English 104 Semester Schedule - Week 1

Week 1:

Unit: Audience Awareness	The next three to four weeks, we will be looking at different advertisements and different texts. Think about what is being advertised or what the text is intended for. Please bring in examples of texts such as different magazines, web links to www.youtube.com or the Wall Street Journal, lyrics and we will work together to identify the audience and talk about why this is the intended demographic.
Writing Issue	We will be examining audience awareness of Twenge’s GenMe. Before we begin reading GenMe, who do you assume the audience will be and why? Let’s examine the front cover. If we remove the text, what does the image suggest?

Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference	Pages
Writing for Other Media	38 – 40
A Writer’s Choices	12 – 14
Thinking Critically About Visuals	26 – 28

January 18, 2011

Discussion of the syllabus, email etiquette and class blog.

Introduce the first paper.

Reading assignment	Section	Pages
Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before	Introduction Focused questions for the reading: Think about what Twenge has to say about GenMe. In what ways is she accurate? Wrong? Think about your generation, what evidence can you find that either disrupts or furthers her findings?	1 - 15

Assignment: Create an account with Blogger. Before Thursday, email me the link to your blog. My email address is amichelechastain@yahoo.com (which can also be found on the syllabus).

Writing Assignment: Construct a writerly biography. Who are you? Where do you come from? What have been your experiences with reading and writing? What do your classmates and I need to know about you as a reader and writer? What are your strengths and weaknesses as a reader and writer? How do these practices intimidate or excite you? (This assignment should be posted to your blog.)

January 20, 2011

Unit: Audience Awareness	Examine ads that are saved to the O/P drive. We will examine how advertisements objectify male and female counterparts. Begin thinking about advertisements that you would like to use for the first paper.
Writing Issue	After reading the intro of GenMe, how has (or has not) your assumption of the target audience changed?

Reading assignment	Section	Pages
Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before	“You Don’t Need Their Approval: The Decline of Social Rules” Focused questions for the reading: Examine the images that Twenge includes in this section. What has changed? What hasn’t? In what ways has societal expectations of male and female counterparts changed? In what ways has it not changed?	17 - 43

Writing Assignment: The project proposal for the first paper is due. For this assignment, you will email me the project proposal, so that I can respond immediately. This project will need to be written in memo format. I have provided a template below listed with categories that will be included in your project proposal.

TO Ms. Chastain

FROM John Smith

SUBJECT Project Proposal, Objectification of Single, Young African American Women

DATE January 25, 2011

** Include the advertisement that you have chosen for the first paper. This will need to be included in the project proposal as a link (e.g. if there is not a link available, make an additional copy and turn it in ON CLASS TIME).

Categories that need to be listed and discussed in your project proposal:

Why have you chosen this advertisement?

What is being sold?

Who is responsible for the produce (e.g. Nautica, PETA, etc.)

What do you see going on in the advertisement?

How does the advertisement objectify one or two participants?

Who is the target demographic? Briefly, explain to me how and why you feel this advertisement is targeting this demographic?

What is the message this advertisement sends to the target demographic (e.g. in terms of objectification)?

What problems may arise when writing this paper? What questions do you have?