ENGL 101H, Fall, 2016TuTh Week 1 Class Notes, page 1

Dr. Harnett

Thursday, September 1 2016

Due: Bryson, Chapters 1-3 (pages 3-43).

Announcements:

  • Our wonderful SI leaders, Carolina Maranian and Anita Alaverdyan, will visit class this week or next if they can. More on the SI as a room is assigned for it. It will meet Tuesdays from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.
  • Next Monday, 9-5-2016, is Labor Day, and there are no classes on that day.
  • I made a correction on the course syllabus for this class and have re-posted it on the website for your reference. It now correctly shows the assignments and plans for Tuesday’s and Thursday’s classes of Week 2: You are to read through Chapter 7 of Bryson for Tuesday, and you will write Essay 1 on Thursday.
  • Please make use of this lab classroom to its highest potential as an effective place to learn and practice elements of academic writing. By that I mean that I expect you to pay attention to the class information and activities, give your best efforts to exercises and other in-class work, and in all ways be an engaged and fully active participant in the class. Your Participation grade comes in part from your involvement in class, so again, do your best in every class meeting! Prepare your class notes for each class meeting’s work that we do, and save it, on the S: drive (do SAVE AS and BROWSE to find it), then get it to me so that I can review it and check it in for credit as often as possible. I can check it on-screen in class, or afterwards. You may often want to continue with things in the class notes that we may not cover in class. On the other hand, if you don’t participate, including falling into distractions such as internet browsing, social network correspondence, texting, game-playing, or anything else that takes your attention and that of others away from our task at hand, your Participation grade will drop. Participating is intended to benefit you and put you in the best possible position to succeed.
  • GCC Club Rush will be held over the next two weeks in Plaza Vaquero (in front of AD building). Scholars will have a table, and it’s important to help promote our program.
  • As you are making the transition from high school to college, you will notice that the responsibility for your educational success rests squarely on you. Given this change, I want to encourage you to get into the practices of investing a significant amount of time to the class and your academic writing, and in particular coming to my office for feedback and advice on essays. I have found that working together to learn and practice effective writing brings the best results for you; it takes a lot of attention, effort, and patience to learn well. I hope that my support will facilitate that enterprise. Beyond that, I hope to provide you with many other kinds of listening and aid that I would like to provide for you in the interest of your success and well-being. The office visits will have to be brief, but I hope to make them efficient and valuable for you.

My email address: ; Scholars email (also is forwarded to me): ; backup email:

Office: LB 216; Office Hours: 8:00-10:30 AM & 1:30-2:30 PM M; 12:30-3:00 W[except on W 9/2, 10/7, 11/4, & 12/2, when I will be at Academic Affairs meetings]; 8:00-9:00 AM TuTh. other times are possible—see me.

Website:

Diagnostic Essay graded ASAP; also feel free to come to my office and I will go over it for you then if I haven’t done so already. Remember that the grades on this essay don’t count; they just show your approximate writing level as we begin the course. Throughout the semester, be sure to see me for feedback and advice about your writing.

Please be sure to read the course syllabus so that you know about all of the policies, etc. for the course. Among them, note that cell phones are not allowed in class, and that distracted or distracting behaviors are not allowed either. Continued problems with this, having been warned, hurt your grade, your use of the lab, and your standing in the class. Instead, involve yourself attentively in the class activities so that you boost your Participation grade and improve your writing. I will also send you class notes each week for your reference.

Sign up for 3 Library Workshops. Schedule them for anytime in the first half of the semester—before midsemester in October. Once again, do it now before the workshops fill up.

For our Final Exam, I am planning to include a live performance of A Christmas Carol, based on the story by Charles Dickens. More in this to follow; I will get a group rate for tickets.

We will be scheduling a hike in Monrovia Canyon Park! We will take from 8:00 AM (if on Friday, 7:00 if on Saturday) until about 10:30 or 11:00, possibly a shorter amount of time. It seems to me that it’s a good thing to do as you read and write about A Walk in the Woods. The hike will count for extra participation, and it’s relevant to Essay 2, an illustration. More information on this to follow. I am proposing Saturday, September 10 or 17.

Supplemental Instruction begins next week; attend at least one every 3 weeks, for a total of 5 or more. SI meeting times and rooms TBA. Best times for you all?

Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods, Chapters 1-3: Have you been taking notes? What is necessary to note? Keep track of page numbers—remember that you want to be able to refer to important passages easily. You will also need the page numbers for citing all quotes, paraphrases, and summaries of ideas from the book that you use in your essay. Find the best system of doing this.

Oral Quiz on Chapters 1-3—Raise your hand and provide short, precise answers & I will credit your participation (just remind me of your name). Write brief written responses too.

  1. Chapter 1: What is one of the reasons that Bryson gives for deciding to hike the Appalachian Trail?
  2. What is one of the dangers of hiking in the woods that Bryson describes in Chapter 1?

Which of these dangers does Bryson imply is unique to America?

  1. What does Bryson do once he gets home with all of his equipment?
  2. At this point, at the end of Chapter 1, how does he feel about the trip that he’s about to take?
  3. Chapter 2: What complaint does Bryson have about the advice from different sources that he reads about dealing with bears?
  4. How does Stephen Katz become involved in the hike?
  5. How close are he and Bryson, as far as you can tell? How does Bryson feel when he first hears that Katz will go?
  6. Chapter 3: How close did the Appalachian Trail come to its original plan? Mention one feature of the plan and whether it was realized.
  7. Why does Bryson lose track of Katz? What has Katz done when they are finally reunited?
  8. With what do they have to filter their coffee? Why?

Other Questions about Chapters 1-3—some important ideas for notes. Give answers and list page numbers when I call on you—credit given for your participation and answers/supporting page numbers.

Chapter 1:

  1. How did Bill Bryson discover the Appalachian Trail?
  2. Show evidence that “the precise length of the Appalachian Trail is a matter of interesting uncertainty.”
  3. What is one realization that Bryson makes as he buys provisions for the hike at the Dartmouth Co-Op?

Chapter 2:

  1. What candy bar is mentioned as a favorite of bears?
  2. Summarize one of the bear encounters that Bryson reads about.
  3. What kind of life has Katz had lately? Mention one of the problems he has had.
  4. Describe Katz’s level of fitness and eating habits. What is one kind of candy that Katz has been sure to pack?

Chapter 3:

  1. How did Benton MacKaye first envision the AT?
  2. Who is the true creator of the AT? When was it completed?
  3. How are volunteers involved with the AT?
  4. What makes it hard to travel to the AT and begin hiking? How is this solved?
  5. What percentage of the people who begin to hike the AT “actually make it”? Why do they quit?
  6. On what date do Bryson and Katz begin their hike? Are they moving north to south or vice-versa?
  7. What is “the hardest part” about hiking the AT, as Bryson soon discovers?
  8. How well do they sleep that first night?

Writing Exercise Using Notes from Chapters 1-3: Practice with Summarizing Information from a Source. Use answers to the questions on Chapters 1-3 as notes, along with any other notes you have compiled yourself. Focus on one section of one of the three chapters as assigned (note: you might have an edition of the book with different page numbering; I’ll help you find your passage if that’s the case).

  1. Chapter 1: pages 1-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11-12
  2. Chapter 2: 13-16, 16-19, 19-21, 21-23, 23-26
  3. Chapter 3: 27-30, 30-32, 32-34, 35-36, 37-38, 39-40, 40-43
  1. Track the paragraphs of your assigned section and state the main point of that section—what is the section about?
  2. In which of these 3 basic ways does the section function?
  3. As a narrative (story) or anecdote
  4. As an argument—something to prove
  5. As a description of places, objects, or ideas (including history)
  6. Summarize this point and illustration as briefly but precisely as possible—in one paragraph—for this exercise. Most of the time, since the job of a summary is to present ideas in a condensed way, you will not use direct quotations very much: partial quotes and especially complete, compact rephrasings in your own words are most effective and efficient. Include the essential facts of the point or example. You need to do two things with a summary: generalize to be sure to cover the whole section being summarized, and select representative examples to show more of what the section is about, but not in too much detail—just enough to make the point reasonably clear. Cite the author and page numbers for all specific references to the book (Bryson 43).Once you have established the author as the source of information, you do not need to cite him by name again in the same paragraph, but you should remind readers periodically that the information is from the book, not your own opinion. So use phrases such as Bryson describes/According to the author/etc.
  7. Share and discuss summaries, judging them for their coverage, objectivity, and clarity.

For Next Time: Read Bryson Chapters 4-7 and take notes in the 3 categories of Bryson’s writing purposes that we have discussed:

  1. As a narrative of Bryson and Katz’s adventures as they attempt to hike the AT.
  2. As a description of historical background, flora and fauna, advice from books, and other information Bryson has researched and read.
  3. As an ecological argument about conservation, criticism of agencies, and other points Bryson makes.