EWRT 1BClass 1

Adding the Class

•See me after class today.

The Green Sheet

Requirements: • Active participation in class

discussions and regular attendance. • Keeping up-to-date on the

assignments and reading. • Five formal papers, two of which

will be written in class. • A series of posts to the class

website.• Tests, quizzes, and in-class

assignments.

Texts and Required Materials:

PRIMARY TEXTS Available on the Website • Chesnutt, Charles “The Passing of Grandison”• Far, Sui Sin, “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian”• Hughes, Langston, “Passing,” (the poem). • ---. “Passing,” (short story).• ---. “Who’s Passing for Who.” • Morrison, Toni, “Recitatif” Available at the Bookstore • Hwang, David Henry, M Butterfly Order online as soon as possible• Feinberg, Leslie, Stone Butch Blues SECONDARY TEXTS Available on the Website • Assorted Journal Articles

Class Policies•Paper Submissions:All papers will be submitted at the beginning of class on the due date. Papers must be in MLA format to be accepted. If the format is incorrect, I will return the paper to you for refinement. Please keep all drafts, revisions, peer reviews, and other documents you used in preparation of your essay. You should be able to produce these documents in the event we need to discuss your writing process.  •Workshops: In this class, we will have writing workshops in conjunction with out of class essay assignments. Please be prepared by bringing the appropriate number of copies of your rough draft on workshop days. All drafts for out-of-class essays must be typed though using recycled paper is acceptable. Failure to bring rough drafts to workshop days will result in an automatic loss of the workshop points.  •Late Work:As a general rule, you will lose points for late work. For each day that an essay is late, your grade will decrease by one third of a letter grade. However, if you have a personal emergency or other extenuating circumstance that prohibits you from submitting your essay, completing an assignment on time, giving a presentation, or taking an exam as scheduled, email me as soon as possible so we can discuss solutions; please do not wait until the last minute to notify me. Essays submitted late will not receive any written comments.

Quizzes:I may decide to include pop quizzes from time to time to ensure you are completing all readings in a timely fashion. Tests: We will have several terms tests during the quarter. Participation:Participation includes doing all work asked of you inside and outside of class, maintaining a positive learning environment for your classmates, and contributing to class discussion. We will have in-class activities that will count toward hard participation points.

• Academic Dishonesty:• Plagiarism includes quoting or paraphrasing material without

documentation and copying from other students or professionals. Intentional plagiarism is a grave offense; the resulting response will be distasteful. Depending upon the severity, instances of plagiarism may result in a failing grade for the paper or the course and possible administrative action. All assignments will be scanned and scrutinized for academic dishonesty. Please refer to your handbook for more information regarding plagiarism.

• • Attendance:• Attendance is a significant part of this course, and success in this course

depends on regular attendance and active participation. If excessive absences become a problem, you may be dropped from this course (see your handbook for more on De Anza’s official attendance policy).

• • It is your responsibility to talk to me your absences or other conflicts. Work

done in class cannot be made up. If you must be absent, please arrange with a classmate to get assignments and notes. Also, please arrive on time, as you will not be able to make up work completed before you arrive, including exams and quizzes.

• Conduct, Courtesy, and Electronic Devices: In this class, we will regularly engage in the discussion of topics that may stir passionate debates. Please speak freely and candidly; however, while your thoughts and ideas are important to me and to the dynamics of the class, you must also respect others and their opinions. • Courtesy: To help maintain a positive learning environment,

please focus on the work assigned, turn off all cell phones and iPods before class, and do not text-message in class. If your behavior becomes disruptive to the learning environment of the class, you may be asked to leave and/or be marked absent. • Participation: • Participation includes doing all work asked of you inside and

outside of class, maintaining a positive learning environment for your classmates, and contributing to class discussion.

Website: • Our class website is http://ewrt1bsummer.wordpress.com. In order

to do the homework, you must establish an account. To make your own FREE Word Press account, go to wordpress.com and click on the large, orange button that says, “Get started here.” The system will walk you through a series of steps that will allow you to set up your own user-friendly Word Press blog. If you don't want a blog, you can sign up for just a username. Make sure you sign in with YOUR Word Press username before you post on our class page so you get credit for your work.

• If you prefer not to use your own name, you may use a pseudonym. Please email me your username if it is significantly different from your real name.

• If you cannot establish your website and username, please come to my office hours as soon as possible, and I will help you with the process. Much of our work will take place online, so establishing this connection is mandatory.

On the Website• Syllabus• Green Sheet• Assignments• Essays• Rubrics• Terms Lists

• Homework (Posting Space)• Presentations• Assigned readings• MLA Directions• Helpful links

Syllabus• The syllabus is a tentative schedule of agenda. • It may be revised during the quarter.• Use it to determine how to prepare for class.

For Example

Questions?

What is Identity?

IDENTITY: A person’s mental representation of who he or she is

• Components of identity include a sense of personal continuity and of uniqueness from other people. In addition to carving out a personal identity based on the need for uniqueness, people also acquire a social identity based on their membership in various groups—familial, ethnic, occupational, and others. These group identities, in addition to satisfying the need for affiliation, help people define themselves in the eyes of both others and themselves.

Identity• What is it?• Write down both a dictionary type definition and

what it means to you personally.

• Next, reflect on your culture and the dimensions of that culture that contribute to your identity. Take two minutes and jot down some notes to yourself. • Where in your life does your culture emerge?• How do you see yourself within your culture?• How does your family manifest culture?• What would you tell others about your culture?

More ideas about defining cultural identity?

•Music•Food•Faith, religion•Values•Language•Family structure

How do these qualifiers figure into identity?

•Education•Race•Gender•Sexual Orientation•Social Class

Nitza Hidalgo’s “three levels of culture”

• The Concrete: This is the most visible and tangible level of culture. These aspects of culture are often those that provide the focus for multicultural "festivals" or "celebrations.”• The Behavioral: This level of culture clarifies

how we define our social roles, the language(s) we speak, and our approaches to nonverbal communication. • The Symbolic: This level of culture includes our

values and beliefs.

Let’s consider how we define ourselves within Hidalgo’s “levels.” Look over our identity factors on the board for a few moments. Which aspects of identity go in which category?

• the Concrete: This is the most visible and tangible level of culture. These aspects of culture are often those that provide the focus for multicultural "festivals" or "celebrations."• the Behavioral: This level of culture clarifies

how we define our social roles, the language(s) we speak, and our approaches to nonverbal communication. • the Symbolic: This level of culture includes our

values and beliefs.

How Do We Want to be Seen?

•Are we the concrete? The behavioral? Or the Symbolic?

How do we see others?

• When you meet somebody, which of those items (under any of the categories) do you use to understand them culturally?• Is your attempt to understand others culturally

consistent with how you want to be viewed and understood?• What forces in our society might contribute to

our simplification of the culture of others, even though we don't want to be defined simplistically ourselves?

Course Theme: Passing• Historically, passing has been defined in terms of racial passing. It refers to a

deception that allows a person to take advantage of certain roles or opportunities from which he or she might be barred in the absence of this posed identity. The most common racial passer, of course, was the African American who lacked those characteristics typical of his race. These mixed race people had physical appearances that allowed them to be perceived and treated as if they where white. But passing is not limited to African Americans assuming white roles in society; it is not even limited to a racial basis. People pass in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons—from Blacks who pass for white, to Jews who pass as Gentiles, to gays who pass for straight, for women who pass for men—and the opposite of all of these. Reverse passing, though less prevalent, also exists in multiple forms.

• How does our simplistic judgment of people lead to the desire or need to “pass”?

In-Class Writing• How do we express our

own identities? • How much do we

reveal about ourselves and when do we do so? • How do we decide? • What does society

expect from us in terms of revealing who we are?

Homework

• Establish: Your Webpage or Username • Explore: The class webpage • Post:#1 Finish in-class writing and post it.

• Post #2: Write a paragraph or two describing a time when

you were unfairly judged on concrete identity characteristics. • OR Write a paragraph or two describing a time when you

passed as someone or something you were not. The passing can be either purposeful or inadvertent.