Homework for Monday, Dec. 7th: Sharpening

For homework due on Monday, Dec. 7th, please read the short article posted as a Picasa slide show HERE. It is the chapter "Sharpening" by Ken Macrorie.

Then, post a comment of 100 words or more on this blog (as a comment; not as a new thread). You should ponder about the following questions:

a) Does your writing require sharpening when the composing process is done?
b) Do you bother with sharpening after finishing a composition, or do you submit it "as is"?
c) If you were a teacher, how would you teach sharpening to high school students? Can it be taught at all, or is it a natural gift?
d) Imagine you were the editor of a newspaper or a scientific journal, and you are sharpening the incoming contributions of different authors. What other benefits than a better read could sharpening have for your newspaper/journal?

In case you cannot comment to this blog because of password difficulties, you can also email me your comment. On Monday, you should have three 100-word comments accessible (either on the blog, or in emails; if you printed them out, you will have to retype them in class for an activity).

Our three 100-word comments are:
1) your personal opinion about "ENGFISH"
2) your personal opinion about "Word Order"
3) your personal opinion about "Sharpening".

In case you miss this Friday's class, you have to do all of that at home and have your texts ready for Monday. There will be no make-up for the activity on Monday, since this is the last in-class assignment before our final exam coming Friday. Remember that we do not meet in finals week!!!

For Monday: bring a pencil or a colored pen, and if you have, a pocket calculator! If you don't have one, you can use the calculator of Microsoft on your computer.