In addition to the Last Lecture Journal, the following writing projects are assigned. (Please note that several items are due on Thursday, November 5, 2009.) Assignments are due at the beginning of the class period. For each assignment, include your name, the instructor’s name, the class section number, and the due date.
1. Case Study Assignment – Due Thursday, September 17, 2009
2. “Meet Your UML Advisor” – Due Thursday, October 15, 2009 (via e-mail and in hard copy)
a. Information about your UML Advisor – his or her:
i. Name
ii. E-mail address
iii. Office phone number
iv. Department name
v. Office locationb. Names of other faculty members in your advisor’s department
c. The date of your next meeting with your advisor
d. A description of what you think your advisor can do for you
3. Letter(s) to Deployed Troops – Due Thursday, November 5, 2009
a. Write a letter introducing yourself to a deployed soldier.
b. You may use material from your Last Lecture journal.
c. The letters will be included in care packages for the troops.
4. Reflective Response Paper on News Item from Your Discipline – Due Thursday, November 5, 2009 (via e-mail and in hard copy)
a. Select an article or a news item (2-3 pages) that reflects an issue, idea, and/or discovery in your discipline, your field of study, your major, or higher education in general (such as Art and Ethics, Understanding Human Behavior, or International Understanding).
i. The article is to be in print form, but may be either from a hard copy or online news source.
ii. If the article or news item is shorter than 2-3 pages, select a second article or news item in a related topic.
b. Read the article.
c. Write a one-page response paper, answering the following questions:
i. What was the main idea or thesis in the article?
ii. What were your reactions to the article?
iii. What were your points of agreement or disagreement?
iv. What did you learn from the article?
d. Include the title(s) & date(s) of the article(s), the news source, & the date accessed
e. Submit a hard copy of the article(s) with your response paper.
5. Career Services Assignment– Due Thursday, November 5, 2009 (Details follow.)
6. Personal Budget – Due Thursday, November 12, 2009 (Details and form follow.)
a. For a week, record your personal finance choices for that week (including all of your spending and income).
i. For spending, list the expense, the location of the expenditure, the amount, and the reason for the expenditure.
ii. Include purchases ranging from small to major.
b. Develop a monthly budget
i. List your expected monthly income (including loans and scholarships, paychecks, support from family).
ii. List your anticipated monthly expenses (including food, entertainment, school, transportation, communication, personal items, credit card payments).
It was late and Jack was heading back to his own dorm room. He had
spent the evening with his friends hanging out at their suite across campus.
As luck would have it, it was pouring rain and windy so Jack decided to run
back to his room. Finally, almost there, he saw something on the
ground. . . . at first glance a jacket or bag someone may have dropped. Closer
he realized it was someone lying on the grass! If it wasn't for the lights
being on at the football field he probably would not have noticed.
Approaching, Jack called, "Hey, are you all right?" No response; he
shook him. . . no response. Crouching over him he could tell he was
breathing, but couldn't get him to respond. Jack's first instinct was to shield
him from the rain. He searched in the guy's pocket and found the student's
cell phone. Dialing his most recent contacts, there was no answer to the first
number. Calling the next number a male voice answered. Jack explained
the situation, described the student he had found and their location. This
caller said he would be right there. Waiting, Jack kneeled downed in the rain
and attempted to lift this guy's head and shoulders up on to his own lap. This
guy being tall and heavy it was not an easy thing to do in the pouring rain.
This got Jack nervous so he decided to call EMS.
1. What thoughts or emotions do you think Jack was experiencing when
he happened upon this student on the ground?
2. What factors may have contributed to this student's state of
unconsciousness?
3. Do you think his action of calling EMS was appropriate?
4. What if anything could he have done differently?
5. What are the signs of alcohol poisoning?
Throughout the semester, you will write journal assignments in response to questions based on assigned readings from the required text, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Each journal entry will include at least one reference – a sentence or a phrase – from the assigned reading from The Last Lecture (with proper citation). (See information in I. D. below.) Each entry will be submitted in hard copy and via e-mail. At the end of the semester, these journal entries will be the basis for your class presentation, your own “Last Lecture.” Please keep this in mind as you write.
I. Requirements for each journal entry
A. Mechanics
1. Typed, not hand-written
2. Minimum length: between 1-3 paragraphs, double-spaced, filling at least ¾ of the page
3. Left and right margins of 1.25 inches, with size 12 Times New Roman or Calibri font
4. Correct spelling
5. Proper use of punctuation and grammar
B. Identifying information
1. Student’s name
2. Instructor’s name
3. Course titleand section number
4. Date due
C. On or before the due date:
1. E-mail version submitted by the starting time of the specified class
a. As Microsoft Word attachment
or
b. As text in the body of the e-mail
2. Hard copy handed in at the beginning of the specified class period
D. Included: at least one reference – with properly formatted citation – to the assigned portion of the required text, The Last Lecture.
1. Citation examples
a. The author’s name appears in the sentence itself, so only the page number needs to appear in the parentheses: Pausch, in speaking of a class project said, “What I most loved about all of this was that teamwork was so central to its success” (124).
b. The author’s name does not appear in the sentence, so it is included in the citation with the page number: For a particular class project, “teamwork was so central to its success” (Pausch 124).
c. The author’s name is mentioned; the ideas are paraphrased rather than quoted directly: Pausch really liked his class project that demanded teamwork for its success (124).
2. Included at the end of the journal entry: the following “Work Cited” reference: Pausch, Randy, with Jeffrey Zaslow. The Last Lecture. New York: Hyperion, 2008.
II. “Last Lecture” Journal Entries and Due Dates
1) Thursday, 24 September 2009: What makes you unique? What do you, alone, truly have to offer? What makes you special?
2) Thursday, 1 October 2009: What childhood dreams have you achieved? What are your dreams now?
3) Thursday, 8 October 2009: Who has inspired and/or mentored you? What impact has this person (have these persons) had on your life?
4) Thursday, 22 October 2009: What adventures have you had? What lessons have you learned from these adventures?
5) Thursday, 29 October 2009: How have you enabled the dreams of others? How have you reached beyond yourself to others?
6) Thursday, 12 November 2009: What advice would you give? What questions do you still have? What legacy are you leaving?
(Please note: In-class presentations are scheduled for Thursday, December 3, 2009, and Thursday, December 10, 2009. To be fair to all students, however, all notes for the presentation are to be completed by Thursday, November 28, 2009, while all visual components are to be prepared by Thursday, December 3, 2009.)
Assignment: Imagine that you have been invited to give a “Last Lecture” at the University of Massachusetts Lowell at the end of the fall semester. In preparation for your guest appearance, you have been keeping a journal in which you reflected on the following questions:
1) What makes you unique? What do you, alone, truly have to offer? What makes you special?
2) What childhood dreams have you achieved? What are your dreams now?
3) Who has inspired and/or mentored you? What impact has this person (have these persons) had on your life?
4) What adventures have you had? What lessons have you learned?
5) How have you enabled the dreams of others? How have you reached beyond yourself to others?
6) What advice would you give? What questions do you still have? What legacy are you leaving?
Although prepared in each area, for this presentation you will select the section from your journal entries that you would most like to share or you will prepare a brief summary from two to all six sections of your journal. Your presentation is to include a visual component – either a brief PowerPoint slide show, a poster, a booklet, a piece of artwork, etc. – that illustrates the section (or sections) you have chosen.
In summary:
I. Selected section from “Last Lecture” journal or brief summary from 2 – 6 sections
II. Written notes for the presentation (due via e-mail, 11.28.09; due in class at time of presentation, either 12.3.09 or 12.10.09)
III. Two- to three-minute in-class oral presentation
IV. Visual component to be included (such as one or more of the following):
A. Poster
B. PowerPoint
C. Paintings
D. Drawings
E. Photographs
F. Drama
G. Role Play
H. Booklet