Read: Black Swan 100-133 (chapters 8-9), bottom of 185 - bottom of 189 ("The Grueness of Emerald," "That Great Anticipation Machine"), top of 196 - top of 200 ("The Melting Ice Cube," "Once Again Incomplete Information," "What They Call Knowledge"), top of 223 - top of 228 ("The Long Tail," "Naive Globalization," "Reversals Away from Extremistan"), 284 ("Two Ways to Approach Randomness"), 286-298 (chapters 18-19)
That looks like a lot, but it's actually the same length as the previous two assignments. And as I said today, I think the further you read along, the more you will understand.
Read: They Say / I Say 121-128 ("Academic Writing Doesn't Always Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice")
46 (Jenny - repeat). Define narrative fallacy (according to Taleb) and offer two new examples - anything that isn't discussed in Black Swan is OK.
48 (Cathy). The move of "mix[ing] academic and colloquial styles" that Graff & Birkenstein advocate is very difficult to do, and it is also somewhat peculiar to American English. Do you think this "mixing" is more difficult for you than it would be for an American student? (Or less difficult?) Would this type of mixing be desirable in a 中文 essay?
49 (Tiara). Explain what Taleb means by "silent evidence" and give a (new) example of a mistake/misinterpretation that comes from ignoring silent evidence.
50 (Elsa). Describe a person you know who is like "Fat Tony." Describe a person you know who is like "Dr. John."
51 (Alice). Ask a question about something confusing to you in Black Swan.
52 (Catherine). Ask a question about something confusing to you in Black Swan (different than #51).
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Homework for Class #8 (Wednesday, 5月26日）
Reminder: Final draft of "Blink Response Response" essay due Monday night 5月24日 at 22:00, to Google Docs. Please make sure your English name is in the title somewhere.
Read: They Say / I Say 129-137 ("But Don't Get Me Wrong: The Art of Metacommentary")
Read: Black Swan Chapters 5-7 (50-99)
I will begin the class by trying to answer the helpful questions that Doll and Kim posted from last week.
43 (Peter). Find one "metacommentary" move in Moneyball and two in Black Swan. (And copy them for us here.)
44 (Ting). Find one "metacommentary" move in Blink, and two in Black Swan. (And copy them for us here.)
45 (Aaron). Define confirmation bias (according to Taleb) and offer two new examples - anything that isn't discussed in Black Swan is OK.
46 (Jenny). Define narrative fallacy (according to Taleb) and offer two new examples - anything that isn't discussed in Black Swan is OK.
47 (Esther). Do you feel that Taleb's unique writing style (irregular organization, use of fictionalized characters, use of autobiography, use of historical comparison, declarations of arrogance) makes Black Swan easier to understand, or more difficult? To put it another way, Taleb sometimes describes battles with his editor... if you were the editor, would you help him or fight back?
Read: They Say / I Say 129-137 ("But Don't Get Me Wrong: The Art of Metacommentary")
Read: Black Swan Chapters 5-7 (50-99)
I will begin the class by trying to answer the helpful questions that Doll and Kim posted from last week.
43 (Peter). Find one "metacommentary" move in Moneyball and two in Black Swan. (And copy them for us here.)
44 (Ting). Find one "metacommentary" move in Blink, and two in Black Swan. (And copy them for us here.)
45 (Aaron). Define confirmation bias (according to Taleb) and offer two new examples - anything that isn't discussed in Black Swan is OK.
46 (Jenny). Define narrative fallacy (according to Taleb) and offer two new examples - anything that isn't discussed in Black Swan is OK.
47 (Esther). Do you feel that Taleb's unique writing style (irregular organization, use of fictionalized characters, use of autobiography, use of historical comparison, declarations of arrogance) makes Black Swan easier to understand, or more difficult? To put it another way, Taleb sometimes describes battles with his editor... if you were the editor, would you help him or fight back?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Homework for Class #7 (Wednesday, 5月19日）
Reminder: First draft of "Blink Response Response" essay due Monday night 5月17日 at 22:00, to Google Docs. Please make sure your English name is in the title somewhere. Final draft due Monday 5月24日, but I will not make detailed comments on the first draft, only about paragraph transitions. So you can revise or not revise as it suits you. I propose that this essay be changed to 800-1000 words and 17.5% of the final grade, and the next essay be 1200-1500 words and 32.5% of the final grade... you can email me individually if you think this is unfair for you.
Read: They Say / I Say 92-100 ("So What? Who Cares?)
Read: Black Swan Prologue, Part I Introduction, Chapters 1-4 (pages xvii-xxviii, 1-50)
35. (都學生!!!) Post a one sentence answer to "so what?" for your current essay. You may find the templates on They Say I Say 98-99 useful.
36 (Alice). Find one "so what?" move in Moneyball, one in Blink, and one in Black Swan. (And copy them for us here.) The easiest place to look is probably the introductions, but also possibly the conclusions.
37 (Cathy). Find one good/effective paragraph transition in Moneyball (according to the guidelines for transitional logic given in They Say I Say 105-118), one in Blink, and one in Black Swan. (And copy for us here.)
38 (Catherine). Find one good/effective paragraph transition in Moneyball (according to the guidelines for transitional logic given in They Say I Say 105-118), one in Blink, and one in Black Swan. (And copy for us here.)
39 (Elsa). Identify two more events that fit Taleb's criteria for black swan (rarity, extreme impact, retrospective but not prospective predictability). I suppose to translate from English to Chinese idiom, we should say white crow?
40 (Tiara). Explain what Taleb means by "Platonification" or "nerd-ification," and give two examples of this epistemological mistake.
41 (Kim). Ask a question about something confusing to you in Black Swan.
42 (Doll). Ask a question about something confusing to you in Black Swan (different than #42).
Read: They Say / I Say 92-100 ("So What? Who Cares?)
Read: Black Swan Prologue, Part I Introduction, Chapters 1-4 (pages xvii-xxviii, 1-50)
35. (都學生!!!) Post a one sentence answer to "so what?" for your current essay. You may find the templates on They Say I Say 98-99 useful.
36 (Alice). Find one "so what?" move in Moneyball, one in Blink, and one in Black Swan. (And copy them for us here.) The easiest place to look is probably the introductions, but also possibly the conclusions.
37 (Cathy). Find one good/effective paragraph transition in Moneyball (according to the guidelines for transitional logic given in They Say I Say 105-118), one in Blink, and one in Black Swan. (And copy for us here.)
38 (Catherine). Find one good/effective paragraph transition in Moneyball (according to the guidelines for transitional logic given in They Say I Say 105-118), one in Blink, and one in Black Swan. (And copy for us here.)
39 (Elsa). Identify two more events that fit Taleb's criteria for black swan (rarity, extreme impact, retrospective but not prospective predictability). I suppose to translate from English to Chinese idiom, we should say white crow?
40 (Tiara). Explain what Taleb means by "Platonification" or "nerd-ification," and give two examples of this epistemological mistake.
41 (Kim). Ask a question about something confusing to you in Black Swan.
42 (Doll). Ask a question about something confusing to you in Black Swan (different than #42).
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Homework for Lab #4 (Wednesday, 5月12日）
Read: They Say / I Say 105-18
Write: Paragraph outline of your response to the blink-write. The outline should have an overall thesis sentence, and a topic sentence for each paragraph. You should also choose at least one representative quotation taken from the blink-write for each paragraph, and use the "frame and chop" technique to write it into a new sentence.
Links to Video: Part I (Breakfast and Lunch), Part II (Lunch and Dinner)
More Weirdness: Check out this "photoshop" picture. The older man is Bill James and the younger man is Theo Epstein - two characters in Moneyball. The meaning of the picture is that Epstein has used the new quantitative analysis about defensive statistics (created by statisticians like James) to change the strategies of his Boston Red Sox team. Thus he loves "run prevention."
More quotation technique: I already shared the Google Document of the changes to Kim's sentences I made in class, but I also found a related blog post from a class I taught in California last year. Maybe it will be helpful too... click the comments below to read.
Links to Video: Part I (Breakfast and Lunch), Part II (Lunch and Dinner)
More Weirdness: Check out this "photoshop" picture. The older man is Bill James and the younger man is Theo Epstein - two characters in Moneyball. The meaning of the picture is that Epstein has used the new quantitative analysis about defensive statistics (created by statisticians like James) to change the strategies of his Boston Red Sox team. Thus he loves "run prevention."
More quotation technique: I already shared the Google Document of the changes to Kim's sentences I made in class, but I also found a related blog post from a class I taught in California last year. Maybe it will be helpful too... click the comments below to read.
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