Lesson Plan for Week 6: General Thoughts and Notes

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

Major topics:

1. Thought for the day:

   Because he cannot think his problems through in any but the most rudimentary way, he is as helpless as a child to combat the forces that bind him. It is not that he does not feel deeply, for he does. However, one mark of maturity is the ability to translate desire into coherent words, words into action; and Ethan Frome is incapable of all such translations.

   — Cynthia Griffin Wolff, The Narrator's Vision (1994, p. 139 in the Norton Critical Edition of Ethan Frome).

2. Administrative Issues:
   • Thesis statement #3 was due last night. I will not be able to respond to thesis statements until this weekend, however.
   • Midterm scores will be distributed during class today. Ignore the "percentage" score; instead, add one to the number in the "raw score" column.
   • I will return your close reading assignments tomorrow after lecture.
3. A few words about close reading assignments:
   • Yes, grammar and writing mechanics do, in fact, count. Not only does understanding these issues help you to express yourself more clearly, but your future employers almost certainly care about it a great deal. Margin notes about grammar, style, format are keyed either to the MLA Handbook or to a marking code from the University of Calgary's writing program.
   • Formatting also counts. If your word processor does not conform to MLA-based formatting by default, then you need to override the defaults and produce an acceptably formatted paper.
   • Avoid the three-part thesis statement!
   • Citations are necessary for every single quote or borrowing from someone else's thought. Citations only make sense in the context of a Works Cited page.
4. Group feedback exercise, based on the GauchoSpace Peer Review Guidelines.