a word on the rack may prevent you from seeing other possibilities: lover, over,rove, toyer, very, vet, and one that’s far more valuable. What is it? See the end of this post for the answer.
In tomorrow’s class drawing, you will have the chance to win one of the copies of Brian Aldiss’s short story collection pictured above.
Next Up
On Wednesday, we will briefly examine some additional details in Asimov’s and Aldiss’s stories. Afterward, you will begin drafting your analyses longhand. Next Wednesday, September 30, I will return your drafts, and you will have the remainder of the class period to begin revising on your laptops. Because the following week is Fall Break, you will have two additional weeks to continue revising before posting to Blackboard and WordPress. The due date for your analysis is Wednesday, October 14, before class; the hard deadline is Friday, October 16, before class.
Answer
Repeatedly rearranging the letters on your rack can lead you to discover new potential plays. Looking beyond toy and finding overtly could mean a play of more than fifty points if you were able to play all seven letters at once.
Just as rearranging the letters on your rack enables you to see them anew, rereading the story that’s the subject of your analysis and posing questions–for instance, What else might that detail indicate?–allows you to see the words and phrases anew and can lead you to more material for your analysis, details that had previously escaped your notice.
As a starting point for our study of Brian Aldiss’s supertoys stories, this morning–after your Scrabble debriefing–you and two or three classmates will address a detail from one of the stories that may figure in the analysis you will begin drafting on Wednesday.
Each group of three or four students will compose a statement of at least one complete sentence that begins with a signal phrase for a quotation from one of the stories, follows the quote with a parenthetical citation, and concludes with words that convey the detail’s significance without stating its importance explicitly but instead showing it.
Example
Near the end of “Supertoys When Winter Comes,” David spots “a sickly rose growing by a crumbling brick wall” (21), evidence of the frailty of the real world he enters after the collapse of the Swinton’s apartment.
Your group will respond to one of the prompts below. The highlighted section of your class handout designates your group’s prompt.
Although “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and “Supertoys in Other Seasons” are sequels to “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” Aldiss’s first supertoys story was published as a stand-alone work of fiction in Harper’s Bazaar magazine in December 1969. (The second and third stories were first published in 2001, in the collection Supertoys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of Future Time, as never-before-seen sequels to the original.) If you chose to analyze “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” as a stand-alone story, what detail would you be certain to include?
Where and how is one or more of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics evident in the actions of David, Teddy, or Jules, the serving-man, or where and how do the actions of one of those characters defy one of the laws?
Henry Swinton’s words about obesity and malnutrition in “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” are repeated by him, almost verbatim, in “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and the Crosswell Tape and weight gain are also mentioned in “Supertoys in Other Seasons.” How are those issues linked to technology in Aldiss’s fictional world?
In “Supertoys When Winter Comes,” Monica Swinton tells David he’s “only a little android” (20). Where in the story do her words or actions seem to contradict that assertion?
“Supertoys in Other Seasons” begins in Throwaway Town, which the narrator calls “the land of the obsolete” (24). Who besides the mechanicals becomes obsolete, and who or what leads to his demise?
English author, artist, and editor Brian Aldiss (1925-2017) was best known for his science-fiction novels and short stories. Along with writing sci-fi, he wrote Billion Year Spree (1973), a history of the genre, which he revised and expanded as Trillion Year Spree (1986), coauthored with David Wingrove.
Aldiss’s short story “Supertoys Last all Summer Long” was published in 1969, in the December issue of Harper’s Bazaar. It was later used as the basis for the first part of the film A.I. (2001), directed by Stephen Spielberg. In the year of the film’s release, the short story was republished as the title story in Aldiss’s collection Supertoys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of Future Time.
Harper’s Bazaar. December 1969.
Scrabble Debriefing, continued
I have asked you to consider the similarities between the composing processes of writing for class and playing Scrabble. And last Friday, I mentioned that in both your writing and your Scrabble games, you should practice moving from observation to analysis. As you examine the images of the game boards and the commentary that follows, note how and where making that move to analysis more often would have benefited the players.
From Observation to Analysis
In the game below, the first team played lounges, using blanks for the g and the e. Even though playing both blanks and one u in a single turn could be a bad move, it was a good choice in this particular game. Why?
In the game above, playing both blanks and one u in a single turn was a worthwhile expenditure because the team played all seven of its tiles, which earned them an additional fifty points. So instead of scoring fourteen points for el and lounges, the team scored sixty-four points.
Though playing lounges (and el) was a smart move, playing vent in front of the s wasn’t. (See the board below.) There are two reasons that vets would have been a better choice. What are those two reasons?
First, vents places the e on the double-letter square for a score of nine. Playing vets instead would have placed the v on the double-letter square for a score of eleven. More importantly, playing vents sets up the opponents to score a vertical triple-word play.
As their answer to vents, the second team played live, with the i on a double-letter square, for eight points. By playing there, the second team set up their opponents to earn a score much higher than eight with a double triple-word play with a horizontal word with a d, n, or s on the triple-word square.
For their next play, the first team did not have d, n, or s, but they did have a z and an e, which earned them thirty-two points (with the z on a triple-letter square), four times the number of points the second team earned for live.
In their next play, the first team, which had drawn an s, was able to score a double-triple play with lives and spite for a total of forty-eight points. That means that the second team’s decision to play live for eight points netted the first team eighty points, ten times the points the second team scored with live.
Note that the last of the five pictures above is from the actual game played on September 4. I staged the previous four pictures to take you through some of the steps that led to live and its consequences. But the story doesn’t end there. Look back at the letters l, i, and e and ask yourself how the second team could have played those same three letters but scored a triple-word play.
By playing the e above the v and the i and l below it, the second team would have scored a twenty-four-point triple-word play, three times their score for live, and they would have prevented their opponents’ eighty-point gain.
The board pictured above includes one unplayable word: a misspelling of quills with one l.
Bonus Assignment
When you were growing up, did you look forward to browsing the shelves at the Scholastic Book Fair? Do you like to play classic video games? Do you like freebies? If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, drop by HPU’s Third Annual Book Fair on Wednesday, September 23, which runs from 1-3 p.m. on the outdoor basketball courts at Slane. In addition to books and video games, there will be zine-making, a food truck, and more.
If you complete the steps below, you will earn a bonus assignment credit.
Directions
Attend HPU’s Book Fair any time between 1 and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23.
Compose a short blog post about the fair (one paragraph, minimum) that includes one or more pictures you took at the fair–it’s a chance to show off your freebies–and an embedded link to a relevant website. Your link may be the official site for an author whose book you received at the fair, or it may be one of the fair’s sponsors: HPU Libraries and the Writing Center.
Edit your post to eliminate errors, such as misspellings and sentence fragments, and publish it.
After you publish your post, notify me by email that it’s viewable on your blog so I can credit you for the assignment. I must receive your email no later than 7:30 a.m. on Friday, September 25.
Enjoy the Book Fair!
Next Up
In class on Wednesday, you will begin drafting your analysis longhand. Tomorrow’s blog post will offer guidance on preparing for your draft work. The post will include the prompts for your group exercise from today, along with your responses. Because the five groups in each class will respond to a different prompt, tomorrow’s class notes will provide you with five points to consider as you determine your topic.
Also, tomorrow’s post will provide you with images of eight covers from early editions of Asimov’s I, Robot. If you are interested in analyzing “Runaround” in conjunction with one or more of the covers, tomorrow’s post will give you eight options to choose from.
Yesterday in class, after you wrote your individual observations about the paperbacks from the Asimov Collection, you developed talking points for our discussions of “Runaround” and “Supertoys Last All Summer Long.”
Today’s blog post includes the talking points you generated, along with pictures of your observation work.
If you would like to revisit the cover art that you examined yesterday, remember that all the paperbacks are included in the images in yesterday’s blog post. Because there is a glare on the cover of I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, that book figures prominently in the photo above. Notice that my copy has a slightly different cover from the one in the Asimov Collection. My edition has the same cover art by Mark Zug, but the image is framed by a black border with words of the Three Laws of Robotics in gray.
Foreground (L-R): Claire Jahnke, Ryder Pitek, Hayden Porter; Background (L-R): Michael McNamara, Kel Wadley, Brenna Murphy, Bridgette Murphy, Gavin Godfrey-Ryan, Madison Haugk, Nicole Halucka, Grace Duffy, Oliver Henderson
Talking Points
“A common theme of forced space exploration. Why do authors use this topic?”
“All very technologically centered, and show humans’ relationships with technology.”
“We discussed that the covers all convey a sense of danger.”
“The covers all also represent exploration, adventures, and discovering the unknown.”
“The covers convey a negative effect on humanity through artwork.”
(L-R): Ryder Pitek, Seb Olander, Kai Jarvis, Claire Jahnke, Michael McNamara, Brenna Murphy
“These books relate to the excerpts [sic] by showing the long-lasting detrimental affect [sic] technology has on humans.”
“One talking point is why do you think these authors/illustrators depict a sense of eerie loneliness when taling [sic] about the future?”
“How technology affects how society (high and lower class people) interact/ daily life/ and beliefs.”
“How sci-fi books influence technological development and our view of technology today.”
(L-R): Baylee Shattenberg, Madi Stone, Kel Wadley, Bridgette Murphy, and Oliver Henderson
“Very future orientated with robots and space.”
“The one group of books focused more on aging and time rather than space and technology.”
“The covers from the books we looked at today connect with ‘Runaround’ and ‘Supertoys Last All Summer Long’ by projecting and predicting visions of space and the possible future.”
“The covers of the books also connect to the short stories by visualizing adventure & possible danger.”
“How do humans view their relationships with technology in these novels?”
(Background to Foreground): Lance Morgan, Cole Wilhelmsen, Layla Rothberg
“Why do authors depict AI taking over society?”
“Most covers displayed a very optimistic view of the future through technology that allowed them to accomplish feats, even in space.”
“Some covers conveyed that the relationship between AI and humans was not good and might have caused conflict.”
“Supertoys Last All Summer Long”
Because our class time yesterday focused on the science fiction book covers in the Asimov Collection, we didn’t discuss Brian Aldiss’s short story. We will, however, examine it on Monday, along with his other two Supertoys stories: “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and “Supertoys in Other Seasons.”
As you prepare for Monday’s discussion of “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” consider these questions:
Unlike Isaac Asimov’s method of presentation in “Runaround,” which maintains the focus on Mike Donovan and Gregory Powell, Aldiss employs cross-cutting: the technique of shifting back and forth between two locations: the Swintons’ apartment and the banquet hall where Henry Swinton, Managing Director of Synthank, delivers his speech. Why might Aldiss have chosen that technique? What does it achieve?
Near the end of the story, Aldiss reveals that Teddy is not the only robot in the Swinton household. What words reveal that fact?
What details foreshadow the story’s revelation?
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review your journal notes and the blog posts with Scrabble tips.
Coming Soon
For Monday’s class, you will read and annotate Brian Aldiss’s short stories “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and “Supertoys in Other Seasons,” which I distributed in class yesterday. If you were absent or misplaced your copies, print ones from Blackboard.
Top row: (l-r) Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot; Harlan Ellison and Asimov’s I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay Bottom row: (l-r) Philip K. Dick’s We Can Build You, The Simulacra, The Variable Man, and Ubik
Today’s class will meet on the lower level of Smith Library, where we will examine some of the science fiction novels and short story collections in the Asimov Collection, donated to the library by Dr. John L. Hubisz, a retired physics professor who taught at North Carolina State University. In your perusal of the novels’ covers, you will explore how artists have depicted science fiction in their cover illustrations and what those images reveal not only about the stories themselves but also about readers’ perceptions and marketing.
The books will be organized into four groups at four separate stations for your viewing and note-taking. For any students who are absent from class today, and for you to look back at later, I am including images of the books, along with the questions that you will address in your responses to the cover art.
Directions
Closely examine the paperbacks at one of the four stations.
Ask yourself which features are the most prominent. Do any details in the covers bring to mind characters or scenes in Isaac Asimov’s “Runaround” or Brian Aldiss’s “Supertoys Last All Summer Long”? What patterns do you notice? What do the covers convey about humans’ relationship to technology?
Compose a short response, a minimum of one complete sentence, that addresses some of the questions in item two.
Repeat steps one, two, and three with the paperbacks at the other stations
I, Robot; I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay; We Can Build You; The Simulacra; The Variable Man and Other Stories; Ubik: Along with the questions in item two, consider how the covers make artificial life appear. (How do color, composition, bodies, machines, and typography shape the readers’ expectations about AI or artificial life?)
(l-r): Brian Aldiss’s Starship, Galaxies Like Grains of Sand, and Starswarm
Starship; Galaxies Like Grains of Sand; Starswarm: Along with the questions in item two, consider how the covers indicate that the author’s science fiction interests span a variety of subgenres. What kind of sci-fi story does the cover seem to promise? (Is it one of adventure, exploration, danger, social speculation, or cosmic wonder?)
Top row: (l-r) Larry Niven’s Ringworld and Protector ; Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End Bottom row: Arthur C. Clarke’s Reach for Tomorrow and The City and the Stars
Ringworld; Protector; Childhood’s End; Reach for Tomorrow; The City and the Stars: Along with the questions in item two, what impression of the future does each cover convey? (Does the future feel large, strange, and/or technologically advanced?)
(l-r): John Haldeman’s The Forever War; Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination; John Wyndham’s The Trouble with Lichen
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review your journal notes and the blog posts with Scrabble tips.
Coming Soon
For Monday’s class, you will read and annotate Brian Aldiss’s short stories “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and “Supertoys in Other Seasons,” which I will distribute in class today. If you were absent or misplaced your copies, print ones from Blackboard.
Astronauts Mike Donovan and Gregory Powell, as depicted by artist Mark Zug in I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay by Harlan Ellison and Isaac Asimov Ellison, Harlan, and Isaac Asimov. I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, Illustrated by Mark Zug, 1987. ibooks/Simon & Schuster, 1994, pp. 106, 107.
Yesterday in class, in groups, you and two or three of your classmates began your examination of Isaac Asimov’s “Runaround” by identifying the central conflict in the short story and composing a short piece of writing that stated the conflict in your own words. In your statement, you included (1) the first and last name of the author, (2) the title of the short story, and (3) the first and last names of the characters. If you mentioned the malfunctioning robot, you named him as well.
Here is my version of that exercise:
In Isaac Asimov’s short story “Runaround,” astronauts Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan, stationed on Mercury, find their lives in jeopardy when the photo-cell banks on their life support shields begin to fail. To repair the shields, their robot, Speedy, must retrieve selenium from the Sunside of the planet, a place humans cannot withstand. But rather than completing his mission, Speedy circles the selenium pool, leaving Powell and Donovan in danger of burning alive.
Along with composing a statement that outlined the central conflict in Asimov’s story, you developed talking points for our discussion, including these:
The differences between Powell and Donovan
The differences between the treatment of the older robots from the first expedition in 2005 and Speedy, the new robot, the 2015 SPD 13
How did the older robots from the first expedition still work?
Why were the older robots left behind after the first expedition?
The need for Powell and Donovan to ride the old robots like horses
The status of robots in the hierarchy of work
Speedy’s malfunction–something akin to drunkenness–due to the conflicts between Laws Two and Three
The Three Laws of Robotics
What aspects of “Runaround” led it to be considered an influential work of science fiction?
At the end of the story, why did Asimov employ dark humor about the freezing cold when the robot couldn’t understand it?
Speedy, the SPD 13 robot, as depicted by artist Mark Zug Ellison, Harlan, and Isaac Asimov. I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, Illustrated by Mark Zug, 1987. ibooks/Simon & Schuster, 1994, p. 109.
The illustrations in today’s blog post were drawn by Mark Zug for I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, by Harlan Ellison and Isaac Asimov. The screenplay was never produced as a film, but it was serialized in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine in 1987. In 1994, it appeared in book form under the title I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay. That book is one of the paperbacks you will examine when we visit Smith Library on Wednesday.
Though the film I, Robot (2004), starring Will Smith, shares its name with Asimov’s short story collection, it isn’t an adaptation of the book. It includes elements of Asimov’s story “Little Lost Robot,” some of Asimov’s character names, and the Three Laws figure in the film as well, but the similarities end there.
For Wednesday’s class, you will read and annotate Brian Aldiss’s short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” which I distributed in class yesterday. If you were absent or misplaced your copy, print one from Blackboard.
Wednesday, we will meet on the lower level of Smith Library, where we will examine some of the science fiction books in the Asimov Collection, donated to the library by Dr. John L. Hubisz, a retired physics professor who taught at North Carolina State University. In your perusal of the novels’ and short story collections’ covers, you will explore how artists have depicted science fiction in their cover illustrations and what those images reveal not only about the stories themselves but also about readers’ perceptions and marketing.
