With a small week, here’s how we’ll “CATCH-UP” from last week and start to “WRAP-UP” into next week.
||| From last week’s email:
— Read the rest of the essays from Sedaris on our white chart; there aren’t many left. Be prepared to talk about them or summarize them next Wednesday (April 27) in class.
— Create/complete your P5.5. Those will be due next Friday (April 29). There is a Dropbox for those.
— We’ll finish the P5s on Wednesday (April 27), so make sure your P5 letters are ready to be handed in – physically on paper – IN class on Friday (April29).
— I’ll introduce P6 on Friday, April 29. This project will take us into next week & it’s the last “big,” individual paper.
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||| This week: We’ll look at Chapter 26 and write up a CB about offensive phrases… Thursday’s reserved for P5 in-class Writing Conferences as well as the introduction to our last project, the Shortfolio – which, for the on-campus English 120ers, has turned into the Utopia Project. Next week, we lose a day due to Agawasie Day, but that should still give them enough time to work, in groups, on Monday and Wed towards wrapping up the Shortfolio. Those projects are presented the Monday of Finals Week.

Last night, I had a thought. It was related to my Fake Assignment. Basically, maybe I should make Paper 1 (in English 110) all about the students writing mini-autobiographies in third-person with fake sources from their lives. That way, right away, I can include the citation process in that classroom. And if they are fake and about them (a book “they wrote,” an article “they wrote,” etc.) maybe they’ll stick in their heads better. I may have to test-drive this idea with Project 3 this semester instead of the lyrical project… hmm…

Today, I’ll/we’ll: collect the PR drafts from last Friday’s activity, introduce P7, and disperse all the stuff I’ve gathered because students may want to use previous assignments in P7. On Friday, we’ll work on P7 in class (some may choose to work in groups, so this functions as a possible group workday) as well as have our last bonus test and maybe watch a video? Next Monday is our last class day, and we’ll use that day to do specific class evaluations of projects, look at the final My Words test, and maybe conduct our last piece of in-class writing (“Dear Future College Student…?”). P7 and the final My Words test are due before midnight on Wednesday (during Finals Week).

 The anti-bell curve??

*Last column = Ds and Fs.

And a better view:
English 105 (first 8-week class) final grades charted…

And just for the “shock” of it, a glance at the English 110 class’s current grades…

As well as English 120′s (online & on-campus combined)…

IMO U R A PITA.
Can an essay be written purely in texting language?
I think I just created another mini-assignment for my English 110 class.
Ooopsie.
But a good Ooopsie, right?
LMAO ASAP.

Pre-Week Planning…
1) FYE meeting tomorrow at 2pm? Figure my FYE class out…
2) English 120: Add changes (Roundtable PR, WC, dates for quizzes, Doc Sharing – syllabi & rubric, mini-argument sample, Project 3 sample & tip sheet, blended course needs possible meeting days,…)
3) English 105: Look at shell – any changes? Look at syllabi too.
4) Make an appt for bug for Thursday or Friday.
5) Print off or email all syllabi before Friday & bring to Copy Center.
Next Monday & Tuesday:
1) English 110 Doc Sharing – add outside readings. Double-check everything else.

Goal for the day… move everything from Weeks 9-16 into Units Intro-7… then attempt to revise Units Intro-2 (three units at a time seems like a good chunk to cover each day). So… a possible schedule emerges:

> Today, July 30: English 110 eCompanion, Units Intro-2
> Tomorrow, July 31: English 110 eCompanion, Units 3-5 (& help Anne over in FF with her eCompanion?)
> Friday, August 1: English 110 eCompanion, Units 6 & 7 (& help Anne over in FF with her eCompanion?)
> Monday, August 4: English 120 eCompanion, decide what needs changing
> Tuesday, August 5: English 120 eCompanion, implementation
> Wednesday, August 6: English 120 eCompanion, implementation
> Thursday, August 7: English 120 eCollege shell updating
> Friday, August 8: Take a break or look at English 105?

Three days per class? That’ll force me to stop lolly-gagging about only doing little per day. I realize it’s summer, but by doing more at once, I’m less likely to forget the plan or where I left off. Plus, that’s only about 3-5 hours per day. I’m guessing.

Okay, so on Sunday, I wrote about being overwhelmed… hoping to work smarter, not harder in prepping for the fall semester. And I think I’ve gotten a good start. First, I copied and pasted the expanded list of items that are already in each week/unit of the English 110 eCompanion shell. Then, I color-coded each unit. Since I’m skimming down from 16 weeks of stuff into 7 units (adding more items/work/ideas into a smaller space), I started noting which things would have to move from, say, Week 16 to Unit 7 now (like the Course Reflection and the Shortfolio, etc.).

I also started joting down what to add to these new units as well. Originally, the course had 2 papers, 1 big project, the Shortfolio, a test, and various other activities. I’m picking out the seven project/papers/activities I really like/want to beef up. So, now I have a Paper 1 (smaller at 500 words), a Paper 2 (same size as before), P3 is a visual analysis contest, P4 is the Geeky Knowledge Lesson Presentation (used to be a smaller activity), P5 is the PPT MusicVideo, P6 is the last Paper, and then P7 is the Shortfolio. Now the course revolves around units devoted to each main graded item; before, it was set up around weeks (and we teachers know how often weeks change – caused a lot of revising for me as the course progressed).

Essentially, I’m planning out what will have to move/be revised before I even open up that eCompanion shell and get overwhelmed by just looking at the contents. We’ll see if it makes things easier. I guess after creating this plan, I should decide whether to move items first to their new units or revise… I’m guessing having the units situated with the correct items first is the way to go.

Having diagnosed myself with some small head cold
+ a splash of mono
= another random idea for a class.
… Students rarely ‘read’ the chapter(s) & stuff I assign.
Okay, I’ve noticed this. I can deal with it.
However, students do like to create stuff.
This I have noticed too.
If it’s called a paper (I’ve commented on this in the past), they tune out. Go to La-La Land in 4.3 seconds. But if a teacher calls it something else and it appears relatively interesting/simple/different/fun, students typically will give it a shot. SO, with those things in mind, I may implement the use of teeny PPTs more often BY having students read chapters in the book(s) (like they are ‘supposed to’) and then create, in groups or alone, PPTs that sum up the chapter/relate it to them/make use of the chapter’s content in a fun way, etc. I’d, of course, create a few ‘starters’ to give ‘em all an idea of what I am looking for. They’d be like multi-modal mini-lessons. They’d ‘force’ the students to read or teach each other what they got from the chapter(s). And I wouldn’t have to be the ‘main attraction’ in class as far as lecturing on something noone read; they’d show off their creations. I think this would work well in English 120 since the class revolves around the theme of controversy, but I may be able to sneak them into English 110 too with the chapter(s) on Works Cited pages, MLA, the Writing Process, Evaluating Sources, etc…

The more exhausted I am, the better the ideas. That’s sad and cool all at once, I think.

Juggling. The pros and cons of having two 12week courses (and then two regular semester courses… and then two online courses) are balancing themselves out. I feel a little frazzled when prepping for one particular 12week course (English 110) because they are covering my content quicker, and some of the content is new (I’m trying out a new book, Strategies for Successful Writing). Then again, when it comes to my regular English 110 course, I’ve already covered whatever it is in the 12week course, so I’m able to fly through the preparation much easier.

Too little? Or just different? Then there’s the other 12week course – English 120. Now, I’ve never taught this course on this campus (only online), so I’m dealing with a lot of day-to-day creation of in-class activites, revising the online work into in-class work or discussions. At first, I remember thinking (and telling Wade) that it appeared I may be covering too much in English 120 Online because my chart seemed packed with activities and deadlines (and they read practically the whole book), etc. But, I’ve already had to move things “up” in the semester due to covering content faster in-class. So… I wonder if it all evens out there. The online activities are flexible; the in-class activities get covered quickly because I’m there to explain them.

Reading in class. I chatted with Wade about this already. The other day, I had my students read something for class out of their primary book. Then in class, they had to use the strategies from that book (about reading and writing better) in order to read an essay, “Would You Like Fries with That?” and fill out a handout. I explained the activity for about 10-15 minutes (and covered other announcements), then they read for about 10-15 minutes and took another 10-15 minutes to fill out the handout in groups or alone. While they’re reading, I’m watching them. I’ve read the essay many times. I fiddle with my things, prepping for what questions they’ll have about the handout. But, like I said to Wade, I’m not really doing anything. They are reading; they are actively learning. I appear to not be “teaching” by traditional standards (or, maybe, by anyone’s standards?), but they read the essay and then have to recall the strategies they read for class. They critically look at the strategies, answer questions about their reading, and also complete a small writing that asks them to use a format/style suggested by the “Fries” essay. I consider it a nice collection of activities for a 50 minute class period. By the end of class, they’ve read, written, worked in groups, discussed with me and their peers, critically thought, and created a small piece of work. I easily give up control of the classroom; I like to circulate and discuss with student groups. While I see success in these methods, I still wonder why I question them.

Lecture. Essentially, I don’t like to hear myself talking. For me, that equates to students not learning (but, rather, zoning out). I like to be the ‘guide on the side,’ not the ‘sage on the stage’ as Kevin would say. In the classes I took, once upon a time, I enjoyed those instructors who broke up the class period with discussion (groups or as a whole class), activities, and just a bit of lecture. I feel that my students can benefit from that, so I suppose that’s why I feel comfortable with it.

Classroom Feng Shui. I’m certain there is research out there about this, but the ultimate classroom for English classes would have to be those that have loose seating (seating that can be placed into a circle or seating that allows everyone to sit around a large table) as well as computers to the side that can be used towards the end of class time for various activities (but mainly to write/print off drafts and examples). We have two classrooms like that; it’s tough to get them reserved.

I had a lot to say today, I guess!