Week of February 23-27

There will be NO homework on the blog this week as you should be editing and re-writing the final draft of your personal narrative essay.

Please take the time you would normally spend on the blog-based homework and use it to complete your essay.

Thank you!

Personal Narrative Assignment

Over the past three weeks, we've talked in class (and on the blog) about IDENTITY and VALUES.
No blog posts this week - you will write your essay and take an exam.

Assignment:
Write an essay in the personal narrative format/style that addresses one of the following questions:

What does your name mean to you?

What do you value?

What event caused a change in you?

Things to remember:

++For this assignment I am not concerned with how many paragraphs you have - BUT I will be looking closely at the structure of the paragraphs you have and the sentences you use. If you are unsure which punctuation to use to create a complex sentence, MAKE TWO SENTENCES. It is better, at this point, to have choppy sentences that are correct than run-on sentences that are not.

++Please, please, please take advantage of the spell-check on your computer. Microsoft is rarely wrong about misspelled words (and the grammar checker is pretty helpful, too).

++Remember, this is YOUR personal narrative. It belongs to NOBODY else. The more time you spend writing it, the better it will be. Please do not wait until the last minute to complete it. Please do not use your phone to type it out. Beyond the importance of getting a grade for this assignment, you should take PRIDE in your writing, especially because this is YOUR story.

Logistics:

++Your essay needs to be at least 350 and no more than 500 words long. Remember that your paper must be formatted correctly like we discussed in class. (You do NOT need to manually count the number of words, your word processor has a function for that.)

++ You will need to turn in a physical, PRINTED (not hand-written) copy of your essay. You also need to send me a digital copy of the file (professormelaniepucmm@gmail.com)

++I will proof-read your essay and return it to you - the proof-reading checks your grammar (but does not correct it) and gives suggestions for content. You will have exactly one week from the day I return your paper to you to REVISE your essay and turn it back in for a grade.

++When you turn in your FINAL COPY of your essay, I request that you turn in:
           ** Your final, clean copy of the essay

           ** The original proof-read draft (I won't know how much you've worked on the final copy if I can't see the original)
           ** The forms your peer editers filled out, and the original draft that they read

           ** Any graphic organizers, writing prompts or journals that you did IN CLASS as preparation for this essay.

           ** YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF WRITING FROM THIS UNIT. This can be a journal entry, a group writing activity, a homework assignment, anything that you enjoyed writing and think is a good representation of what you've done in class this month.

Check My Grammar

This homework is a little different than other assignments. You will copy and paste the following paragraph into a Word document, find and correct all of the mistakes, and then you will send it to my e-mail, professormelaniepucmm@gmail.com

The mistakes are ONLY in grammatical and structural conventions that we studied in class:
easily confused words, contractions, possessives, capital letters and double-lettered endings.

i sometimes catch myself judgging people I dont no, just because of the first impression they give. in reality, i do not have a clue about there real stories. i especially think people judge teenage girls with Babies to quickly. sure, they may have made a mistake, but the girls' usually know that, and their the ones who have to pay the price. i only experiencced the glares and rude comments for one night, but i thought of all the girls who have to deal with these looks wherever they go. we should all be slowwer to judge these girls, or anyone else, and realize that some things are not as they seam.

(Capital and capitol are often confused words! I had to check to make sure I was using the correct one when creating instructions for this assignment). 

Did you know? Valentine's Day

Assignment: Watch the video found here.
Then, go to this page and read the article about Valentine's Day.

Prepare a paragraph of 4-6 sentences that explains ONE CAUSE (or impetus) that has led to (EFFECT) today's traditional celebration of St. Valentine's Day.
For example: St. Valentine is a priest who went against the King's order (for what? I don't know! Read the page!), his saint day is celebrated on February 14.

Publish your paragraph in the comments section below.

Things that Change Us.

Read the following short story "The Little Things are Big Things," by Jesus Colon, a Puerto-Rican American who lived in New York City. Have you ever had an experience impact you so much that you decided to change your behavior because of it?

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"I’ve been thinking; you know, sometimes one thing happens to change your life, how you look at things, how you look at yourself. I remember one particular event. It was when? 1955 or '56...a long time ago. Anyway, I had been working at night. I wrote for the newspaper and, you know, we had deadlines. It was late after midnight on the night before Memorial Day. I had to catch the train back to Brooklyn; the West side IRT. This lady got on to the subway at 34th and Penn Station, a nice looking white lady in her early twenties. Somehow she managed to push herself in with a baby on her right arm and a big suitcase in her left hand. Two children, a boy and a girl about three and five years old trailed after her.



Anyway, at Nevins Street I saw her preparing to get off at the next station, Atlantic Avenue. That’s where I was getting off too. It was going to be a problem for her to get off; two small children, a baby in her arm, and a suitcase in her hand. And there I was also preparing to get off at Atlantic Avenue. I couldn’t help but imagine the steep, long concrete stairs going down to the Long Island Railroad and up to the street. Should I offer my help? Should I take care of the girl and the boy, take them by their hands until they reach the end of that steep long concrete stairs?



Courtesy is important to us Puerto Ricans. And here I was, hours past midnight, and the white lady with the baby in her arm, a suitcase and two white children badly needing someone to help her.




I remember thinking; I’m a *Negro and a Puerto Rican. Suppose I approach this white lady in this deserted subway station late at night? What would she say? What would be the first reaction of this white American woman? Would she say: 'Yes, of course you may help me,' or would she think I was trying to get too familiar or would she think worse? What do I do if she screamed when I went to offer my help? I hesitated. And then I pushed by her like I saw nothing as if I were insensitive to her needs. I was like a rude animal walking on two legs just moving on, half running along the long the subway platform, leaving the children and the suitcase and the woman with the baby in her arms. I ran up the steps of that long concrete stairs in twos and when I reached the street, the cold air slapped my warm face.


Perhaps the lady was not prejudiced after all. If you were not that prejudiced, I failed you, dear lady. If you were not that prejudiced I failed you; I failed you too, children. I failed myself. I buried my courtesy early on Memorial Day morning.


So, here is the promise I made to myself back then: if I am ever faced with an occasion like that again, I am going to offer my help regardless of how the offer is going to be received. Then I will have my courtesy with me again."


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Jesus Colon made a promise to himself that he would offer help to others no matter how the other person may react. By NOT helping the woman with her children, he was changed.

Assignment: Have you ever had an experience that affected you so much that you decided to change your behavior because of it? What was it like? Write one paragraph about it (you know the rules! 4-6 sentences following the structure we've practiced in class. Try to incorporate the transition and/or signal words!)

Prepare, proofread and publish in the comment section below.

Comments DISABLED ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15 at 9:15am.

Tell a story.

This is a picture taken by a National Geographic photographer in Lagos, Nigeria.

In one PARAGRAPH (4-6 sentences, following the structure we've been working with in class), tell what is going on in the picture. Give details to describe the photo and make your reader, who cannot see the picture, understand what you see.

Publish your paragraph in the comment section below.