A blog about energy and the environment.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Scholarship Opportunity
On behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the MEC department is pleased to announce the availability of scholarships (includes internships) to students majoring in disciplines related to oceanic and atmospheric science, research, or technology, and supportive of the purposes of NOAA's programs and mission, e.g., mathematics; engineering, computer and information sciences, biological, and social and physical sciences.
If you are interested and eligible, please see contact info below or the MEC departmental secretaries ASAP (they will provide mentors to help them through the application process).
Eligibility requirements are:
US Citizenship
3.0 GPA
Studying a NOAA science: atmospheric science, biology, cartography, chemistry, computer science, engineering, environmental science, geodesy, geography, marine science, mathematics, meteorology, oceanography, physical science, photogrammetry, physics, etc.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the following professor:
Yasser Hassebo
Liaison between LaGCC and NOAA/NOAA-CREST
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Looking ahead to Thursday's "Final Reflection."
You will be watching this video. Watch it now, if you want, to get ahead of the game:
Extreme Weather and climate change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adp6xN7E_Qc&playnext=1&list=PL2456E55F1A834112&feature=results_main
Extreme Weather and climate change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adp6xN7E_Qc&playnext=1&list=PL2456E55F1A834112&feature=results_main
Monday, December 10, 2012
Blogging the draft workshop
Conclusions
One thing for you to consider for future writing assignments is conclusions. Conclusions should be opportunities to go further than saying "in conclusion" and re-stating your thesis, which is what students sometimes do.
First, don't bother with "in conclusion." Your reader should be able to tell its your conclusion without you saying that. Instead, use your words to strike a different tone. Instead of sounding "argumentative" and defending your argument, allow yourself to write as if you're doing something else.
For example, you could write as if you were composing a personal essay. Then you could share a personal experience, and talk about how that experience fits into your argument. Another thing you could do is tell someone else's story. Wind down the essay by making it personal in that way - tell a reader how someone specifically was affected by the issues you're writing about. For instance, you could discuss how a hurricane changed the life of someone you read about. The goal here is for your to make your reader feel something, rather than make them know something.
Another positive approach to conclusions is to point your reader in a new and exciting direction that they hadn't considered. This could be a chance to take the essay into a new direction. Bring up an issue that you feel is connected to your argument, but that really points towards another entire essay you could write on the subject. In this case, you could even introduce new evidence. For instance, for your final assignment on climate debt you could talk about slavery. Why slavery? Because slavery used to be "business as usual" and now it isn't. This means that people are capable of making large scale changes to economies if they get organized. You could do this for other subjects as well. The point is to make your reader feel that your argument is meaningful by showing them all the different possibilities that they could imagine are connected to it.
Sample essay with conclusion that includes another source
One thing for you to consider for future writing assignments is conclusions. Conclusions should be opportunities to go further than saying "in conclusion" and re-stating your thesis, which is what students sometimes do.
First, don't bother with "in conclusion." Your reader should be able to tell its your conclusion without you saying that. Instead, use your words to strike a different tone. Instead of sounding "argumentative" and defending your argument, allow yourself to write as if you're doing something else.
For example, you could write as if you were composing a personal essay. Then you could share a personal experience, and talk about how that experience fits into your argument. Another thing you could do is tell someone else's story. Wind down the essay by making it personal in that way - tell a reader how someone specifically was affected by the issues you're writing about. For instance, you could discuss how a hurricane changed the life of someone you read about. The goal here is for your to make your reader feel something, rather than make them know something.
Another positive approach to conclusions is to point your reader in a new and exciting direction that they hadn't considered. This could be a chance to take the essay into a new direction. Bring up an issue that you feel is connected to your argument, but that really points towards another entire essay you could write on the subject. In this case, you could even introduce new evidence. For instance, for your final assignment on climate debt you could talk about slavery. Why slavery? Because slavery used to be "business as usual" and now it isn't. This means that people are capable of making large scale changes to economies if they get organized. You could do this for other subjects as well. The point is to make your reader feel that your argument is meaningful by showing them all the different possibilities that they could imagine are connected to it.
Sample essay with conclusion that includes another source
Defining Life
The success of the CAFO system was started and produced
by man. It is safe to assume that with the kind of success the food industry
developed, a great deal of responsibility would follow. Unfortunately, very little responsibility has
been shown from the people at the top of this corporate ladder. In fact, it’s
been the opposite of safe to the health of life in general on this planet. In The CAFO Reader edited by Daniel Imhoff,
one can learn that the organization of life by this system is taking over more
and more land as time goes by. Doing this has caused major climate change and
toxicity to our planet by pushing nature to the side. Moreover, the CAFO system
is also using scientists to alter the reproduction in factory farmed animals.
This means that the DNA is manipulated by the CAFO system. It is critically
important to know this information matters because the CAFO system is partially
responsible for the climate change and the loss of the natural order in life on
this planet. The persistence of these actions will only bring dire consequences
for everyone and everything if change soon isn’t acted upon man itself.
Global disorder is one of the consequences brought upon
by the growing of livestock production. In a passage from The CAFO Reader DIET FOR A HOT PLANET by Anna Lappe, she writes, “Scientific
consensus has confirmed that increasing levels of human-caused releases of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are trapping more and more heat… more
extremes of droughts and floods; more weather-related disasters, including
tornadoes and hurricanes” (Lappe 241). Basically, greenhouses gases include
methane and carbon dioxide all which are toxic and work together acting as a
shield to the planet’s atmosphere. This impacts climate change because the
confinement of factory farmed animals prevents them from using the release of
these gases (their manure) to fertilize on the grass they are supposed to feed
on. One, they do not feed on the grass they evolved from anymore, and two, the
emissions of these gases cannot be cycled back onto the fields of feed as
fertilizer because simply put, there is too much waste. From half a century ago to today, this country
has doubled its meat consumption thanks to the CAFO system. Yet, changing the
carnivorous diet a lot of us are on is possible and would help reduce the
global disorder we are already seeing. Choosing alternatives like organic or
vegetarian proves statistically that less fossil fuels and toxic gases are cut
down on; hence, a lot less heated planet if everyone contributes for the better
cause.
Not only is climate change effected but life is harmed as
well under the CAFO system. The confinement of animals produces more waste that
surrounding land cannot safely absorb so it ends up being totally
disadvantageous to life in nearby areas. In The
CAFO Reader, there is a short passage, CAFO MANURE IS A BENIGN RESOURCE
where the author writes, “When lagoons burst, develop leaks, or are overwhelmed
by flood events, as often happens, millions of gallons of manure reach
waterways and spread microbes that can cause gastroenteritis, fevers, kidney
failure, and death” (Imhoff 85). This
means it is common for the manure that comes from the CAFOs to be responsible
for the massive fish kills and other aquatic life. These frequent accidents are
also harming people. Workers in the CAFOs become seriously ill if they don’t
die from the deadly gas hydrogen sulfide that is produced from decomposing
manure. Then, there are the people that live anywhere near a CAFO who can smell
the stench from the excess wastes and becoming ill from the airborne gases. The
natural order of life on a real farm would’ve never caused any of these man
made problems. It is harmful to everyone and everything on the planet to
support CAFOs that pollute the atmosphere and harm if not completely kill off
life. However, changing the support system and purchasing from organic and/or
local markets is a step. It helps restore the natural order of life from its
traditional ways; a farm that is able to manage its plants and its animals altogether.
On top of the climate change and the toxicity of our
planet, the CAFO system has put effort to remove the ‘mothering’ genes in the
animals and make their own kind of breed. In a passage from The CAFO Reader, GENETICALLY ENGINEERED
FARM ANIMALS by Jaydee Hanson, she writes, “…the livestock industry is
developing animals that are permanently altered at the genetic level to better
fit the CAFO system – redesigning the very biology of animals so they can
become more “efficient” production machines and thereby maximize industry
profits” (Hanson 273). So, instead of changing their system to fit the physical
and psychological needs of the factory farmed animals from all the negative
consequences it has brought upon life on the planet, the CAFOs want to use
science and technology to start breeding their own kind of animals for more
money. Scientists who are practicing this incorporate the genes from other
animals, bacteria, fungi into the genome (the DNA) of the test embryo. Although
none of this has been yet approved, when and if it does, all it will probably
require is labeling to differentiate the products. This process doesn’t even
begin to sound safe let alone what kind of chemicals a consumer would intake by
eating engineered meat. With such uncertainty and so much at stake with a
science-based idea, this shouldn’t even be allowed. However, the manipulation of
nature by the CAFO system can only be stopped by society before it is actually
accepted by law.
By definition, life to the CAFO system is consumed by the
growth of economic power at any expense. They use the average human being to
kill themselves with industrialized food, to treat each other harmfully, and
this behavior will only lead to our own death.
How can one care about the health of life on their planet if they don’t
start with their own? In The Eleventh Hour, directed by Leila and Nadia Conners, the film shares a vivid
scene informing that the human mind was the key to survival but the
acceleration of the mind has become our tragedy. We are committing suicide by
thinking we are superior or far worse, separated from nature when in fact, we
are a part of it. Man has taken very little consideration of the environment
and experts in the film believe this disconnection is now the revenge of the
ancient Gods. Perhaps this is true but the actions of each individual will
speak louder than those words once we take part to be in harmony with the
planet and nature again. In the end, the irresponsibility caused by the CAFO
system falls on each and every one of us to change the turmoil man himself
started on our mother home, Earth.
Bibliography
- Imhoff, Dan. The CAFO reader: the tragedy of industrial animal factories. Healdsburg, Calif.: Watershed Media ;, 2010. Print.
Essay#1
Imagine you’re writing a story and your goal is to bring
together a certain group of people. What better way to get these people
together than to unite them through emotional empathy and to give them one
common enemy to unleash their emotions towards. This was the case in the film The Birth of a Nation and in the short
story A Red Record. These works of
art display violence as a tool in which the audience of these works can
empathize and be driven to action through a common message emphasized in the
works being observed. In The Birth of a
Nation we are shown a small group of white people being attacked by black
people, with the target audience being white Americans we understand that the
message of violence is meant to unite the white males to take physical action
and go out and avenge the white race against the colored enemy. In A Red Record the author is trying to
unite the black population by unveiling the unjustified evil that white men are
capable of. Through the violent behavior of the white man the blacks are meant
unite though understanding and sadness, not aggression and anger.
In the film The Birth of a Nation we are shown a
small southern town under siege by a group of black soldiers from the north
during the reconstruction era of the United States. The civil war is over but
these soldiers are attacking the white men in town, looting the buildings and
trying to get at the white women. The film shows a small group of white women
who have barricaded themselves against the black soldiers trying to enter their
home. The violent nature of this scene is meant to trigger an emotional
response of disgust and offense in the targeted audience who at the time were
white men. The violence against the white man in this film is meant to unify
the white audience against the unjust and cruel monsters that were the black
men. When all seems lost is the film a large group of Ku Klux Klan soldiers
ride into town and save the day. The violence now shown in this scene is now a
symbol of perseverance and justice for the white victims of this town. This
display of violence is now switched to a positive message of American values
that if all white men come together they will overcome the black menace and
maintain their peaceful American life and preserve the values taught to them by
the white people that came before them.
In the story A Red
Record we now have the unification of the black population but not to rise
against or dominate their oppressors but to unify them through sympathy and to
come together against injustice and a hunger for equality by showing the
violent nature of their oppressors. The short story centers around a town in
Paris Texas hell bent on crucifying a black man named Henry Smith for the
murder of a four year old white girl named Myrtle Vance, The daughter of
Officer Vance. The story demonstrates how hatred and an unjustified feeling of
self-righteousness can lead to acts of cruelty and total disregard for human
life. This is evident in the way the story tells of how the murder of a
sheriff’s young daughter is extremely exaggerated in its description and that
the suspect had obviously had to be a black man who committed this crime out of
revenge “Nothing is farther from the truth than that statement. It is a cold
blooded, deliberate, brutal falsehood which this Christian (?) Bishop uses to
bolster up the Infamous plea that the people of Paris were driven to insanity
by learning that the little girl had been viciously assaulted, choked to death,
and then torn to pieces by a demon in human form” (Wells,86). The black man was
never given a fair hearing and no proof was ever given in order to condemn the
suspect. The suspect is caught, paraded before a massive audience where his
clothes are ripped to shreds, brutally tortured by having his body poked by red
hot brands, his skin terribly burned inch by inch, his lungs being suffocated
by the smoke of his burning flesh, his life slowly and painfully taken in the
public, “Every groan from the bead, every contortion of his body was cheered by
the thickly packed crowd of 10,000 persons” (Wells, 92). The people cheered as
thought at a baseball game, each time Henry screamed was equivalent to a player
getting a good hit of the baseball. The author describes the brutal vengeance
taken by the Vance family “After burning the hands and legs, the hot
irons-plenty of fresh ones being at hand-were rolled up and down Smith’s stomach,
back and arms. Then the eyes were burned out and irons were thrust down his
throat” (Wells, 92). This short description of hatred described the un
relenting hatred for a person believed of committing an equally horrific crime.
The author strips the avengers of all morality and in blind vengeance shows how
the white people of Paris are no better than the monster they made Henry to be.
Lastly to show the ultimate display of evil, the people erase Henry from
existence by setting his body of fire by being covered in kerosene and lighting
the body fire. The audience now watches peacefully as if some form of closure
is being performed for the public. The fact that Henry Smith’s body was
cremated against his will or the will of his family is a display of disregard
for his humanity; he was now less than a person and forced that fact to be
acknowledged by anyone who cared about him. There would be no body to clean or
to have a prayer read upon, there would be no remains to collect or ashes to
scatter because the crowd carried the pieces of charcoal left behind as
souvenirs of the event. The gruesome violence depicted here is just the extreme
behavior displayed but the more grotesque behavior lies in the actions of the
crowd witnessing the violence. This display is meant to expose the cruelty and
injustice of the white man during a post-civil war era. The exposure of this
event was an example of what the normal behavior was during these times, the
display of violence is the fuel which feeds the need for justice and equality.
The fact that a man can be convicted and executed without trail was a normal
action taken by white southerners and by shedding light to these terrible acts
comes the protest of equality and proof that the white man can be the monsters
that they make the black man to be.
Both writers have
depicted violent stories with the agenda of creating a certain action among its
intended viewers or readers. Whether to excite the white man into a violent
frenzy in order to bring about white dominance or to sadden the black man by
showing the cruel nature of the white oppressor. The works of art use violence
as a catalyst to fuel the fires of emotion. Violence in the media can be a
powerful thing it can be a tool for good or evil. The violence between one group
of people against another will always separate the parties involved. No matter
the argument or reason for the violence, it will always be a defining point in
the label of the group. Movies show heroes committing violence in order to save
the day, we never see superman reasoning with a monster with kind words in
order to save Lois Lane instead beating it to death in order to save the day,
The newspaper does not tell stories of religious extremist marching peacefully
or making attempts to resolve their conflict through peaceful words, instead
they depict monsters who murder others to prove points and send messages. The
point is that violence written or filmed has been a successful tool in
revealing emotions of the intended audience. Whether a form of guiding ones
judgment or exposing an emotion, violence is a great tool for the media and its
quest to entertain the masses through a positive or negative message.
Class Agenda 12-10
1. Twitter. Check your classmates' Tweets and "favorite" one and "retweet" another. If you need to leave a Tweet, Tweet.
2. Draft. Draft your third essay. I'll come around and work with you.
3. Reflection. Before class ends, I'll go over what will happen in class on Thursday.
4. Evals. I need a volunteer!
2. Draft. Draft your third essay. I'll come around and work with you.
3. Reflection. Before class ends, I'll go over what will happen in class on Thursday.
4. Evals. I need a volunteer!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Sample Thesis Template: NDAA (topic #3)
The connection between NDAA and Zeitoun is ______________ because ____________. Based on my understanding of NDAA and Zeitoun's experiecne in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, I do /do not believe it's justified because ___________.
Paragraph two: defining NDAA and summarizing Zeitoun's experience
Paragraph three: focusing on connections between important aspects of NDAA and specific examples of Zeitoun's experience
Paragraph four: repeat
paragraph five: discuss justification
possible conclusion: connect to climate change or other big idea
Paragraph two: defining NDAA and summarizing Zeitoun's experience
Paragraph three: focusing on connections between important aspects of NDAA and specific examples of Zeitoun's experience
Paragraph four: repeat
paragraph five: discuss justification
possible conclusion: connect to climate change or other big idea
Class Agenda 12-6
1. Return essays and glance through comments.
Issues: critical thinking strategies, introductions to sources, signal phrases from sources when citing research.
2. Conduct Peer Review (with targets).
Underline all sentences that sound like they "explicitly" support the thesis. (To be explicit is to be really, really obvious.) If you find a thesis, write "thesis" in the margins of the paper.
3. Examine paragraphs from Monday. Review the main points that groups made. Write down a main point from one or some of the paragraphs in your notes.
Group Four
Dennis Group
Elane Group
Erjon Group
Kevin Group
Victor's Group
4. Let's add to those paragraphs by connecting key ideas from videos. These sources might be useful for essay assignment number two.
Two Degrees Warmer
Climate Debt
NDAA
The Shock Doctrine
Sandy in Staten Island
Occupy Sandy Relief
5. Spend some time gathering notes that could introduce or summarize a source, and then spend some time connecting an idea from the video to an idea from Monday. Now work some of these ideas into the paper you're writing for assignment number three.
Issues: critical thinking strategies, introductions to sources, signal phrases from sources when citing research.
2. Conduct Peer Review (with targets).
Underline all sentences that sound like they "explicitly" support the thesis. (To be explicit is to be really, really obvious.) If you find a thesis, write "thesis" in the margins of the paper.
3. Examine paragraphs from Monday. Review the main points that groups made. Write down a main point from one or some of the paragraphs in your notes.
Group Four
Dennis Group
Elane Group
Erjon Group
Kevin Group
Victor's Group
4. Let's add to those paragraphs by connecting key ideas from videos. These sources might be useful for essay assignment number two.
Two Degrees Warmer
Climate Debt
NDAA
The Shock Doctrine
Sandy in Staten Island
Occupy Sandy Relief
5. Spend some time gathering notes that could introduce or summarize a source, and then spend some time connecting an idea from the video to an idea from Monday. Now work some of these ideas into the paper you're writing for assignment number three.
A common sentence issue
Money played a big role.
The role of money had an important influence.
Solution:
What big role did it play?
How was it important?
Then revise the sentences.
The role of money had an important influence.
Solution:
What big role did it play?
How was it important?
Then revise the sentences.
At Climate Talks, a Struggle Over Aid for Poorer Nations
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: December 5, 2012
DOHA, Qatar — The United Nations climate conference here has settled into its typical doldrums, with most major questions unresolved as a Friday evening deadline for concluding the talks approaches. One of the thorniest issues is money, which has often bedeviled these affairs.
European Pressphoto Agency
Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s environment minister, at the United Nations climate meeting in Qatar.
Since the process for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began about 20 years ago, countries have been split into two often-warring camps: the small number of wealthy nations that provide money to help deal with the effects of global warming, and the much larger group of poorer states that receive it.
At a climate summit meeting in Copenhagen three years ago, the industrialized countries promised to provide $10 billion a year in funds for adapting to climate change over the following three years and $100 billion a year beginning in 2020. The short-term money has more or less been raised and spent, although some nations have quarreled over whether it was new money or simply repurposed foreign aid. A Green Climate Fund has been established to handle the money after 2020.
Left unclear was whether money would flow from 2013 to 2020. That is what negotiators from about 190 countries are fighting about here.
And it is a particularly difficult time for the donor nations to find new money. The United States, which traditionally provides about a quarter of such international finance, is teetering on a fiscal precipice, and few in Washington are thinking about finding several billion dollars to help sub-Saharan Africa or precarious island nations cope with drought and rising seas.
Jonathan Pershing, the State Department’s deputy special envoy for climate change, said Wednesday that the United States had “every intention” of finding money for climate adaptation. But he pointedly noted that in the United States, “like most places, the budgeting process is complicated.”
Read the rest HERE.
DOHA, Qatar — The United Nations climate conference here has settled into its typical doldrums, with most major questions unresolved as a Friday evening deadline for concluding the talks approaches. One of the thorniest issues is money, which has often bedeviled these affairs.
European Pressphoto Agency
Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s environment minister, at the United Nations climate meeting in Qatar.
Since the process for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began about 20 years ago, countries have been split into two often-warring camps: the small number of wealthy nations that provide money to help deal with the effects of global warming, and the much larger group of poorer states that receive it.
At a climate summit meeting in Copenhagen three years ago, the industrialized countries promised to provide $10 billion a year in funds for adapting to climate change over the following three years and $100 billion a year beginning in 2020. The short-term money has more or less been raised and spent, although some nations have quarreled over whether it was new money or simply repurposed foreign aid. A Green Climate Fund has been established to handle the money after 2020.
Left unclear was whether money would flow from 2013 to 2020. That is what negotiators from about 190 countries are fighting about here.
And it is a particularly difficult time for the donor nations to find new money. The United States, which traditionally provides about a quarter of such international finance, is teetering on a fiscal precipice, and few in Washington are thinking about finding several billion dollars to help sub-Saharan Africa or precarious island nations cope with drought and rising seas.
Jonathan Pershing, the State Department’s deputy special envoy for climate change, said Wednesday that the United States had “every intention” of finding money for climate adaptation. But he pointedly noted that in the United States, “like most places, the budgeting process is complicated.”
Read the rest HERE.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Blogging Class Discussion
Over-haunting
Vincent 's unintentional idea of "over-haunting" the ocean fascinated me - the idea that there could be too much haunting of a place where many creatures have died and are dying. Think about "over-haunting" as a key term to describe something like a poetics of climate change. The humans are the living ghosts circulating through the wastelands of former life. The living haunt the dead, instead of the other way around. The living who may soon be dead, too?
Blocked Transition
Yes, according to James Hansen in The Global Warming Reader the gas companies are blocking the transition into a new future of renewable energy. They burn dirty, toxic fossil fuels and promote a lifestyle of driving and waste based on those fuels - everything from plastic toothbrushes to gas stations. Yet what transition would otherwise await us? And what would happen in the gap between the fossil fuels and the miracle technology that saved the planet? Do those technologies exist on a scale that we could achieve rapidly enough to maintain the "way of life" billions are now living or seeking?
At the same time, isn't it worth it on some level to survive at all rather than die, in the millions, while the lights go out? Is the last generation supposed to give up on dreams of a better life for those humans that follow us? Or aren't we smart enough - and brave enough - to imagine a new future, and one that breaks the technological and philosophical barriers that keep us from finding a better way? If one says that one isn't willing to change, isn't one basically agreeing to die, in the future, in a smoky, hazy world?
Since everything is at risk, including us, why not risk it all trying to save it all?
Add your thoughts below -- if you dare!
Vincent 's unintentional idea of "over-haunting" the ocean fascinated me - the idea that there could be too much haunting of a place where many creatures have died and are dying. Think about "over-haunting" as a key term to describe something like a poetics of climate change. The humans are the living ghosts circulating through the wastelands of former life. The living haunt the dead, instead of the other way around. The living who may soon be dead, too?
Blocked Transition
Yes, according to James Hansen in The Global Warming Reader the gas companies are blocking the transition into a new future of renewable energy. They burn dirty, toxic fossil fuels and promote a lifestyle of driving and waste based on those fuels - everything from plastic toothbrushes to gas stations. Yet what transition would otherwise await us? And what would happen in the gap between the fossil fuels and the miracle technology that saved the planet? Do those technologies exist on a scale that we could achieve rapidly enough to maintain the "way of life" billions are now living or seeking?
At the same time, isn't it worth it on some level to survive at all rather than die, in the millions, while the lights go out? Is the last generation supposed to give up on dreams of a better life for those humans that follow us? Or aren't we smart enough - and brave enough - to imagine a new future, and one that breaks the technological and philosophical barriers that keep us from finding a better way? If one says that one isn't willing to change, isn't one basically agreeing to die, in the future, in a smoky, hazy world?
Since everything is at risk, including us, why not risk it all trying to save it all?
Add your thoughts below -- if you dare!
Updated Academic Calendar Information
HERE.
IMPORTANT CLASS SCHEDULE UPDATE
The current schedule of classes has been adjusted to address the four days of missed classes due to Hurricane Sandy.
Please follow the revised schedule of classes indicated for these days:
Thursday, December 13 – Follow Normal Thursday Class Schedule
This day will now follow a normal Thursday class schedule to make up for the Thursday missed during the storm. Currently it appears on calendars as a Reading Day.
Friday, December 14 – Follow Normal Friday Class Schedule
This day will now follow a normal Friday class schedule. Final exams will now begin on Saturday, December 15.
Friday, December 21 – Last Final Exam Day
This day will now become the Friday (and last) Final Exam day. Currently the last Final Exam day appears on calendars as Thursday, December 20.
IMPORTANT CLASS SCHEDULE UPDATE
The current schedule of classes has been adjusted to address the four days of missed classes due to Hurricane Sandy.
Please follow the revised schedule of classes indicated for these days:
Thursday, December 13 – Follow Normal Thursday Class Schedule
This day will now follow a normal Thursday class schedule to make up for the Thursday missed during the storm. Currently it appears on calendars as a Reading Day.
Friday, December 14 – Follow Normal Friday Class Schedule
This day will now follow a normal Friday class schedule. Final exams will now begin on Saturday, December 15.
Friday, December 21 – Last Final Exam Day
This day will now become the Friday (and last) Final Exam day. Currently the last Final Exam day appears on calendars as Thursday, December 20.
Class Agenda: 12-3
1. Quiz. Choose from any of the three readings from The Global Warming Reader that we've been reading on our own the past week. Once you're selected the reading, find a passage that you marked with interest and return to the passage. Practice two forms of critical thinking on that passage.
Reader: “Global Warming Twenty Years Later,” 275-284
Reader: “from The End of Nature,” 293-298
Reader: “The Darkening Sea,” 377-400
2. Announcements
All Revisions due Dec 10th.
Extra Credit: Watch this film and blog about its connections to our course discussions (400 words).
3. Twitter: let's check on the conversation.
Naomi @NaomiRam14
Reader: “Global Warming Twenty Years Later,” 275-284
Reader: “from The End of Nature,” 293-298
Reader: “The Darkening Sea,” 377-400
2. Announcements
All Revisions due Dec 10th.
Extra Credit: Watch this film and blog about its connections to our course discussions (400 words).
3. Twitter: let's check on the conversation.
Naomi
Jean Li and I came up with an idea that Zeitoun is
responsible for the way he looked after comin out of prison :/
I see critical thinking as a good way to view the
things in other aspects. Thinking rationally or objectively ;)
Were the people who tortured zeitoun punished in the end or they just lived happily ever after?
The rates species "disappearing" are much faster
than normal because human think they are "domination" and over-haunt
animals (Bingham 300).
But i think Kathy as a wife, she didn't do enough to make Zeitoun recover from the being hurt mantal health.
The safe level co2 is 350 ppm but now co2 existing already 385ppm.(Mckibben 278)
4. They Say I Say
Review quote sandwich templates on page 47.
Three ways to respond: page 55.
Templates page 60: disagreeing with reasons.
Templates for agreeing with a difference: 62.
Agreeing and Disagreeing at the same time!? pages 65-66.
NAYSAYING - Discuss objections (82-83).
5. Groupwork: Creating Keywords ("ideas") from texts, defining them, and raising objections
For this next activity we will practice two skills: creating a keyword, or key idea, that helps communicate something important to a reader, and also raising an objection, or naysayer, in a discussion. Groups will see what passage they found, read it together, and discuss the creation of keywords (we'll model one first a a class). They will also attempt some "Naysayer" objections. Each group should have readers and writers, because as a group someone should post their response as a blog.
Group One: "From the Darkening Sea," page 379, pgh: "Since the start..."
Group Two: "From the Darkening Sea," page 380, pgh: "When CO2 dissolves..."
Group Three: "From the Darkening Sea," page 390, pghs: "Coral Reefs are dying..." to the end of the page.
Group Four: "From the Darkening Sea," page 394, pghs: "Carol Turley..." and "It looks like..."
Group Five: "Global Warming Twenty Years Later," page 276, "Changes needed..."
Group Six: "Global Warming Twenty Years Later," page 277, "Climate can reach points"
Thursday, November 29, 2012
in -class composing: critical thinking
intro statement:
In Zeitoun we can see legal problems surrounding identification and authority regarding Zeitoun's innocence, especially when he gets arrested after unidentified men find him and his friends in his house. Eggers writes that "Zeitoun tried to figure out who they were, but there were few clues. Two or three of the men were dressed in black, with no visible patches or insignia" (208). At this moment, Zeitoun tried to figure out who these men were. There are a few ways to interpret this, such as who were these men who took Zeitoun against his will. We could imagine that these men were doing something criminal because of this. Another aspect to focus on would be the fact that these men had no proof of authority. The men may have not felt the need to show their identity since Zeitoun and the others stayed back during the mandatory evacuation. This lack of identification is a problem. This connects to a later scene where after showing ID, the men clearly don't care who Zeitoun is, either. At this moment of crisis, identity just wasn't important. Since they lacked authority, Zeitoun didn't trust them.Based on what he sees, he comes to the conclusion that this "arrangement" of the men detaining them was just for him and his friends.
critical thinking prompts
I think this is important because
In this passage we can see...This moment is interesting because...
The importance of ______ is that _________
The issues that come up here include __, __, and ___.
In Zeitoun we can see legal problems surrounding identification and authority regarding Zeitoun's innocence, especially when he gets arrested after unidentified men find him and his friends in his house. Eggers writes that "Zeitoun tried to figure out who they were, but there were few clues. Two or three of the men were dressed in black, with no visible patches or insignia" (208). At this moment, Zeitoun tried to figure out who these men were. There are a few ways to interpret this, such as who were these men who took Zeitoun against his will. We could imagine that these men were doing something criminal because of this. Another aspect to focus on would be the fact that these men had no proof of authority. The men may have not felt the need to show their identity since Zeitoun and the others stayed back during the mandatory evacuation. This lack of identification is a problem. This connects to a later scene where after showing ID, the men clearly don't care who Zeitoun is, either. At this moment of crisis, identity just wasn't important. Since they lacked authority, Zeitoun didn't trust them.Based on what he sees, he comes to the conclusion that this "arrangement" of the men detaining them was just for him and his friends.
critical thinking prompts
I think this is important because
In this passage we can see...This moment is interesting because...
The importance of ______ is that _________
The issues that come up here include __, __, and ___.
Class Agenda 11-29
1. Announcements: New topic for assignment three, blog six assignment posted.
2. Critical Thinking and Zeitoun.
Return to your class notes on critical thinking strategies.Have them in mind as we discuss Zeitoun's detention.
As a class, we will practice these techniques for one or two passages in the text. I may try and compose some of our answers together.
Then, you will compose an in-class blog where you select a new passage from the text and practice two of our critical thinking strategies on your own. You will have to begin with a quote sandwich.
Intro statement: Briefly introduce the text you're using and what it's about, and then explain to your reader about what's happening in the part of the text you're quoting from.
Direct Quotation: remember your signal phrase and correct citation.
Paraphrase: remember to say in your own words what the quote means, and highlight the parts you want to stress in your critical thinking if possible.
Critical Thinking: try out at least two strategies.
3. Class exercise: Thesis statements and topic sentences. Let's look at this intro paragraph and second essay paragraph together.
2. Critical Thinking and Zeitoun.
Return to your class notes on critical thinking strategies.Have them in mind as we discuss Zeitoun's detention.
As a class, we will practice these techniques for one or two passages in the text. I may try and compose some of our answers together.
Then, you will compose an in-class blog where you select a new passage from the text and practice two of our critical thinking strategies on your own. You will have to begin with a quote sandwich.
Intro statement: Briefly introduce the text you're using and what it's about, and then explain to your reader about what's happening in the part of the text you're quoting from.
Direct Quotation: remember your signal phrase and correct citation.
Paraphrase: remember to say in your own words what the quote means, and highlight the parts you want to stress in your critical thinking if possible.
Critical Thinking: try out at least two strategies.
3. Class exercise: Thesis statements and topic sentences. Let's look at this intro paragraph and second essay paragraph together.
Money is crucial when it
comes to natural disasters. In the year
2005, a deadly storm known as Hurricane Katrina, swept through the Atlantic Coast. It ruined the lives of
many and also took them. Most of the rich survived while people of poverty
didn't make it alive. This was because the rich had transportation and the
resources to survive and be protected while the poor wasn't given much
attention and relied on their government to help. Even after the tremendous
storm, the role of money is still important because people who have money are
able to rebuild their lives once more while the poor can't do much about their
loss. In the following paragraph I will
explain how the lower class people and the higher class reacted to Hurricane
Katrina and what the Government did to help or rather make matters worse.
Money is vital to our survival and it played as an
important role during the Hurricane Katrina.
Some as such people that would know this would be from the Lower Ninth
Ward of New Orleans. As they were deficient in cash, a circumstance was made where the people there had no helpful
transportation or resources as they were trying to survive. Those who couldn't
evacuate during the storm, stayed back in the Superdome which was used for
shelter as last resort. Despite the plan of the Superdome being used as an
evacuation center, the irony in it was that the evacuation center didn't supply
enough food or water for the people there. There was no equipments or materials
in the Superdome that is usually there when needed during a natural disaster
crises. The people was even told to bring their own supplies if they were to
evacuate to the Superdome. There were approximately 9000 people in the
Superdome. To be in a crowded place with not enough food, water or even a
toilet can be seen as a horrific moment. Other than that, there were rumor's on
rape, vandalism, violent assault and many other crimes being started in the
Superdome during the evacuation process. However, it was not confirmed. The
poverty people of New Orleans that stayed back during the storm had to go
through this much, even with an evacuation center that was supposedly to
benefit you.
Now lets look at just the topic sentences for the rest of the essay, and see if they match the thesis.
Paragraph Three
Meanwhile, some middle-class people in New Orleans had to face difficult
choices also, such as whether holding their family business down during the
storm or to evacuate, leaving their
wealth, business and home. The Zeitouns, from the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers,
had a interesting experience of Hurricane Katrina because they had to choose if
they should leave all their belongings in the Hurricane or to evacuate and save
themselves.
Paragraph Four
As victims of Hurricane Katrina, people were facing a difficult time and
choice while The United States government however, who actually had money, chose
to delay the aid that was supposed to be given to Katrina victims
Paragraph Five
In the way these information are given, It can tell that money truly took
place a very important role during the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina and
that it could have changed the disaster in many ways. From transporting people
out to the very end of rebuilding the place back. People in the Lower 9th Ward
had to face even difficult terms than the middle-class people such as the
Zeitoun's
Next Class: Counter-arguments. Bring "They Say I Say"
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