Slides for Day 13 in EWRT 1A

1. EWRT 1A
Day 13
Problems, Problems, Problems

2. AGENDA
• Spring Quarter classes:
Interested in English Literature? Spanish?
• House Points
• Discussion: The Problems with Education
• Genre: “The Proposal” (Essay #3 + #4)
• Essay #3 Assignment
• Choosing and Narrowing a Topic
• Review: Library Resources
• Homework

3. ELIT 46C: Major British Writers
Victorian and Modern
(Spring Quarter)
Do you have to be an English
major to take it? NO!
Fulfills a GE requirement for
many transfer plans!
Meets TuTh 10:30-12:20
Fun instructor! (Me.)
What will we read about?
Madness! Sex! Queerness!
War! The Fall of Empire!

4. Do speak Spanish?
Which Spanish?
ICS52A 1S
Spring Quarter 2018
Weds 4-6
LANGUAGE AND POWER
“Chicano Spanish is not incorrect, it is a living language” Gloria Anzaldúa
Do you speak “proper” Spanish”? Do you speak Spanish the “right” way? Have you ever
wondered what “proper” Spanish is and who decided that it was “proper” anyway? This 2
unit class will explore these questions as we consider how power operates through
language and its consequences at an individual and societal level. With a particular
emphasis on the Spanish language, we will consider the historical role of the language as
a tool of colonization in the Americas. We will also examine the contemporary creation
of a “standard” Spanish language and how it currently operates in the United States, in
conjunction with other factors such as racism, to marginalize and exclude people,
principally those who speak a version of US Spanish. Class will consist of large and
small group discussions of readings with opportunities to explore your own linguistic
identities and language experiences.
This course is a LEAD course with an S-designation and it will require 12 hours of civic
engagement in the form of mentoring in a De Anza classroom. This mentoring, in
addition to the course content, will provide the basis for future mentoring opportunities
on De Anza campus through the LEAD program.
If you have any questions about the course or would like additional information please
contact Kimberly Vinall at vinallkimberly@fhda.edu.
Have you ever felt embarrassed that you
don’t speak a “standard” form of a language?
Have you ever wondered who gets to decide
what counts as a standard form?
Have you ever wanted to mentor other
students? Do you want to be a teacher
someday?
Then you might be interested in ICS 52!
Spring Quarter
Two units

5. House Points at the end of WEEK 6
House Points Comments
Gryffindor 121 Perfect Attendance BONUS!
Gryffinclaw 129 Perfect HW submission BONUS!
Hufflepuff 88 Showing improvement!
Ravenclaw 233 Perfect Attendance BONUS!
Ravenpuff 91 Keep at it!
Slytherin 121 Perfect Attendance BONUS! Perfect HW Bonus!
There will also be a prize for SECOND PLACE! (So don’t give up.)

6. Discussion:
Five Problems with Education
 For your HW, you read two lists of 10
key problems or issues with American
K-12 education.
 Now make your own individual list of
at least FIVE key problems/issues
with education.
 NOT limited to American education.
 NOT limited to K-12. (Can talk about
college—especially community
college.)
 Then choose one of these key
problems on your list that you have
significant personal experience with.
 After you’ve done this, in your
Houses:
 Share your lists with each other.
Everyone should share all five of their
problems.
 Each person should describe/explain
in some detail your own personal
experience with one of your key
problems.
 Be prepared to share your stories
with the class.
 We will share out at least 2-3
problems from each House and keep
a brainstorming list on the board.

7. Proposals:
What are they? And why do people write them?
From SMG, p. 322.

8. Writing a Proposal in Two Assignments
 In a proposal, an author presents a
problem and then offers a solution.
 In Essay #3, you will complete the
first step of a proposal: presenting
a problem.
 In Essay #4, you will revise your
presentation of that problem and
then propose a solution.

9. Essay #3 Assignment
 In-class essay that you will write
(in class!) on Tuesday, March 6.
 Can use an outline that you will
prepare for Discussion 17.
 Bring a blue book.
 At least 750 words.
 MLA-style format and citations.
 Prompt: Write an essay presenting
to your reader a well-defined
problem in education today.
Describe in detail the causes and
consequences, and convince your
audience that this is a problem
worth solving. Address your
presentation of your problem to
your audience: one or more
members of the education board,
its leadership, or to outsiders who
may be able to contribute to
solving the problem.
 Note: you should not (yet) propose
a solution to this problem (that’s
for Essay #4).

10. Essay #3 Potential Topics
 Common Core State Standards
 Student Learning
 Technology
 Social Media
 Politics
 High Stakes Testing
 School Leadership
 Instructors
 Curriculum
 Funding and Resources
 Inequity
 Classroom size
 Poverty
 Family factors
 Bullying
 Student attitudes and behaviors
 No Child Left Behind
 Parent involvement
 Student health
Which of these did we already identify in our brainstorming?
Which of these do we need to talk about now?

11. Essay #3: Research Requirement
 While you can discuss your own personal experience, limit this to a single
example, and be careful not to turn this into a narrative essay about your
personal challenges in school. Rather than relying heavily on personal
experience, you should use facts, statistics, or data relevant to the larger
population affected by this problem.
 To this end, quote (and cite) at least one outside source.
 Harry Potter does not fulfill this requirement. Neither does either article you
read for today.
 Your source should be a book or an article from a popular magazine or
newspaper.
 You should locate this article using the library databases.
 You should include your quote(s) and citation info from this article on your
outline.

12. Choosing Your Problem: Brainstorming
 Based on your earlier list of 5
problems (and our subsequent class
discussion/brainstorming), choose
THREE potential problems.
 Write at least one paragraph about
each of these three potential in
which you include everything you
know about the issue or problem.
 Be sure you pay specific attention
to the CAUSES of the problem and
the CONSEQUENCES of the
problem.
 Causes
 What is the cause of this problem?
Are there multiple causes?
 How did this problem come into
being or how was it created?
 Ex.: A cause of school traffic
congestion might be the lack of
public transportation options near
that school.
 Consequences
 What effects does this problem
have--on students, educators,
and/or society at large?
 Ex.: School traffic may cause
students to be late to class, which
may cause them to do less well in
school.

13. Narrowing Your Problem
 It’s likely that one of the topics
you wrote about seemed to
overwhelm you—especially when
you started to consider the causes
and consequences.
 For example: inequity.
 How many types of inequity are
there in education?
 What are the causes of inequity?
 What are the consequences?
 These lists are long! Could you
write about all of them? (No.)
 So now you need to narrow your
problem.
 Consider specific situations:
 Inequity of funding by school
districts in the state of California.
Do some school districts get more
money and why is this a problem?
 Inequity of funding for student
tracks. Why do “AP” or “gifted”
tracks receive more resources and
what effects does this have?
 Inequity of funding for academic
vs. non-academic programs. Why is
college sports funding a problem?
 Inequity of funding between
programs. Why are athletics
funded more than art and music
and why is this a problem?
 Inequity of teacher salaries.
 Etc.

14. Narrowing Discussion
 Choose one of the potential
problems that you wrote about in
your brainstorming paragraphs that
seems too broad or overwhelming.
 Now, share that problem with your
House and discuss ways that you
could narrow and focus your topic.
 Each House should be prepared to
share examples of narrowing with
the class.
 Examples of narrowing:
 Bullying -> Anti-gay bullying
 Poverty -> Lack of resources for
school supplies or books.
 Technology -> inequitable access to
technology resources.
 Student behaviors -> ADHD

15. Choosing a Problem:
Putting It All Together
 Choose one of your potential
problems that seems most
interesting/promising to you.
 Make sure it is narrowed enough
that it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
 Write the following:
 A few sentences that state what
the problem is.
 A few sentences that explain why
the problem is serious.
 A few sentences that outline the
causes of the problem.
 A few sentences that describe the
consequences of failing to solve
this problem.

16. Review: Finding a Book or eBook
Now that you have a focused problem, you need to
find an outside source that you can use to provide
you with useful information about your problem. Use
the library resources to do so.

17. Review: Finding an Article in Magazine,
Newspaper, or Journal

18. Homework for Thursday
 Read the Essay #3 sample essay.
 Find one article specific to your
topic. Use the library resources.
 Discussion #16: Summarize the
article; include one or two
quotations that you could use in
your presentation of the problem.