What we did in class January 28

What we did in class:
1. You added the link lists to your blogs. Your assignment for today was to make your first post to your blog. I looked around at your blogs and some of you haven't posted your thoughts/comments yet - so I am going to keep checking back - but I won't comment on your post until after class Monday. For those of you who didn't post Blog 1 (your response to the Aaron + Joshi essay), if you post over the weekend I will read it and give you credit + some feedback.

2. After setting up the link list - you told each other some literacy "stories" - anecdotes about experiences with reading, writing & technology that contributed to or "shaped" your relationship to literacies. Begin writing these stories down. They are your evidence for your literacy narrative.

3. I also asked you to pay attention to the process you are using to gather material, plan and reflect on your literacy narrative project. Your second writing project will be to write a detailed description of your writing process. Jot down your observations about how you write - for this class and for other classes. What do you do? Do you re-read the assignment sheet? Do you write in parts - or wait until the deadline? Do you do any brainstorming? What kind? Do you get stuck? Where? For this project, are you writing to the prompts? Are you using the time in class - or is the in-class writing just annoying? The point of this observation and reflection is to provide you with some observations of what you actually do as you develop writing - rather requiring you to "remember". It is important to actually watch yourself, since what you remember may be shaped more by a story about what you are supposed to do - than what you actually do.

4. We then had a discussion about how the stories we tell about literacy are as much cultural stories as they are stories about our individual experiences. This is because there are powerful attitudes and conventions that control which stories will be valued, and which stories will not. Within a diverse culture like ours - there are many conflicting stories, and some groups stories have more power than others. I gave the example of how - in 21st century U.S.- internet geeks + gamers' literacies are not valued; there are multiple movies about immature, irresponsible male characters who live with their parents and play video games; and the general American attitude is that video games are a waste of time = but reading a book is "good for you".

5. We then had a (short) discussion of Aaron + Joshi's discussion of writing as a "natural" human behavior similar to language. The central question was whether writing is simply a representation of spoken language - or whether it is a way of thinking/communicating that has evolved as related but different human characteristic. We made it through the description of the evolution of writing - which seemed to support independent system for expressing thought hypothesis (but they may have selected their facts to support their position?)

We also talked about the fact that both written and spoken communications systems seem to develop to meet the specific needs/uses within the culture where it comes into being. As if communication - both writing + language - evolves to solve a problem.

For Monday:
1. Read the hand out on new literacy narratives I gave you in class. If you were not in class - there are some extra copies in my mailbox (CAS 301E).

2. Post to your blog. Label this post Blog 2,
and respond to the following prompts:

What factors represented as influencing our relationships to written language in the essay on cultural stories?

What can we learn about writing from biological-linguistic perspectives and theories? What can we learn about writing from social linguistic perspectives and the analysis of new literacy narratives?

Blog list

Andrea http://andrean930.blogspot.com/
Aydin reyhanwriting.blogspot.com
Brian http://epikimage.blogspot.com/
Deborah http://nausicaathewaterbird.blogspot.com/
Karilyn keanstudent2.blogspot.com
Lauren http://Lauren-ilovetodream.blogspot.com
Mario royalwriting.blogspot.com
Matt thebackrent.blogspot.com
Michelle http://michelled-english2020.blogspot.com
Svitlana http://lanaenglish2020.blogspot.com/
Taylor http://taylorrbrown.blogspot.com/
Tim http://tfsblog-tim.blogspot.com/2010/01/tfsblog.html
Walmbegan http://boyylondon.blogspot.com

January 25

In class today we read through the assignment sheet for the literacy narrative, previewed your writing assignment for Thursday, and you set up your blogs.

In looking through the literacy narrative assignment, I emphasized that you are supposed to use writing in a particular way for the creation of this assignment. That is - you are supposed to do a great deal of "freewriting" or associating to the prompts - jotting down your experiences with literacy (everything you can remember) => and then use that writing as evidence. After you have lots of writing (data) - we will do some group work & one-on-one work to figure out the themes in your literacy experiences. From there you will begin to map out an essay that explores who you are as a writer - and how and why you got to be that writer (and whether you would like to be a different kind of writer).

We also talked about discourse - and discourse communities. We will talk more about this later, but for now - discourses are sets of (often unconscious) assumptions, values and beliefs about how to BE (including how to write and speak). Different groups usually have identifiable discourses.

For the Aaron and Joshi reading - we used a divide an conquor strategy. We will all read and be prepared to talk about the introduction, the history of writing & the general description of the three theoretical approaches. After that -
the back row = macroevolutionary theory, pp 274 - 283
middle students on my right + back row on left = microevolutionary perspective 283-94
front students on my right = the language as interactive perspective, pp 295-301

At the end of class you set up your blog, and sent me a link to your blog. I will check the links - and if they don't work I will get back to you by email.

Good class today. Your early experiences with literacy raised a lot of important factors that shape us as literacy learners: relationships to family & peers; the role of school as a model + cultural expectation; how play and good feelings influenced us, and more. You might add to this list (jot memories down as they come to you) randomly or systematically (hmmm - that will mean something too).

For Thursday:
Read: Written Language is as Natural as Spoken Language: A Biolinguistic Perspective by Aaron & Joshi

Blog 1: Post your understanding of the main points from your sections of the assigned reading. This is NOT supposed to be an essay / finished writing => these are reading notes and will not be evaluated based on grammar, spelling or style. I will be looking for evidence that you grappled with the ideas in this reading. Also write down questions - and words you may not be sure of. There are big ideas in this reading, and there are some big words - but it is big theory - and really cool.

Remember that the internet is there to help you find definitions for words you don't know. To save you some trouble, I've started a list of words that might make this a hard read.

genotype "is the genetic constitution of a cell, an organism, or an individual." (how it's made)

phenotype "is any observable characteristic or trait of an organism" (how it looks)

syntax = word order

phonology = the study of the sounds associated with language

morphology = the study of forms

orthography = study of the way writing is presented for interpretation

ontogeny = the sequence of development of a particular organism. This essay refers to the ontogeny of languguage - meaning the development of language by a particular speaker

phylogeny = the sequence of changes undergone in speciation => when one organism evolves into a different organism. In this essay when they refer to the phylogeny of language they are implying similar relationships and evolutionary relationships as one language evolves into another.

deep structure + universal grammar (layman's definition) = what we automatically know about language because we are human

What we really did in class

Important correction: The email address for the course was listed on the course calendar as ENG2020@gmail.com => this is the wrong address. The correct address is:

ENG2020writing@gmail.com

Please re-send your message for homework - and sorry for the mix-up.

We talked through the syllabus (with a little discussion of the calendar) and you got to know one another.

I appreciated you sharing your writing - and I am excited working with you.

For Monday:
1. Order your books

2. Buy a flash drive if you don't have one + bring it to class

3. Send an email to me at ENG2020writing@gmail.com. Write from the email address you will use for this class (see directions on course syllabus). In this email, ask any questions that you might have forgotten to ask in class - and let me know if you have any suggestions or comments.

In class you will set up your blog, we will go over the assignment sheet for your first writing project - and youwill do some invention writing for that project.

Have a great weekend and see you Monday.

First day of class

Welcome to ENG 2020: Writing!

Today we are going to get to know each other a little bit, do some writing, and look through the syllabus & calendar.

Send me an email from the email address you will use for this class (see directions on course syllabus). In this email, ask any questions that you might have forgotten to ask in class - and let me know if you have any suggestions or comments.

Welcome - and I am looking forward to reading your writing.