Conference Scedules

Conferences are in my office M109A;  Plan to arrive 10-15 minutes early; Call 718-482-6104 if there are any problems. 

BRING A COPY OF EVERY OLD PAPER IN YOUR POSSESSION AND ANY EXTRA CREDIT :)


Friday 12/10
Stephanie 145
Suzanna 200

Monday 12/13th

9 00 Adrienne N
9 05 Tanaisha
915 Hui Ling
930 Chris S.
945 Diana M.
10 Nick
1015 Elaine
1025 Harold
1035 Gabrielle
1045 Dioris
1100 Faid
1110 Jess B.
1120 Nile
1130 Sasha
1140 Rob
1150 Jo Lynn
1200/ Noon Timmy
1210 Steven C.
1220 Carl
1230 Gulcin
1245 Victor
100 Raiana
110 Vivian
120 Tonny
130 Amanda
140 Gulzar
150 Cey
200 Jess L
210 Andrew
220 Gissell
230 marilyn
240 Florin
250 Emely
300 Tasha
310 Ashley
320 Minas

TUESDAY 12/14
1200 Nadir
1215 Tom
1230 Stan
1245 Lin
100 Diana G
115 jose
130 Anna
145 Danielle
200 Juan
215 Lizbeth

Survey

Take the post survey here

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)

History of Happiness!

If you want to review the presentation I gave on the history of thought on happiness in Ancient Greece, you can click here.

Herodotus does not look as happy as you might expect

Helen Fisher tells us why we love + cheat | Video on TED.com

Helen Fisher tells us why we love + cheat | Video on TED.com

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....

Thesis and Intro Powerpoint for your reference - fixed!!!

Here is the powerpoint on thesis development and introductions that the afternoon class already saw.  AM class, you could watch it ahead of time, but I'll be showing it Thursday!

New Archetypal Personality Test

Are you more like Michael Jordan or Martin Luther King Jr?
More like Tina Fey or Wonderwoman?

This link goes to is a different kind of personality test (are you a warrior or a fool?)

This link, helps you understand what it means.

Have fun!

Relationships and Happiness!!! Blog Five

Write 3 longish paragraphs - each will be about one of the following in terms of love and relationships.  You can use your life or "theoretical" examples.  If you haven't read Tal Ben-Shahar's chapter on this topic, now would be a great time to read it.

The possible topics:

• Complaining vs Fixing vs Accepting
• Real Love vs "the Ideal"
• Identity and Love (gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, etc.)
• Cultivating vs Finding
• Spending More Time with Loved Ones
• Core Self (yours or someone else's)
• Knowing vs. Validating
• Gratitude
• Sacrifice vs. Sharing

Is this bear trying to change the wolf? snuggle him? eat him? 

Some Quotes about Love and Happiness and an interesting article

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.  - Buddha

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The modern fairy tale ending is the reverse of the traditional one: A woman does not wait for Prince Charming to bring her happiness; she lives happily ever after only by refusing to wait for him -- or by actually rejecting him. It is those who persist in hoping for a Prince Charming who are setting themselves up for disillusionment and unhappiness. - Susan Faludi

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect...- E. M. Forster

++++

What kinds of relationships will make you happier?  This article argues that the more committed a relatioship, the happier!

Midterm doc

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1oVIeoag-t8_Lo8u3T9RGJwdd-0UJxMt2gdrZ2WZX9AM&hl=en&authkey=CPzqx84H

Cool briggs-myers type Links

Here's one that shows you the best way to study for your type!  Let me know if it seems accurate to you!!! This one specifically focuses on studying for midterms!!!!

And, even though I shouldn't let you in on our secrets (insert evil laugh), here's one on the 4 kinds of professor personalities (and how to do the best in courses taught by them).   While you know the type of yours truly, its pretty easy to tell which kind your other teachers are too.  

Briggs-Myers Test

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Video to watch for this weekend

Here's Harry Potter's creator speaking to the graduating class of Harvard:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html


J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.


AM Class - Catch up on reading and watch this vdeo

PM Class - The same, plus a short blog (#4, only 250 words this time) on Happiness and Work.

See you Mon

Library

BOTH SECTIONS OF 101 WILL REPORT TO THE CLASSROOM IN THE LIBRARY IN THE E BLDG NEXT THURS 10/14 !!!!  See you there!

DON'T GO TO THE USUAL CLASSROOM :)

First "Paper" Assignment - How you can increase your own happiness in education.

This essay of 900-1000 words (or more) will state the ways you will modify your thoughts, habits, choices or actions in order to increase your HQ ("happiness quotient" - or basically, how happy you are) in education. 

Be sure to:

1) Present a thesis:
Here are a few examples from class (try to avoid 'parroting' them)

• I will encourage my natural curiosity in order to experience greater happiness in school.
• As a right-brained learner, I will need to use emotional and spacial concepts to help me overcome my challenges in math and science.
• Channeling my enormous social energies in the right directions would positively transform my feelings about school.

2) Provide an essay map
This site has info on creating great thesis statements and essay maps!

3) Write 4 or more body paragraphs, each with a solid topic sentence and details.
This site has great info on topic sentences.
Details can include:

• Definitions of complex ideas
• Quotes from the videos and/or texts you've read in class. I'd aim for at least one quote or paraphrase in each paragraph.  In addition, if there are other sources you'd like to use, you can also do so. 
• Explaination
• Personal Anecdote

Be sure that ALL the details support the topic sentence!

4) Conclusion.  This site has a nice intro to the concept!.

Happy Writing!

No class 10/4 - Assignment is below (read ASAP)

Dearest Class!

I am so sorry, but I won't be able to come to class tomorrow.

Here's the plan  (each class has DIFFERENT things to do, so check if you are in the AM (meets at 10:30 AM) or PM (meets at 1:00 PM) class.

If you are in the AM class, please continue to work on the blogs you have due for Thursday.  In addition, please complete all of the reading you have due for this week (listed on the syllabus).  Any questions, write me at emccormick@lagcc.cuny.edu.  This week is about happiness at work.

If you are in the PM class,  your blogs are still due at midnight tonight.  In addition, I would like you to write 3 or more long and detailed comments on your peers' blogs.  These should be at least 5-6 sentences long and provide information on a) the post's strengths, b) places where it can be improved and c) suggestions to help improve it.  These are due by midnight tomorrow (Monday).  In addition, for Thursday, please complete all of the reading you have due for this week (listed on the syllabus).  This week is about happiness at work.   Any questions, write me at emccormick@lagcc.cuny.edu.

Last but not least, I'd like both groups to watch the following video before Thursday.   Try to comment - briefly - in the comment section below!

Right brain left brain test

http://web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm

Poets, Novelists, Songwriters, Screenplay Authors and anyone just interested in writing?

The Creative Writing Club will be meeting every Wednesday from 2-4 in M317. We share writing, do writing games, and are planning for several events this year. All students from all areas of the college are welcome. You don't have to think of yourself as a writer; just have an interest in writing and meeting some great students.

Leader: Dr. Laura Tanenbaum
Assistant Professor of English
M120F
ltanenbaum@laguardia.edu
(917) 710-7341

Ken Robinson - Do Schools Kill Creativity?

How do I grade your blogs, anyway?

Here's a quick peek at my "secret" - a grading rubric for blogs.  It definately will let you know what I look for when I grade your blog work. I'm also posting this as a "Course Doc."


https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ApfN4Tn3sDzsdDRDYUZHVEN3YlZNSEQzSkg5Szg4R2c&hl=en&authkey=CKL9nNoN

There is a slightly different rubric for "papers" which I will hand out soon.

Extra Credit Option

Do you speak Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Jamaican Patois, Bambara, Nepali, Hindi, Tibetan, Bengali or Urdu?

Do you speak any other language?

The school is working on translating a poem by the US Poet Laureate (who is coming to LaGuardia!!) into many different languages to present to her as a gift.

If you attend (and get a faculty member to sign a note saying you were there) I will give you +1 on your final grade.  This could tip the scales.... for example, it your final average is an 89 (B+) it would be an 90 (A-)

Collective Translation
Wednesday Sept 22
2:15-4:45 pm
Room E-103

ROOM UPDATE FOR SECTION 0796 (the class that meets at 1 PM)

On MONDAYS from now on we meet in B300 in a room with computers !!!
On Thursdays we stay put in C116.

Dan Gilbert on Happiness

Homework:
Using your google/gmail account, comment in 1-2 paragraphs your reactions to this video.  PLEASE POST YOUR FULL NAME - OR AT LEAST FIRST NAME AND LAST INITIAL -  SO I CAN GIVE CREDIT :)

In addition, you'll be reading John Gertner's "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" in your coursepack - still available at Neco Printers!  Its a long article so give yourself time to read.  Remember, there might be a quiz on the reading!

Welcome to Class!!

Hello 101 students!

Your syllabus is posted (follow the link on the low right hand side under course docs/ helpful links) if you want an advance peek at it.

See you on Mon!

Great Quizzes on Happiness!!!

http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter.aspx

You have to register, but its not a commercial site so it shouldn't be a problem.

I just took the Authentic Happiness Inventory and got a 4.25.

If you take it, and if you want to - leave your score and feedback as a comment. 

Very Cool Happiness Quiz

 this one is from Psychology Today!

Happiest Man in the World Explains it All

The Neuroscience of Happiness

Can Money Buy Happiness?