Follow the appropriate link to find the homework assignment due Jan. 17 – Jan. 22 – Jan. 24 – Jan. 27 – Jan. 29 – Jan. 31 – Feb. 3 – Feb. 5 – Feb. 7 – Feb. 10 – Feb. 12 – Feb. 14.
W. January 15
Introduction to project. View LeBron James/Laura Ingraham exchange. What do you think: should athletes “stick to sports”?
Below find the Homework to be Completed
And Posted Before Class on Friday Jan. 17
All homework must be posted on your ePortfolio no later than Friday, Jan. 17 at 8 am.
Pro Tip: Make your life easier and do higher-quality work by completing your printing, reading, annotating and list-making on Wednesday and your informal essay writing on Thursday.
Homework Purposes: 1) Gather information and perspectives on the first paper topic, 2) prewrite towards your draft of the first paper, 3) practice annotation, good summary, signal phrases, voice markers, parenthetical citation, and 4) begin to articulate and evolve your own perspective on the topic.
- Print these two short articles and number their paragraphs: Andrew McMaster’s “Why It’s Critical that Professional Athletes Be Part of Our Political Discourse” and Clay Travis’s “The Era of the Sports God Who Shuns Politics is Sadly Over”.
- As you read and annotate each article, make a list of all of the reasons each writer gives in support of his own position and in criticism of the other side. Be sure to take note of whether the reason you write down is in support of his own position or a criticism of the other side. Also, make a note in the margin next to any of the writer’s points you agree or disagree with. At the end of this step, you will have two lists – one for each article – and well-marked up copies of the articles. Post photos of your two lists and samples of your annotations on your ePortfolio. Categorize this post as ENG 123 and Annotations.
- Choose one of the articles to write a short informal essay about. While this essay is informal, write it so that a real reader could read and understand it without further explanation from you.
In your essay, first establish the topic that your chosen writer wrote about. Then summarize his views. Remember, a good summary will fairly and accurately represent the views of the writer in a way that makes his or her views available to your reader without your reader having to consult the original article. So be sure to explain any of the writer’s ideas you think your reader may find confusing or hard-to-accept. Use signal phrases frequently to enable your reader to know whose ideas you’re summarizing and voice markers in your summary to let your readers know your attitude towards the ideas you’re summarizing.
Then, explain your own views on two of the most important matters raised by the article. If you disagree with something your writer wrote, be sure to explain what you think is wrong with his thinking as well as explaining what you think. If you agree with something your writer wrote, be sure to add something of your own to the conversation. While explaining your own views, remember to integrate your own ideas with those of others by quoting or paraphrasing the passages in the original writer’s article to which you’re responding. Don’t forget to use parenthetical citations with paragraph numbers to indicate where in the article your quoted or paraphrased passage comes from. At the end of this step, you will have composed a piece of writing with at least two paragraphs and 350 words. Post your summary and response on your ePortfolio and print a copy to bring to class. Categorize your post as ENG 123 and Homework. - If you didn’t finish setting up your categories in class, please do so.
F. January 17
Discussion 1: What’s the debate so far?
Discussion 2: What do athlete-activists actually say and do? Worldview. What shapes it? Core values.
Below find the Homework to be Completed
And Posted Before Class on Wednesday Jan. 22
Pro Tip: Complete your printing, reading, annotating and list-making on Friday or Saturday and spread out the writing of the three parts of your informal essay on two other days.
Homework Purposes: 1) Gather and process information about what athlete-activists actually say, 2) prewrite towards your draft of the first paper, 3) practice close reading and annotation, quotation and paraphrase, signal phrases, voice markers, parenthetical citation.
- Print these three articles by or about athlete-activists and number their paragraphs: Karl Anthony Towns, “There are More of Us Than There are of Them”, Marc J. Spears, “Colin Kaepernick: ‘There’s Nothing that Anybody is Going to Say That’s Going to Change How I Feel About These Issues'” (interview), Brittney Griner and Layshia Clarendon, “Opinion: Texas Bill Could Subject Transgender Athletes to Bullying, Assault.”
- Carefully read and annotate two of these samples of athletes speaking their minds. Mark anything you find interesting, revealing, powerful or otherwise worth writing about. Also mark ideas that you agree with, disagree with, or are unsure of your view about. Finally, circle words and phrases that you think express or point to the writer’s core values and beliefs or experiences that influence how they view the world. Make a list of the core values you circled. Post your list of core values and sample photos of your annotations from each article on your ePortfolio.
- Writing in complete sentences and full paragraphs, pose and answer the questions below. As you answer each of the questions, use two of Towns, Kaepernick, and Griner and Clarendon as examples to support your assertions. Be sure to quote and paraphrase specific passages from the sources you use. Provide parenthetical citations (citing paragraph numbers) for all quoted or paraphrased passages used. When you’re done with this step, you will have between 400-600 words of new prewriting completed. Post your essay on your ePortfolio before coming to class.
- What issues, ideas and experiences are athletes speaking out about? Why do you think these issues are the ones today’s athletes choose to speak out on?
- Now that you’ve seen some samples of athletes speaking out, do you think the critiques of critics like Laura Ingraham or Clay Travis are fair? Given what athletes actually do when they speak out, why in your view do people like Ingraham and Travis oppose athletes speaking out so strongly?
- To what degree are debates about athletes speaking out debates about our society’s core values, beliefs and experiences? Which values, beliefs and experiences seem to be controversial? What is it about these values, beliefs and experiences that are controversial?
W. January 22
Discussion: What else are these debates about?
Myth – Start the homework
Below find the Homework to be Completed
And Posted Before Class on Friday Jan. 24
Pro Tip: Space out your work. Aim to have at least one of the three homework questions answered by Wednesday night. Complete one during the day on Thursday and another one Thursday evening.
Homework Purposes: 1) Understand and consider a viewpoint about what’s really happening with the debate over the anthem protest, 2) prewrite towards your draft of the first paper, 3) practice close reading and annotation, quotation and paraphrase, signal phrases and parenthetical citation.
- Print this short article and number its paragraphs: Vann R. Newkirk II, “Football Has Always Been a Battleground in the Culture War.”
- Carefully read and annotate Newkirk’s article. While reading Newkirk’s piece, mark passages that will enable your group to answer the questions you need to answer (review the questions in item 3 of this list before starting to read). Post pictures of your annotations on your ePortfolio.
- Continue to work in groups of three to answer the questions below in this spreadsheet. The expectation is that you work together, not divvy up the work. You should expect to work together through discussion to understand the Newkirk article and the sources below on myth and civic religion. Your answers to questions should be the work of the group writing together, not the work of a single student.
Your answer should be understandable to readers as a stand-alone piece of writing. So, be sure to quote and paraphrase from your sources in your answers. Provide parenthetical citations (citing paragraph numbers) for all quoted or paraphrased passages used. Define and explain key terms and use and explain examples to help readers understand.- What are the functions of “myth” according to anthropologists Durkheim and Malinowski? (see the excerpt from Nigel Rapport below)
- What, according to Newkirk, is the “founding myth of the phenomenon of modern football” and why does it matter today (para. 2-5)
- What is a “civic [or civil] religion” and what is the “object” (or goal) of a civic religion according to Rousseau? (See excerpt below)
- In what ways does football promote the values of the American civic religion? (paras. 6-8)
- What vision of America does the NFL want to present to fans (paras. 6-8)
- How have the protests disrupted that vision? (para. 8, paras. 12-14)?
- What parts of the social status quo do the anthem protest focus on?
In “The Role of Myth in Life,” anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowsky wrote: “Myth … is not merely a story told but a reality lived…. [It] fulfills an indispensable function: it expresses, enhances and codifies belief; it safeguards and enforces morality; it … contains practical rules for the guidance of man. Myth is thus a vital ingredient of human civilization; it is not an idle tale, but a hard-worked active force; it is … a pragmatic charter of … faith and moral wisdom” (78-79). Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays. Beacon Press, 1948.
F. January 24
Discussion: What do you think about Newkirk’s way of understanding the anthem protests? What are the components of the myth of professional football and what beliefs and elements of the “social order” does it reinforce?
Below find the Homework to be Completed
And Posted Before Class on Monday Jan. 27
Pro Tip: Start your work on Friday and space it out over the weekend.
Homework Purposes: 1) Understand and consider fans’ reactions through the lens of Newkirk’s argument that anthem protests are undermining the “myth/civic religion” of professional football, 2) prewrite towards your draft of the first paper, 3) practice close reading and annotation, quotation and paraphrase, signal phrases, voice markers, parenthetical citation.
Let’s look at fan reaction through Newkirk’s myth/civil religion lens.
- Based on the critique you received in class, revise and improve your group’s answers to the Myth of Professional Football questions.
- Print the following collections of fan reactions to the protest. Number the paragraphs of each printout.
- As you read, look for and annotate passages that embody or counter elements of the myth of professional football. Enter your findings on this shared worksheet. Post pictures of your annotations on your ePortfolio.
- Write an informal essay of about 400-500 words explaining the intensity of fans’ feelings on all sides of the protest controversy using Newkirk’s way of understanding the anthem protests. This essay should use and explain quotes from the anthropology excerpts above to define the concept of myth or the concept of civic/civil religion and use your chosen concept to analyze and interpret important quotes from at least two fans to explain why fans’ feelings are so intense and unlikely to change. Post your informal essay on your ePortfolio.
M. January 27
M. January 27
Discussion: What else do fans mean when they write and speak about the anthem protests?
Below find the Homework to be Completed
And Posted Before Class on Wednesday Jan. 29
Redo Homework Due Jan. 27
W. January 29
Discussion: What else do fans mean when they write and speak about the anthem protests? Why is there a “Black National Anthem?” and what does that tell us about “The Star Spangled Banner?”
Below find the Homework to be Completed
And Posted Before Class on Friday Jan. 31
- Print the following two brief opinion pieces and number their paragraphs: David Leonhardt, “The Choice Between Kneeling and Winning” and Ta-Nahisi Coates, “Civil-Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular.” Choose at least one of the short videos below to get a sense of what government resistance to civil rights protest looked like in Birmingham, Alabama 1963.
- Since Coates’s article is a response to Leonhardt’s, read Leonhardt’s piece first, then Coates’s. As you read Leonhardt, look for and mark passages that explain his critique of the anthem protests and his suggestion to athletes for making a better argument. As you read Coates, look for and mark passages where he critiques Leonhardt’s account of the Civil Rights movement’s protests and find the passages that tell you what factors Coates thinks contributed to “meaningful change.” Post your annotations.
- Compose (and post) robust paragraphs in answer to the following questions:
- What is Leonhardt’s critique of the anthem protests? What advice does he offer today’s athlete activist? What do you think of his critique and his advice?
- What is Coates’s critique of Leonhardt’s argument? What alternative explanation for “meaningful change” does Coates present? What hope does Coates offer in spite of the unpopularity of the anthem protestors? How does Coates respond to Leonhardt’s claim that “symbols matter in politics?” What do you think of Coates’s point-of-view?
F. January 31
What does effective protest look like? What challenge does Coates issue to white Americans critical of the anthem protests? Who would Newkirk agree with? What is a university’s interests and responsibility when it comes to athletic protests?
No Homework This Weekend
M. February 3
Superbowl Ceremonies through the Lens of Newkirk II. Analyzing the prompt. What’s in a brief?
Below find the Homework to be Completed
And Posted Before Class on Wednesday Feb. 5
Write the Problem Statement and Background sections of your brief. Post them in a single post on your ePortfolio with each section clearly labeled with a subheading. Tag your post ENG 123 and Homework.
W. Feb. 5
Issues and Positions | Analysis/Interpretation
Homework due F. Feb. 7 before start of class
Write your Issues and Positions segment and your Analysis/Interpretation segment. Post both segments on your ePortfolio with each section clearly labeled with a subheading. Tag your post ENG 123 and Homework.
F. Feb. 7
University closed due to weather
M. Feb. 10
Writing workshop
Homework due W. Feb. 12 before start of class
Complete Draft Due: Finish all sections of your brief. Post it on your ePortfolio.
W. Feb. 12
Revise at least two segments of your paper. Consider comments from your peer review, but also assess your own paper using the same process you used to review your partner’s paper.
F. Feb. 14 – Fully revised/completed paper due M. Feb. 17
Homework for the weekend is to thoroughly revise your paper, improving its content, sourcing, tone, formatting, and sentence-level correctness.
Be sure to include a MLA-style Works Cited and section headings (Problem Statement, Background…etc.) in your report.
M. Feb. 17
Signal phrases, Parenthetical citation (using paragraph numbers), Works Cited, MLA-Style Name Block, Last Name and Page Number.
