Thursday, May 26, 2005

English Rhetoric II

1302 English Rhetoric II - Immigration, Ethnicity and the American Identity...

That is the official name of my class. As I sat in it today, for the first time, it felt more like a history course on the second wave of immigration into the United States. Not to say that class wasn't interesting, so far, it just didn't feel like an English rhetoric course. I'm sure with 2 hours a day, every day of the week, it will get into feeling more "rhetoric".

The professor seems energetic, at times overly so, but it's better than some boring, old, bump on the log who has one of those mouths that seems to always be frowning whether they are smiling or not.

There are 4 males and 3 females in the class so far. There may be more students tomorrow since it's the last day to add/drop. A couple of the girls are fairly cute. One smokes so she went down on the cute scale. One of the guys is a football player. He asked the teacher during a break if she would let him know if he was in danger of going below a B- because that's they new standard for the football players on campus to be eligible to play.

So, after he asks and the film starts again, he goes back to "drawing pictures of mountain tops with him on top, lemon yellow sun, arms raised in a V". (in case you didn't get that, those are lyrics from Pearl Jam's Jeremy song).

Point is he was worried about his grade but didn't pay attention to the film. I wasn't really either but I'm almost double his age and work for a living, so I have an excuse. With the other guys, there wasn't much to observe other than they probably are jocks of some sort too.

I think I may be able to pull this class off with a 'B.' I wouldn't mind an 'A' but let's not get too excited about that possibility. Barely flying under the radar, that's the way I like it. Here's the grading breakdown:
  • 3 out-of-class papers: 40%
  • 3 in-class exams: 35%
  • Homework/in-class work: 10%
  • Oral presentation: 15% (hehe, she said "oral")
Like I said, I think I can do it. If not, I have a wonderful, live-in English major and essay writer. The Doctor! She may not be able to drive or spell well but she can write a mean paper!

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