Extra Credit

Thursday October 27th UM is hosting a Day of Dialogue. If you attend one event, two at the most, and complete two separate assignments for each I will give you extra credit that will be equivalent to two homework assignments OR two days worth of participation for one event or double that for two.

Assignment One:

Write a one page essay style response that includes which event you saw, how it engages in civil discourse, or not, and what elements from our Op-Ed unit you noticed and whether or not it counts as an effective argument that engages in argument as dance. What was the presentation about? How did you react to it? Did they use rhetorical devices? Did they idenitfy or use logical fallacies?

Assignment Two:

Write a one page proposal for a presentation or activity you would do for the Day of Dialogue event. What would it be on? How would you structure it? What point would you be making? Why do you think people would like/need to hear it? Use ideas taken from class on logical fallacies, civilized discourse, using research, and addressing a certain audience, or anything else from this unit you would like to use. You could even cite specific books, youtube clips, powerpoint presentations, music, or art you would incorporate to prove your point. You could be as creativity, or not, as you wish.

This is due Friday November 4th at 12:10. If you need this extra credit to apply to something else you are missing or lacking in this class come talk to me. Also, you need to let me know if you are interested in this. I have pasted the website to the Day of Dialogue homepage below.

http://life.umt.edu/dod/default.php

Homework Due During Conferences

1. Bring TWO copies of a full rough draft 700-1,000 words with a works cited page (or your laptop) to conferences

2. Bring your devil's advocate freewrite from Monday and peer review sheet that your partner filled out for you. If you already e-mailed both that's fine too.

3. Read CW 275-280

Op-Ed Sketch Breakdown List

The Sketch: A Breakdown List

General Checklist:

Your Sketch must have your name, my name, class name, and the date it is due typed in the top corner. You must have a title and a works cited. Include the Works Cited at the bottom of the Sketch, not on a separate page. I want it typed and between 500-600 words. Single or double spacing does not matter. This is due Monday bring two copies typed and printed out or e-mailed to me and yourself for class workshops.

Title:

Make your title your tentative claim about your topic (also known as the “I think this is what my point is so far…” claim). I want see the question that is guiding your search, you should have numerous questions about your topic, but I want to see the central question you are interested in. What issue are you investigating? Examples:

Mine: Does the Smoking Ban Discriminate Against Smokers?

Ballenger’s: “How to Really Rock the Vote”

Handout: “Should Rifle Suppressor's Be Allowed in Hunting?”

Major Components:

Claim: What is the major point of your op-ed so far? Ex: Smoking ban should be lifted? I need to see your topic right in the opening of your Sketch. What questions are you trying to answer? Later in the Sketch I will see you answer your questions.

Intro=Major Question

Body Paragraphs=Evidence/Background Information/Minor Questions and Answers

Conclusion=Your Answer to the Major Question

Supporting Elements:

The main components that your final op-ed will include are: claims, evidence, warrants, backing, counterclaims, and a rebuttal (CW 249-250 and OWL Purdue Handout). These ideas will not be fully developed in your sketch but you should be working towards them after conferences. See next page for details.

Side Note: If this seems like a lot of things to cover don’t let it overwhelm you. Look at CW 274 for an example of what a Sketch looks like and how someone else incorporated all of these ideas. Ballenger reminds you that “A sketch is often sketchy. It’s generally undeveloped, sometimes giving the writer just the barest outline of his subject” when he is describing the rules for this assignment (CW 274). This is an early draft to your op-ed assignment it should be extra drafty. That being said I want you to include most of these elements in it. Do your best and we will work on polishing it on Monday.

Why is this Sketch Important?

This Sketch will help you flesh out your topic for your op-ed. By doing this assignment you are doing invention work for how you want to share your opinion about the topic you have chosen for the op-ed with others. I want to see that you have enough sources, claims, and ideas to support your claim. This is an excellent place to realize that there might be issues with the topic you have chosen. The goal is to get everyone headed towards a rough draft for their op-ed’s, but if you are experiencing problems don’t panic now is the time to find a more suitable topic.

Homework Due Monday 10/03

Hello Class!

For your homework you need to complete the following:

1. Read: EW in the Portfolio Keeping Tab Pg. 18-22 and 32-39

2. Type: Taking Stock #8 in EW Pg.39. Make it at least a paragraph and bring to class on Monday (either print it out or e-mail it to me)

3. Read the sample Reflection Essay passed out in class. Be prepared to answer the following questions in class: How well does this essay fit the assignment? What does the author do well and what can the author improve on? What specific information is given to the reader? Can you follow what the author is saying without having met this person or having read their essays?

PAA Rules to Remember

After reviewing your drafts I have created a list of rules I want to see you follow in your essays.

1. Any borrowed information (quotes, dates, statistics, or general information you had to look up) must be followed by in-text citations.

2. Quotes NEVER start or end a paragraph.

3. Quotes over 3 lines long are considered block quotes and must be cited in MLA format.

4. You have to transition from one paragraph to the next, if you don't your papers will not flow properly no matter how much sense your organization makes.

5. Everything must be written in proper MLA format (use EW MLA tab or OWL Purdue Website to check it).

6. Your essay is due Friday at 12:10, no exceptions.

7. Don't panic alone! If you are struggling take a deep breath and e-mail me, but for goodness sake don't do it an hour before class and expect me to help you.

Is Scott Walker’s Budget Bill the Best way to Balance Wisconsin’s deficit?

Posted for Devon

This past January, the state of Wisconsin
caught the Nation’s eye as political unrest and mass protests erupted as Scott
Walker was elected the new governor of Wisconsin. As soon as Walker stepped
into office on November 30, 2010, the state of Wisconsin would be forever
changed. Walker came into a state with a budget deficit. The governor’s job,
fix it. Walker decided that the best way to do this was to cut many of the
benefits which state workers receive. Some of which include “requiring
employees who pay into the Wisconsin Retirement System to contribute 50 percent
of their annual pension payment, requiring state employees to pay at least
12.6% of the average cost of annual [health insurance]premiums and make various
changes to limit collective bargaining for most public employees to wages”
(Highlights of Gov. Walker's budget Repair Bill 1). Along with state workers
receiving cuts, public schools received many funding cuts. The main result of
these cuts, less money in the pockets of state union workers. To many, this
seemed like a attack to state workers; resulting in, mass protests at the
capital in Madison. These protests went on for days. People by the thousands
gathered to protest the bill. I myself actually took off school for a day to
participate. What i saw? Unhappy people, thousands off them. It was obvious to
Walker that the citizens of Wisconsin didn’t agree with him, especially the 14
democrats that fled to Illinois putting their jobs at risk to pretest the
voting of the bill. However, he stood strong and the bill was passed. Along
with the finical blows many workers will suffer, the state itself will have
consequences. People are forced to choose a side. The result of this, a
strongly split conservative and liberal state. With such strong opinions of
this bill, one must think there is a better way to balance the deficit.
Wisconsin Senator Kathleen Vinehout believes we should “eliminate the tax cuts
going to the most wealthy; don’t increase taxes on those of modest means; don’t
create or expand programs unless absolutely necessary; return the raids on
funds and minimize cuts to education, colleges and local government. Get rid of
the charter school expansion and new private school “choice” vouchers.”
(Vinehout 1). She also believes that by “accepting public employee
contributions to health insurance and retirement” and “fund local government at
last year’s level” Wisconsin would have enough money to reverse half of the
cuts local schools” (Vinehout 1). To conclude, Walker does not have to go after
state employees, he choose to. There are other ways to balance the budget.

Works Cited

Staff, State Journal.
"Highlights of Gov. Walker's Budget Repair Bill." Madison.com Madison
WI News Sports Entertainment. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. <http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_3d93e6aa-363a-11e0-8493-001cc4c002e0.html>.

Vinehout, Kathleen. "A Better
Way to Balance the Budget with the Same Dollars Uppity Wisconsin."
Uppity Wisconsin Progressive News from the Cheddarsphere. Web. 19 Sept. 2011.
<http://uppitywis.org/node/46580/view?destination=taxonomy/term/230?page=7>.

What lies beneath Mt. Rainier?

Paul Lunsford

Mount Rainier is a dormant volcano that lies in the Pacific Ring of
Fire, which is the largest ring of active volcanoes in the world.
More than 40 percent of the volcanoes in the ring are actively
reoccurring and the rest are due to erupt within the next several
hundred years. Some might ask why this is relevant to us right now
because the volcanoes will most likely not erupt in our lifetime but
it will in our grandchildren if not children’s era. And to me that
would be horrible to know that it is a good possibility that the
eruption could be the end to my family. Knowing that this volcano will
erupt soon makes me want to know when it will erupt? What will happen
to the surrounding forests, ecosystems, towns, and cities?
Washington is an amazing place to live due to the beautiful, lush
forests, high snow topped Cascades and Olympic Mountain Ranges, and of
course the thriving metropolitan cities such as Seattle, Bellingham,
Belleview, and Tacoma. Also the amazing fertile soils of the Green
River Valley, Sumner Valley and Puyallup Valley. The main reason the
soil in these valleys is so fertile is because of all the sediments
the Lahar mudflows that swept down from Mt. Rainier for the past
10,000 years, the last known Lahar was approximately 500 years ago.
“Moving at speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour, a lahar would race
like a wall of wet, turbulent concrete into the valley. During such an
event, students and other valley residents would have only 45 minutes
to seek higher ground before being inundated with a fast-moving slurry
of mud, rock and water as thick as 10 meters (about 30 feet)
deep”(Pinsker). This passage confirms that when Mt. Rainier erupts it
will be pandemonium, property, memories and lives will be lost.
With all that said there is still the side of when the Volcano erupts
with the magma how far will it flow to? Will it be an eruption like
Mt. Saint Helens in 1980?
Will it cause a chain reaction with the other volcanoes in the Pacific
Ring of Fire? According to geologists the eruption of Mt. Rainier in
the first half of the 19th century would most likely reoccur when the
next eruption occurs. The Osceola Mudflow was the name of the massive
mudflow that raged down Mt. Rainier, through the river valleys and
into the Pudget Sound. “The eruption that we can expect in the future
would consist of ballistic projectiles, tephra, pyroclastic flows,
volcanic gases, landslides, and glacial outburst floods”(Think Quest).
Ballistic projectiles are the flaming chunks of rock that will blow
off the top of the mountain that have a range of about 3 miles. Tephra
is this superheated volcanic ash that when lands will catch anything
on fire, and if 4 or more inches accumulate on a structure the
structure will collapse due to the weight of the ash, the Mt. saint
Helens eruption was mostly tephra. Pyroclastic flows are heated
mudflows that will encase everything it runs over like a quickset
concrete mixed with noxious volcanic gasses and ash.




Works cited

Lisa M. Pinsker.“Paths of Destruction: The Hidden Threat at Mount
Rainier.”GeoTimes, April 2004: September 18, 2011


Mt. Rainier. “Think Quest”. September 18, 2011
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00472/Mount_Rainier_paragraphs.htm