Greetings, 7th Grade Students!

Thank you for welcoming me into your classroom today. I was talking with some college freshmen, and they wanted to know what it was like to be a 7th grade student today. So, they came up with five questions, and I told them that you all would help them out. I will get you in to groups of three or four, then you will get a notecard with one question written on it. One person can be the designated "notetaker," writing on the back of the notecard all of the ideas that your group comes up with for this question.

Just think: What's so cool about being about a 7th grade student now? Probably a lot!!

Monday, April 30

We began our English 101 Assessment today in class, which will continue through Friday. Make sure that you are saving your work in the correct folders in the STV 250 folders. See the post below this for more information regarding the procedure.

Friday, April 27

Today in class we finished up the learning blog presentations and begin to go over the information needed for next week, deemed "Assessment Week." Read through the rest of this blog post, highlighting the assessment and what is expected of you for this weekend. The two posts below this, regarding STV folders and the actual instrument used for assessment, will elaborate on this overview. If you have questions, please let me know. If not, we'll also have a chance to work through some of these things together.

The Illinois State University Writing Program Assessment

Spring 2012

The Assessment Goals: The Assessment instrument includes 8 items – which the students will be asked to respond to in a “report” format.  These items are closely related to our program learning outcomes. They encourage students to reflect on their composition practices, and to use their class productions to analyze and demonstrate their learning. With this assessment we are trying to get a sense of “what learning looks like” in a genre studies based writing course.  We will be analyzing (rather than evaluating) students’ answers to see how they use terms and concepts and how they use examples from their own writing to illustrate their understanding of these terms and concepts. We will not be assessing “writing mastery” in the student texts, nor will we be assessing teacher efficacy. Hopefully, our analysis will also uncover examples that we can use to extend our understanding of how our learning outcomes are being taken up and used by students..  It may also help us consider changes to our learning outcomes, and serve as a baseline for future assessments.

This Assessment is worth: 15 points (along with the various participation points)

When: You’ll get started on organizing and writing stuff. Then, we’ll have Monday-Friday of next week to get everything in order (although we may be finishing up blog presentations on Monday, as well)

What To Do (Some procedures to make our lives/class easier…):

·          This weekend: Gather up your work/main projects from this semester. Don’t forget about some selections from your learning blogs. This will be uploaded onto the STV folder (see page regarding access to STV folder at home) and is your student portfolio. Either:

o   Save them to your student folder (“your name”<Portfolios<Writing Program Assessment<Nicole Osolin) on your home computer. See the next sheet detailing how to get to these folders from hom

o   Or: Save them all onto a thumb drive, bring them to class, and upload them onto the STV folders from here

o   In the least: Have all this work collected

·          Also this weekend:  Begin working on the 8 questions for assessment, making sure to look over each one and see what types of work/examples you need to fully answer the question. I will look over your work in Monday’s class. You will have thru next Friday to finish this up. Keep in mind, your writing is not being graded, so it doesn’t have to be perfect, just readable

o   These documents/answers will then be uploaded to “your name”<Assessments<Writing Program Assessment<Nicole Osolin.”

o   This questions are the last two sheets of this document..

Assessment Instrument

Writing Program Assessment Spring 2012

The Assessment Instrument

The assessment instrument will be presented to the students as a series of questions, which they’ll address using a report-style structure.  At least one of the questions calls for student to create maps that illustrate their activities.

Question 1:  Identifying Genre

The response to this question should contain two parts:

Part One:  Using specific examples from class discussions about genre, explain your understanding of how genres are identified, constructed, produced. 

Part Two:  Then, select one of your major compositions you did for your class this semester. Describe how you understand the specific elements of the “genre” (or genres) for that writing.  How was the content you created shaped by the boundaries and features of the genre?  Be sure to provide specific examples from the text to illustrate your points and makes sure to thoroughly describe the choices you made regarding complying (or not) with the genre in your writing.  (For example, were there things you couldn’t say about your topic because it didn’t fit with the genre? How did the genre affect the research you included?)  

Question 2:  Organizing Information in Multiple Genres

The response to this question should contain two parts:

Part One: Select any one genre that you worked on during the class and discuss how the organizational features of that genre work to shape the content.

Part Two:  Select a different genre (from the first one) and discuss/analyze how the features and requirements of the new genre might shape the content differently.  If your class has done this kind of “genre juxtaposition” (moving content from one genre to another) you can use examples of that work for this response.  Otherwise, you can choose any other genre you think would be interesting to discuss.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT Describe the boundaries of the two genres (talk about differences and similarities – how the genres diverge or overlap). Use examples of the genres (e.g., texts you talked about in class, or texts you created) to highlight specific features of the two genres. Discuss how these particular genres mediate meaning (how they shape or alter the meaning an author can produce). Discuss the audiences/users for these genres. Are they used by different people, or for different purposes? Discuss the media/materials/tools use to create the genres. Discuss how the genres have changed over time. Discuss how texts in this genre are stored or archived or could re-purposed in some way (i.e., used for something other than what the author intended).

 

Question 3:  Technology/Media

Respond to one of the following writing situations by describing the decisions you might need to make regarding technology or media – What tools would you use to create and distribute the text?  Keep in mind that tools/media/technology can include any material object you use to produce or distribute the text.  What “things” would you use to create the text, and what (perhaps unconventional) tools/or venues might you use to distribute it?  Also consider how these technology/media choices impact the text you create.

To do this, imagine you need to produce a text about one of the following topics (choose only one):

Topics: An advertisement for a personal hygiene product. A review of a film, play, music album or song. An instructional how-to guide for a game (board game, video game, etc.). A scrapbook chronicling the experiences of your first year of college. A billboard addressing a proposed change in some policy/practice within the community. Note #1:  Please explain in as much detail as possible. You can use examples from choices you made on projects during the semester – if applicable – to illustrate how these decisions can have important effects on the text one produces. Note #2:  Be sure to consider who the audience would be for this hypothetical document, and how that might affect your choices. Note #3: Keep in mind that “technology” doesn’t necessarily mean “digital.”

 

Question 4:  The Trajectories of Literate Activity

We’d like you to create a visual map of one your major textual productions from this semester (could be a production that you did outside of ENG 101) and discuss the text’s trajectory.  Consider these three elements: 1) everything that went into to making the text, from your previous knowledge to the resources you used, and even what was necessary to create those resources, 1) what genres is your text connected to or derived from and how might you map these genres in connection to your text, and 2) what are some of the future interactions that individuals might have with your text.  Keep in mind a person need not physically see your project to interact with it.  Think about the following:

·         How did the text begin and how did it move out into the world?

·         What other genres (generally) or specific examples of genres did you use to inform/understand your production?

·         Who read it?

·         Who do you anticipate might read it in the future? 

·         What might those readers do with the text? 

·         How might the text be stored, or disseminated to others? 

·         What new kinds of texts (if any) could the ideas in the text be used to create?

·         What cultural institutions or organizations (if any) does the text help to support or challenge?

Your visual map can be done digitally or in some kind of “print-based” form.  Instructors and students can (and should) discuss how you want to approach this mapping process.  Be sure to include some kind of key and/or a written discussion of your mapping process.

Question Five:  Flexible Research Skills

Imagine that you plan to do research on a more specific variant of one of the following topics, but not as an assignment for school.  Discuss where you would go (physically and digitally) and what you would do to find the information you need.

Your choices Include: the current U.S. economic crisis a genealogy or family history potential careers in your major or area of study the body of work of a particular author/filmmaker/artist the causes of and treatments for autism the cultural/community values/rituals/beliefs of a particular group The aftermath of the “Arab Spring” Ramifications of the “Occupy” movement Note: You’ll probably need to make these topics more specific before you begin to respond to this question.

 

In your response to this question, try to describe (in as much detail as possible) some (or all) of the following issues:

·         What kinds of technologies or media might you make use of in your search?

·         Who are some of the people you might gather information from (either as informants or as experts)?

·         How would you decide what kind of information is applicable to your project?

·         What criteria would you use to make decisions about the types of information that would be useful or valid for this project?

·         Using the possible texts for this topic discuss some examples of sources that might or might not be credible to use for this project.

·         What might you do with this information? Why and how?

Question Six:  Using Citation Formats/Citing Source Material in Multiple Genres

Explore how citation functions within one of your projects from this semester.  What citation format did you use, and how did it work within your text?  Why was this source cited in this way?  Then, discuss the purpose of citation methods in general.  You may want consider how your evaluation of sources affects the purpose of citation.

Question Seven:  Grammatical Usage and Sentence Structure

Discuss a particular issue/concept or “rule” of style or punctuation that you learned about during ENG 101?  Try to provide examples of how you worked with these concepts in specific projects or writing activities during the semester (both in 101 and perhaps in other classes). Explain specifically the rule of this convention as if you were going to teach it to someone.  Consider how you came to this knowledge.

Question Eight:  The issue of Transfer

Take a few moments to consider the kinds of genres you use to write outside of school.  What kinds of skills have you developed to help you use those genres?  Now take a moment to consider the kinds of genres you’ve used to write in ENG 101.  What kinds of skills have you developed to help you use those genres?  In what ways are the skills you use to write outside of school similar to or different from the skills you use to write in school? Please use examples from your writing to illustrate your discussion.

Uploading Assessment/Portfolio Stuff from Your Home Computer

Using the STV250 folder system from outside 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 click browse. The contents of the STV250 folder will appear.

Monday, April 23

Today in class, we turned in our final projects for Unit 3. On Wednesday, you have your final learning blogs due and will take a few minutes to briefly present about your learning blogs, how far you've come in this class regarding writing, what you still have to learn, etc, If you have questions regarding this presentation, please see a subsequent blog post detailing these requirements.

Monday, April 16

Today, we had our final peer review session of the semester--on our rough drafts for the grassroots article. Hopefully this session was helpful to all. On Wednesday and Friday, we will hold our individual writing conferences with me, so remember to meet with me on your designated date/time. I will post/email you all those times soon.

Happy Writing!

Nicole

Friday the 13th (April-style)

Today was a work day/announcement day in class. I'll post the time schedule for the conferences on Monday. Until then, here are the announcements we went over.

Announcements!! Some things to consider…

This coming Monday: Rough draft is due

·        Bring copies/computer for peers to look at

·        AND one hard copy for me to look at before our writing conferences in the next two days

Final Learning Blog and Presentation Criteria

The Final Learning Blog and Presentation (30 pnts total)

The Learning Blog:

·        This is the only one for this unit, so take that into consideration

·        This pulls together your learning about writing, etc. that has taken place this semester in English 101

·        It will probably contain those  big “takeaways” from this class (or those major points of learning)

·        It should be quite a bit longer (for some of you…)

Monday, April 9

Hope that everyone is thinking about their Grassroots articles! Today in class, we had a quick (yet somewhat indepth) discussion on two areas in the construction of these: Content and Criteria/Research. Be sure to continue to think about these two aspects and utilize them wisely as you work to conceptualize your stories.

In Wedneday's class, we'll be discussing three more aspects pertinent to your writing: The visual elements, the abstract, and the (often forgotten) title. Happy writing!

GWRJ Final Rubric

GWRJ Class Rubric

Article Format: (these are all pretty mandatory points):

·         A hybrid genre (with close analysis, it’s possible to see evidence of lots of other genres in the texts; aka “a genre on the move”)

·         Title

·         Abstract

·         Paragraph format

·         Attention getter

·         Visual Element

·         Headings (optional)

·         3-5 pages, 12 pnt font

Audience: (mandatory point)

·         Writers 

Wednesday, April 4

In class today, we finalized the grassroots rubric which you will use to construct your own article. You can find a copy of this rubric contained in the next post on this blog. For Friday, you will want to post your proposal for the article. We'll discuss them in class that day.

Monday, April 2

In class today, we began our discussion of the Grassroots Writing Research Journal and the rubrics which we will use to help us construct our own articles.

For Wedneday, you'll want to read Koehler's article on page 21 and my grassroots article, making changes/updates to the rubric as you see fit. We'll briefly discuss the articles and finalize the rubric for class on Wedneday. I added some more points to the rubric from your group assignments, so you'll notice some changes

Proposal for GWRJ Article: Due Friday, April 6

Here are the questions you need to have answered on your blog for this Friday. I'll give you feedback during Friday's class period.

1. A general topic description
2. Describe the specific genre(s) that your article will explore (if any)
3. An explanation of the author's perspective (i.e. are you planning to creat a personal narrative of your own experience, or to research how other people writer, or what?)
4. Potential use of visual elements
5. Discuss your plans for citing research in your articles

Questions 4 and 5 will be elaborated more in coming classes, so don't worry if you don't have a definite answer to these yet--just an "educated guess."

Assignment for Monday, April 2

I hope that you're glad to have Unit 2 finished! Today in class, we turned in the completed Unit 2 work adn briefly introduced our final unit (see the description in the post below for more detail). For Monday, you will want to:

• Read the two articles on pages 73 and 81 of the Grassroots Writing Research Journal
• Post ten characteristics you see from these on your blog.

Happy weekend!

Unit 3 Overview

English 101 Unit 3: Writing about research (or some other genre), “Grassroots” style

Okay, so we’ve written newspaper articles. We’ve analyzed language, content, and location of various written genres. We’ve even designed and implemented actual research about how people react to small (?) changes in various genres.  Now, we will finish off the semester by writing about writing utilizing the format established in a relatively new and flexible genre. But what genre? The Grassroots Writing Journal that you’ve been reading all semester (sort of).

Peer Review Design: Wednesday, March 28 for Research Findings Report

In groups, what you decide to discuss is up to you. However, you’ll want to pay particular attention to the results and discussion sections as these represent new material essentially. Some other things you can focus on include:

·         What about the research findings report is unclear to you?

·         What do they need to be more specific/expand on?

·         Do they specifically address the research questions effectively?

Monday, March 26

Today in class, we had the final work day for the Unit 2 projects. Groups worked towards creating their research findings reports.

Due on Wednesday:
- Rough drafts of research findings report
- Each person will bring in one copy.

Due on Friday:
- One copy of the research findings report/genre juxtaposition report
- Each person will post the final learning blog and turn in group contribution reports

Research Findings Links

http://www.experiment-resources.com/writing-a-results-section.html

Unit 2 Research Findings: The Layout

Layout: Research Findings

Overall:

·         In paragraph form (except for graphs, charts, or any other extras that you have)

·         3-4 pages (but longer if you need it)

·         Can be written very matter-of-factly and straight to the point

Monday, March 19

Welcome back from Spring Break!! Today, we had some time to work in our groups to discuss finally beginning to implement our research designs and shared with the rest of the groups exactly what we are doing--hopefully gaining some ideas in the process.

Due Wednesday: The final draft of the research proposal (with the expanded section of the research design) is due by Wednesday morning.

Friday, March 2

We reexamined Cultural Historical Activity Theory today in class in relation to your genre juxtaposition pieces that we will be testing after spring break. Using colored paper, markers, and colored pencils, we created these "CHAT maps."  In the Unit 2 groups, we then discussed what we each put on those maps.

The rest of the class period involved figuring out how to construct your research design (which will be an expanded section within your research proposal).

CHAT, revisited for Unit 1: Friday, March 2

We've already discussed Cultural Historical Activity Theory and how it places what people write or say within its context, allowing us to examine all of the factors surrounding its production. For about 20 minutes or so, you will do just that: Consider that genre juxtaposition piece in relation to CHAT. Feel free to grab some markers and colored pencils or simply or pen/pencil to create your map. This will then be shared with your Unit 2 to reveal how each of you believe your piece will go out in the world. This will help lead us into the reseach design portion of class...

Wednesday, February 29: Leap Day!

A day that comes around only once a year should clearly be celebrate by talking about research proposals and genre juxtaposition pieces... or with a picture of a calendar physically leaping in the month of March:

http://www.cartoonaday.com/leap-day-leap-year-2012/

Unfortunately, no calendars leapt in our classroom today. But we did get to talk about your proposals and pieces for Unit 2.

Monday, February 27

We began our group work in class today regarding the assignments due on Friday:

- half way learning blog (on each person's blog)
- genre juxtaposition piece (rough draft; a hard copy or an electronic version; one/group)
- research proposal (electronic version; one per group)

2/27 Group Work: Comment on this Blog

Hi everyone! Comment on this post telling me whose blog your notes/thoughts for this group work session are posted on.

Thanks!

The Research Proposal: How do You Create One?

When your group turns in a propsal along with your genre juxtaposition piece on Friday, what exactly should the proposal look like? Well, it should contain these parts. How your group wishes to format these parts is up to you. But, the simpler, the better when it comes to research proposals. Be clear and concise, but remember to give enough detail so that readers of this proposal can understand what you are planning to do and where potential pitfalls may lie.

Group members names
Tentative Title

1. Statement of the "Problem"

• This is a description of the context of your study
• Explain to me what genre juxtaposition you are working with
• Tell me how this piece "normally" works or is set up within particular rules or constraints: The "problem" that exists surrounding this piece

Friday, February 24

We discussed on particular, larger genre construct a little more indepth today in class: Language, or more specifically, standard English and the "rules" that go along with it. In this discussion, we talked about such concepts as:

• prescriptive grammar: setting those "rules" (likely the only kind you've ever learned in school)
• descriptive grammar: the goal with this is to simply describe how people actually talk or write; this is also, then, open to various dialects of the English language
• code switching: utilizing two different language in spoken word ("switching" back and forth between thet wo)
• code meshing: utilizing two disctinct English dialects within a written genre

Unit 2 Group and Looking Ahead...

                                      Groups for Unit II

Here are your groups for this "writing research" project:

Wednesday, February 22

Today, we continued to move forward with our discussion on Unit 2. We first went over some great components in some learning blog entries--keep in mind that all of these are online, so you have access to all of this information. We also did an exercise with one of the written genres that you all brought in (see the activity posting marked as "Wednesday, February 22").

For Friday: Read Jackson's article in the Grassroots writing journal and answer the questions on the post below regarding Standard English.

Standard English Questions

On your own blogs, answer these following questions (as honestly as possible even though this is a public sphere). These answers will help contribute to our discussions on language use this Friday.

 

Evaluating the Standard

1.     When a person speaks or writes in Standard English, what exactly does that mean?

Wednesday, February 22 Activity: "Breaking a Constraint" in a Sample Genre

For this in-class assignment, get into your Monday groups and choose one person's sample genre that each should have brought it. With this genre, first, come up with some "common" characteristics utilizing those five categories that we worked with on Monday:

1. Language
2. Content
3. Other Design Elements
4. Location
5. Audience

Monday, February 20

Homework Change: Read the Jackson's article for this Friday now, not Wednesday.

Today, we moved on with our discussion regarding Unit 2, considering both the characteristics/constraints of particular, perhaps more unique written genres as well as what changes could be made to them to see how people would react to them.

Here are some of the constraints that we came up with in class:

Side Walk Chalk Messages

Friday, February 17

Today, we turned in all of our stuff for unit 1! I hope that it was a good feeling to get rid of all of it. I plan to have everything graded by next Friday. So, you'll have your midterm grades by then, as well.

I also introduced unit 2. We began with some links to two news stories and how changing one particular genre construct (such as the location of them for example: What if you switched Brian Williams' story with that of Jon Stewart's?) can make huge differences as far as the reactions garnered from readers/viewers/etc. The unit is explained in more detail in the previous post.

Due for Monday: Comment on one other person's blog and bring in example of a written genre. We'll work with this example in class that day.

Have a great weekend! : )

Unit 2 Overview/Important Dates

Unit 2: Breaking the “Rules”

As we have learned from unit 1, genres, when placed in contexts, oftentimes appear to have some pretty specific criteria and characteristics. But what if one was to manipulate the characteristics of these written genres? I’m not talking about an all-out overhaul, but a slight change to one or two of those characteristics. I’m talking about something called genre juxtaposition, the placing of one or more characteristics of one genre into the format/constructs of another genre. We could also call this breaking one of those “rules” or “constraints” that we’ve talked about. Consider these examples:

·         A friend hands you an academic essay to look over, but it is written in a nonstandard dialect of English or even the text message “dialect.”

·         You go to the first day of class, and the teacher hands out the syllabus. Except that this syllabus is a restaurant menu. Weird.

·         Those white boards on the doors of nearly every dorm room with all kinds of messages written on them? Someone has decided to place theirs on the doors to Stevenson Hall instead.

The Last Class Before the Unit 1 Project is Due...

Today in class we began to move forward with our discussion of writing/rhetoric/discourse as it is placed in its context (a very important concept as we begin to move forward into our Unit 2 discussion). The two previous posts help to clarify some of that discussion.

Keep in mind that your unit 1 projects are due this Friday. Happy writing! : )

Cultural Historical Activity Theory, An Introduction

Here's a few facts:

•Aka: CHAT

•A rhetorical theory (rhetoric= the art of speaking or writing effectively)

•How people act and communicate in the world specifically through the production of texts

The Trajectories of Literate Activity

Here are the questions to consider for the first part of class on Wednesday, February 15:

•How did the text begin and how did it move out into the world?

•What other genres (generally) or specific examples of genres did you use to inform/understand your production?

Peer Review Day #2

Today was our peer review day for our rough drafts. As I "hovered" this morning, I heard some really good things being said, some really cool things being discussed, etc, etc. Awesome. We're almost to the end of our first unit, so I hope that things are coming together for everyone. If anyone has any questions regarding these final days, please let me know!! Final "stuff" is due this coming Friday!

Friday, February 10: Work Day!

Today was a work day for unit/project #1. Hopefully you all took advantage of the time you had in class to work in this project today.

(Re)considering our First Learning Blogs

So... today's topic: Trying to figure out this genre of the learning blog.

 I first went over the point breakdown for Unit 1, which is as follows:

• Total: 110 points
• Rubric #1: 10 points
• Learning Blog #1: 25 points
• Rubric/Analysis #2: 15 points
• Learning Blog #2: 25 points
• Article: 25 points
• Participation: 10 points

Monday, February 6

Today, we went over a wide range of topics that could be relevant for your news article:

• Audience/information placement: Consider not only "who" or audience is but "how" they read a particular piece. This where, in news for example, the inverted pyramid comes in. This, essentially, upside down triangle means that some of the most relevant information is on the top as people generally do not read news articles in their entireties.

Interviewing Basics

Some Interview Tips

1.    Think ahead: What information do you think you’ll want in your article?

2.  Ask more questions than you think you’ll need. You’ll never know if/when the extra information will come in handy.

Peer Review Day #1!

Happy Friday!

I was excited in our class today. I was hearing good things, and I hope that you all got some good feedback from your classmates in regards to your rubric, analysis, etc. You'll now want to work on your final rubric/criteria as well as your learning blog for this Monday (these will be two separate entries).

I hope to give you more time in class next week to work on everything. Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 1: Construction of Peer Review Outline Number 1

Here's what you will want to bring to class on Friday:

• Your rubrics/criteria ( a few copies)
• The articles you analyzed
• Your analysis notes

Today in class, we discussed what makes/doesn't make a good peer review/feedback session. Some of our notes so graciously taken by Emily and Sam include:

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.

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.

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

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.

Before Unit 1 Introduction: Links

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/oscar-nominations-2012-hugo-the-artist-among-best-picture-contenders/2012/01/24/gIQASa4IOQ_story.html

http://www.rrstar.com/blogs/georgettebraun/x870486268/Film-by-former-Rockfordian-up-for-Oscar

http://www.wgntv.com/entertainment/viral/chi-melissa-mccarthy-oscar-nomination-bridesmaids-20120124,0,2491082.story

http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46114512#null

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: