Changing Writing, Changing the World

By: Rachel Grimes and Keshun Reid

Class Activity/Discussions  

Tuesday’s class consisted of discussions on upcoming research questions and Just Mercy. Dr. Crowther talked about ways we could use the book as a starting point for our upcoming research papers, using examples and ideas about social justice issues Stephenson discusses. Tuesday’s Daily Grade assignment related issues discussed or mentioned by Bryan Stevenson to issues going on in today’s society, such as racial profiling and discrimination in the judicial system. I wrote about how unfairly Bryan was treated by Atlanta Police, and how it related to police brutality and problems with racial profiling in today’s climate. I was particularly shocked at how Stephenson was treated, especially in my home city. For the remainder of the class, we got together in small groups to do an interactive activity on juveniles in the justice system. We created a PACT chart and created a method to raise awareness about the issue to an audience. My group drafted a plan, and created a poster to pull at society’s heartstrings to persuade them to fight for juvenile justice.

    On Thursday, the Daily Grade assignment related to chapter 10, which described the problems the mentally ill, the poor, and mothers face in prison. We wrote about examples and descriptions in the two chapters that shocked us. I was struck by the story of Marsha Colbey, who was wrongly convicted of child homicide, sentenced to life in prison. We resumed our group activity from Tuesday’s class, then we presented as a group. Homework assignments included working on the Learning Curve grammar activities.

Reading

On Tuesday, the class had read chapters 6 and 8 in Just Mercy. Both chapters highlight juveniles in the justice system and the various problems they encounter, from being wrongly convicted, tried as adults, spending life in prison with no hope, and being assaulted. Chapter 6 outlined the story of a young boy named Charlie, who was being tried as an adult since he murdered his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Contacted by Charlie’s sick grandmother, Bryan is persuaded to help with the case. He visits Charlie, a small teenager (in adult jail), and finds him scared, quiet, and a victim of sexual assault. Finally, the Charlie is helped by the Jennings, an elderly couple that eagerly wants to change Charlie’s life. Chapter 8 discusses specific stories of children in prison. Trina was wrongly convicted of intentional homicide, from killing boys in a home she stayed in. She found her way by lighting matches, and they accidentally caught the house on fire. Ian Manuel was participating in a robbery when he shot a lady in the jaw, so he was sentenced to prison, spending years in solitary confinement as a teen. Antonio was sentenced to life imprisonment for unknowingly shooting at police during a fake kidnapping. George Stinney, a young black male, was wrongly convicted of the murder of two girls just because he was the last to see them.

On Thursday, we covered chapters 10 and 12. In Chapter 10, Bryan Stevenson described the history and problems of the mentally ill and disabled in the justice system. He highlighted the case of George Daniel, a man who suffered mental issues after trauma. He shot a police officer and was sentenced to death. Also, Avery Jenkins killed an elderly man he thought was a demon, so he was sentenced to death, despite mental issues and an abusive childhood. A security guard that Bryan had a negative experience with before realized the struggles that Avery went through were like his own, so he did an act of kindness to him after the post-conviction hearing. Chapter 12 highlights the story of Marsha Colbey, representing mothers in the justice system. After having a stillborn baby, she was convicted of capital murder of the newborn, which was false. Stevenson describes rampant sexual violence in the Tutwiler prison, and how the criminalization of poor mothers hurts families and society.

By: Kathryn Kent and Lucy Welch

Tuesday’s reading assignment:

For class on Tuesday, we were assigned to read pages 180-198 from chapter 7. The beginning of the reading discusses the incorporation of information from other sources into your writing. Whether choosing to use quotations or a paraphrase of a passage,  it is important to keep in mind who your audience is, and what point you are trying to get across to that audience. When making this choice, it is also important to keep in mind what type of text you are writing. The way you incorporate citations will differ whether writing an argumentative essay or a biography.

Next, the chapter narrows its focus to quoting sources. Using the exact words of someone else in your writing should be used at times when there is no better way make the argument, or when you are backing up an argument with stats or key information from an expert. The only way to achieve this without plagiarizing is to use quotations. In order to incorporate these quotes soothly, so that your reader hardly notices, it is important to embed the quotes within your own sentences. Also, after using a quote, you must use proper MLA in-text citations, following the sentence containing the quote. It sometimes becomes difficult to embed a quote while still using the author’s exact capitalization, punctuation, etc. If the sentence requires you to make a change to the author’s words, simply put the change in brackets within the quotation. Another way to change the quote is the use of  “. . .” to indicate to the reader that a part of the original quote has been left out. However, when using this method, it is important that the quote you incorporate does not change the meaning of the original text. If you want to incorporate a quote that is long, you can use a block quotation, making the quote its own paragraph. This prevents possible confusion from the reader. When sighting a block quote, you do not use quotation marks, and the citation at the end if the passage contains proper punctuation before the quote.

Next, the text discusses the method of paraphrasing. In instances where you are trying to summarize the ideas of several different authors, or where quotations would be too long, the use of paraphrasing comes into play. It is crucial to use your own words when paraphrasing, in order to avoid plagiarizing. Also, the use of quotes is not necessary when paraphrasing. The chapter then shifts its focus to creating a works cited page. Because the in-text citations only include a small amount of information about the texts that you got information from, you must list the full information about these texts in alphabetical order by each author’s last name.

The chapter then discusses the challenge of deciding when to stop researching, and to actually start writing. Having such an overload of information can actually make it more difficult to write an essay. To determine when to stop researching you must determine if you have enough information to support your argument, and whether you explored all possible issues, in order to avoid being objective. Once you start writing, you can always go back and fill in any gaps you have in your research. It is important to remember that when writing an essay, the point you are trying to get across should be the main focus, not the research.

Thursday’s reading assignment:

Thursday’s reading assignment was to go back and review chapter four, which discusses the basics of structuring your texts. This chapter discusses the importance of considering your audience before starting your essay, in order to effectively express your point. The text then goes into detail on how to develop a thesis statement, stating to the reader the point you will be making in the rest of the essay. The chapter then suggests that a first draft should be completed before writing your introduction and conclusion, because your argument, thesis, or main points are likely to change in one way or another in your drifting process. Next, the chapter discusses the many structural variations possible, and the importance of keeping your reader in mind when choosing which one to use. The text goes into detail describing “thesis last,” “thesis first,” “time based,” “context bases,” “weakness first,” and “strenght first” structures.

The chapter then shifts its focus to the importance of transitions in a text. Transitions help the reader know when the topic of the essay is changing, and how all of the points in the essay are related. Using smooth and concise connection will help the reader understand the logical and straightforward organization of the text, and the interconnection of the main points. The chapter finishes by discussing the possible ways to start and end an essay. Again, like most aspects of a text, the choice you make should be a clear reflection of your audience, purpose, context, and text. Several different ways to achieve an effective introduction or conclusion include starting with a summary, story, or dramatic statement, and ending with an abstract, summary, quote, reflection, or even with a suggestion for new research to be made

.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   In class on Tuesday:

We started class with a daily grade which was a status update of where we were in the research paper, focusing on struggles and what still needs to be done, and also what is going successfully. After the free write, we talked about a working thesis and shared where we are in the writing process. We then looked at the course calendar and made plans about what were the next few steps to take and how the week looks. Also, Dr. Crowther reminded us that we need to complete the learning curve activities, and talk to her about any problems that arise from those. We looked at chapter 4 in the E- textbook, and focused together as a class on section 4.6 which is about applying your research. At the end of class we worked individually on the research paper and Dr. C walked around and helped with any questions that we had.

In class on Thursday:

We started class with a daily grade. We wrote a potential abstract for our research paper which was meant to help with formulating ideas and helping if we have any “holes” in our main argument and paper as a whole. We then got into groups of 3 and analyzed an example research essay where we answered questioned and later shared with the class. The questions asked us about parts from the introduction, thesis, body paragraphs and conclusion. This activity was to help us with being able to identify the best parts of that essay and some places that could have been better so that it would help our writing. Overall, it was a very well written essay that had a strong thesis and strong points that were supported with evidence and specific statistics. A good strategy that the sample essay exemplified was that the quotes from the sources were integrated in the text

Weekly write-up #1

by Shams Waleed and Marwa Khamas

We are honored and excited to welcome every one of you, to the beginning of our school year at Georgia State university-Clarkston campus. This school year, we look forward to doing our best, working harder, smarter and achieving our next level of “greatness” that will push us to work beyond our limits. However, we would especially like to welcome the students In English 1101 class “Changing Writing, Changing the World”. Each one of us came from different backgrounds, so as a class each one of us will collaborate and work together to help and benefit each other so we can learn more, which is the main purpose of the “weekly write up assignment.”

Reading for class:

We started the first day of class by introducing ourselves. Our professor Dr. Crowther was the first one who started; she introduced herself to the students and she also shared some hobbies that she’s interested in and how she was able to finish her studies and become a professor. Next, Dr. Crowther asked each student to stand and tell their names and share something about themselves or something they are interested in. After everybody finished, Dr. Crowther started to explain more about the course and classroom expectations.  She went over the syllabus and the calendar which includes the due dates for the assignments. Dr. Crowther also introduced the two books that we will be using this semester, Just Mercy and Changing Writing. Additionally, as a requirement for this class we have to have two notebooks, one for regular class notes and the other one for the daily grade writing, we also have to have the code for the book to use it on Launchpadsolo as some assignments will be posted there. We also have one extra book called Successful College Composition which is a textbook written by Perimeter college professors including Dr. Crowther. Finally, we went over the syllabus contract “which is giving the permission to the instructor to use your essays or work as a future sample for other students “and it should be signed by the next class.

As a reading, in the second day of class, we went over the introduction of Changing Writing. Writing has changed over the years, and writing is something powerful that has the ability to change lives, change minds, motivate people, and also change history. The way we write also changes constantly:  to illustrate, in the early 1980s, researching and writing began migrating into the digital realm. It also changed again in the mid-1990s with web-publishing software that allowed anyone with an internet connection to publish their own texts online.  It also became easier for other researchers to find what they want, while back in the days they used to look for books and search in the libraries. The introduction to the book teaches us how to write, be more professional, and flexible with the composition process. The introduction focuses on four components of writing: Purpose, “which is the reason why we writing something, audience which “is the person for whom a writer writes,” context which is the setting or environment in which the events take place. Finally, a text is any object that can be read by the audience. As we go further in this book we will learn more how to develop our texts and create strategies, and it may sometimes get messy but as it says in the book “part of accepting that messiness involves accepting that writing first” (7).

The third day in class, we covered the introduction of Just Mercy, and we also divided into a group of four to discuss what we understand. Bryan Stevenson was a Harvard law student interning in Georgia when he went to Georgia to intern for the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC). On his way to the prison to meet a death-row inmate for the first time, Stevenson describes how he felt nervous because he had little knowledge of death penalty and it was his first time, and he was unsure of how to speak to a death row inmate. Stevenson arrives at the prison, the guards bring out Henry, a young black man with his hands and ankles shackled, and Stevenson starts to apologize because he doesn’t know what to say until he told him that he won’t be executed in the next year. Henry takes Stevenson’s hand and expresses deep relief. They spend three hours sharing life stories, although hey are only allowed to stay for one hour. The guard enters and he was mad because they overstayed, so the guard shackles Henry tightly and pushes him into the door, Henry tells Stevenson not to worry just to visit him again, and then Henry starts singing a church’s song that “Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.” Stevenson starts to describe the changes since the 1980’s in the criminal justice system. He explains the growing rate of the people in prison and shows that the death penalty conviction rate is very high for black males. In short, the main points of the introduction are focusing on how people being treated in the prison, without having lawyers because of poverty, and also how there is a huge increasing ratio in prison. He finally says “we are all implicated when we allow others to be mistreated” (18).

The fourth day in class, we went over the summary of Changing Writing, from page 15-30. Dr. Crowther started to explain how text conveys messages. Most types of writing have an argument which is the point on which the writer develops his work in order to convince the audience. Reading will always start with texts, and writing mostly starts with purposes, audience, context, text, and then makes a strong connection. Writing can express feelings, also graffiti can do so, sometimes a picture or a diagram can make a strong connection between the audience and the writer and so it might be easier to the reader to engage and understand the text, to illustrate, “readers in some cases make connections from one text (the graffiti flower) to another (website) based on their own experience.”

After the class lecture, Dr. Crowther gave us homework that is due next week Tuesday morning, which is exercise 1 or 3 on p.46. She also explains to us the first essay (editorial) and showed a sample from the “Georgia State university newsletter”.

Class/discussion/activities:

The first day of class we didn’t have any group activities other than introducing ourselves.

The second day of class one of my classmates brought donuts as he’s working at Dunkin’ Donutt, so in order to get one donut, Dr. Crowther asked everyone to tell her a reason why you deserve a donut? It was actually fun because we got to know each other more and it also leads to a class discussion. Soon after we started with the daily grade writing as an activity each day and must be completed for a grade. Our first question was “what kind of writer are you? Everyone in the class had a different answer.

In the third day of class, we should have read the introduction of the Just Mercy, so when we came to class we separated into a group of four and we had a discussion about the summary and answered the following questions: 1.Why is the chapter called Higher Ground? 2. How does Stevenson’s experience meeting Henry affect him? 3. What is just mercy? 4. Something that surprised you on Pg-15? After we done our group discussion Dr. Crowther asked us to start working on our daily grade writing, and the question was: What is Social Justice? And what issues you think is important? Everybody discussed and we had a variety of answers as it is shown in the picture. At the end, Dr. Crowther gave us a small note card to write our name, major, and one thing can help to learn more in class or one issue that may affect us during the semester so this way she will know about us more.

The fourth day in class we started with the daily grade activity question: Share one of your most interesting commercials? And think about why it sticks in your head? Soon after we finished everybody shared his/her answer as a group activity. After our discussion, Dr. Crowther started her lecture, as I summarized that in the fifth paragraph of “Reading for class”. At the end of the class, Dr. Crowther let us share and discuss with a partner our previous homework which is a letter to the editor.

In short English 1101 is an interesting class, and very helpful class that lead us to learn more, we would like to thank Dr. Crowther for giving extra help to the students and making everything enjoyable.