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Summary/Response: Read Pages 160-192

Once you do the reading ahead of its due date, please enter your first 150-word summary responses as a comment to this post. The 150 words covers all the assigned pages, but feel free to write more if you wish. Your summary response can address any of the questions below or more:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. Can you share a personal experience that supports or challenges the author’s statements.
  3. Do you have other pieces of information that connect in some way to the authors claims?
  4. How is what you learned related to our class, your other classes, your future job, other areas of life, and/or our major assignments?

Be sure to read closely, highlighting key passages and taking notes about your thoughts and reactions. Use the Reading and Annotating Guide to prepare a thorough summary/response.

Summary/Response: Read Pages 141 – 159

Once you do the reading ahead of its due date, please enter your first 150-word summary responses as a comment to this post. The 150 words covers all the assigned pages, but feel free to write more if you wish. Your summary response can address any of the questions below or more:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. Can you share a personal experience that supports or challenges the author’s statements.
  3. Do you have other pieces of information that connect in some way to the authors claims?
  4. How is what you learned related to our class, your other classes, your future job, other areas of life, and/or our major assignments?

Be sure to read closely, highlighting key passages and taking notes about your thoughts and reactions. Use the Reading and Annotating Guide to prepare a thorough summary/response.

Summary/Response: Read Pages 93-119

Once you do the reading ahead of its due date, please enter your first 150-word summary responses as a comment to this post. The 150 words covers all the assigned pages, but feel free to write more if you wish. Your summary response can address any of the questions below or more:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. Can you share a personal experience that supports or challenges the author’s statements.
  3. Do you have other pieces of information that connect in some way to the authors claims?
  4. How is what you learned related to our class, your other classes, your future job, other areas of life, and/or our major assignments?

Be sure to read closely, highlighting key passages and taking notes about your thoughts and reactions. Use the Reading and Annotating Guide to prepare a thorough summary/response.

Summary/Response: Read Pages 61-74 and 80-86

Once you do the reading ahead of its due date, please enter your first 150-word summary responses as a comment to this post. The 150 words covers all the assigned pages, but feel free to write more if you wish. Your summary response can address any of the questions below or more:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. Can you share a personal experience that supports or challenges the author’s statements.
  3. Do you have other pieces of information that connect in some way to the authors claims?
  4. How is what you learned related to our class, your other classes, your future job, other areas of life, and/or our major assignments?

Be sure to read closely, highlighting key passages and taking notes about your thoughts and reactions. Use the Reading and Annotating Guide to prepare a thorough summary/response.

Zoom Guide

Here are some features that are likely to be used in Zoom: breakout rooms, mute, video on/off, sharing screen, “pinning” a speaker. Let’s go over how each works and how you can use it (along with any other important information):

  • Chat. At the bottom of the screen, click the “chat” icon. To the right, you can begin typing in a chat box. You may need to type into the chat to ask me a question, communicate with others, or to do some writing. I have turned private chat off, just because I think there are privacy concerns there (it is too easy to feel like you are texting someone that no one else will ever see, but, technically, Zoom saves all the chat information for a certain time).
  • Mute/Unmute. At the bottom of the screen, the left-most icon. You will be automatically muted when you first get on, and it is best practice to stay muted until you are ready to speak. As you might know if you’ve been in the online game for a while, lots of people forget to unmute themselves (we all do) so just don’t forget to make sure you are unmuted when you want to say something or when you’re ready to respond to a question.
  • Start/Stop Video. At the bottom of the screen, the icon to the right of the mute/unmute button. You will have your video stopped automatically as you enter our Zoom meetings. You can choose to start your video, but you are not required to do so. It is totally up to you. I don’t feel comfortable requiring you to share video of yourself if you do not feel comfortable doing so. That said, if you initially don’t want to share but eventually feel okay to do so–go ahead! The converse is also true–if you decide you don’t want to share video of yourself any longer, you can stop, as well. Don’t feel like you have to stick with any initial decision you make. I encourage you to keep your video on and unmute yourself to participate in class and create an engaging atmosphere akin to in-person classes, but I will not require you to turn the video on.
  • Sharing Screen. At the bottom of the screen, to the right of the chat icon, you can share your screen if called upon to do so or during breakout sessions. You will only be able to share your application (e.g., Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, PowerPoint, Google Chrome) so you don’t accidentally share personal stuff that you did not want others to see (e.g., on your desktop). I’ll be sharing my screen for sure as needed.
  • Pinning someone. In Zoom, the video will stay on the host (I’m pretty sure) and you will also have a rotating view of other participants (if there are more than a few, which will always be the case with us). If another student is speaking, to ensure you don’t lose them, you can click on their video and select “Pin Video” so that this person won’t rotate out.
  • Breakout Rooms. We will be using breakout rooms quite a bit. This is a way to do small group work. I might break you up so you can respond to a question, do some group writing, give each other feedback on writing in-progress, etc.  When you are in a breakout room, things mostly work how they would in the main room (can share screen, can mute/unmute, etc.) but all that happens only in the breakout room. I’ll end the breakout rooms when time is up and I might pop in to answer any questions.
Setting up Zoom application and account (adapted from Seth Graves)

Aside from using Zoom as we are today, I want to help make it work a bit easier in future sessions. First, by downloading the application. Second, you should also know how to log in to your Baruch Zoom account if you want to create meetings (e.g., with your Writing Group). Please be sure that your name displays when you enter our Zoom classes, instead of your phone number for example, so that I can easily recognize who is who. Set up your Zoom account by next class:

  1. First, go to https://zoom.us/download to download the Zoom application to your device (this will make life easier because if you rely on the browser only, it tends to crash more. Having application on your device helps Zoom work more reliably).
  2. Then, go to baruch.zoom.us.
  3. Then, log in with the same username and password you use to get into your email and Blogs@Baruch.
  4. If prompted, set up your Zoom account.
  5. If you want, you can add a photo of yourself to your profile picture (you do not have to do so).

Go to “Meetings” to “Schedule a Meeting.” More information on working to set up Zoom meetings can be found here.

Zoom teleconferencing software icon

Adapted from Daniel Libertz

Writing and Language Resources

The Purdue Online Writing Lab – A great resource for all things related to writing in college.

The Punctuation Guide – A nice interface for navigating how different kinds of punctuation tend to work in written English.

Digital Writing Resources – I have a collection of resources here to support digital writing (e.g., using images, audio, web design).

The Newman Library – Especially for the unit on research-driven writing, you’ll visit this website a lot to find books, journal articles, etc.

The Writing Center – The Baruch Writing Center provides free support to students to help with their writing. Tutors help all writers and writing–beneficial to all levels of writers at all stages of writing.

The Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute – The Communication Institute helps support faculty and students in communication through many modes (oral, written, visual, etc.). They have resources for students for model speeches, presentations, and you can meet with Communication Fellows for a consultation.

ENG 2100T – Instructors of these sections of ENG 2100 are trained Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and teach an intensive version of 2100 with extra time to work on reading and writing. Questions about this version of 2100 can be sent to Dr. Kamal Belmihoub, English as Additional Language (EAL) Director at [email protected].

Tools for Clear Speech (TCS) – One-on-one support and workshops available here to get instruction and practice in oral communication.

Conversation Partners Program – This is an informal program that matches native speakers of English with other speakers of English for a semester of practice building confidence speaking English.

Refract Magazine: Would you like a real-world audience for your research and writing? Would you like your words to make an impact in the world beyond your classmates? I strongly encourage you to submit your work for publication in this Baruch student magazine. You can win monetary awards b the English Department if your writing is selected.

Baruch Community Resources

Baruch Student Resources Website: In this site, you will find most of the resources you’ll need in one place.

Dean of Students Website – On this site, you can access information about the following (among other things):

    • Baruch Emergency Fund (which provides financial support to students in need)
    • Food Access (e.g., bagged meals, hot lunches to go, a food pantry)
    • COVID-19 resources. This is a running list of expanded food access options beyond Baruch (e.g., City Harvest, Met Council), housing support, job and unemployment related resources, physical and mental health resources, resources for immigrants, and public health related items.

Baruch Computing and Technology Center – On this site you can access information about: CUNYFirst; Blackboard; Email; Laptop, Chromebook, iPad access; information on Zoom and other teleconferencing software; access to software like Microsoft Office; and a lot more. Access to software you’ll need (especially important while working remotely) is also available.

If you have trouble accessing the information you want at the BCTC site, you might try contacting the Help Desk at [email protected] or (646) 312-1010. Generally speaking, the Help Desk is for issues with hardware or software, but they are available for any questions you have about technology access.

Health Center – The Baruch Health Center is physically open and you can go there for medical treatment (see full range of what the Health Center treats here).

Counseling Center – The Baruch Counseling Center can provide counseling for “emotional well-being, balance priorities, enhance interpersonal relationships, and empower them with useful coping skills to attain success in and out of the classroom.”

Student Disability Services – To help with accommodations like assistive technology and working with faculty to best serve your learning.

Early Learning Center – To help provide childcare for students who need it. They are currently (as of August 4, 2020) operating remotely.

Veteran Students Support – To help with academic success, networking and peer support among veterans at Baruch, and health and wellness.

New Student & Family Programs – To help with transition to Baruch (e.g., study skills, time management, learning how to navigate resources at Baruch).

CUNY COVID updates – Find all up to date information on CUNY and updates related to COVID here.

Baruch COVID updates – COVID updates related to Baruch specifically.

Summary/Response: Read Pages 15-53

Once you do the reading ahead of its due date, please enter your first 150-word summary/responses as a comment to this post. You summary must cover all the assigned pages, not just a selection of pages. Feel free to write more than 150 words if you wish. Your summary response can address any of the questions below or more:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. Can you share a personal experience that supports or challenges the author’s statements.
  3. Do you have other pieces of information that connect in some way to the authors claims?
  4. How is what you learned related to our class, your other classes, your future job, other areas of life, and/or our major assignments?

Be sure to read closely, highlighting key passages and taking notes about your thoughts and reactions. Use the Reading and Annotating Guide to prepare a thorough summary/response.

Interesting Reads

Kindness and Health: Is this an area that is meaningful to research and write about? Could it help you in your personal life, or help you help others among your friends and family?

Robinhood User’s Tragic Investing Story: Do you use Robinhood or have you considered using it? Are you concerned about this? Would it be meaningful to you to research this app more and find out who is using it, why, and how so you can teach your audience about it? Could you prevent another financial crisis by dissuading peers using it from speculation?

Should Universities’ Mission be Education or Career Preparation? :  How do you feel about being at Baruch in light of this article? Does this challenge a view you may have had that education is for getting a job? Is there a middle ground or not? Is it worth your time to investigate this as a way to get yourself ready to make the most of your time in college?

The Hidden Danger of Passive Investing: If you’re a business major or another major but you’re investing for a major purchase or other expenditure, how might researching and writing about the topic in this article help you with your approach?

New York Times Article on the Importance of Good Writing: Written by a writing instructor, the piece explains how writing is needed in any job. He uses a recent example from the news to show the importance of writing well, and the characteristics of good expository writing.