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This is Nicholas Burrus, and I have a joke for you. But you have to ask me.

Expository Reading and Writing

What’s Left for Seniors?

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
19 Into the Wild Socratic Seminar	20 OPEN HOUSE Min Day (ASB Convention)	21 SUB Day Into the Wild Film	22 (Club’s Day) Into the Wild Film	23 Into the Wild Film
26 Memorial Day Holiday	27 The Dumbest Generation (Observation Day)	28 The Dumbest Generation	29 The Dumbest Generation	30 The Dumbest Generation On-Demand Essay
2	3 Reflective Essay Draft 1	4	5 SUB Day	6 Reflective Essay Draft 2
9	10 Senior Finals Future of Education FINAL ESSAY DUE	11 Senior Finals Future of Education	12 Farewell Assembly	13

ERW:  The FINAL THREE assignments

It’s time to apply the skills you have been working on all year

In ERW, you are asked to read and analyze arguments, consider evidence, to think about who a writer is and what his or her purpose and intentions are, and to look for the rhetorical strategies that are designed to elicit a response from the reader. Critical reading and thinking are an essential part of the university experience. Critical writing is the other side of the same coin. As you think about the conversations behind and around the issues in a text, you join these conversations by presenting and responding to the ideas of the text.

ASSIGNMENT ONE:  On-demand Essay: The Dumbest Generation - May 27-30

For our final formal ERW unit, we will read, annotate, and write an argument in response to the a prompt that asks you to synthesize the ideas presented in three articles by Nicholas Carr, Mark Bauerlein and Sharon Begley. (Exit Standards:  Reading 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10; Writing 1, 4, 9; Language 1-6).

ASSIGNMENT TWO:  Process Essay: The Big Exit Pass - Tuesday, June 10

You will be writing a writing a multi-draft reflective essay on your year in Expository Reading and Writing.  The first draft is due Tuesday, June 3rd and the second draft, Friday, June 6th,.  Final paper is due Tuesday, June 10. (Exit Standards:  Writing 2, 4, 5, 6, 9; Language 1, 2, 3).

ASSIGNMENT THREE:  Group Project:  The Future of Education - Tues. & Wed., June 10 & 11

In groups of 4-5 students, you will collaborate to create a project that addresses the future of education.  After thirteen years in the education system, what do you think?  Are you prepared for whatever comes next --college, trade school, Peace Corps, work, or military service?  What kind of schools do you want to send your children to?  What is the future of education?  (Exit Standards:  Writing 2, 7, 8; Speaking/Listening 1, 2; Language 1, 2).

(For Exit Standards, please Appendix A.)

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ASSIGNMENT ONE:  The Dumbest Generation -- a quick ERW unit that relies on the skills you have developed over the course of the year:  reading, annotating, identifying main ideas, parsing the arguments, and writing an argument of your own:  May 27-30

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ASSIGNMENT TWO:  The Big Exit Pass -- a reflective process paper where you consider the changes you’ve made as a writer, a thinker, and a reader, and evaluate your senior year in ERW.  Using what you have learned about constructing arguments (using concrete evidence and reasoning), discuss your final grade for the year.  

Expectations:

• The essay should be prepared in MLA format, typed, and representing the best you are capable of
• Minimum of 1000 words, or 4.1 pages:  Times New Roman, 12 point type, double spaced, 1-inch margins
• Drafts are due when they are due.  If you are not in class, the draft can only earn half credit the next day
• FINAL POLISHED PAPER IS DUE in class no later than Tuesday, June 10; no late papers are possible
• No printing in class on the day it is due; this goes for drafts too
• As you write, consider your reader’s expectations and background; speak as the educated, college-bound writer you are
• Find a reader and a proofreader; take responsibility for your paper and your writing process

THINGS TO WRITE ABOUT:  “How have you changed as a writer?”

• Are you aware of your writing process? Describe it in detail.
• What do you need as a writer? Tangibles? Intangibles?
• What did you learn from Mr. Peter Elbow?
• Did you work to develop your sentence style? Did you try to incorporate new vocabulary?
• Are you working to become a better writer, or are you a “survivor” writer?
• How confident are you citing sources? Embedding the words of others into your own sentences? Writing summaries? Writing paraphrased information?
• Take any of your process essays and examine it. Give yourself a score from the EPT rubric and then defend it. Give examples/quotes to support your response.  Talk about your writing process for this essay: What kind of changes did you make between the first draft, the second draft and the final draft?  You were invited and encouraged to make changes. Did you? Were they cosmetic (surface issues like spelling and punctuation), or were they more substantial (ideas, organization, transitions)?
• Present some noteworthy sentences where you demonstrate effective, fluent style in your writing with sentence variety and a clear command of language.  What makes them so effective? Explain.
• What role do you imagine writing will play in your professional life?

THINGS TO WRITE ABOUT:  “How have you changed as a reader?”

• You should have read a minimum of six books for English class this year:  two in class (Left Hand of Darkness and Into the Wild), and four SSR texts

• Have you challenged yourself as a reader, or are you staying within your comfort zone?

• First, use the rubric (Appendix B)  to evaluate your SSR performance this year (and attach the rubric to your finished essay). Be honest with yourself. Based on this evaluation, what kind of reader have you been this year? Will your evaluation match up with what your teacher has observed from you during SSR?
• Please review the list of recommended books that you were given at the start of the second           semester.  Did you finish the book you selected from the list? Discuss it.
• How many books from the list have you tackled this school year?
• What other books have you read this school year? Describe some of those books: title, author, genre, plot/theme, characters, etc.
• Describe some of the themes or ideas you have been exposed to this school year in your   reading.
• What kind of reading are you doing outside of school? What are you curious about? What   interests you? What kind of reading gives you intense satisfaction?
• Have you done much “grazing” this year — that is, dipping into a variety of texts, with the   goal of  discovering new authors or forms? What has come of this “grazing” activity?
• What has your history as a reader been like? What kind of reader do you expect to be in    your adult life? Think of yourself as a working professional, and as a recreational reader.

THINGS TO WRITE ABOUT:  “What kind of student have you been this year?”

PARTICIPATION

Consider your grade for Record of Assignments (look it up).  Does this score fairly depict your participation so far this semester?  Explain.  Justify your answer with accurate support, specific examples demonstrating your participation since the start of the second semester.  Also, consider the class behavior expectations when evaluating your participation.

PROGRESS

Have you improved as a writer and reader?  Consider everything we've covered since the start of the second semester: all of the units and even any of the specific assignments you completed.  Where have you noticed improvement?  What do you need work on?  Be specific.

Remember: I reserve the right to reject any grade you offer if you are not convincing.  So be concise, yet thorough; objective, yet persuasive.  If you want to be convincing, prove it with clear examples that support your position.

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ASSIGNMENT THREE:  Group Project:  The Future of Education - Tues. & Wed., June 10 & 11

Free public education that is available to everyone is a feature of American life that is widely admired and emulated around the world. We hold up education as one of our foundational American values.

You were educated during the era of No Child Left Behind, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. It’s goals were lofty, stipulating that every child test “Proficient” by 2014.

(We’re not there.)

In 2010, California signed on to the new Common Core Standards, which are national standards.

At Mayfair, we are in our transition year, and we will be working with the Common Core Standards beginning in 2014-2015.

How different was your high school experience from that of your parents?

What is different?  What is the same?  What works?  What doesn’t?

When your kids start to hit the public schools in the next 10-20 years, do you anticipate that schooling and education will be built around the same model that we use today?

What can be different?  What should be different?  What must be different?

Begin with the End in Mind

• Your final product at the end of our time together is a presentation about education that seeks to address some or all of the questions posed here.  If you have a burning question about education, pursue it.  
• Create a 5-minute presentation using readily available resources that grapples with the issues that we face in public education.  
• Use all of the tools available to you as researchers and writers: read. listen. talk. reflect. Read articles and websites.  Watch videos. Talk to students, parents, administrators.

Procedure:

Use time outside of class to gather evidence; bring sources to class to share with your group. Work with your group in class to work on your script, plan, or storyboard; find a way to present your evidence and ideas; talk about ideas that excite you or inspire you; tell the story you want to tell.  Be constructive.  This is not a forum for petty complaints about dress code or tardy sweep.  We are looking for big ideas.

Also, create a works consulted outlining all sources your group has covered.

Group Norms

• Show respect for the non-renewable resource: time.  Start on time, stay on task, don’t squander minutes
• Listen to one another actively, attentively, without interruption
• Ensure that everyone makes a contribution, and that every voice is heard
• Treat everyone in your group with respect; honor commitments made to the group
• Discuss any problems in the group with the whole group

Suggested Resources

Readings

Brook, Kim.  “Death to High School English.” Salon.com. 10 May 2011. Web. 24 May 2013.

Brooks, David. “The Streamlined Life.” New York Times. 5 May 2014.

Cox, Tony.  “Op-Ed: ‘Higher Education’ is a Waste of Money.”  NPR.  02 Aug. 2010. Web. 22 May 2013.

Gatto, John Taylor.  “The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher.”  Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling.  British Columbia: New Society Publishers, 1992.

Mosle, Sara.  “Does Class Size Count?” New York Times. 4 May 2013.

Ted Talks

• Shukla Bose: Teaching one child at a time
• Geoffrey Canada: Our failing schools: Enough is enough!
• Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education
• Ken Robinson: How to escape education’s death valley
• Sugata Mitra: Building a school in the cloud
• Malcolm London:”High School Training Ground”

Youtube Talks

• Anya Kamenetz: “DIY U”
• David Garner: “Caution: School May be Harmful to Your Learning!”
• Jeffrey Cufaude: “Life’s a Great Teacher, Are You a Great Student?”
• Neil Postman: “Neil Postman on What is Lacking in Schools”

Big Think Talks

• Daniel Koretz - Professor of education at Harvard
• David Best - Founder of DonorsChoose.org
• Wendy Kopp - Former president of Teach for America

    

When reading the articles in the packet we received today, I got kind of angry. I don't believe we are living in the dumbest generation, but what do you guys think? I would really like to hear your opinions. :)

Community College Kids, please read!

This article is alarming and worth your time. Please read
Students vexed by community college placement tests

Go to the Cerritos College website, then go to the Assessment link, and check out the requirements:
http://cms.cerritos.edu/assessment-center/requirements.htm

Long Beach City College has started testing already:
http://matric.lbcc.edu/signup.cfm

I recommend that you practice!  There are practice exams online.  See me if you need help!

Hello everybody! It's coming closer and closer, graduation is almost here! Less than two months away so lets keep up our work ethic and stay motivated. We cannot slack off now, before you know it we will be out in the real world. Keep working guys!

Fast Food Taking Over

It seems like in today's day and age that the main food source for a quick bite is fast food restaurants. It's like fast food is taking over as that resource that almost everyone has experience with. I know that the fast food industry sales are going up and these places are just getting more popular and making more money. I am not saying that you can never have fast food, you can but you just have to have separation from getting it all the time. Having it about two to three times a month is not bad but having those same amounts during a week span. Yes that is a bad thing. What is that these fast food places have? Is it how it tastes or is it the price? What I think it is both. I think that the quality of the food and how it tastes plays a really big factor because for most people they want there food freshly cooked and nice and warm. I also believe that the prices that these fast food restaurants charge helps their cause. The dollar menu and the big combo's you can get for a cheap price is not helping around the world especially in America. I believe as nation we need to stop this problem of more people coming obese because of fast food taking over some people's lives. I hope to see it stop within the next ten years and just have to wait and see what happens.

The Final Product

As I double check and print my research paper, I literally feel like I have gone through a journey.  To be honest, I have actually learned so much about my topic.  I did not know what to expect when we started the "food politics" unit.  I really was not sure if I would like writing about this topic, but in the end, I really benefited from it.  During my junior year, I kept a food and fitness log to keep track of my diet as well as the workouts I did.  I was a huge health activist for myself, but as time went on I would splurge on more fast food and I slowly stopped working out.  Why?  I am not sure myself, but after doing this research paper, it made me regret stopping.

Truth is, I have a family member who is obese and it is terrifying.  When he was in elementary school he would eat excessive amounts of food during each meal, but every day he would throw it up.  He is fifteen year old, being 5'4" and over 300 pounds.  Fortunately, there have not been any uncovered serious health issues, but that does not mean it will never happen.  After everything I have learned through writing this research paper I will definitely talk to my family member about his situation.  Obesity is literally life or death situation, but it is also a situation that could be avoided.