Today we mostly focused on introductions - to course content, to the course infrastructure, and to each other.
Attendance: Your attendance is recorded in the sign-in book, on the desk at the front of the class. Be sure to sign in every day when you come in. I will help with reminders for the first couple of weeks - but it is your responsibility to sign in.
Syllabus & Calendar. We went over the syllabus (up through the discussion of grades). I did not cover the course practices or the general information about Kean. The syllabus is regarded as a contract, so it is important for you to read these sections and make sure you understand and are willing to go along with them. Also, I gave a general indication of the overall sequence of the course set forward on the calendar. One more thing about the calendar. Sometimes the way it is written confuses students so I am going to go over it here. Below is entry for today. The text in red is what we will do IN CLASS on the day beneath the date. E.G. => today we did introductions, you looked at the LN assignment, created your portfolio, and did some writing for the LN assignment.
Posted next to Read and Writing homework is what I planned to assign for the assignmnets for next class (that is, it is the homework assigned on Jan 21, due on Jan 28). These assignments are not always what you end up being assigned. You need to check this blog for the ACTUAL assignment.
W Jan 21
Introductions: course site, syllabus + calendar
Journal prompt: who are you as a writer?
Presentation on Literacy narrative + paying attention to writing process
Journal prompt: your earliest experiences with writing
Create portfolio
Journal prompt: who are you as a writer?
Presentation on Literacy narrative + paying attention to writing process
Journal prompt: your earliest experiences with writing
Create portfolio
Read: literacy narrative samples, Dennis Baron, “From Pencils to Pixels” http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/pencils.htm
Writing homework: observe your writing process for the literacy narrative paper - write your observations in your writing journal; describe where you write, other "parallel" activites (listening to music? - does it interrupt you? how often? does it help you focus? how?)
Portfolio. You did a great job creating your portfolios. I have a working link for a site for everyone in class (well done!) The portfolio is where you will post most of your work for the course. You will not be turning in any writing on paper for this course.
Literacy narrative assignment. We talked through the purpose, description, and criteria for the Literacy Narrative. We spent some time talking about cultural discourses which shape or contribute to our relationship to writing, and we talked about discourse communities as the groups of people who share the cultural discourses which affect our assumptions, values, and beliefs about writing and just about everything else. If you didn't get the definition of "discourse" and "discourse community" down from that introduction, that's OK => we will be defining/re-defining/talking about what cultural discourses are and how they works for the rest of the term. Meanwhile, if you are interested, some places to read a little more, the Wikipedia entry for discourse community, and for refers to some of the major writing studies and linguistic scholars who write about discourse communities, and Matthew McCool’s Writing Around the World: Guide to Writing Across Cultures, the homework reading assignment that you will be assigned on January 28 (though it doesn't mention discourse communities per se) refers to many of the ideas we were talking about today when we described how discourse communities could be identified by the way the talked, acted, their belief systems, even sometimes the way they dressed.
We pointed out that thinking about discourse and discourse communities is about 'belonging' - about "acting like/talking like" someone from a particular region ( New Yorkers, Midwesterners, Southerners), generation (teens, profession (musicians, hs teachers, athletes, etc), and so on. It is important to be careful not to lapse into stereotyping - or simplistic thinking that assumes EVERYONE from a particular group is the same, still, it is useful to notice that different groups DO have different assumptions, values and beliefs which affect the way they relate to reading and writing.
After we read through the assignment, you did some writing to a series of "big categories - how you feel about writing" prompts. I asked you to write about how you felt about:
- writing for school,
- early experiences learning to write at school,
- early experiences writing with your family,
- experiences writing with friends when you were little,
- writing with friends (especially around middle school) - as you started to establish your own identity
- writing for your self, and about
- writing for your work/vocation.
I think that is approximately the order & focus of the prompts, more or less. You posted this writing to the literacy narrative page of your portfolio - either pasted in to the page, or as an attachment. Either way, you labeled it with the date and marked it as in-class or brainstorming writing.
For next class:
Read: literacy narrative samples 1, 2 & 4 (posted at course library)
Dennis Baron, “From Pencils to Pixels” http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/pencils.htm
Write: Do some writing that will provide you with material to work with for your literacy narrative. You can do this by writing to your choice of prompts listed on the first page of the assignment sheet, or you can expand on writing you did in class (where you wrote quick responses for the categories listed above).
Which ever approach you take, you should quickly (not worrying about complete sentences or making a completely coherent story) - with as many details as you can remember about the experience you are describing. Length: about a page or two - enought to have some "examples" to work with in class. Post the writing on the portfolio page for your literacy narrative, either by pasting it in, or attaching it. If you have questions, let me know.
Again - this is NOT polished writing. Do not waste time making it perfect. You are looking for ideas/patterns/details that you have forgotten and you are using writing to help you remember and organize what you can remember about past experiences with writing.
Good class today! Thank you for your patience with the technology glitches.
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