1. Week 4 – Day 1 Tuesday, February 6, 2018
English 1301
Week 4 – Day 1
Tuesday, February 6, 2018

2. Just a Reminder …

3. Just a Reminder …
If you did not submit Project 1 (Mediated Values Essay), there is no way of passing this course.
You may submit it late (see penalties on syllabus), but submitting nothing at all is an automatic failure in this course.

4. For Thursday, February 8, your valentines project is due.
Just a Reminder …
For Thursday, February 8, your valentines project is due.
If you submitted your essay late, you will not be able to get valentines, but you will still be able to give them.

5. Always come to class having read the assigned articles.
Just a Reminder …
Always come to class having read the assigned articles.
From this point onward, each article we read will be used in the essays for both Unit II and Unit III.
You cannot complete final essays without having read any of the articles / additional readings.
If you come to class having not read anything, then you cannot participate in class activities.

6. Topics & Goals of the Day
Topics: Free write, Unit II, summary and paraphrase, practice summary

7. UNIT II: Reading the Conversations
Over the next few weeks, we will be reading four texts that are in explicit or implicit conversation with each other in our theme. You will need to select two of these texts to include in your essay
Prensky, Marc. “Games Are NOT the Enemy.” Don’t Bother Me Mom—I’m Learning: How Computer and Video Games Are Preparing Your Kids for 21st Century Success—and How You Can Help! Paragon House, 2006, pp
Gee, James Paul. “Learning and Identity: What Does It Mean to be a Half-Elf?” What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy. Revised and updated ed., Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp
Ramanan, Chella. “The Video Game Industry has a Diversity Problem—But It Can Be Fixed.” The Guardian, 15 Mar. 2017, problem-women-non-white-people
“Video Games Have a Diversity Problem That Runs Deeper Than Race or Gender.” The Guardian, 10 Sept. 2015, games-diversityproblem-runs-deeper-than-race-gender

8. What is rhetoric?

9. What is Rhetoric?
Rhetoric: The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other persuasive techniques.

10. Free Writing Prensky, Marc. “Games Are NOT the Enemy.”
Who do you think the specific audience is?
What is the purpose of the article?
Gee, James Paul. “Learning and Identity: What Does It Mean to be a Half-Elf?”
What is the purpose?

11. So what?
Like all things, video games and the controversies surrounding them are a conversation.

12. We will need to “listen” to the conversation that people are already engaged in about that topic or issue. Some conversations have been ongoing for a long time. Before participating in that conversation, then, you need to understand what others are saying. To do so, you need to be able to effectively read the conversation and understand both the arguments of others and the contexts in which they were produced.

13. What is a Summary?
Summary means providing your readers with a condensed version of an author’s key points from an entire article. A summary can be as short as one sentence or much longer, depending on the complexity of the text and the level of detail you wish to provide to your readers.

14. Steps to summarize
1. A summary usually begins with an introductory clause that states the article’s title and author. Example: In “Games Are NOT the Enemy,” Marc Prensky…
Quick grammar note: always place the name of an article in quotes. When introducing the author for the first time, use the author’s full name. Afterwards, use the author’s last name only (do not say “Mr. Orwell” or “Mrs. Burns.”).
2. Write a summary in your own words. Do not use quotes.
3. A summary should contain all of the major points (audience + purpose) of the original text. Do not focus entirely on the fine details, examples, or illustrations.
4. A summary must contain only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions, interpretations, deductions, or comments into the summary.

15. Any questions?

16. Summary Exercise
You will write a paragraph summary for each (or one) article: Prensky, Marc. “Games Are NOT the Enemy” Gee, James Paul. “Learning and Identity: What Does It Mean to be a Half-Elf?”

17. In your summary, include the following:
Mention the title of the article and the name of the author.
Mention and discuss a specific audience / Mention and discuss the purpose.
Provide context for article and comprehensively yet selectively explain author’s reasoning or how they make the argument. Your goal is to explain the argument for the reader, but you can’t include EVERYTHING. What is important and relevant?
Summary must accurately, fairly, clearly convey the author’s main point, thesis, or claim, usually using an active transitive verb.
Include strong verbs. Include vivid and specific adjectives. (Example: Munnecke contends. Munnecke asserts. Munnecke challenges …)

18. Hold on to your papers. We will be working with them next week.
Summary Exercise
Hold on to your papers. We will be working with them next week.

19. For Thursday, February 8, your valentines project is due.
Just a Reminder …
For Thursday, February 8, your valentines project is due.
If you submitted your essay late, you will not be able to get valentines, but you will still be able to give them.