IMPORTANT: If you are new to BMCC, you may not have an ID card yet. The barcode on the ID card is your access to the BMCC online library. You will need access to the library for this week’s writing assignment. To gain entry without an ID card, please submit the following form. Processing may take a day or two, so please send the request this week, rather than next.
Activity 1
Click this link to access the short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes.
Activity 2
Click this link to access a Youtube lecture on “Salvation.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN1D8ValcPY
Activity 3
Click this link to visit an interesting site, published by the Kansas Heritage Group, which explores the life and work of Langston Hughes.
Activity 4
The short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes is rich with various forms of irony, which will be relevant to the week’s discussion board. Click this link for a short video that explains the three types of irony.
CC0 Public Domain
Original composite CConway
Activity 5
Please review this short pre-reading Lecture on “Araby” by James Joyce.
Short Lecture
Activity 6
Click this link to access an interactive reading of “Araby” by James Joyce on the Commonlit website. You do not have to answer the assessment questions, but they may enhance your understanding of the story.
Optional – Audio Reading of “Araby”
Click this link to access a very good podcast recording of “Araby” by James Joyce.
PD US
Activity 8
Please review this short PowerPoint presentation on thesis statements. It includes exercises that test your skill at writing a good thesis statement. There will be a quiz in Week 2, which tests knowledge about thesis statements, as well as common literary terms (See Activity 9 below).
Activity 9
Click this link for a Youtube review of common literary terms. Next week there will be a short, practical quiz, which will cover both literary terms and thesis statements.
Activity 10
Quiz 1
This quiz checks on your knowledge of basic information about this course. Questions are drawn from the syllabus, the E-learning orientation, and the Course Information page of the course. Students have 90 minutes to complete the quiz. The quiz will be available from 9:00 a.m., May 26th through 5:00 p.m., May 31. Once the quiz has closed, it will not be reopened and will no longer be visible to students. You must complete the quiz in one sitting. Problems occur when students leave and attempt to return to the test.
To access the quiz, navigate to your Blackboard course. On the dark grey navigation panel to the left, click “Links to Quizzes.” Then click “Quiz 1.”
CC0
Activity 11
Essay 1 due: Sunday, May 31, 11:59 p.m.
Click here to access essay directions.
This is a short essay (1 page) in which you will give your response to either “Salvation” or “Araby” (not both). Students also have the option of reading one of two other coming-of-age stories: “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett or “A&P” by John Updike (links to the stories appear below). Choose a story you really like because this is the topic you will develop into a research essay over the next five weeks.
Please follow format guidelines as directed in COURSE INFORMATION. (Double space Times New Roman 12-point font).
Note: Even if you choose to write about “A White Heron” or “A&P,” you must still read the assigned readings so you can participate in the discussion board and be prepared for quizzes.
“A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett.
“A&P” by John Updike (on Commonlit website)
To submit your short essay, return to your Blackboard course and click the “Essay Submission Links” folder on the black navigation panel. Within the folder, click the subfolder labeled “Essay 1.”
Activity 12
Click this link to access the Week 1 discussion board.
