In an effort to clean up my blog space, I've edited and reduced the old posts. I've compiled the remaining "old" information here into a few basic posts and links. The basics of the old definition assignment that first prompted me to create this class blog is still here, as are some older links to previous students work. I've since revised the assignment quite a bit and will post the other essay assignment directions as well.
Overview of definition blog
In my ENGL 1101 courses, my students are gaining experience as "real world writers" in the sense that their writing is going live! Instead of limiting our work to the classroom, we are making our writing public on the world wide web. This activity introduces students to the concept of a blog (web-log) as they develop a definition of a term that is either new or misused in certain contexts. Their task is to provide a short overview of a definition and then to link their work to other sites on the web that explain, clarify, or exemplify that term.
So far students reactions have started as a mix of fear and complete bewilderment, but by the end of the lesson, they usually admit the blog was fun and they learned a lot from doing it. Even the technophobes admit it wasn't nearly as difficult as they feared and the newly gained skills gives them more confidence to try new writing techniques.
The assignment was stated as:
This assignment's objective is to introduce you to a very public form of writing: the blog. There will be three phases of this writing project:
- First, you will write a 1 1/2 to 2 page essay using the comparison or definition mode of development.
- Then, you will find and save the URLs for 7-10 websites that would help your audience understand your topic better.
- Finally, we will merge the first two steps and create links within our essays to make it more "interactive."
Grading will still focus on the conventions for the modes of development, but will also take into consideration the quality of your links.
We will go through this step by step, so do not worry if you do not consider yourself tech-savvy. I have some student samples below; keep in mind, however, that their assignment may have varied from yours in length and mode.
Other info given to the students:
Blog Term being defined: "Blog"
Note: there are 13 phrases linked to sites about specific aspects of "blogs." Each site the links go to further define blogging for the reader.
My Sample Blog Entry:
We're Going Blogging! Did you say flogging? That's the most common response I get when I say I'm going to introduce blogging into a composition classroom. While flogging is associated with medieval torture, blogging is one of the hottest forms of communication for the techno-savvy. The term blog is a combination of "web" and "log." It is a sort of online journal, however, most people use it to log their web-surfing finds. One hunts down information that they find interesting, or appalling, and they write a reaction, which they publish to websites like blogger.com. In fact, the google toolbar has a "blog this" button to facilitate the recording of your web-surfing. Features of a good blog are frequent posts, interactivity with readers via a comment option, links to take readers to the source of the topic under discussion, and it reveals the writer's personality. Blogs can be very useful, but they can also be a place where people post the most mundane details of their lives. Topics range from coverage of the war , which is highly controversial to, literally, "nothing." A newbie may be shocked that there is actually already a strong history of blogging. Blogs started appearing in the late 1990's and just recently became a world-wide phenomena. Blogs are just as popular amongst librarians as they are for school kids. In fact, some bloggers have taken the form from a past time to a utilitarian tool. Blogs are very similar to Wikis; however, they are not as interactive and cannot be edited by anyone besides the author. Though they are often referred to as online "diaries," that comparison can be a bit misleading. Regardless of the distinction between them and other online writing spaces, blogs are another online tool that allows people a voice on the web.
Student Blogs (the assignment for some students was a mere couple paragraph definition. This evolved into the assignment stated above):
Spring 2005/6
Adam
Cody
Mary
Semir
Fall 2005/6
Amy
Julie
Katie
Misty
Spring 2004/5
Cassie
Kari
Dawn
Nicole
Josh
Sandra
Jodi
MCC (pre-2004)
Shilo E.
Brandi S
Torrie.O.
Susan.O.
Lauren.H.
