Tuesday, December 11, 2007

We've come to the end of the semester . . .

I have finished grading all your Homestretch Analyses (read them in the Zines), posted the final version of the gradebook, and submitted my grades to the college. You should be able to see all your grades tomorrow on Maricopa Online. Have a happy and relaxing break. I wish you all well in your classes and your college career. I'll "see" some of you in my English 102 next semester. Now relax with Straight No Chaser's "12 Days."

Thursday, December 6, 2007

It's all in the details . . .

In this last paragraph of the semester, I ask you to analyze your participation in the class discussions, so get out your calculator and do the math! How much did you write? How often? What days of the week? Read the assignment document carefully for how to find the answers to all these questions.

These numbers probably provide a very different perspective on your participation than your memory of what you did or your attitude towards the discussion activity. Counting things does that!

Write about what your analysis reveals in a well-organized and well-developed paragraph. Publish it in the Zine by 11:00 am on Wednesday, December 12th. Note the unusual late morning deadline!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Coming up to the final stretch


I have posted a couple of good argument essays from previous semesters in the Medallion Zine for you to read. They aren't perfect :-) but they highlight a couple of key parts of this assignment. Remember that this is a documented argument, so you need to support your position with evidence from others. Your Handbook has many examples of how to integrate source material into your writing, and there is a set of examples in the course folder drawn from the Terrorism article (TerrorismQuotes.rtf) Check out the rubric to see how the use of sources is evaluated in this piece of writing. Just don't drop quoted material into your paragraphs (See the Quotation Interloper for how that sounds to your reader.

Make sure to allow enough time to proofread your essay carefully. On the previous essay on Ethos and Audience, the lowest sub-set scores were for sentence precision and GUM.

This is the last week for the required discussion group entries; the deadline is Sunday night.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Important update about grades!


I have removed the very last assignment this semester (the second part of the Homestretch Analysis) which means that there are now only 920 possible points for this semester.

You can make the adjustment on your personal spreadsheet (MyENG101Grades.xls in the course folder) to see where you are. That will give us a little more time for this last argumentative essay, which is now due on Thursday, December 6th. The very last assignment will be a paragraph, due by Wednesday morning, December 12th at 11:00 am. (I will post the information for this paragraph next Monday morning.)

In order to pass this class with a C or better, you now will have to have at least 644 points and have earned a C average on the four essays. In order to get a B, you will have to have accumulated at least 736 points, and to earn an A, you will have to have accumulated at least 828 points.

If you have earned a D or F in this class and would prefer to have a W instead, please send me a request in email from your student email account. I can give a W even on my final grade roster, so you can decide at any time. If you are in this situation, I highly recommend that you speak to an advisor before making your request. If you do not contact me, you will receive the grade you have earned.

Many students require two semesters to succeed in English 101. By the time they figure out what is required in a college class, they are too far behind to get caught up. (Often this is true for students in English 102 also.) If this has happened to you, before you enroll in English 101 again, do a little self-analysis. Make sure you know why you didn't pass this class, and set some very specific goals for next semester. And I recommend you re-take English 101 right away. Don't put it off!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

Set aside a couple of minutes between turkey, reading the ads in this morning's newspaper and the football game to do a couple of small tasks related to this class.

First, I have posted the grades on the last essay on Time Analysis. Read my comments here. Grades are inching up slowly! Get your sub-set scores from the email message I sent you and add them to your own Grade Analysis Worksheet. Then set a goal for this current essay. (The biggest weakness was in sentence precision and GUM, so promise yourself to leave enough time for proofreading.)

I have also posted a revised gradebook. If you want your grade to rise betweeen now and the end of the semester, you will have to change what you do.

I have posted some re-thinking and revising suggestions about this next essay on ethos and audience. Take a few minutes to review some syllabi (there are many of them on the web.) In fact, if you have already registered for your classes next semester, can you find a syllabus from one of your new teachers? Use the search function on GCC's web page and look for either the teacher's name or for the department. You may not find a syllabus for next semester yet, but you may see one from this semester. Or, ask other family members or friends if you can scan the introductions to their textbooks. The more examples you see, the easier this analysis will be!

And then take a short nap in preparation for either Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day. (No entries are required in the discussion group this week. However, if you have missed one or two entries in prior weeks, you can write this week, and I will count your entries.) I suggest you write about your Friday experiences. How much did your newspaper weigh this morning? What is the focus of the ads on TV today? What does your family think about Buy Nothing Day?

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Learning about ethos and audience

Sometimes college teachers assign essays to see whether students understand a key course concept. A piece of writing is a much better way of testing understanding than a multiple choice test or even a class discussion or presentation. This essay is just that kind of writing. It asks you to explain two writing features. You can learn about those features -- ethos and audience -- by reading three different kinds of documents. From your close reading and analysis, you can then develop your own description of the terms and explain them using examples, drawn from the examples I have provided or, even better, from examples that you have found (like a syllabus from one of your classes and the introduction from a textbook from one of your classes).

This essay requires some pretty careful reading and some writing-to-learn. Only then will you understand how to draft a more formal piece of writing.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Writing an accurate and complete synthesis

This short take in which you explain Buy Nothing Day (BND) is a little more difficult than it appears, so don't leave it to the last minute! Read the assignment document carefully, and make sure the information you include in your paragraph is accurate and complete. To do this, you will probably have to consult several different sources. Don't just rely on web pages; use the library databases also.

Remember to explain when this day is, what its purpose is, who promotes it and maybe who is against it in objective language using third person pronouns (they, it). Unlike other short takes you have written this semester, this one asks you to conclude with your opinion about BND. Practice writing position statements about BND without using "I think." It's a good revision activity!

NOTE: NO LATE SUBMISSIONS. This paragraph is due on Friday, Nov. 2nd at 11:59 pm. I will not accept any late submissions for any assignments for the rest of the semester. An assignment is late when I publish it in the Zine, usually the next morning. Plan ahead to submit by the deadline!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Proofread carefully!


I wrote an earlier entry on proofreading when you submitted your essay on Learning Styles, but I don't think many people paid attention to it, so I'll try again. If you haven't listened to Grammar Girl (either on your computer or by downloading her podcast to your MP3 player), this is a good opportunity because she has a piece on proofreading. Listen up!

If you scroll to the bottom of her web page, you'll see a list of her Top 10 podcasts. She addresses a couple of common problems I have seen in the essays, including Who versus Whom, Comma Splices and Who versus That.

If you want a refresher course in grammar, or if you never learned these rules at all, I suggest you check out Grammar Girl. If you have an mp3 player, you can subscribe to her podcasts and have them downloaded automatically every time you synch your player. I did that and listened to all her back shows during several trips to and from campus. She's fun to listen to, even if she is talking about grammar.

Many students have mp3 players, and more college faculty are providing materials for them. It's an easy way to review vocabulary words or learn key concepts; some teachers provide short podcasts that students can listen to as they walk to class to prepare them for topics introduced that day in class. Busy students can use podcasts to slide studying into small time periods during each day. (You can also download podcasts and burn them to CDs to listen to in your car.)

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Course evaluations today!

Course evaluations help faculty improve their courses from semester to semester. Your responses are anonymous, and I do not even see them until the beginning of Spring semester. Please use this link to reach the evaluations; log in using your eGCC username and your Student ID number. Your feedback is important to me!

NOTE: I have posted the revised rubric for the evaluation of this essay on students and time. Before you submit your finished essay to the Zine, follow the instructions for revising and for proofreading. Then, using the rubric, predict what specific sub-set scores your essay will receive. If you have questions, ask them in the discussion group.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Rethink & revise

Having a rough draft is a great first step because it gives you something to work with. I have posted some suggestions about how to think about this topic of managing multiple demands on your time. Don't be upset if you find that you have to set aside some of what you've written in your draft; that means that your thinking is getting more sophisticated.

One of the wonderful things about writing with word processors is that moving text around, making changes, deleting and adding ideas is really, really easy. Take advantage of the Help files in Word to learn how to select whole blocks of text and rearrange them. I've explained these and other revising strategies in the Revise section of the assignment document. The most important piece of revising, however, is allowing yourself enough time to do it. Between now and Wednesday, you should be spending at least 6-8 hours working with your draft (more time if you didn't do all of the preparation activities in the assignment). Keep track of what you do and how long it takes you to do it.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

A draft for peer editing

Submit your three body paragraphs only for peer editing!

The deadline for submitting your draft for classes that meet online is Tuesday (10/23) by 10 pm. Submit your draft in the Drop Box in the area for peer editing in the discussion group. The deadline for commenting on the drafts of others in your group is Thursday (10/25) by 11:59 pm.

Peer editing for the on ground will occur on Wednesday (10/24). Bring two printed copies of your three body paragraphs to class. Have them in hand as you walk in the door, and show up on time!

You can learn from peer editing in three ways: by seeing how others handled this assignment, by commenting carefully on the drafts of others using my peer editing questions, and by receiving thoughtful comments on your draft.

After peer editing, begin revising your draft right away. Most drafts will need significant revision! Ask questions about this assignment in the discussion group.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Essay #2 is about balancing demands . . .

. . . and shouldn't that be useful right about now? Many students are overwhelmed. How'd it get so bad so quickly? That's a good starting question for this next writing assignment.

I've included lots of start-up activities in the Prepare section for this next essay. Mostly they require thinking. Start now!

NEW: Take a look at this YouTube video that catalogs how students spend their time and then comment in the discussion group.

You're published!


I have published your Learning Styles essays. Make sure to go to your Zine, find your essay, and proofread it one more time. (I recommend you print it out using the "printer-friendly" link at the bottom of the page. ) Make sure the paragraph breaks appear properly in your essay. I won't read or grade essays that don't contain lines between paragraphs.

Once you have read your essay, read a couple of others in your section or in a different section. What makes these essays good?

Monday, October 8, 2007

Success strategies for this class . . .

Read the Rethink and Revise sections of the assignment document. Begin revising your essay!

A number of students have asked for some advice about how to improve in this class. There are several topics under College Life in the discussion group on that topic, so I suggest you go back and read those entries and then add to them. But here are some other ideas:

  • Do everything! All the small assignments and activities, for sure. Read and write in the discussion group frequently.
  • Read everything! Don't just skim or scan the pages. Read them carefully. Print them out. Highlight the important points.
  • Write something for this class every day! If you've written a draft, revise -- and then revise again.
  • Ask questions! The Help & Feedback section of the discussion group is the student's best friend. Ask your questions there!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Essay #1: Learning Styles

This first essay asks you to analyze your learning preferences using several inventories that are available on the web. Most of us have a preferred way to learn, although we may not have been aware of that preference. The inventories should help you look at your own preferences critically.

Teachers have preferred ways of presenting course content, and sometimes they aren't aware of those preferences either. In the classes you are currently taking, analyze your teachers' teaching styles or preferences.

Just as there is no right or wrong learning style, there is no right or wrong teaching style either. It's especially useful, however, to be able to size up a teaching style at the very beginning of the semester by looking at the course syllabus and class activities. Then you can adapt your learning strategies to make the best use of the teachers' styles in your classes. This essay will help you figure out how to do that. Useful, huh?

VIDEO: Use this link to access a video about learning styles. It is geared for elementary school teachers, but it presents information about learning styles in an interesting way.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Moving right along . . .

Boy, have I been working hard. I barely had time to scribble this message in the wet concrete for you. Check your email and the gradesheet.

Update your personal gradesheet and your own Grade Analysis Worksheet. Lots o' numbers (funny thing in an English class, right?) but they can help you figure out where to exert your efforts to get the best return on your time and energy. Don't forget to read the good paragraphs that are appearing in the Medallion Zine.

By Monday, we'll have completed 316 points (or just slightly less than 1/3 of the course work). That will include the points for discussion group participation for the last three weeks.

On Monday, we'll shift from writing paragraphs to writing essays (which are, after all, just collections of paragraphs). Rest up!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

What do you know?

I have posted the final summary assignment on "Brain Candy." Before you even look at the assignment, take a guess at what brain candy might mean. I've set up a topic in the discussion group where you can guess. What do you think is the role of a title?

I have also linked Information Literacy Exercise #9: Kinds of Sources. Learning about how information gets into publications will help you figure out which sources are "good" ones.

Note that both of these exercises include quizzes that are in Blackboard, so have your Blackboard username (your MEID) and your Bb password at hand. Quizzes help you figure out when you know (or don't know) something.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

See how you're improving!

I have asked some students who have written good paragraphs to publish them in the Medallion Zine. (I have included a couple of paragraphs from last year about those dangerous consumer products, so the data is slightly different.) Take a minute to read them! Maybe on this next assignment, I'll ask you to publish your paragraph too! Kudos to these writers.

I have also updated the web-based gradebook
so you can see how you're doing. Check your email for a message from me (sent 9/13) with your "secret code." I have also posted a class-wide "Grade Analysis Worksheet" so you can see how much the whole class is improving. Check the Archives for links to these and other documents I have posted this semester.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

All about emergency room visits

You're published! Read your own paragraph and those written by others in the Zines. Don't limit yourself to just your section. Some paragraphs are just great!

Yesterday, I sent out several email messages to you detailing your progress in this class, including one email with your "secret code" which will identify your line on the class grade spreadsheet. You can check your scores there against your own personal spreadsheet (MyENG101Grades.xls) available in the course folder and see how you are doing. The spreadsheet includes points as of Monday. All these tools are available in the archives linked on the right.

Use all this information to devise a strategy for improving your writing in this class (and your grades). What's the plan? Once you have come up with some ideas, share them in your section's discussion group (College Life | Developing a Success Strategy).

If you need to do some catching up, make sure to do it this week, by midnight on Sunday, September 16th.

Friday, September 7, 2007


Reminder! Please submit a recording of your Short Take on Statistics (using evoca) with your text in the class Zine. Practice reading your paragraph a couple of times before you call it in. (There is a document called "RecordingHelp.doc) with some suggestions about how to read more effectively in the course folder. Use the link to the right.)

Note that we will be working with the injury data in a second piece of writing; I have posted that assignment and linked it to the assignment page.

If you have questions about this statistics assignment, check the Assignment Questions in the Help & Feedback section of the discussion group. I often provide help there. Remember that there is no such thing as a "dumb" question.

Finally, I have added several additional general-interest topics in the discussion group, and you can write in response to them to meet the discussion group requirement of this class. Make sure to write good solid well-developed paragraphs (no one sentence responses please!) These topics are open to students in all three sections of this class, so make sure you either have a signatiure file or sign your entries with your name. Use the Active Topics link at the top right of the discussion group page to see just the new entries since you last read. Or you can select a time interval you prefer from the drop-down box. I often go back to see what has been written in the past 2-3 days, just in case I missed something good.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Three things you can do today:

  1. Remove your Google Alert for barter or bartering and add a new one for injuries consumer products. You'll see how the examples returned by this new alert will help you in the next two Short Takes in which we work with statistics about injuries associated with consumer products that send people to the emergency room.

  2. Read some of the Short Takes on Bartering now available in the Zines. Remember that you can read the ones from your class as well as ones written by students in other sections. Make a note of the paragraphs you think are especially strong and those that appear weak. What features do you notice that put a paragraph in one or the other category?

  3. Information Literacy Exercise #5: Knowing that you don't know will increase your sensitivity to what you don't know. In college, expect to encounter a lot of new ideas and terms in all your classes. If you don't understand something, learn the resources available to you that can help you build your understanding. Especially, learn how and where to ask questions. For this exercise, if you don't get the joke in any of the cartoons, say so in the discussion group. If you do understand some of the jokes that confuse others, then contribute your explanation.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Let's do this a different way


Because Blackboard has been unreliable and unstable, I have moved all the course materials to the class web page and the course blog home page. Right-click on these links to add them directly to your Favorites or Bookmarks. See the links to the far right for frequently-used pages (to the assignments, the archives, and the discussions). Do not access this course through Blackboard. I have stopped updating materials there.

I have created a grading rubric for this Short Take on Bartering. If you have already submitted your paragraph, you can still make changes and revisions right up to the deadline and afterwards too. Just open your paragraph to edit it in the Zine and paste in your revised version, replacing your earlier version. If you have any questions about elements of the rubric, ask them in this special area in the the discussions

If you're a little behind, don't worry. You will not be penalized for Blackboard's technical problems. I'll work with you to get caught up and to get all your work submitted properly. There's a lot of help in the discussion groups -- everyone has been wonderfully generous with advice and encouragement! If you need one-on-one help, contact me by email and we will arrange an appointment by phone or on campus.


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

You're published!


The first paragraphs have been published in the Zine. Hooray!

Read (and listen to) the ones from your section and maybe some of the others too. Read my comments about this assignment, and then comment in the discussion group about these -- your first "publications" in this class.

Did you know that I list all the files (well, almost all the files) for this in the archives? If you can't find something, check the archives. Most likely it's listed there. If you can't find something, ask me!

Don't forget to check this assignment off your task list in Blackboard.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Writing as problem-solving

Please check your student email for a message from me that contains alternative access to all of the materials for this class (except for the gradebook). I'm prepared for technology tribulations, and you can be too. It's much less stressful if you have a backup plan, believe me!

This class presents you with a series of writing problems, and the only way to solve them is by writing. Listening to someone lecturing or talking about writing or even reading the best books about writing might help you solve these writing problems, so that's why I provide fairly detailed assignment documents and why you have a handbook. But your own efforts at writing teach most effectively. Start the assignments early so you can identify the problem and have enough time to solve it.

The note-taking assignment presented two problems. Here's some follow-up information about the problems presented in that assignment and some examples of how various students tried to solve them. Look at the paragraph you submitted (you saved it, didn't you?) Did you recognize the organizational problem? How did you solve it?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

And away we go!

When you submit an exercise using a form that asks for your eGCC username, I can respond with comments easily. But those comments go back to your GCC student email account. You wouldn't want to miss out on advice from me or an opportunity to correct something, right?

So check your student email frequently or forward it to an account you do read regularly. Instructions are in the Orientation activities.

GCC has a pretty ferocious spam filter, and I don't want to miss questions from you. Please write to me from your student email account or ask your questions in the discussion group.

The discussions are going great guns! This is my favorite part of this course, but I get a little cranky when people write less than full, well-developed paragraphs. If you haven't got 100 words or more to write on a topic, wait until you do. And don't forget to read what everyone else has written. Our goal is a conversation. Reading is as important as writing.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Welcome to my blog for English 101!

Whether you are in a section that meets online or on ground, think of this as the front door to our class -- except this door is always open and there is always something interesting to explore. For the first week or two of the semester, I suggest you peek in at least once each day. After that, you'll have a sense of where things are, how often things change, and how to find your way around quickly and efficiently.

To get started with this course in Blackboard, click on the red button to the left that says "Getting Started." If you began the orientation activities outside of Blackboard, now you can pick up at Step 3.


So away we go. It's going to be a great semester!