Jay's Semester of Love Research Dictionary

Note from the Editor:

This past spring, I was able to draw a through line between my classes on on multiple campuses.  We read sixties literature and developed sixties research papers. Week by week, we exchanged ideas about protest and change. We  searched  the campus databases for information about Civil Rights, the Women's Movement, Gay Liberation, the Sexual Revolution.  Many students identified key people and events that shaped the future we live in today.   They wrote about Martin Luther King, Harvey Milk, Gloria Steinem. 

As part of the project, I encouraged students to  define a term most closely associated with their topics. Several wrote papers about the Cuban Missle Crisis.  In English 105, Katie Castro defined  the threat of "nuclear annahilation" (see above) in the conflict between two superpowers.  She explained  how President Kennedy used diplomacy to avoid war with the Soviet Union.  President Kennedy, by the way, the man who ordered an aggressive naval blockade to prevent the Soviets from approaching Cuba, appeared to be a popular topic of discussion  Did you know that many if not most people believe there was a "conspiracy" behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  To this day, we don’t know the truth.  Perhaps we never will.

Not only did students examine important political ideas and figures, they also defined turning points in our culture and society.  I was happy to read the causes and effects of "Beatlemania."  Several students identified "The Pill" as the century's greatest invention.  English 1A student Katherine Lee chose to define the mystique of the Ford Mustang - "Pony Car" - still running strong today, sixty years after it first appeared on the scene at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

In the spirit of collaboration, my students shared their sixties definitions on our classroom workshops and descussion boards.  Our goal was to add important dimension and meaning to our essays.  Our best defintions we publish in  Jay's Semester of Love Sixties Research Dictionary.  To see student work, please scroll down the  right-hand menu bar.

Jay Lewenstein

Why The Title "Jay's Semester of Love"?

    As I type this, our former president has just been indicted on 37 felony charges, ranging from the willful retention of national defense information to conspiracy to obstruct justice. Since the Supreme Court has ruled to upend reproductive rights in this country, more and more states are voting to make abortion illegal. They are banning books in Florida. We just may be on the verge of nuclear war in Europe. I hope my Sixties Project provides my students with a brief reprieve. In 1967 John Phillips wrote the pop hit "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)." Many historians regard Scott Makenzie's version as the impetus for the 1967 Summer of Love. This semester, our research took us back to an exciting period in our nation's history. My students wrote on a variety of sixties topics with great enthusiasm and insight. This made the writing fun.  It was our Semester of Love.

 

Jay's STUDENT NEWS CONFERENCE NEWS Post - English 105 Students Present Research Projects in Front of Live Audience

On Final Exam Day, my Spring Semester 2023 students presented their research projects in front of a live audience at the campus library.  I called it Jay's Student News Conference.  Over the course of the semester,  my students read a sixties novel and developed  extensive MLA-style research papers.  They wrote their papers about the Moon Landing, the Women's Movement, the MLK Assassination, Charles Manson.  They scoured our campus databases for the most significant information available.  In the sixties, I was too young to understand what was going on in this country. But I'm certainly old enough now. I encouraged my students to learn from the past to understand what is going on today.  

In the sixties, the iconic rock group the Grateful Dead sang "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been..." My students will agree.   This  project was both rigorous and challenging, but as we advanced deeper into the writing process,  students became more knowledgeable, confident and engaged.  For this event, we brought in a big screen and a professional podium.  In a brief three to six minutes, they  presented their new knowledge and insight on racial division, sexual assault, gender equality, immigration reform, environmental degradations, to name a few of their topics.  They also took questions from our gathering of reporters. 

As I write this,  14 states have banned abortion following  the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.  50 years of Civil Rights erased. About half the states in the union are expected to  follow suit.  In Georgia, they've banned abortion at six weeks of pregnancy - this is before most women would even know they are pregnant.   This looks like only the beginning.  Extreme right elements of our own governement appear relentless in their attack on reproductive freedoms. Women's lives are being put at risk.  English 105 student Ariana Valenzuela focused on the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s.  Her paper analyzed the advent of the Birth Control Pill - according to many historians, the most signifcant  "invention" of the twentieth century.  Reproductive Rights are Civil Rights.  The Pill gave women the freedom to choose their own paths in life.

Every year in California, the two counties where I teach – Imperial and Coachella - are often ranked near the top in teen pregnancy.  The causes are diverse:  no protection, peer pressure, lack of parental communication, gang activity.  The effects are common: dropout, low-wage jobs drug/alcohol abuse, cycle of teen pregnancy.  Moreover, Latina teens consistently rate atop all racial and ethnic categories when it comes teen birth. 

I was happy and impressed to see Ariana lead an inspired discussion about birth control with our students and guests.  The first things that come to mind when we see a pregnant teenager is drop-out, government assistance, single motherhood, promiscuity. Because of the rampant stereotyping, we blame the young women for their choices. As a result, teen moms experience more than their share of guilt and shame.   Ariana argues that doesn't have to be the case.  Ariana's presentation was SO COOL.   We talked about things in our Student Press Conference that we just don't talk about in class. 

This student news conference idea came to me at the beginning of the Trump presidency; from watching news clips of Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Sara Saunders, Rod Rosenstein, presenting important information to a roomful of reporters.   And taking questions!   I thought what a great format to generate and perpetuate student engagement at semester's end.   The communication goes two ways.  Everyone wins!

Over the last week of the regular semester, we had the chance to practice our presentations in groups. We practiced the back-and-forth, give-and-take press conference banter we see on CNN and MSNBC.  Brianna Gomez( see her project Mind Map to the right) writes about Women’s Rights Leader Gloria Steinem, who TODAY is still speaking Truth to Power.  Several of the projects  you will see displayed at the press conference express the voice of young women in this class, truly grateful for theunyielding courage, spirit, and sacrifice of the women who have paved their way.  Brian Magallanes developed his research paper on the Chinese Cultural Revolution.  He was ready for questions  about the role of women in the revoloution he speaks of.

     I graded  my students on the following:

* Professional behavior and preparation - effective use of time during presentation.

* Knowledge of subject matter - Ability to share 2-3 SIGNIFICANT elements of research

* Postive attention and feeback directed towards classmate presentations

My goal with our Student Press Conference is to provide an exciting, non-threatening collaborative atmosphere to reinforce our semester learning and motivate us for thenext semester. 

This Is What I Believe:  We all walked away from Final Exam Day feeling good about our efforts this semester.  I look forward to picking up where I left off with my Summer Session students. 

Jay's WE'RE JAMMIN' Post - Jamboard - Padlet - WE BE COLLABORATIN'

To begin our Semester of Love, we spent a lot of time brainstorming our sixties ideas on Jamboard and Padlet.  I asked my students to define important ideas on their own  terms.  No longer, I said,  did I want them to copy definitions out of the dictionary or off a website.  That’s BORING.  Instead they shared their understanding of a subject through investigation, discussion, analysis, and reflection.  That’s EXCITING. Jamboard and Padlet increases the level of collaboration in the classroom.

Jamboard probably works as much  for ME than it does for MY STUDENTS.  Jaja!  I can post Jamboard assignments on Canvas and see what students are doing and understanding in real-time.  Or, what they are not doing.  I mean, I can provide immediate feedback and support.  In our first week, we read a Sandra Cisneros essay, "Only Daughter"  that reflects a long-standing conflict between the author and her father.  Sandra has grown up to be a strong, independent woman. Her father has maintained his old-school sense of macho.    The sparks fly in this essay.  On Jamboard, students have the opportunity to share their learning and thinking.   Sandra was born in the United States.  Her father immigrated from Mexico.  Over time they have developed decidedly different world views.  Many of my students can relate!  And they do so, by  dragging their thoughts and opinions on a stickie to an appropriate place on our Classroom Jam. 

In this foto (to the left), Marilyn Monroe is wearing a pale green Emilio Pucci dress.  I know that because that's the dress they buried her in.  Marilyn is famous for wearing it in Mexico on the last vacation she ever took. When journalists gushed how beautiful the dress looked at her Mexico City press conference, Marilyn famously said, "You should see it on a hanger."  This happened in February 0f 1962. Later that year in August, Marilyn's half-sister, Bernice Miracle, and Marilyn's housekeeper, Eunice Murray, were assigned the task to select the clothes for Marilyn's funeral services.  They searched her closets for a blue dress - of Marilyn's favorite color - but they couldn't find anything appropriate.  When they laid out the green Pucci on Marilyn's queen-sized bed, they were all in agreement. This one would do.

I posting this here because in my classes we read 1960s literature,  and I assigned a 1960s research project. For me, the sixties were exciting times.  I grew up in the decade.  I can stand up before the class and speak to my memories of the Moon Landing, the Beatles, and Marilyn Monroe; like it was yesterday.  It was a time in our  nation's history that changed us.  Civil Rights.  Mohammed Ali.  The Women's Movement. It was an era that inspired us.  Too bad for me, I realize now, that my students regard the sixties like Ancient Greek history.  Jaja. They know little about it.

That's why I pull out Jamboard and Padlet the first week. I'll share a short video of Marilyn's mysterious death.  Students might share sixties music knowledge that has been passed down to them from their grandparents.  In the 1960s, Cesar Chavez fought in the fields - right outside our classrooms - for worker rights.  To the right, I share Litzy's Padlet submission on Padlet.  While many of her classmates chose to write about President Kennedy, Litzy chose to focus upon the strong woman behind the successful man.  In her research paper, she defined the term "icon."  I'm hoping this brainstoriming activity may bring out new possibilties for writing that my students may not have touched upon in other classes.  Before we begin the work, I ask each of my students to make a list of three of their best ideas on a sticky.   LET'S JAM!

 

Jay's BUS STOP Post - William Inge - Marilyn Monroe - One Woman's Fight for R-E-S-P-E-C-T

In English 1A, we read  William Inge's classic play Bus Stop. Cherie, the main character, is a young woman with a dream.  She's lived most of her life in rural Arkansas.  She's been abused and passed around by men, but now she has no time for that.  She's on her way to L.A. She wants to be a singer. “ I'm a chanteuse. I call m'self Cherie,” she tells anyone who will  listen.  I doubt she spoke more than a few words of French, but here she uses two in one sentence.  It’s clear, Cherie has lived a hard life.  By referring to herself as a “chanteuse,”  she feels a sense of sophistication. She's not a barroom singer.  She's serious.  Inside her purse she carries a map wherever she goes.  With a red marker, she's traced a straight line on it from Arkansas to California.  Her route only goes one way. 

In the year prior to filming Bus Stop,  Marilyn Monroe left Hollywood to spend a year training with the world's leading experts in stage and screen at the Actors Studio in New York.  This is where she studied Method Acting.  Her goal was to take her acting to the next level. Method actors dig down deep inside of themselves for a memory or an experience that will help them recreate the true emotions of their character they are playing.

In Cherie, Marilyn had to recognize certain characteristics from her own troubled life.  Here Marilyn used her Method training to bring out both the vulnerability and toughness in her role.  How did she do? Film critic Susan Doll wrote this: Marilyn didn't just act the role of Cherie-on-screen, she became Cherie....

Below:  Clip from the film version of Bus Stop -   This is a very COOL scene because Marilyn fought for the integrity of her character.  Usually it's the GLAMORIZED Marilyn we see on screen.  She's MADE UP.  DRESSED TO KILL.  She can SING and DANCE.  But, not here.  Marilyn decided that there was nothing GLAMOROUS about the character she was playing.  In fact, Cherie had been pretty  much abused and beat up for a long, long time. Of course, her producer and director wanted the SEXY Marilyn, but here she said, "No, No, No."

• No Make-Up
• No Beautiful, Alluring Costumes  ( Marilyn herself ripped  holes in the stockings)
• No Adoration from Audience (She was supposed to be STRUGGLING)

Marilyn teaches us all a lesson in empathy.  She was only human; in the same way many of our friends or family members are human when they struggle with depression, anxiety, insecurity, drugs and alcohol.  Hopefully, we can all begin to look at others in a more sensitive and caring light.

 

Classroom Discussion Boards - Jay's Tips

     Each week I ask my students to participate on our class Discussion Boards.  These assignments are designed to reinforce  critical thinking and writing skills.   Active participation will contribute to a positive learning environment.   For many of my students, their  first few years in college will be the most memorable time of their lives.  THEY WERE FOR ME!  The Discussion Boards promote meaningful connections with their classmates.   Everybody Wins!

Jay's Tips to His Students:  Online classes may be new to many of us - Below are a few rules and guidelines to help you succeed:

• Participate - Do not hide in the background; it is not fair to lurk and let others do all the work. Contribute to discussions to get as much as possible from the course and to maintain your participation grade.
• Write for Success - Each time, Try to Improve - Do not fall into  sloppy or illogical thinking -  Challenge yourself and one another - Write like you mean it - Like you are writing in an essay.
• Reread and check your posts - Practice professionalism. Be mindful of how you look online; others will likely judge the tone and quality of your writing. Reread your posts and edit for clarity and mechanics.
• Follow Jay's Step-by-Step Instructions and Models -  300 Words - BE INTERESTING! - Write what you think is important. 
• Don't Forget  to Respond to Your Classmates (2) - Support your classmates in a meaningful way - Respond to something specific in their posts - Try to contribute clarifying or reaffirming information or a new idea to a discussion - Show you care - "That's a real good job"  by itself is not going to help much.  Ask thought-provoking questions.
• Grammar Counts - Punctuation Counts - Sentence Variety Counts - Work hard to get better each time.
• Don't Wait until the LAST MOMENT - Submit EARLY - Leave Time to RESPOND to your Classmates

My goal this semester in the design of my assignments is to offer something for everybody.  The more we engage, the more we learn.  Each week, Our reading and writing will bring us closer together.   The first week of the semester I ask students to design their own "About Me" Page for submission on our Canvas Discussion Board.  For their convenience, I provide  graphic organizer templates to jumpstart their creations.

•      I encourage students  to share what they think is Meaningful and/or Important.  If they want to draw pictures, that's cool.  If they want to upload pictures from ther computer files, that will work.  If you know how to insert text in a PDF file, that will look neat!
• I ask them, "How do you want to REPRESENT yourself to your classmates? "  I chose Running, Cooking, Spanish, and Gardening.  I wrote something about my teaching  philosophy.  Feel free to write what you want.  You decide on your design.  IT'S ALL  GOOD!
• See my  personal sample at the top of this page.  I'm and OLD MAN.  I went OLD-SCHOOL.  I appreciate the opportunity to submit something with a PERSONAL TOUCH.

This is going to be great.  You will see.

Paz,

JL

CAN YOU DEFINE THAT? - See Jay's Sample "Addiction" Paragraph for Amy Winehouse Essay - Follow My Steps - It's as Easy as 1,2,3....

In our classroom essays, I often encourage my students to explore and explain abstract concepts, but copying definitions out of the dictionary just won’t cut it.  That's BORING.  I tell them to support their ideas on their own terms.  That's EXCITING.  Definition writing is both fun and unique, for writers can use variety of patterns and techniques of arrangement to engage with their readers: Narration, Negation, Enumeration, Analogy, etc. In my composition classes, we use them all.  This past semester, my students  wrote about the sixties.  They defined terms - in their own words - like "Chicano Movement," "Conspiracy," "Hippie."  Their definitions give their readers a deeper understanding of the history they explore. Their ability to DEFINE terms and ideas in their own words  elevates the quality of their writing.  They put their CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS on display. The result is Jay’s  Sixties Definition Dictionary.

Pictured above is Amy Winehouse.  I know,  I know, she was born in the eighties, but she sang with sixties soul.  In much of what I have read about her, she patterned her style and stage presence after sixties icon Ronnie Spector.   Ronnie had become known as  "the original bad girl of rock 'n' roll."   Look at Amy's Behive Hairdo!   The Cleopatra eyes.  You can't see it in this picture, but Amy liked to take the stage in tight, short skirts and/or strapless dresses, just like Ronnie did.   Like Ronnie, Amy sang with raw, deep emotion.   Like Ronnie, Amy experienced the trauma of a violent, abusive marriage; and the physical and psychological consequences that come with it. I'm writing about Amy here, because in a few of my composition classes, I model how I would write about Amy Winehouse's tragic death.  Somewhere in my essay, I would take the time to define  "addiction."  It was her continual alchohol abuse from the time she became a teenager that eventually destroyed her liver at age 27.  She had everything to reach her dreams, but she wouldn't go to rehab:  "No, no, no..."

Below, I provide my students with a few tips to get started with their own definition paragraph.  I ask them to find a word, term, or idea that represents their  sixties topic.  Choose something from their research articles.  Find something that JUMPS OFF THE PAGE – that’s usually my advice.  Maybe they will have something underlined in their notes that would be cool to develop. CHECK THEIR ANNOTATIONS. Below I list a few examples to begin the conversation:

Sixties Topic	Term to Define:
The Kennedy Assassination	Conspiracy
Marilyn Monroe	Sex Symbol
Muhammed Ali	Champion
The ’65 Mustang	Muscle Car
The Moonlanding	Space Race
Martin Luther King	Civil Disobedience
Sixties Fashion	Beehive Hairdoo
LSD	Trip
Dolores Huerta	Rebel, Activist, Hero, Leader

In my canvas assignments, I provide lists of definition tools at their disposal.  I provide charts/ mind maps  to help them visualize their ideas. Mind Mapping is a powerful graphic technique they can use to translate what’s on a writer's mind into a visual picture. Since mind mapping works like the brain does it allows students to organize and understand information faster and better.

1. Synonyms: They can use their  theusauras to explore other forms of their term. Avoid repetition.  Look for expansion.  Branch out in their writing.   For example: if I was writing about Dolores Huerta, I would look up different ways that I could use to describe the courage of this woman: Nerve, Daring, Tenacity.

2.  Negation: Before they  explain to their  readers what their term is, they  just might want to explain to them what it is not.  For example:  perserverence, it’s  not about giving up; it’s about giving everything!   Becoming a "sex symbol" may bring fame and fortune, but can also lead to humiliation and isolation. 

3.  Enumeration: Think ahead. List the characteristics associated with someone who embodies their term.  They will give the writing depth.  

4.  Analogies: Use their  critical thinking skills to compare the  term to something more   familiar.

Here is what my Addiction Chart will look like for Amy Winehouse.  In responding to the writing prompts, I found myself with plenty of content.

Jay's Note:  I expect each defintion paragraph to follow the models provided in our Canvas Instructions:

* Clearly present the term  (highlight the  chosen word or phrase in bold-faced font.)

* State the general class it belongs to.

• Express the specific/special  characteristics that distinguish it from other terms in the same class.

Like This - Here Are Some Samples from My Previous Classes: 

TERM:	CLASS:	DIFFERENTIATION:
Insanity	is life	in a parallel universe
Prejudice	is hostile behavior	directed at a group or individual for no good reason
Addiction	is the failure	to control one's desires

Here is how my Amy Winehouse Addiction Paragraph came out - I COPIED and PASTED my responses from my chart.  That's not PLAGIARISM.  That's MY OWN WRITING.  It Works!

I hope this helps. 

Addiction is the failure to control the consumption of a drug.  It takes over one’s life.  You reach a point you can’t control it.  It controls you.  By the time you realize this, it’s way too late.

SOUNDTRACK OF OUR READING - David Bowie - Rock 'N' Roll Chameleon - Final Exam Project - See Jay's Sample - "Changes"

A chameleon is a lizard that changes the colors of its skin.  People who like to change their looks are often referred to as chameleons.  They are never satisfied with just looking “hot”;  they change whatever they need to look “cool” at the moment.  Rock star David Bowie’s career was based on innovation and experimentation. He was a master of reinventing himself. In 1969, he appeared on the scene with an astral hippie ‘Space Oddity’ song.  He wrote about his sense of being adrift after a crushing breakup with is long-time girl-friend Hermione Farthingale.   A few years later, he rocked the world with his new band Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.  His new look and sound changed rock forever.   He was glam rock.  No, he was a soul singer.  No, he was punk.

You never knew what to expect with David Bowie.  When he died a few years back, we lost a true legend.  He marked his 69th birthday with the release of his 25th album.  This time it was a jazz inspired work called “Blackstar.”  Many critics call it his most experimental, different album to date.  Two days following the release, his family announced that he succumbed to two-year battle with cancer.  He wasn’t your typical rock star.  He was never satisfied to live in the past.   He would always be someone  looking for “Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes” (Get it?)   That’s what made him so cool.  For nearly fifty years, David Bowie was rock’s chameleon.

Jay's Soundtrack of Our Reading - Final Exam Project:

For the end of the semester things should get FUN and INTERESTING.   I've designed a project to reinforce the reading and writing skills students have developed over the course of the semester.   Including DEFINITION (see above). It will require students to combine their MUSIC with their READING.   I ask them to select a song  to best represent their Bus Stop reading.  Here is what I ask of them: 

1. Choose ONE Most Valuable Part of Your Reading :  an idea, a scene, a character, a quotation, an event, a description, an author....YOU CHOOSE

• Choose a song that best represents your MVP - Your Most Valuable Part of your Reading.
• Think Hip-Hop - Gangstah Rap - Musica Nortena- Classic Rock- Heavy Metal  - You DECIDE!
  Prepare to MATCH your LYRICS with your Bus Stop TEXT
  Write down on a STICKY (or two) WHAT and WHY or WHO and HOW.
• How are you going to justify your song?  Where did you find it?  Why should we care?
• For the purposes of this assignment, I'm choosing David BOwie's "Changes"  to represent Bus Stop character BO Decker - See my argument below.

2.  Here is how to get started:

• Choose a song from your own knowledge and experience that will provide important meaning to your reading?  To your Bus Stop MVP.
• Think about your song selection.  What’s the MESSAGE?  What is the artist trying to say?
• Write a song analysis - combine your knowledge of the artist with the message of the song.
• How does this song ADD MEANING to your READING? What is the Connection?

3.  I ask you to ANNOTATE your SONG LYRICS in the same way you ANNOTATED your RESEARCH ARTICLES

4.   Create a comparison of your SONG LYRICS with your TEXT PASSAGES - You will need to create a table:

• In the  left-hand column you choose your lyrics - In the right-hand column you find meaningful passages from the text.
• By the time you see this assignment, you will already have chosen your song to represent your Bus Stop MVP.
• Here is how my submission appeared :

5.  In the end, I ask my students to contribute their writing to our MVP Discussion - Most Valuable Part - of our reading. 

My students  appear to have as much fun as I do with this assignment.  Who would have thought?  They all have different opinions and perspectives for what they have read.  Many of them isolate on parts of the play I didn't previously consider.  There is no RIGHT or WRONG answer on this Final Exam Project.  I encourage my students to express themselves in the way they best know how.  THE MUSIC IS ALWAYS GOOD.  It's a great way to CELEBRATE our semester.  Here is my MVP:

  My MVP comes late in the play.  This is when Bo takes a leather jacket right off his own back puts it around Cherie’s shoulders.  This was a surprise (to everyone reading the play.)  Up until this point, Bo acted tough, but he didn’t know what it was to be a Man!  he didn't know what it meant to be a MAN.  Now he shows concerns for others before he thinks of himself. Now that is manly.  I vote for the song "Ch-ch-changes" by David Bowie.  I know David Bowie from the seventies.  I listened to David Bowie when I was the same age many if not most  of my students are now.  I idolized him for his desire to be himself.  He didn’t pay much attention to his critics.  He followed his heart.   In this way, he reminds me of Cherie.  She went against all expectations they had for her back in Arkansas.   David Bowie is often referred to as a “chameleon.”  This is because he doesn’t sit still.  He is always making changes to his  life and his music.  That’s why this is a cool song to play in the background when Bo hands Cherie his jacket.  At the very end of the play, Bo gives Cherie the jacket right of his back. This is significant because up until this point the only one Bo thought about was Bo. Handing over his jacket is no small gesture. It shows that he is ready to take care of Cherie. He’s thinking of her comfort first.

This shows a big CHANGE in Bo compared from the beginning of the play. He was LOUD and MACHO.  Now, through the help of Virgil and Cherie, he shows he can listen to others.  He is more SENSITIVE and TENDER.  His love for Cherie TRANSFORMS HIM. 

This is going to be great.  You will see.

CAN YOU DEFINE THAT? - An Important Idea, Feeling, Experience, from YOUR OWN LIFE? - See English 002 Personal Definitions Below

    In Spring Semester 2023, my English 002 students developed their research papers on sixties topics.  We read the play M. Butterfly and wrote about Vietnam, the Kennedy Assassination, Women's Rights.  You can see a few of their defintion paragraphs published in our Summer of Love Research Definition Dictionary (look to the right-hand sidebar.)  This  worked!  Their definitions took their readers back to an important era in our nation's history.  In researching the past, we all developed a better understanding for the present.

With this in mind, I asked students to complete their semester learning with more of the same definition skills and writing strategies  we covered over the semester.  But this time, IT WAS GOING TO  BE PERSONAL.  Instead of searching the campus databases, I asked my students to look inwards - into their own lives for important meaning.  They defined TRUE LOVE, ANXIETY, FEMINISM, ETIQUETTE, GANGSTAH RAP.    I started the ball rolling by defining my running shoes in my closet.  To me they are more than just articles of clothing.  I explained what they meant to me on both physical and emotional levels. Below, I modelled my brainstorming strategies for finding the best topic for my essay.

 Jay's Tips:

1.  I would make an effort to describe the running shoe in specific detail.  Explain its design. Compare its characteristics with other athletic shoes. 
2. I could write about process: What I do to prepare for a 10-20 mile run.  How I depend on my shoes.  Or, what I go through to find the right shoe for me.
3. I think it would be cool to research the history of running shoes in this country.
4. I would also share a personal anecdote - Do I have a story I can share that involves my shoes. YES I DO!
5. After I define my running shoes, I think I would explain how they set me "FREE."  Get it?  Free Runs - I can write about spiritual meaning – I can describe what I feel like when I don’t have my shoes with me.
6. This is going to  be fun. 

We spent the final weeks of the semester researching our topics the best way we saw fit.   OK, many of us did make use of the campus databases. The assignment called for synthesizing the materials, knowledge, and insights  into a well-written and insightful definition essay.  MLA documentation would be critical to success in the class. I'm happy we were able to pursue alternative reseach methods to define our ideas.  We watched movies and Youtube videos about our topics. We talked to our friends and family about what we were writing.  We read essays, stories, poems, and books that would help us form our defintions. Several of the students in  the class shared song lyrics to help their readers reach a better understanding of their defintions. 

Angie Pejovic struggled choosing between  "folk music" and "feminism"  - both important elements  of her life.  In writng about Joni Mitchell, she was able to cover BOTH.  It was rewarding for me to see the engagement of students in our Zoom breakout sessions.   It was like everyone  had something to say about their essays.  I mean, they followed their own passions and interests.  Talking about PASSION, did you know how ambitious and competitive Joni could be?   Once when a Rolling Stone reporter told her  she was his favorite "female"  folk singer, she had this to say about it:  ”Why am I not regarded as one of your Favorite Singers period?"  ?"  She doesn’t like that talk about gender at all.    The sixties were a time of change.  This theme dominates our classroom discussions and our writing.  We talk and write a lot about Social Justice.  Angie's essay details the struggles for respect  women faced in sixties.  She explains that fifty years later we still  have a long way to go before we achieve ture. equality.  Joni would be proud to  read this paper.  To read Angie's complete essay, please click here: Folk Music

 Anthony Kitigawa chose to define "etiquette."  He's an ex-marine who has come back to school to earn an advanced degree. In the Corps he learned to live his life by a set of rules. In Zoom breakout discussions, he may have found that others in the class, younger than him, may not share the same values he does.  Etiquette, quite possibly, has become a lost art in our society, but Anthony sees his code as a religion. In his essay, he shares an anecdote from his marine training days in Athens, GA.  This is where he learned all about Southern Hospitality.  Anthony writes of the courtesy and respect the Georgians showed for him, a complete stranger.  He decided right then and there that's how he wanted to treat people in his life.  Yes, Ma'am.  No, Sir.  Holding doors for ladies.  Offering to help his classmates. Acording to Anthony, "these customs encourage people to show respect and kindness to one another, which promotes a sense of community and fosters positive relationships."  To read Anthony's complete essay, please click here: Etiquette

• Our Writing Goal: To write a multi-paragraph essay that develops the meaning of a term/idea.
• *  To Create a unified essay with a clear-cut definition and thesis statement in your introductioConsider the writing we will discuss in my online lessons (synonyms, negation, enumeration, analogy

Jay's Tips to Get Started: 

• Start on the Jamboard 
• Share at least THREE definition ideas on the Jamboard - Use EXTRA STICKIES if you need to.
• Be positive -  Be brief - Be personal
• NAME the term/idea to be defined at the top of your sticky - in CAPTIALS
• Remind readers/viewers why you have chosen this term. I mean what is it about this idea that will be so interesting. What's your angle?  Do you  have a JUICY anecdote?
• Don't forget to sign your name at the bottom of the sticky.
• Your submission should include ONE image. - Arrange your images and stickies in a straight line.

Wow! I’m so glad we were able to share our own passions, needs, and interests.  I feel this assignment helped us to better know each other in our online isolation.   The semester would be a drag to not connect with classmates.