The World According to Mrs. DeCarlo

Okay, so we’re all singing a little tune, even if it’s not the one I couldn’t resist using as the name of this post!  We get to sleep past 5 a.m. and spend time lounging around in our pjs!  Yay!

Just a little dose of reality, though.  When we get back, we’re going to be at least two days behind.  And as you know, there’s little time for “catch up” in our UM schedule.

At this point, here’s my best advice:  Get that Issue Proposal draft finished.  And get on those databases and find some secondary sources.  You need three this week, two of which you’ll use for your “big” Argument Analysis essay.  If you get on a roll, keep looking.  Remember you’re going to need 15, and the due dates for each incremental submission are not that far apart.

A quick note about writing an academic precis–many of you need to revisit the assignment.  An academic precis is “a different animal” than the annotations you did last semester.

Enjoy another day off.  And if you’re out, be careful!

Remember, you will do two argument analysis essays.

The first one will be an in-class essay that you will write after we spend class time working through the assigned articles and starting notes you will need to write the essay.  You will use the Saint-Laurent and Robinson articles from the textbook.

The second argument analysis essay will involve two articles you find concerning your individual research topic.  Before starting your essay, you need to do the following:

1.  find the articles (secondary sources)

2  make sure the two articles represent different viewpoints concerning your issue/topic

3.  read, analyze, and write an academic precis for each article

4.  prepare notes from the articles to use in the planning of your essay

arg analysis assignment

Let’s get started!  Below are the directions for the Issue Proposal and the Incremental Research Assignments.

Issue prop assignment

Incremental assignments

D:  Decisions.  Write about a decision you made that was a difficult one.  Maybe a good decision that you made—that shaped your high school experience (or just your life in general).  Or write about a “bad” decision you made.  Maybe one you would change if you could.  You could also write about a decision that you’ve made and you’re not sure whether it was a “good” one or a “bad” one.

ABC:  the beginning; the starting place.  What do you remember about your first day or your first year of high school? (the building, the crowds, a class, a friend, a teacher, a competition, a sports event?)

Click below to download and print a copy of the directions for and example of an academic precis.

Remember that this kind of writing may also be called an academic summary, but I find that the word summary confuses many of us (we think of the summaries we learned to do in middle school).  Also, an alphabetized group of academic precis will be called an annotated bibliography. The annotation for each citation in this case will be an academic precis (rather than the type of annotation we use in the ISP).  It may be confusing at the moment, but it will become clearer.  Promise!

Precis_Ext annot bib

Third quarter calendar:  2010 3Q

Fourth quarter calendar:  2010 4Q

Third Quarter schedule:   Q3 2010

Fourth Quarter Schedule:  Q4 2010

Interest meetings about our spring break trip to London will be in my room after school on Friday, November 13 and Tuesday, November 16.

If you can’t attend either, stop by and let me know you’re interested.  Remember that you need to enroll by November 25.

Why London? Click Go London for a slideshow!

October 31, 2009:  Every traveller who enrolls now or before the clock strikes midnight (eastern time!) on Oct.31 earns a chance for all travellers enrolled in our group to travel FREE! (eftours.com, #802321)

November 25, 2009:  The day before Thanksgiving–and the last day to enroll with the guarantee of being part of our tour. (eftours.com, #802321)

December 3, 2009:  Deadline to enroll to travel with us–availability may be limited after Nov. 25 deadline. (eftours.com, #802321)

December 4, 2009 and later:  Availability limited.  Late fees apply. (eftours.com, #802321)