Against Interpretation

Here is the complete prompt for the final paper. Get it in .rtf or .pdf

Here are the book groups for Monday. Try to finish the entire novel. Most definitely get it done by Tuesday.

Some changes have been made to due dates and the up-coming schedule:

• GoPost Resource Page needs to be completed prior to class on Monday
• Paper #4 is due by 9pm on Monday. Please submit it via CollectIt.

Please check the Schedule page frequently to make sure you know what is going on.

GoPost is running differently this week. Instead of your regular questions and responses, your reading group will be in charge of creating a wikipedia-like resource page on your topic. Most of the organization for this will take place in class, so see today's powerpoint for details.

The paper that is supposed to be due this week will be due next week, Monday

Groups have been finalized. Here is the offical list:

A couple schedule announcements:

• GoPost will be different this week. I will be posting one question to which everyone is to respond with one, solid, well-thought-out paragraph. You do not need quotations, although they are encouraged, and your response can be directed to any response posted. I plan on leaving this board open as we move forward. Hopefully people will be interested in returning to the questions posed.
• Guest Lecture will be on Thursday. Daniel Griesbach has requested that be ready to discuss at least from Evans initial photos through the first 'On the porch' chapter, page 19. We will be shooting to finish the book next week.
• If you didn't know, Monday is Veteran's Day and we don't have school. Maybe a good time to get ahead on your Famous Men reading?

By popular request, I've uploaded some examples of successful one page papers. I have taken out names to protect the innocent. Grades have been removed as well, just to make sure everything is legal, though every example paper here scored at least a 3.7. These are commented drafts so you can see that even strong papers get notes.

Click here, for a folder of examples. Check back occasionally as I will add more as they come in.

Here are the survey results:

• Statistics for the multiple choice answers
• Comments for the open response questions. (coming soon)

Reading Stevens for Monday, focus on "The Snow Man."

Please fill out the class survey. It really helps me to know how things are going over, what is working and isn't, as well as to plan lessons. Here is the link to the SURVEY.

You will be allowed to resubmit a perfectly formatted paper by this Friday, the 12th, by 9pm. Here is the content of the email I sent earlier detailing the Do-over. Email if there are questions.

You may have until Friday to fix the formatting and resubmit. I'll reopen the CollectIt box or start a new one [whatever the program allows]. Also, so I can give people who went over the word limit a chance to save their work, you may make corrections and adjustments to your writing as well. We will consider last Friday a dress rehearsal, or something.

Remember: Page Numbers, Margins, Footnotes, Citation; use the program's functions to do this stuff. If you don't know how, click on the help icon and search for it. If you read the manuscript form text, there are good reasons for doing so. This is practice at being a professional. Even at McDonald's they have a diagram over the burger counter detailing standard BigMac form.

For those of you who did it right the first time, I don't want to ignore the fact that you were on point. So, your papers will already have comments. You may use them to rewrite or make corrections if you wish. Just resubmit by Friday with everyone else. Plus, I will give you a "Get out of GoPost free" Card. Just send me an email and you can skip responding for a week and still get full participation credit. Then, if you still would like to contribute to the discussions, that's up to you.

There are a few of you who have not posted pictures on the GoPost site. Please do so.

It seems some of you haven't found the paper prompt yet. It is on the Requirements page. Hopefully the description you find there will answer a lot of your questions. I'll post a link to the prompt and the format requirements now as well. Also, I'll take some time in class today to talk about what's going on.

For better or for worse, the date has passed on which I could still drop students who hadn't been showing up. That means that everyone on my roster is in the class and it is up to you to drop if you prefer not to be. The last date for dropping a class without it showing up on your record is Tuesday, Oct. 9th. Be advised.

Lastly, I just want to thank you for your work thus far. You all have exceeded my expectations at every turn [I am excited to see what you do with your papers!] Keep it up. When we get to the end of the class and talking documentary/photography and pomo fiction, it will really show.

Class tomorrow will be held in Mary Gates Hall, room 030.

Also, a reminder: please look at the discussion procedures and write a sample discussion question for the Sontag. We are going to workshop questions tomorrow in preparation for your first offical posts for Tuesday.

I just received this from the department. Just so you know, in order to stay in this class, unless you make other arrangements with me, you have to make it to all of the first four sessions.

First Week Attendance

Because of heavy demand for many English classes, students who do not attend all reguarly-scheduled meetings during the first week of the quarter may be dropped from their classes by the department. If students are unable to attend at any point during the first week, they should contact their instructors ahead of time. The Department requests that instructors make reasonable accommodations for students with legitimate reasons for being absent; HOWEVER, THE FINAL DECISION RESTS WITH THE INSTRUCTOR AND SPACE IS NOT GUARANTEED FOR ABSENT STUDENTS EVEN IF THEY CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR IN ADVANCE. (Instructors' phone numbers and e-mail addresses is at http://depts.washington.edu/engl/people/dir.php or by calling the Undergraduate Advising Office, (206) 543-2634.)

Course packs are ready to be picked up at Ave. Copy Center (4141 University Way). Or, if you prefer, I have posted links to most of the readings on the Links page as well as the entire Coursepack manuscript on the Requirements page (reading is a requirement. see, it makes sense. no, really).

The Schedule page is set. Check it out, but, remember, its tentative.

This is our first post on the ENGL 250fa07 website. Looks like everything is just about ready to go. I have some updates to make, the links page needs some work and I need to up-load the assignment descriptions; but we are just about there.