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"That whatever the mind clearly conceives includes the idea of possible existence. In other words, that nothing we imagine is entirely impossible." -- David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature.

Welcome to the Electronic Assimilation Journal. The EAJ is a technique to help you individualize your academic training to meet YOUR specific needs - what you imagine -- and career choices. At first, this method may appear to be extra work but what you’ll find, as your EAJ grows, is that you have planted a garden that grows and expands into new ideas. The best thing about the EAJ is that it becomes yours – Not just a book of stuffy notes from the classroom but a clear summary of primary ideas introduced in a format that you most appreciate. Art, Science, music, comedy, life lessons; all are part of the EAJ.

Purpose: The EAJ will help you personalize your studies – in this case literature. As we discuss the universal situations of human beings: innocence/experience, culture and identity, love/hate, rebellion/conformity and religion/incarnation the EAJ can help us plot the historicity and impact as well as the progressive flow of literature. It can also show us our relationship to books as we seek methods to learn that these novels and short stories are not just words being shouted at you from the educational pulpit but are actually reflective of your life. The EAJ, quite simply, will help you reinforce your own abilities and talents. It is applicable in any field of study. Any student who isolates his or her learning experience to just one area – without making connections as to how that area influences other areas of their life – may have gained a grade but not an education. So, lets break this down.

E – Electronic format. The EAJ does not need to be electronic all of the time but with our economic demand for computer proficiency, the more prolific you are with various computer mediums the more competitive you will be in the marketplace. Using Word or Powerpoint or web-design, art programs, mind or concept mapping programs, download video and audio, spreadsheet or data base will build your abilities and therefore, give you an increased advantage over your peers in the marketplace. In reality, the journal could just be a notebook. For this component of the course though, your instructor want to raise the bar and asks you to incorporate this journal in a colorful, creative, organized and thought-provoking format. Not only that, but when you have created this journal you have developed something that you can show to potential employers as a sample of your work. You can upload it as a website that employers can look at or develop it into a CD-Rom that you can submit with your application. With a lot of equal competition in any field, the candidate who can demonstrate a “something extra” often sees the decision fall in his or her favor.

A – A means Assimilation. Assimilation is different than knowledge. In fact, assimilation is the bridge between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is what you know to be a fact or condition. Wisdom is knowing where and how to apply it. Assimilation means that you have taken the learned material, (knowledge) integrated it into the mainstream of your academic study (rearranged or “assimilated” it) and demonstrated its usefulness outside of that particular area of study (wisdom) into another are of study.

J – Journal. Journal usage has been abused in education and seldom used to its highest potential. A journal is nothing more than a track record of where you have been in the world, either environmentally, academically or emotionally. It’s misuse is that such journals have often been limited to just one of these areas (keep a journal of creative writing stories.... Keep a journal of life in this pond for two weeks.... Keep a journal of your feelings for one month and diagnose what it reveals...) These are just some examples but the problem is they are too limited in scope. What do literature, biology, and psychology have in common? Everything. Why not apply principles of all three areas of study into one track record. That is the full purpose of the journal and what we will be doing throughout the semester as we continually provide evidence that literature is a shared communal interest, not the the property of a few literary personalities and ivory-tower academians.

O.K. Let’s get started. I’m first going to provide you with a list of approaches for your assimilation journal. This list is not limited and it will be up to you to emphasize which areas you want to highlight. That decision is based on your abilities, likes, and modes of thinking. Here is the list of possibilities:

Personal response

Web Addresses

Phone numbers and addresses

Notes to Self

Charts, graphs, concept maps

Drawings

Problem resolutions (How you solved something)

Playbacks (How you successfully completed a task)

Book commentaries – Titles Field research: Books- articles in your field

Questions

Connections

Now, let’s become familiar with these.

Personal response is simply your initial and studies response to a work. (In class today we talked about…. And I learned this idea but I didn’t think this idea was right….) Personal response simply personalizes the work. What character could you relate to in a story. Which story did you like best and why? Is there a real-life issue you are dealing with that you also saw in one of the readings? Such thinking leads you toward resolving your own problems. It also leads you to consider against a backdrop of other fields (what did my psychology professor say about this behavior…) which will help strengthen knowledge in your mind.

Web addresses – Like it or not the web is here to stay. What sites have you found? Write down their URLS –just keep a running list if you want or see how I use this section in the sample below) Any of you who have had a system crash knows that your “favorites list” goes with the crash. The sites don’t have to all be about the subject either. I keep a separate list in my EAJ just for entertainment, job search, or business development sites that I enjoy. With this list you’ll have access to a growing range of interaction. I usually just cut and paste the URL to my EAJ web page constructed for that purpose and a one line comment about that site. You’ll see an example further on.

Phone numbers/ addresses. This page of the EAJ can be very convenient. It is simply an address book that keeps growing. In it, I put down people who are knowledgeable in certain field. It also lets me classify people I know by their skills so that I can see the world from their perspective and share common ground with them. If I need to know something about psychology or a certain aspect of business, I can refer to my address book, read the two or three line notes I wrote about each entry and place a call or email about my question. People have special knowledge. Use that. It also helps when it comes time for letters of recommendation or invitation lists.

Notes to Self – You’ll see an example of this in the format sheet since it is one of my favorite tools. In this section I write possible ideas. They might be ideas for papers or presentations or some new teaching or negotiation strategy since those are my areas of concentration. The idea may sound crazy sometimes but they really help when I want to generate a new idea. Often I use mine to question a certain connection “Mmm, I wonder if… We’ll talk more sabout connections as they are the crucial component of assimilation.

Charts, graphs, concept maps. – I am not a linear thinker. I work more in the abstract. Therefore, drawing charts often helps me express a new idea or process much better than just writing it down. It’s teaching and learning through pictures. For example, I’m not good at following written instructions. However, give me a flowchart map or organizational chart and I can learn quickly. I’ve given you a sample of an advanced concept map the end of this section. Concept maps can be very simple or very difficult but they can also be very affective. As a creative writer, I often use a concept flow chart to “block out” scenes in my screenplay – just like a producer would use “cuts” to build a movie. For the linear thinker, charts, and graphs with statistical references can often help them learn. Be creative with these.

Drawings – Illustrations, cartoons or sketches can be very effective in assimilating an idea. I, unfortunately, do not have the hand of a visual artist. But for those of you who like to “doodle” during class, an illustration can be very helpful. Draw a sketch of how you visualize a main character. Maybe sketch a scene. Sketch two historical cartoon figures exchanging ideas from the text. Any method of drawing where you can bring something to life will personalize it and help you remember it.

Problems Resolution – I use this section in my Assimilation sheet frequently. In this one, I’ll write a line or two about how I encountered a problem that I had already written about in the story. How did the characters resolve it? How did I resolve it. What new understanding do I have. Like everyone else I have been through broken relationships, poverty, isolation, anger, all of those things related to human life. Maybe I came up with a new way of resolving it or at least I learned what not to do again to put myself there. Consider this section as micro-learning lessons that bring literature and reality closer together.

Playbacks – I can’t stress this one enough. Playbacks are where you study what actions you took that either led you to success or failure. For example, in the EAJ, I would wait until you got you assignment back from me. Then, I’d go to my form, go to this section, and replay how you wrote the paper. All too often, we feel angry if we get an “F” or happy if we get an A but neither time do we ever analyze how we got that grade. This entry can be something as simple as “Don’t try to do the paper 20 minutes before class or, use the writing center (low paper score) to “ First I studied what was in common among all the characters. Then I made a visual map. Then I listed elements from my map into paragraphs… (High score) If you have done successfully, why not have a written model of how you got there? Do the same if you failed. Undoubtedly, you will encounter the same success or difficulties in your life in the future. Why not be armed when they occur? We use replays in sports all of the time for improvement. This is no different.

Book Titles: Field Research. Another highly used section. In this one I’ll put down names of authors who write in a style I like or I’ll put down the titles of books that relate to the subject. Not only does this give me a list of bibliography resources for future projects, it also teaches me who are the “professionals” in what field and what areas of study are popular. Consider it as building your own personal library. By your second year of college, if you don’t know some of the big names, both historical and contemporary, in your chosen field, you are going to be at a disadvantage.

Questions: Questions relates to the Note to self portion. What did I not understand about what I was reading? Or, if I have an idea (notes to Self) what questions could I ask. If I had to write a paper on Araby or A Clean Well-lit Place, or I had to write a paper about The Story of the Stone what elements do I not understand? Once I’ve got a few question (2 or 3) then I can begin research or ask the professor. One of the best techniques for writing a paper, if you don’t have a rigid format for writing it, is to 1) ask a series of questions, 2) answer them through research or discussion, 3) organize them under a common theme (characterization or plot or them or setting in literature for example) and; 4) write the paper, marking off each question on your list as you wrote about it. Ask why until you can ask why no further. That’s the point to begin research. In real life you are not going to get an “assignment sheet” that lists out expectations. You’ll have to generate initiative. Asking question to yourself and answering them is one surefire way to make that happen.

Connections: Connections are also a key player. Connections occur when you interact with the work. If you are just reading the words you probably aren’t making connections. But, when you read something and it reminds you of something else you are making a connection. Certainly it is possible to make faulty connections (cause and effect for example) but by making them you are thinking and you can always use research or experience to prove or disprove your connection. For example, what connections can be made between Joyce’ Hemingway’ and Flannery O’Connor’s work? In class we discussed that as innocence and experience. What other connections can you make? As groups you made several. Then, to what can we connect this field of study? We connected it to psychology in LI 256. In 312 World literature, what connections were made between the “story of the Stone and The reply” – issues o-f love, issues of women’s rights, idealism and romanticism since Don Quixote got the ball rolling. Connections serve to show natural inclinations between fiction and real life as well as demonstrating trends, possibilities and areas of popularity. The other wonderful thing about connections are that, once you've fine-tuned the skill and realized you’ll make a mistake or two along the way, is that you can begin to predict movements in the future based on behaviors in the past. Literature is a key resource in this area.

All right. Now that we understand elements of the EAJ, let’s simplify. I am going to give you two examples below, one for LI 256 and one for EN-312. Use these pages as a sample for your own.

LI- 256 – A sample E.A.J. entry

Works:	**Araby, A clean Well-lit Place, My Oedipus Complex, Good Country People.**
Web Addresses	Project Muse – Kent Library online search Engine.
Notes to self	In all of these stories, the settings served to change people from innocence to experience. Could I write a paper discussing how setting influences personal decisions or understanding?
Charts/concept	See Map A (You'll find a sample of a C.M. below)
Resolution Problem: (Boredom)	While I’m only half the age of the old men in “A clean well-lit place” I can certainly understand that sometimes it’s better to be a stranger in a place late at night then to be sitting at home, staring at the ceiling. As a man my age there is little which surprises me any more. Maybe the reason such people stay out late in strange places is that they (me) hope for something to surprise us. Only, it never does.
Playbacks	I once treated women the way the salesman in “Good Country people” did. It wasn’t the sex. I could get a woman to say she would and then I wasn’t interested. The game was in getting her to say she would. I wanted something more. Maybe, I’m a lot like Pointer. That’s not a bad thing but I had to learn, over time, that you can’t do people that way. It takes too much of you out when they fall down.
Book commentaries	Joyce’ Dubliners, The Dead, Ulysses. Frohm’s Art of Destructiveness (psychological failure to out grow a condition such as the Oedipus conflict.) Hemingway’s “The Sun also Rises” emptiness and lost love against a backdrop of machismo. O’Connor’s The Violent Bear it Away (only the best title in the universe :) Wise Blood, All that rises must Converge, A Good man is Hard to Find.
Questions	What would happen if romanticism wasn’t part of the picture: Meaning, what if the young boy in Araby had waited to go to the bazaar? What if the old man in “Clean..” simply realized that he couldn’t change his age or memories by drinking in a café all night? What if Mamma Hopewell in “Good Country People wasn’t so smug – is there something in southern writing that makes southern characters ignorant to the reality around them? How does the Oedipus conflict work with children who are missing one parent? Does it somehow get circumvented?
connections	The young boy in Araby was innocence ruined by his concepts of a woman. The bible salesman in G.C.P. was experienced, also ruined by his treatment of women. Both characters, not that far in age, came to experience through their understanding or treatment of women. In Araby, innocence met innocence. (Both the boy and Mangen’s sister were innocent.) in GCP, both Hulga/Joy and Pointer were experienced and bitter. So, why is it possible that the young man in Araby is as discouraged and bitter as Pointer in GCP.
Response:	My favorite story in the reading assignment was Good Country People although I can totally understand the old waiter and patron in “A Clean…” In Araby, I didn’t see enough of a reason for the young man to be sad about love experienced) I mean, he had a bad day but who doesn’t.)

EN – 312 Survey of World literature – Sample EAJ

Works:	**Story of the Stone 146-154 & .De la Cruz - Reply**
Web Addresses	Project Muse – Kent Library online search Engine.
Notes to self	A paper where I might study the fear-sexual connotation of the idea of being “ravaged” as an element of female sexuality that provokes arousal and fear simultaneously. In Reply, we see this accusation arise that a male teacher might “ravage” or act inappropriately toward a female student. While this undoubtedly has occurred, I might question the feminine position of men as sexual poachers, not that it exists but that it fulfills a sexually stimulating role rather than an actual social role. Therefore, the “label” comes internally from a woman’s sexual awareness rather than a true statement about masculine behavior. If so, this says something about both men and women’s sexual awareness towards aggression.
Charts/concept	See Map B (You'll find a sample of a C.M. below)
Resolution	De La Cruz. reminds me of a time when I had to write a letter to a supervisor about something I felt strongly about. I was careful about phrasing and respectful but I made my point. Regardless of respectful or not it was the first step toward my eventually leaving the job. Regardless, I had made the boss angry. I learned, after that, that few people really value your “true insights” and that if you state them, be prepared to take the worst. Now, I am careful of what battles I choose to fight and I always count the cost of my action if I do choose to fight them – the “I have an open door policy” that people brag about seldom exists. I admire the Sister’s courage in stating her rights as she saw them as a woman and a nun in terms of her role as a woman and her pursuit of knowledge..
Playbacks	When I studied this piece I looked at first who was talking. I mean, it’s a long letter. As I contemplated it I realized that its important in literature was that she was speaking up for women everywhere. We look at feminism and the rights of women as pretty recent and yet here is this nun in the 17^th century telling it like she saw it.
Books commentaries	I would look at some feminist-study texts to see if the nun shows up again. Certainly, some history of feminist study should show me something. Was she recognized in the feminist canon or did they overlook her just like the literary canon overlooked some minority writers?
Questions	What would have happened to the nun if her letter had become public? Would she have been excommunicated? What did she mean that “without study she could not rest.” Is there some psychological study that deals with active mind use, maybe like a disease or something where people had to be doing something with their mind or they would be unhappy? Is there any connection between depression and lack of intellectual stimuli?
Connections	If one were to look at contemporary bible studies, one could make an argument that women weren’t intended for the church. However, the nun was knowledgeable and didn’t seem to be full of herself because she had knowledge. Isn’t there other biblical connections which say to spread the word? If she could do it better than a man then wouldn’t one part overpower the other?. It seems like to me, one of the primary failures the bible seems to exhibit is that equal value is placed on the keeping of all laws. Since there are many contradictions then, wouldn’t it be impossible for anyone to follow the bible? I’d look at biblical interpretation studies like Tinsdale, Covendale, Milton and Ruskin. They couldn’t answer that question either. Is it possible that there is no connection between bible precepts and the human ability to follow them?
Response:	While I found the reading itself tedious, I have to admire her ability to make her point. Whether she was using fake humility or not, the reply gave me an insight into the struggles that women had long before “feminism” of any kind ever became fashionable. I have to admit that I was disappointed in her reproach toward men teachers and female students because she basically implied that men teachers would automatically act in an inappropriate manner. Men have always been accused of this but I think that accusation is primarily a woman’s way of walking the line between fear and physicality-- the danger in the accusation itself, sexually titillating. There is enough evidence in literature and psychology to know that the term “ravage” evokes both unpleasant and pleasant connotations in terms of female sexuality. I don’t think that was a fair assumption to make of men.

SAMPLE CONCEPT MAP (Scroll down this page to see an example of a concept map. This sample is for a highly complex paper I am working with (a several year project) - Even though the material is not related, the "technique and flow" will demonstrate the idea of the concept map.

Remember, the concept map works great to show connections, opposites or relationships between seemingly different ideas. It is also a wonderful organizing tool for a big project. Just follow the steps and do them on your own project. In creative writing I use this to map out screenplays, in LI-256 and LI-312 I will use a map like this to show relationship (such as we did in Araby, C.W.L.P, etc...) or to show historicity or movements flow in world literature.

Proposed Area of Study Concept Map – Keywords: Mediation, linguistics, behavior, passive influence, conflict.

E.A.J. RUBRIC:

The following four areas will be the primary focus measuring the success of your work. While they may appear subjective they are not. Beneath each of the four rubric categories, each accounting for 25 points of the EAJ, a bulleted list of questions that I will ask as "judge" is present. Therefore, you now know precisely what I am looking for.

Overall Objectives: This EAJ shows evidence that the student complied with objectives of the project: (1) to demonstrate an ability to connect the study of literature to other areas of study. (2) to personalize and develop the work as a distinctive mark of the student's personality and thought processes rather than simply regurgitate course lecture and notes, (3) That students have taken the initiative to adopt, modify or add to various categories offered in the model EAJ and, (4) That the EAJ can be followed, modified or presented both as a tool for study and some element of presentation and understood by an outside observer.

1) Demonstrates connection to literature and other studies.

statements, concepts, principles or rules are applied from other academic areas. the student has clearly connected, for example, principles of the Oedipus Complex to O'connor's My Oedipus Complex (literature and psychology) or De La Cruz' Reply of women's rights to a historical context (literature-history.) Judgment will not come from a right or wrong answer but whether I can clearly see the connection you are trying to make.
Field notes may indicate professionals in other fields and a brief statement of that persons role. Freud, for example, wrote psychology but he also wrote "An Analysis of Dora" a story that borders on creative non-fiction. Has the student shown me professionals in various fields and made connections as to how they might interact? What do professionals in the student's field of study write about?
The student draws comparisons. for example, a computer science major may use a concept map that looks like a computer schematic but actually discusses a story. This same student may choose to design a webpage/EAJ, hereby involving both his or her skills in computer technology and in literature. This initative will be noted.

2) Personalize and develop the work as a distinctive mark of the student's knowledge and personality.

Are the notes in the EAJ simply what the student took off of the board or do they show an influence of the students assimilation and understanding of the notes?
Does the student agree with everything the instructor or the writing we read have to say? Does the student argue points in a brief comment, citing some of his or her personal knowledge that may serve to prove or disprove an idea or theory. This is welcome.
Is there evidence of the student's talents in the work? Does the student introduce creative concepts and apply a range of tactics (illustrations, drawings, song lyrics, cartoons, or related websites to illustrate the student's point) Can I, as the judge, see the students talents or likes within the work or does the student simply worry about "what the teacher wants with no personality to the work?"

3) Adapted or modified the categories for best expression.

Did the student just "fill in the blank" of the model I provided or were some elements more used than others and other elements omitted entirely (it is o.k. to omit categories)
Did the student develop an approach not present in the EAJ profile? (If so, and it's explained as to purpose and intent, that is excellent - say, use of video, or audio cuts, or worksheets or models/games?)

4) Will I be able to follow your EAJ?

Is the EAJ organized enough that one could look around it easily? did the student use a table of contents? Are links provided. Are support comments EX: I am using this cartoon to illustrate stereotypes we have of the South, stereotypes we saw in O'connor's Good Country People...) available so that I don't have to try to "guess" what the student meant by incorporating an element?
Is there a summary of your findings over the semester? Maybe a Powerpoint to assist in showing me how you think about things or how you internalized the literature. Is there a written "paper" that I can use to help guide me through your EAJ?
(Clue for this level - pretend I'm stupid. I know nothing).

Each of the four sections are worth 25 points each. As the semester continues I will give you new ideas for your EAJ. I am in the process of designing one from my studies so that you can see an actual visual of MY (not yours) approach. I want yours to be your original work The samples on this page that you have been introduced to are the tools I use but I will design an online version for you as well as a hardcopy in the library reserve for you to look at.