Author: JPeer

Thank you all for the fantastic semester. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Your final papers can be found in my mailbox in the English department.

Happy Holidays!

For those students who missed our final class meeting on Monday, you can find your graded and annotated second essay in my mailbox in the English department on the 7th floor of the Vertical Campus. Thanks!

If you might take a moment to evaluate the course, it would be very helpful. You can find the link here:

https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/bctc/course_evaluations_landing.htm

Hey Folks,

I am uploading the grading rubric used to grade your second essay here.

As with the previous essay, I am happy to allow revisions, if you are not satisfied with your grade. However, as before, the revised grade will count for 40% of the final grade for the assignment, and the original grade will count for 60%.

If you’d like to write another draft, please email it to me no later than Monday, December 19th, at 5:40pm.

Thanks!

 

Our discussion of the film reviews of American Honey on Monday was extremely useful, I thought, and I wanted to reiterate some of the points we made. In particular, I think you might use these two reviews as models for your own. (Here is the one by Brian Tallerico. The other was from the New York Times, and was written by A.O. Scott.)

The basic structure of both reviews was the same, and it might be a useful outline to follow. Of course, you can deviate from and develop upon it as you see fit. Both two reviews are organized, more or less, as follows:

Paragraph 1: Main Idea (For Tallerico, this is the “youth=movement” equation; for Scott, it is a more basic introduction, with some criticism of the film’s title and an overview of its subject matter.)

Paragraph 2: Plot Summary (Both Tallerico and Scott begin the plot summary by introducing the main character. Scott spends two paragraphs summarizing.)

Paragraph 3: Large-view criticisms (Both Tallerico and Scott step back, here, to consider “narrative elements.” You might consider “picaresque elements.”)

Paragraph 4: Technical criticisms (Cinematography, writing style, actors’ performances, believability; this is a good opportunity to discuss the merits of your text as a work of art.)

Paragraph 5: Conclusion (You should try to return to your main idea from P1, as Tallerico does by returning to the youth=movement question.)

 

 

 

 

Here are some pointers as you prepare to present your reviews and narratives to the class. Your presentations may be informal, but you should plan on directing the discussion for five to ten minutes. If you don’t know how long your presentation will take, you can practice it.

In fact, you should practice it no matter what. You will be more prepared and in better command of your material if you do. Make sure to find your audio/video clips ahead of class time. Send the links to yourself. Find the video-time you want to begin showing it at. We can set the video or image up before it is your turn to present.

In terms of your actual presentation, I suggest combining several elements including some or all of these:

• a prepared written presentation for you to read
• a summary of the text you are reviewing, or of your narrative
• an example of the text you are reviewing, perhaps a video clip or an image, which you can share with the group
• an excerpt from your narrative (if you are choosing option one)
• a careful analysis of what is “picaresque” in your narrative or text
• one or two questions to ask the class, to facilitate a brief discussion

 

For our next class meeting, please read the short story attached here, called “The Hitch-Hikers,” by Eudora Welty. There will be no blog post or presentation, but if you would like to comment on the story, feel free to start a new thread.

The Hitch-Hikers

Just in case you missed today’s class or misplaced the handout, I will upload a copy of the assignment for your final project and presentation here.

Final Project Assignment

 

There will be four reading assignments for Wednesday’s class. The first, and longest, is an excerpt from “On The Road,” by Jack Keruac. This is about twenty pages, but it will go quickly. Please also read three short film reviews for “Scarecrow,” which I will link to here. Thanks!

1. On The Road, by Jack Keruac
2. Roger Ebert’s review of “Scarecrow,” from 1973: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scarecrow-1973
3. Peter Bradshaw’s review of “Scarecrow,” from 2013: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/apr/25/scarecrow-review
4. Bud Wilkin’s review of “Scarecrow,” from 2013: http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/scarecrow

I think it makes the most sense to cancel our class for tomorrow, as there seems to be a lot of conflict with Thanksgiving travel plans. I will nevertheless be available for individual meetings from 4-5:30 at my desk in the English department, 7th floor, 290-K. Please email me if you plan on coming around for a chat and we can make an appointment.

The readings scheduled for tomorrow will be for Monday. Please use this extra time to continue working on the second draft of your essays. The final versions will be due on Monday – and I expect them to be beautiful!

Happy Thanksgiving!