5 minute blog post

My challenge: in no more than five minutes I want to respond to today's 1101 class at the HEC:

I am really intrigued by many of the essay topics that emerged from the prewriting today. Some were very creative and fresh. Some I worry about being "rants" much like the second sample we read today. I like the "rap is important" idea because it has a message for the reader. The topic throws out the misconceptions people may have about rap music (or at least I hope it does). I am surprised by the babysitting topic presented. I never would have thought about it the way the writer proposed to construct it. For some people who didn't produce much writing today, I worry about how your draft will form. Will you wait until the night it is due and churn out a first-draft-perfect essay? I hope not, but I do not know. Will you finally discover what your purpose is? Who are you writing for?

As I skimmed through your work today, I tried to provide some guidance. If you don't feel you got any, let me know!

In short, if I can sum up today's experience in a sentence:

If you are excited about what you are writing about, it makes ME excited to read what you are writing about. And my five minutes are up.

SWEET!

I am such a nerd when it comes to historical dramas. I absolutely loved Elizabeth, so I'm estactic to see previews for Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Huzzah!

Some other favorite costume dramas:

HBO's The Tudors (I'm impatiently waiting for season 2)
Pride and Prejudice (all versions, though I'm biased toward the A&E version) and other Jane Austen flicks (Emma, Northanger Abbey)
Vanity Fair
Jane Eyre
Braveheart
Ridicule
Jefferson in Paris
Tess of the d'Urbervilles (A&E version)
Mayor of Casterbridge (also a Hardy book)
Dangerous Beauty
Quills
The Messenger
Shakespeare in Love
and so many more...

Yes, the week was filled with possible blog-worthy topics.

No, I had no time to do it.

Before I dive into the grading for the week, I spend a minute or two surfing other blogs. This is one post on plagiarism I found today that is a refreshing point-of-view from a student.

Blogging

I just read a fascinating article on blogging in education. I do have my students blog, but really, I agree that posting one response to a prompt or assignment is not real blogging. Thoughts: how to encourage real blogging? If it's not tied to a grade, will students do it? What of the quality? Does it matter as long as they are writing? What is the motivation to blog? Do I require them to read each others blogs? To comment? It gives me a lot to think about, but since I'm just now implementing blogs in the 1101 (on-campus and hybrid) and 1102 classroom, I don't think we're off to a bad start. Would I like to see it evolve? Yes. To what? Links, more reflective, less self-centered. More reader-based, not writer-based. Engaging.

What I'm currently reading

Before I can fall asleep at night, I usually need to separate from the course and project work that I probably just set aside five minutes before collapsing into bed. To help "separate," I read or watch mindless TV. Yes, I'm not afraid to admit it. The more horrendous my day has been, the dumber the show has to be.

Last week, after spending hours on the computer, I've been reading Alastair McLeod's No Great Mischief which is about Scots living in Canada, and it is steeped in Gaelic language and culture. Even if I don't read it for a day or two, when I do pick it up again, I'm immediately drawn in.


The mindless TV? Two are absolutely hilarious to me: Rock of Love and The Pick-Up Artist. Can shows get any dumber? If you want mindlessness and to shake your head at the stupidity of others, these are the shows to tune into. Silly, silly shows.


I'm waiting for the next season of Amazing Race though. I love that show! I could never be a contestant; I'd want to do touristy things, not run like mad through a muddy field before hopping on a ostrich, finding an obscure shop, eating weird foods unpronounceable to the average American, and then jetting off to Machu Picchu to do it all over again. :)

And there is my unwind for the night.

Is it possible?

Has another week already gone by? Where did it go? My week looked a little something like this:

Go to neighbors for BBQ Saturday night; spend most of weekend getting online and hybrid course materials created and posted. Kick hubby and baby out of house for most of the day Monday in order to work.

Tuesday: work on online/hybrid classes in the morning to finish the work from last night. Go to HEC for one class. Go back to office to make copies since some textbooks are MIA. Must also make copies to give my 0050 class tomorrow. Go to hubby's volleyball game to watch our rugrat and another guy's. An hour later, I'm home, reading to the little one and tucking her in before logging on and reading posts and emails again.

Wednesday: class at 10, run to another at 11. Have lunch and check/answer emails for an hour. Office hours from 1-2:30 (spend time grading, prepping for next classes, working on the student anthology project I'm co-chairing, answering emails from students, reading discussion posts, watching the blogs, etc). Instead of leaving, I stick around to get all this done and then I ran to get pizza and pop for the Phi Theta Kappa meeting (I'm one of the two advisors) at 6. Finish office work (stop might be a better word) at 7 and head home. Meet hubby and daughter at home. She goes to bed at 8, and I start work again.

Thursday: go into office at 11 to get some work done. Meet with Dean at 2. Rush to HEC, and in the middle of my process lecture--the laptop dies. Clearly, I need a new battery. Afterwards, I lug all my stuff to the Jeep and think how nice--I'll be able to head home soon. But first, I must write a model blog post for the students in that class and hope they start to post soon instead of waiting until the last minute (as of this posting, it's looking grim). Somehow I spend another two hours in office copying pages for students since books have not come in as expected and then go home. I find out father-in-law is in town to take us out to dinner; I decline in favor of some quiet time at home (and to get some diagnostic tests graded for 0050 students). Prep for Wednesday class. Stay up way too late.

Friday: drag self out of bed. Have class at 10 and 11. Lunch at noon with hubby. Work on anthology project, Phi Theta Kappa projects, read my favorite blogs, create tutoring schedules and lessons for students. Try to leave office at 4 but get stopped by student wanting someone to look at a paper she has due soon. Leave at 4:30, run to daycare, take baby to grocery store, get home and put on Dora so I can make supper, feed family, run to post office, run after daughter for a few hours. Am currently blogging while baby plays musical destinations (wants to be in bed, then in living room airchair, then back in bed, turn on Dora, turn off Dora, turn on Veggie Tales CD, turn on light/off light, etc).

Tomorrow I meet my sister in DL for a car swap (she will detail my Jeep while my hubby installs her car stereo). I get to drive her truck this weekend (unfortunately, she sports a window decal reading "If it ain't country, it ain't music." Oh, gross! GAAA. I will jam a Rage Against the Machine CD in her player and correct her decal with a mighty red marker. :) The rest of the weekend looks much like last weekend minus the fun parts.

So far, I'm just summarizing the weeks; I hope to be able to post reactions to individual classes soon! So far, though, 2 of the 3 classes I meet with F2F are pretty quiet and I've yet to get to know the various personalities. Nor have we launched into any philosophical debates :)

Summary of the week

The first week of classes is complete. I've met over 60 new students in person and over 20 via email/internet posts. The week started with ENGL 1101 at the Higher Ed Center. It is, overall, a lively group! Unlike my other classes, this group was asked to answer questions like "what is in your CD player right now, what are 2 goals you have (barring money, family, skills and other restrictions), and a fear. Then I asked them to tell me what they thought were traits of an effective teacher and they came up with quite an impressive list including honesty, understanding, effective communicator, funny, laid back, etc.

My next class was ENGL 0050 at 10 am Wednesday. It was a much quieter group, but I saw several smiling faces. In ENGL 0050 at 11 am, it was even quieter! This group isn't as talkative as the others...yet. In both these classes on Friday, we had an ice-breaker activity based on 20 questions the students answered on Wednesday. Students were asked to find a person in the class who matched a description such as "owns a motorcycle" or "has lived outside the U.S." Only in the 11 am class did a few students break out of the group and ask the instructor which description was applicable to her :) While not required or expected, it was fun to see.

The hybrid, or accelerated, class has started with mixed results; several students report not having seen the note in the class schedule that we don't meet until September 12th. Others were unaware it was an accelerated course. These are bugs that will be worked on as the hybrid course offerings are expanded. This is our first semester with these courses, so we're learning as we go! This class if working on basic tasks that aim to get them familiar with D2L and the course policies and structure.

The online 1102 course has started without a hitch! They too are working on basic introductory tasks.

In three of the five classes, blogs are being used in lieu of journals, so that will be a new twist to each class. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

All in all, it was a productive week! Next week, we start diving into content for all three classes!

Behind the scenes

Classes start Tuesday and I (and my colleagues) are amped. We are looking forward to the new school year; we're ready to do what we do! We've been working long hours to prepare syllabi, answering quesitons about our classes and enrollment, attending meetings in DL, Fergus and on campus, working on committees to improve what we do and what the campus does to make students feel welcome and successful, and preparing for the first week of classes.

The week begins with a bang: Monday is New Student Orientation. Faculty will meet new students and help get them acquainted with the campus and our services. Tuesday is not only the first day of campus classes, but we also have orientation for students enrolled in our new accelerated courses.

My own to do list:

finalize 4 completely different syllabi and copy them Monday
make sure my two online course sites on D2L are ready to go Tuesday morning (this includes a lot of proofreadings, tweaking of settings, and other mundane details)
get the first day materials ready (create, copy)
try to find time to do a little grocery shopping and to clean my house! I won't have time once classes start :)

I believe my students are:
getting back-to-school supplies (for themselves and for their own kids)
spending time with family and friends
finalizing course registrations and schedules
working as many shifts as they can before classes start
some are moving
etc.

Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles

What was he thinking?

More news about writing and violence. Heed this advice: always consider audience.

Thoughts on books

I ordered a plethora of books for my summer reading pleasure. I can't WAIT to read for fun again. Among the growing stack are novels that I may use in the my Fall Novel class, some of which I've read and some I have not (Bronte's Jane Eyre, Chopin's The Awakening, Macleod's No Great Mischief, Kerouac's On the Road, Achebe's Things Fall Apart, McEwan's Atonement, O'Brien's The Things They Carried).

However, I could not resist peeking at Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself. Bryson is well-known as a travel writer and I've read two of his other books: Notes from a Small Island (about living and traveling in England) and A Walk Through the Woods (about hiking the Appalachian Trail). I was hooked as soon as I read Notes. I devoured A Walk.

It was with some glee that I ripped open the Amazon.com box last night to see my new treasures. I must give myself some credit that I was able to put off reading until late this morning; however, with grading of 1102 online essays looming over me, I was only going to indulge in a short reading of, say, the first paragraph. By noon today, I had read 1/2 the book. SO much for savoring it for later.

I've decided to adopt this book as part of this class for fall.

Violence in Writing

Our class had an informal discussion about violence in writing. Recent articles on the topic agree that it is important not to stifle writers' creativity, but to be cognizant of where to draw the lines; however, this topic is not a new one. Here's the same discussion from 2004.

Blue Men

Friday night, I attended the Blue Man Group show at the Fargodome. I've seen their show at the Luxor in Las Vegas 5 times (yes, it was the same exact show each time, but I took different visiting family members and friends each time just to watch their reactions).

I was looking forward to seeing their "How to be a MegaStar" show. While some elements were similar to the Vegas show, the overall concept is much different and the songs are different. I should clarify: Blue Man is NOT a rock concert. The theme of the show is rock concert, but they are not a band in the traditional sense. It's a combination of mime, comedy, music, and art. There's nothing else like it. I don't think many people here "got it" though. There's nothing worse than sitting at a great show with a bum crowd that refuses to participate. Blue Man is very much an audience participation show.

The Tudors

The Tudors started on Showtime tonight and I couldn't be more thrilled! Having just visited London and Hampton Court, I was thrilled to see some of the scenes details.




I blogged about my trip to London, which immediately came to mind when I watched the show. One small but critical detail that immediately caught my attention was the wood paneling in Woolsey's rooms. The movie portrayed it just like I remembered it!

Call me a nerd, but I am fascinated by the medieval and renaissance eras, so I'm thrilled to see this show. I'm hoping it has a huge following and will remain on the air for at least a couple seasons. I'm thinking it will because of the large following of such things as the Society for Creative Anachronisms (I'm not a big fan of this) and Renaissance Festivals (I'm a huge fan of these) nationwide.

It all just makes me want to reread Philipppa Gregory's novels, especially The Other Boleyn Girl. I've heard they made a movie out of it, but apparently it was only released in the UK.

Old Posts Reduced and Compiled

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.

A New Start

I've kept this blog pretty limited to student work. I am now going to use it as a resource for all my classes--from ENGL 0050 to 1101. I will also include some personal info from time to time.

NOTE:

Because of the constant change that occurs online, I cannot be held responsible for the content of the sites behind each link.