Lesson Plan for Week 8: General Thoughts and Notes

Patrick Mooney, TA
Eng 10, Prof. Waid
22 May 2013

Major topics:

Thought for the day:

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all.

— Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin
Administrative Issues:
- Paper-related observations:
  - Make sure to hit the bare minimum lengths for papers in the future. I did not penalize you this time, but falling short, even by one line, will hurt your grade badly in the future.
  - Specific phrasing. Say what you mean, as exactly as you possibly can.
  - Your title should reflect something significant about your argument, not merely the assignment to which the paper is a response.
- Remember that Professor Waid has extended the deadline for the rough draft of the research paper: it is due via email by 11:59 pm on Wednesday, 29 May; hard copy is due next day in lecture.
  - I will return your final papers to you after the final exam. If you want to know your grade going into the final, email me and I will move your paper toward the top of the stack.
  - I will return your annotated bibliographies Tuesday 27 May in lecture. If you are not in lecture that day, you can pick them up in my office hours or in section.
  - I will update the Section Guidelines handout tonight to make sure that dates are correct. Note: done.
Questions for discussion:
1. Do you think that Professor Appel was correct in his claim that race can and should be ignored when casting? How did these choices affect your experience of the play?
2. What does A Streetcar Named Desire have to say about race? How does race function in the play?
3. What questions do you have about your upcoming research paper?
For section next week: Bring one copy of the introduction to your rough draft of your research paper (at least one paragraph) for group review.