Extra Credit

Just a reminder for all those doing the extra credit . We are looking for an annotated bibliography consisting of 5-6 sources having to deal with happiness and education. Any kind of source is fine, but it would be best to deal with scholarly articles, newspaper or magazine articles or books. New media such as blogs and videos are ok, but try to lean more towards printed materials. You can email Alan directly at alan.ramos@live.lagcc.cuny.edu Remember this is due by next Wednesday 12/15. Thanks!

ePortfolio

http://www.laguardia.edu/eportfoliosso/iLogin.aspx

Final Presentations

You will give a presentation on your topic to the class.  This will be your final exam, worth 10 points of your final grade. 

Since it will only be 4-6 minutes long, (no one will have more than 6 minutes) you will need to prepare a shorter and more concise version of your research.  Some of your ideas will not fit ideally into this time frame - its ok to cut a lot.

I will look for a custom-prepared presentation: DO NOT SIMPLY READ FROM YOUR PAPER and be sure your presentation is the right size/length.

Students must use handouts (1 page, prepare 20 cc) AND on-screen slides to help classmates follow their points.

Students must speak slowly, clearly and loudly.

All class members must be present with their handouts ALREADY printed and all graphic documents loaded onto thumb drives BEFORE CLASS.  There is no "extra time" for lateness, printing things out and no room for error.  There will be no "do overs".  Lateness will significantly hurt your grade as it is disrespectful to your peers.

Be forewarned: the class may run until 1245 this day.

A grading rubric can be found here.

VOTES ARE IN :)

Hello

By a very wide margin (6-1), your class has voted to give presentations as a "final" exam.  We will be working on these in class Weds after you turn in your paper.

Best,
Dr. M

Important Year End Info

Here is some critical info about the way the class will progress over the next 2 weeks!

1. Papers - final versions of your research paper are due next week, printed out and posted on the web.  Be sure to follow MLA style throughout and to include a works cited page.  The are due at 1030 sharp, lateness will count (aka this is an important day to be on time and to plan in advance in case of tech breakdown, broken printers or delayed subway train).

2. Final exam.  You will have a final exam on weds 12/15 at 10:30am.  My goal is to have you synthesize the/one important aspect of your research and represent it in a condensed way.  There are two ways we can do this - Please vote:

Option A: a 1000-word in-class essay version of the paper you wrote.  It will be shorter and you will write from memory (aka no research in front of you).  You will not be able to look at or use your paper as you write this.

Option B: an oral presentation of 5-10 minutes on your paper.  You may chose to use visual aids (power points, audio recordings, etc.)  You will be graded on how effective you are.

Whichever option gets the most votes from the group will be formalized as the final by Friday.  We will discuss this final next week.

3. Grades.  As of today, 50% of the grade is in.  Blog grades are now closed.  However, I've been unable to access several blogs (James, Shaq and Jessica).  If you want to know how you are doing, let me know by email: emccormick@lagcc.cuny.edu

I have also had to change the grading structure since we were not able to do much coaching this semester.  The coaching grade has been split between the research paper and the final exam.

Ok, that covers the most critical parts.

Enjoy your rainy day off :)
Dr. M

Quoting + Sandwiches

If you would like to review the slide show on quotation, you can click here.


If you want to look over different citation styles for your paper, you can go here or here.

Bread (intro/orientation) + filling (your quotation) + bread (analysis/explanation/connection)

Is a Wandering Mind an Unhappy One?

Is a Wandering Mind an Unhappy One?

This is a pretty great article about how - when our minds wander - we become less happy than when we focus.

For those of you with an iPhone, there's also an ap....