Monday, January 30, 2012

Monday, January 30

What to do for Wednesday: Read "Playing Well With Other..." in the Grassroots Writing Journal (pg. 35. and think about your personal experiences working with peers (i.e. peer work/review/assessment/whatever). What worked? What didn't What would you like to change? These thoughts will help form our basis for our peer work this coming Friday.

Today's class began with some time to write about your current thoughts on your project (what you've learned so far, where you stand, what questions you still have, etc.). These notes will help you when you write your "halfway there" blog due next Monday.

We then went over some of the key components on how to spot and what makes a "news" article a "news article" and how to begin to analyze your chosen sources The powerpoint slides were emailed out to you all for your reference as you begin this.

Keep in mind that your chosen sources need to fall into the news category; steer away from anything that looks like an opinion piece or has some weird characteristic that would place it in the "not news" category.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Class Blog Addresses

Blog Addresses
Hi Everyone! Follow the page jump to find links to your classmates' blogs. This information will come in handy when you are commenting on one another's writing for the two larger learning blog entries each unit.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Friday, January 27

What is due by Monday at 7:59 am on your blog (however, the earlier you post, the earlier I can give you feedback on your stuff; I'll probably look at the blogs Sunday afternoon):
1. Your topic/news story (and consider how this is relevant for ISU students along with this)
2. 3-4 links to your example stories
3. What genre you are working with (newspaper article, television script, television-video-news, etc.)

Today, we have some time to figure out just what story/topic we want to cover as well as begin to find some examples stories and begin to discover just how to "localize" the topic for your fellow peers--ISU students.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Wednesday, January 25

Today began the official start of Unit 1. We discussed just what that unit will entail as well as some of the information that belongs in your learning blogs. For further clarification on either of these topics, see the previous postings. If you have any questions (even if it seems silly), please talk to me, and we can see what we can figure out!

On Friday, we will briefly go over the group assignment you all posted for Wednesday and began picking out your topic/articles for Unit 1.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Before Unit 1 Introduction: Links

Learning Blog Tips

Creating the Greatest Learning Blog Ever!

(or at least one that will get you a good grade : ) )

Chances are you’ve read and possibly even written blogs before. Well, this blog is probably a little different, so I wanted to give you some specifics on what I’m looking for. This learning blog, worth half of your grade for English 101, is pretty important. It will be used to document your learning for the three main units. You will post multiple entries throughout the semester, some in response to a particular class assignment and others simply requesting information from you. However, two entries (highlighted on your calendar) are the “most” important: One during the middle of the unit and the other when you turn in the final project. So what kind of things should you write? Things to be considered are, but not limited to:

Unit 1 Overview/Due Dates

English 101 Unit 1: Why Should I Care About This Story?
We’ve all read a newspaper. We’ve all watched the television news. Maybe we even remembered what we read or watched hours later. Maybe not. Regardless of how you feel about the genres of print, online, and television news articles and scripts, you will now be asked to work with one of them—creating your own piece in the process.

First, we’ll decide what stories we care about and what news items we think ISU students should know about. After we decide on these stories, you will get to pick the story that you want to work with in particular as well as what specific genre you will follow this story on—print newspaper, online paper, or television news script. After picking your topic, you will find at least 3-4 examples of your chosen topic in your chosen topic—just with different audiences so you get a feel of how that particular topic changes even with written genres. (Take a look at the learning blog entry for an example of this). Your classmates will become important as you work with your stories, helping you to analyze their language and content across contexts, coming up with how you could localize your story for ISU students, creating with a rubric for your article, and, ultimately, writing it. Consider these people like your support system for this particular unit.

Criteria Assignment

Hi Everyone! Have one group member comment on this post telling me whose learning blog this assignment is on.

Thanks!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Monday, January 23

This morning, we continued our beginning/introductory discussion regarding contraints/criteria of the genres of facebook and text messaging. While we did a good job listing various aspects of language use and situational contexts, we also found that we needed to addthe important word "trajectory" to any genre--that is, where does that written or spoken text go? Who does it go to? What aspects of technology are involved in this trajectory? These are all also context-specific questions, emphasizing the point that no writing is done in a vacuum.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Did she really write that for her facebook status?!

Ahh the joys of facebook... and text messages.

Today, we got started examining just what "genre" means as well as what some constraints or rules that we/society/culture place on these vairous written/spoken genres that most people are not even aware of. For instance, a wedding toast seems pretty harmless initially. But we examined some common characteristics and found that the characteristics of this particular genre seem very set in place--almost like rules really. For example, this little speech is almost always done during dinner; there's very little variation here. The words themselves (although we didn't analyze one) usually follow a pretty set pattern: a random thought about how he/she isn't a good speaker/hates doing these things, some thoughts on the couple, that speaker's role in their relationships, some funny quips, and the sentimental (but moreso for women, of course) ending. Yet, who says this genre needs to be done like this? Where are those written rules? There is just those set customs that most people then deem as "correct."

We spent the second half of class today breaking into groups and beginning to construct some rubrics/guidelines for facebook statuses and text messages. On Monday, we will continue this discussion. Unit 1 will also be more fully introduced.

Have a great weekend and be sure to do that STV250 folder thing (the previous blog post)!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

How to Access the STV250 Folders from Your Home Computer

To connect to the STV250 folders from outside of the lab...

Go to https://webvpn.ilstu.edu/. Log in using your ULID and password. In the top right of the page you will see a text box; enter \\datastore\stv250  and clock browse. The contents of the STV250 folder will appear.

If you have issues with this (i.e. can't see the folders, can't log in, and so on), turn to ISU's technology Helpdesk (sorry, I will be probably be of very little help). Their site http://helpdesk.illinoisstate.edu/. Their phone number is 438-HELP.

I highly recommend getting access to these from home!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Before The First Day...

Hello everyone!!

Welcome to English 101: Composition as Critical Inquiry. I'm excited for a great semester!

Nicole