B1A Students: For students who missed today's class.  Starting shortly after 9AM tomorrow, I'll have copies (four different titles) of your classmates' essays available in the envelope next to my office door.  Come by and get one of each and read and comment on them for class on Thursday.  Mark at least one thing you like and one thing that could be improved or changed.

B50 MW 1--3PM Students:  Please check your BC email account for a reading that I neglected to handout.  It's attached as a standard PDF document (just click on the symbol).  Please print it, read and annotate for Monday.  It's really short, but part of Monday's lesson will be based on this, so get it read!  Thanks for your understanding.  This flu has me whacked...

B1A Students: The library now has workshops available to improve your research skills.  These are highly recommended and so good that I will break my own policy of not giving extra credit in this case.  You can improve the "exercise" portion of your grade by taking these workshops.  Each one will be considered equivalent to one homework exercise.  Each workshop takes about an hour.  The ones that I recommend most are "Research Strategies," "Internet Evaluation," and "Finding Periodical Articles Online."

Link: Library Workshops

Attention all students:  I'm still out sick today--Tues. Jan. 31st.  I'm feeling like this is the last day I'll have to miss, so 1A students, do your best to select a movie on which to write your essay and get the first three chapters of Tracks finished--in addition to the summary cards.  Remember, 4"X6".  We'll move ahead on Thursday.  Sorry for the delay.

B1A Students:  Tracks is IN the bookstore NOW.  Go get it!

Attention all students:  Bakersfield College now has a firm "two strikes" policy regarding repeating class, and this includes "W's."  What this means is that if you take a class and drop and get a W, you only have one more chance to take the class.  If the next time around you get a D/F or another W, you will be locked out of repeating the class.  The reverse sequence is also bad: D/F the first time, W the second--you're out of luck.  You can still petition the department chair for permission to repeat a third time,  but the odds of getting into a class will be virtually ZERO because preference will always be given to students who are taking the class for the first time or have only one strike.  This repeat police does not include students with learning disabilities.

So, what to do?  First, pass the dang classes!  Make it your job to do what it takes.  If, for some reason, you think you might need to drop, do it early, before the "W" date, which will be listed under "Important Dates" on the BC homepage.  This semester, the cutoff date is Feb. 21st.

English B50 students:  Please note the added cell phone/electronics clause in the syllabus. This is already included in the 1A syllabus:

Electronics: Cell phones and laptops are not allowed to be used during class time.  Shut them down, go dark for a little while.  You'll find it strangely annoying and liberating at the same time.  NOTE: If I catch you texting during class, I will count your attendance as a zero for that day.  If I catch you texting a second time, I will drop you from the course.  If you simply must text during class, take another instructor.  Talk to me BEFORE class if there is a special, emergency situation at home that requires you to have the phone on.  I may be strict, but I'm not Hitler--quite!