>> It's amazing what one can find by putting abstract terms into Yahoo! images. Like peace. >>

This week did look quiet last week. Isn't that how it goes?
I am excited to see my students' PPT MusicVideos (they're showing them off Wed & Fri). I think I allotted the right amount of time. Some are finished as of today, and some are in here utilizing this last Work Day. As it turns out, I didn't cram this project into a little over a week; it can be completed in this amount of time. Plus, since so many students have commented on how they are liking putting together this project, I think I may move it "up" in the semester's lineup and place it after Paper 2 instead of at the end. Perhaps the energy from this project, then, will leak into the last paper AND it'll break up the idea of completing 3 papers in row.

Next Monday, I have a "Final Test" for them (Allison still needs to add the "back page" on or copy it separately) and I need them to write up their own evaluation of this PPT MusicVideo (having some questions for them to answer, to be placed on the board, may not be a bad idea). My Words will be assigned Monday as well; that last batch will be due during Finals Week (Wed?).

English 105 students will hand in the Interview Assignment today and then use the rest of the week to complete their Final Portfolios & Fake Company Presentations (a handout on the requirements of each will be given out in class tomorrow). Bonus will be given to those portfolios that come in on Friday, but otherwise, both the Final Portfolio & Fake Company Presentation will have to be ready to go Monday (Dec 11).

I have two meetings this week among the last bunch of classes and grading: Newbie Faculty mtg tomorrow at 4pm & a dept mtg on Thursday at 10am.

Last night, I decorated my place... watched the not-so-corny lighting of the NYC tree, played around with more PowerPoint possiblities (killing two birds = creating samples of projects while also creating ones that can be used in my online English 120 class themed in controversy), read a few more papers, and... searched for my stupid cell phone charger.

"You may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one." - John Lennon

"Instant karma's gonna get you; gonna knock you right on your head." - John Lennon

Today: Create Interview Assignment for English 105's class tomorrow, grade a few more 110 papers, send out an announcement to World Lit students on what we'll be reading for the Open Topic next week, and get some cider/cookies downstairs from 2-4pm. Oh, and we have a dept meeting in about 30 min.

I love surprises. I should clarify - GOOD surprises.

After talking to Wade yesterday, I realized that I want to add into my syllabus for next spring (English 110 and maybe English 120) the possibility of a Minute Paper that follows the Major Papers. I'll hand back Papers 1-3, and only circle "mistakes." Students then have to write up a short, one-pager (single-spaced) identifying why I circled what I did. Was it a run-on? Comma splice? A misspelling? This way, I don't write as much, they have to learn what those sentence problems are, and they use the paper more after it's written (instead of chucking it after viewing the grade). I think we also talked about paperless writing conferences... which would be something to try. He mentioned adding more reflection in his classroom, and I think that's a great idea. Asking students to write extensively and read critically is great and all, but if we can get them to go beyond - ask themselves why they wrote how they did, or how they came to the conclusion they did with the reading... How = Process. This adds a whole other level of critical thinking... Bloom would be proud.

And I adore this HUGE new monitor. I am done squinting at my laptop! "Excellent."

Today, I collect a paper (P3), hand back a paper (P2), and ask students what they think they should read in this type of class. Might as well get student insight to the composition program.

Apparently, I can use tags (see left side of screen under links). So, I back-tracked through my public posts (up to the beginning of November) to see what they contained... some academic content, some fun, and some just basic ponderings. It's all good.

I also have the ability to title my posts, but that's like trying to come up with a paper title when the paper is just starting out in the process. That's how I view blogging - it's the start to ideas, it's on the cusp of innovation, it can contain final products, but it's usually used, in my life, as a springboard. I would not say my posts are "finished" in the writing sense. Hmph... I may have to think about that more though.

The Vox site Quinn mentioned looks interesting. I like the aesthetics of the site; that's a good sign.

What a rush of a weekend! Whew!
1) Went to a conference in Mankato Thursday evening-Friday night (Talking with attendees at The Sugar Room in Mankato was a good time)...
2) Met people from Iowa State who know Sarah! (Fantastic)...
3) Thought really hard about certain teaching issues as well as got many assignment ideas (I love when I think too much at conferences but also get actual assignment possiblities to try out)
4) Tried out a new place on the way back: Chipotle (Yum!)...
5) Had a Movie Night Saturday: Dodgeball and Anchorman ("Knights of Columbus!")...
6) Watched the Vikings' sad attempt to beat the Packers yesterday, and
7) Drove & shopped in FF before catching my favorite Sunday night shows...

Thoughts from the GPACW:
English 110 Profile assignment where students create a profile of some stereotype (either on MySpace or Facebook or just via Word); English 105 assginment where students write up a report about 5 people on MySpace who would be/would not be great employees for their Fake Company given certain criteria; Get Aristotle quotes on education!; Cornell has an essay out called "Thoughts on Facebook;" English 110 Minute Papers on how students online use semi-colons, ellipses, commas, emoticons, LOL, etc; English 110/120 Compare & Contrast assignment where students find two bloggers (male and female?) and come up with a question (Do males swear more online? Do women gossip more? Do males link to other sites more? etc) and research (read parts of Tannen's research too?); English 110/120 quiz on summarizing/quoting/paraphrasing to actually show differences, then discuss why they aren't plagiarized?; Have IM office hours as well as regular office hours?; Attempt to make assignments geared towards the audience of their friends and family more (they are more likely to do better on those types of assignments - reminds me of the Writing Partners letters); Pedagogy of Dissonance (could use MySpace to teach dissonance vs concordance); Got a poetry book (if I teach it next fall, I don't know if I'd want to use one book & I definitely want to try out a Poetry PowerPoint assignment).

Links & Items to Note:
The Horseflies; Keynote: www.engl.niu.edu/mday/gpacw06.html; Secondlife?; Vox.com, Moodle, Mike's presentation: biro.bemidjistate.edu/TheLodge; Jen's presentation: www.pedagogyportal.com; Media Master; del.icio.us; naked conversations.

And Lastly:
Does reading more (amount) make students better readers? Does writing more (amount) make students better writers?

This Week is yet another shortened one. English 110 students have an in-class Work Day today before handing in their Paper 3s on Wednesday. Then I don't see them until next Wednesday when I'll introduce our last project. English 105 students will hand in the letter assignment from last Thursday today along with a memo assignment they'll complete in class. They start a new project tomorrow that will take them until after Thanksgiving.

I am trying something NEW with English 105. Yep. It's a little scary, but I thought I may as well do something with the Report Project that makes it a tad more fun. They're going to put together a survey and then write up a survey report on the results. The survey can be about ANYTHING... it should be 5 questions at least, and they'll have to get about 30+ students/people to fill out their surveys. I think it'll be interesting to see what kinds of reports and hypotheses and charts come out of it all.

Lon (plumbing teacher on campus) told me the other day about a guy who says, "I am working on my dash." What he means is the dash that comes after your birth year as in: (1977- ). I thought that was cool. We're all working on our dash; how are you going to fill yours up?