See ya later : )

The end has come. We played base ball, ate cookies, turned in papers, and gave our final farewells before winter break. I was given portfolios from all different directions to grade, and I also received (9 days late) 2 essay 2s (which they both knew would get a 55% at best)...Hooray.

I am excited to read their portfolios though! My students were fascinated with their own writing. When I asked them about their voices, one student responded with "I sound like a creeper when I make certain moves," and from there, everyone chimed in with "Ohmygodmetoo"s and other fun stuff  :) Some were thrilled with what they found out about themselves, and some were not. Overall, though, they liked knowing about their voices and knowing moves that can work for/against them.

With all of this quarter's worries and rewards, I feel like I can now take on any class! My students were great, and I don't think that I'll ever forget them, but I'm so glad that it's coming to a close and that a new chapter is beginning again soon! It's been fun, and I'm happy to have had all of these experiences. Have a great Christmas break, y'all; see you "next year"!

Best,
Elisa J.

Finals week

I've happened upon a flu, so I'm hoping that I feel better by Friday to finish class as planned! My super fun plans are simply to collect their portfolio projects, talk about the quarter a bit, play base ball again (seeing as they kicked butt the first day as strangers, I'm thinking it'll be more fun now that they know each other!), and then let 'em go so that I can get to reading/grading portfolios! :)

What are y'all's plans?

awkward.

My student, D, came to class today and I had to tell him that, due to his being absent over 8 times, he couldn't possibly pass the class... his response: "Okay, well... that's the worst birthday news ever." And I felt so bad! But he just smiled, and said it'd be okay, and then HE HUGGED ME, and left. I just feel bad for the kid... but he brought it upon himself =/

Questions and Answers...

My student, D, looked pretty glum when he walked into class this morning. As soon as class was over, he started talking about all of the corrections he'd made to his paper, and that he was really concerned. So we began talking, and he followed me up to the office. I told him my main concern was founded in the citations. I asked what he thought about the assignment and how he'd found the researching process, and he said that he'd done all his research through the online databases with the exception of a book his friend gave him. I asked which book, and he told me it was the one that he uses as a main source. "How was this book helpful to you?" and he explains how his friend's annotations had helped him through it because his friend was "big into the issue," and how his friend had actually pushed the topic on him knowing that he could help fill him in on the information (less research for my student to do).

AH. This explains much. My student did read the article that he works with (which explains why the article matches its info), but not the book, so he couldn't possibly know the limitations of its information. Laziness. As to mismatched citations: his friend told him where to put the citations... SUPER laziness and irresponsibility.

I asked about the final citations: what does April 28, 2010 mean?
To this, he responded that it was just a typo and that he had 2 works cited and he'd turned in the wrong one: but he'd given me two different works cited sheets - BOTH with the date following each citation, so I pointed that out and asked him what the typo was. He didn't have an answer.

I told him my main concern when I'd read the paper was whether or not these were HIS words, and he swore up and down that he'd written the paper, but he didn't know why he'd put that date after...fishy.


So we talked about the major effects of turning in something like this:
1. How it weakened his voice as a writer: it made him seem irresponsible, sloppy, and possibly dishonest (I now regret such harsh words, but they seemed to hit home...)
2. How it might effect him academically: turning something like that in (knowingly or not) is plagiarism, which is theft, and would definitely result in an F in the course, and possible expulsion from the school.

Then I gave him 2 options for this paper:
1. Research each of the claims he makes in his current paper and present the information in a draft which represents him best as a competent researcher.
2. Write a new paper representing himself as a competent researcher. 

I told him that, as it was, I would not accept the paper because the information was not fully his.

He considered the two, and told me that he didn't want the paper to be a conflict issue, so he should probably write a different one, but he'd e-mail me by the end of today with his final decision.

ADVICE

I sent this out via e-mail, but thought I'd post here too so that I'd get advice from whichever form of communication you check first!

My D student who I approached about plagiarism last week e-mailed me this morning asking me how my holiday went, and what I thought about the newest draft. I'm considering the following response (HELP!):

Hi Damian,
I'm glad your vacation is going well; mine has been pretty busy with work, but thank you for asking! I've just finished reading your paper, but haven't written on it yet because I need help understanding a few things:

1. I was looking at your works cited, and after each citation it says "April 28, 2010" - why is that?
2. There are 4 sources in your works cited, but only 2 used in-text (Bernard and Donoghue), so you'll need to either do some more research if the two sources don't apply, or you'll need to utilize them (to complete the project you need at least 5 sources).
3. I've noticed that you've cited Donoghue throughout your paper, but there are a few in-text citations that don't match up with the information being discussed (one example being the final paragraph on page 3 which discusses info about 2003 and 2007, but Donoghue was published in 1990, so the source CAN'T fit).

I don't mean to sound suspicious, but there are aspects of your paper that really aren't adding up here. I've asked for counsel on the matter, and it's been suggested that I run your whole paper through a plagiarism-checking website. Before I do that (because I hate the idea of it), I want to give you the chance to help me understand your paper. Last week, you turned in 3 pages for the rough draft with your works cited marked as page 10 (suggesting that you'd already written the paper before the workshop - which is doable, and I don't have a problem with at all!), but that's when I commented on your use of un-cited information from Wikipedia. You've taken out the photos, but there is still information from Wiki in your paper in the form of direct and indirect quotes (in spite of your taking the citation off of your works cited). If it's possible, I'd like to talk with you face-to-face on Monday so that we can sort this out.

Best,
Elisa J.

No offense? None Taken!

I've got my students' workshop responses back, and I'm pleasantly surprised with what I've found. :)  To "set them up," I gave them a detailed guide to workshopping for our first essay: a complete set of rules/guidelines as to what they should be looking for, what not to comment on (grammar), and how they can be of help to their fellow students by offering commentary in full sentences and telling them what they see as a reader. All of that changed for essay 2. This past workshop (Nov. 14), I'd set up the room as I'd done before: I moved the chairs so that there could only be 4 to a group, and I got out my markers. However, instead of writing up a list of rules or bringing up my guidelines to project on the screen, I asked my students to take five minutes and write their own guidelines.
*blank stares*

Rules:
1. No grammar notes.
2. Check for interesting ideas/expanding on ideas.
3. Check for biases
4. Check citations

What ended up happening was this: one student walked up to the board to write her rule down (rule 1), and she ended up staying up there to write the other 3. Nobody else got up - they just told her what to write. Because it was just a rough draft, I completely stayed out of this process. I provided the markers, and said nothing as the rules were written. When my student had been standing there in silence for a sufficient amount of time, I asked if they were good with just those 4 rules, they said they were, and then they began (sans strict guidelines) in a Joshua Shynn-esque manner: the author read the paper, the students listened, offered commentary, asked questions, and then the author was given a chance to speak up. Once they were finished, they left.

Wednesday, one of my students spoke up in class and said that she was frustrated with the workshop because she saw that she'd been too dependent on me to give the questions. Here's a segment of her Journal response:

     I got a lot out of our first workshop, so I was really looking forward to the one on Monday, November 14th. However, the workshop on Monday was not very helpful. I think that it was hard for us to  critique each other's papers because the guidelines were very linient - -we didn't know exactly what to look for. At the first workshop, my paper was full of marks which included suggestions and ideas on ways that i could improve. However, on Monday, I found that when I received my papers back, there were little to no marks on any of them. I was pretty frustrated, because I feel like my paper could use a lot of work, but I'm kind of lost and overwhelmed with where to start making changes. This is a learning experience for us, though, because it is critical that we learn how to do things on our own, and find a way to do them well. Even though I don't feel like much was accomplished, it was good for us to learn how to construct questions and procedures on our own, so we can do better at it next time.

Another of my students felt empowered:
     I noticed in my group, one of my peers had a good topic, but they did not state a clear thesis sentence. I was able to explain to them that a reader would be lost and lose interest in their paper if they did not have a good structured thesis statement. This amazed me because it showed me that I learned what to look for in a paper, since I have always had low confidence in essays I write. After this workshop, it showed me that I have learned in this class how to think critically when starting a paper so that way in the future I know how to start my essay and keep the ideas I have in flow for the reader to understand and become interested in as they read. 

A third student just really likes workshopping:
     The work shops we do to review each others papers are extremely helpful especially for me. One of the ways its helps me the most is reading my paper out loud. It's not because I need help in public speaking but because when I read my essay I can see my errors. It's not just spelling and grammar errors I find but also sentence flow[...]. Also when we read our paper out loud we think of, or at least I think of, great ideas or sentences that could have fit in my paper. The second most helpful thing I get from workshopping is the peer editing. It was easier to head criticisms from your friends and classmates then from a professor, no offense M's Ellis you are super cool and down to earth but your still a professor, and I don't want to hear that somethings wrong from you, professor. 

We do have another workshop coming up on Wednesday, and I'm going to help them come up with questions this time. Also, I'm going to open a discussion board for weekend discussion should they choose to talk with each other over the weekend as their paper is due next Monday. What I wanted them to gain from the experience has been gained. The majority of them either questioned their authority and wrote what they should have said, or they wrote about what a positive experience they had in finding out that they were capable of critiquing a piece without my help.  :)  I only had one student write about all the things he didn't say that he wanted to - that the paper he read was biased, boring, and lacking in research... to which I wrote on his journal: "If you feel your peers' papers aren't meeting the expectations you feel they ought to be, TELL THEM! Peer workshops are all about giving positive & negative feedback so that your peers can succeed! Wouldn't you want them to tell you if your paper were biased before turning it in and getting the same comments from me?"

Capitolize P-L-A-G-I-A-R-I-S-M for a Capitol Offense.

... One of  my students (My D+ student who'd turned in the same paper he'd given me at conferences) had a family emergency Monday, so he dropped by class, gave me his rough draft, and left. That was yesterday morning. Tonight, I've finally gotten around to glancing over their rough drafts, and his is not "his." I read the first paragraph, googled a suspicious phrase, and up came Wikipedia. He DID cite a source for that section - but it wasn't Wiki, and that phrase wasn't in quotes. Oh, well - an honest mistake. Next paragraph, I  come across something similar - so I word-searched the wiki article, and up came the same sentence (with 3 word changes, and one tense change...).  I read the paragraph that the sentence came from in my student's paper, and then the paragraph in the wiki article, and they're very similar. I've stopped reading the paper for now because I don't want to deal with it.


I'll talk to him about it tomorrow... oy.

Extra Credit....

As the quarter drags on, a few of my students have begun to notice  how their not turning in assignments in the first half has effected their grades. Last Wednesday, they asked about extra credit assignments: extra writing assignments. To this, I inwardly groaned, but externally smiled and told them I'd think about it.

If I give them extra credit assignments, it means extra work for me so that they can catch up to the work that they should have done earlier on in the quarter. Granted, it's a class of first year students and they're only just getting used to the work load, but there are also a good handful of students who have not only kept up with the work, but have worked very hard on each assignment. Is it fair to them to offer extra credit? I put it to a vote, and they said they didn't care. We discussed library/writing center workshops that I'd told them about earlier on in the quarter, and then told them I'd have to think about an extra credit project that they could work for.


I didn't want an extra credit written assignment that would simply "save" their grade - I wanted them to understand the importance of working towards the grade on their own. My alternative to written assignments:

Extra Credit: 5 points. This is HALF a letter grade
Friday 12/2 and Monday 12/5 have been marked as “workshop”days in our syllabus in order to hold those days should we need to push our portfolio project back. What I propose is this:

• Should you fulfill the below requirements, you will be eligible to receive extra credit for giving a 5-10 minute presentation of your research on those days.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY:
1. From this day, November 4, 2011, ALL of your assignments must be turned in ON TIME.
2. You must participate in class discussion/workshops/etc., etc. to the best of your abilities.
In other words: You must put forth the effort to raise your grade yourself. If you meet these requirements, you will be eligible to take part in the extra credit assignment.

I know it sounds harsh, but I don't think they should be given extra credit - they should earn it. I think half a letter grade is fair enough if they do the work. 

What do you think?

"Academic Dishonesty"

This past week, I wrote a panicked e-mail to Brenda with two pages of my student's paper attached to it... While I was reading a revision, I came across a paragraph that was focused, well-crafted, and had a lovely semi-colon in it that was actually being used correctly. While I read the paragraph, my thought process went somewhere along the lines of this nice analysis is coming out of nowhere! I wonder how long it took her to write this... Semi-colon?...What's that doing here? It's perfect. How did it get here? ... and then I re-read the paragraph, and paid closer attention. The grammatical structure wasn't perfect, but this student has had difficulty with syntax in the past; it was much more eloquently written than anything she'd written to date. Also, there were quite a few words in there that I wasn't sure the student would have chosen to use normally, and I couldn't remember her ever using a semi-colon. It was too eloquent. The diction. The structure. The paragraph... it wasn't her voice.

So I panicked, and then went for a walk to clear my head. I didn't want to think about the two words I've chosen to use as a title for this post. Those two words together are just eery. When I got home, I scanned the page prior to the paragraph, and the one with it, and wrote an e-mail to Brenda.

Friday came, and I passed all the revisions back at the end of class except for that student's; I simply asked her (quietly) if  we could talk after class. I asked her how she approached the revision, and she immediately told me that she'd had help revising it. When I asked what part she'd had help with, she pointed straight to the paragraph, and told me she hoped I'd grade up if she used larger words and varying sentence structure. I was so relieved that she'd told me instead of my having to ask if she'd had help or if she'd just lifted it from somewhere. She told me that she'd revised the paper up to a point, and then sent it to a friend who talked her into using another source; after my student had written a paragraph with larger words in it on that source, she sent it to her friend, and her friend "fixed" it.

Ahhhh... So from there I explained what that paragraph had done to her paper - how it had weakened the rest of her work because of its being so different, how her friends' changes had stripped the student of her own voice, and how having such "help" could be looked at as (insert the title here) _____  _________.  I applauded her for having a reader for her text, but suggested that, in the future, she ask only for advice, and that she execute the revisions herself.

I was terrified of asking her to stay behind and speak with me after class, but am very glad that she just told me what she did, and why she did it. What a huge blessing it was to be able to have this sort of experience and be able to come out of it with positive feedback for my student!

They never saw it coming :)

Today's reading: Mairs
Before class, I wrote the words/phrases always, all, most, never, obviously, this shows that, we can see, is, and almost up on the side board out of the way so that I could use the main board first without having the list be a huge distraction.

To start, I wrote the overly-used Act II scene II quote from R&J, ("What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet") and asked them if it was true. They all said "yeah..." and that was that. So I asked if it would MEAN the same, and then had them do a quick write on the idea, and told them they had to come up with one example of how renaming something might change the meaning. We discussed their answers, and then, to push it further, I broke them into groups where:

1. Each group had to come up with 5 characteristics of a parasite. 
2. I wrote the characteristics up on the board as they told them to me (gross, dependent, life-sucker, insensitive, carries contagions, doesn't leave the host alone, etc., etc.), and then I asked the groups to re-name the parasite they'd described using a word they thought fit all of the characteristics 
3. Answers varied from Voldemort, third-wheel, someone's mother-in-law, etc., etc., and I added the last one "baby"... which most laughed at, and then followed the laughter with "that's just not right!" 
4. We discussed why the word would be inappropriate (the meaning fits, but the relationship between meaning and people's perceptions of the person who says a baby is a parasite changes for the worse). 

After, I broke them up into groups again to discuss the reading's major terms: Crippled, Handicapped, Differently-abled, and Disabled. They created characteristics for each term, and decided which term they would prefer to use, and why (some had more negative connotations while others seemed a little more broad and less offensive). I asked if it were important to consider the words that they use so as to produce a strong piece of writing without offending their audience, to which they all responded positively, and then I turned to my other list of words and asked how they could be problematic.

They unanimously decided that "only jerks use the word 'obviously,'" and proceded to point out how the other words fail to leave a strong/lasting impression without leaving someone/something out.

And then I lay it on them: "Y'all, that was a great analysis. My only problem is that this list of words came from your papers."

(Insert laughter here): "OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!" ... "She got us good!"

=D Yes, class.... yes, I did.

I passed back their papers explaining that I didn't significantly mark them down for using the list of words this time because we hadn't discussed it, but that they can see how it might be useful for them in the future to be more aware of their word choices. Optional revision is due Monday, and I'm giving 3 extra credit points towards "participation" category for coming to class in costume...

Monday will be amusing for us all :)

An Ode to Silence... Well, not really.

What I would have posted about Monday:
I now see why conferences can be a pain in the butt.
In the week's absense from class, have you forgotten how to communicate?
Is this silence meant to scare me?
It's working, but I won't let you know that.
I'll just stare right on back
Untill you crack.
And you will crack.
Because that's the way I roll.

What I AM posting about today:
Class wasn't horribly silent, but they weren't so quick to participate... and I didn't have a media source to jump into conversation with today...

As I grade papers; I've only seen one truly sad piece of writing...
And it was one that made me have to take 20 minutes out for a very quick run before I came back to it.
The student was concerned about his writing during his conference, so we talked about what his options were, how much work he would need to put into his paper, and he left with a smile on his face, and a promise to get going on it...

He arrived late to class Monday when it was due, and, to my horror, gave me a fresh copy of the SAME PAPER HE BROUGHT TO CONFERENCES... If there were changes, they were minimal at best.

I know it isn't for me to give good grades, but for them to earn them.However, I was just shocked that, after we'd discussed the possibilities and he'd come up with a plan, he didn't do any of it.

He also didn't show up to class today for me to ask him about it.  Which marks day 3 of his being completely absent... as is his journal due today.

They should call conferences "super helpful 1-1 time with the students"... that's the new definition. USE IT.

So... As you can tell from the title, conferences are going well :) I'm glad that I chose to hold the paper's due date back so that we could talk about it during the conference; they've got a lot of questions/comments that they haven't asked/made in class, and I'm loving getting to talk one on one with my students and getting to see where  they feel that they're at in the class. I love getting to ask questions about their papers, making suggestions, seeing how they approach my suggestions or don't change, and how some explain why they didn't change... I love getting to see their writing processes...  =D

There is, however, one conference I'm dreading...

It's coming.

Tomorrow.

At 9:45.

I have a student who's turned in his first paper, and hasn't really turned in anything since. He participates in class, but I haven't seen a single draft of his paper 1. I've sent out a general "those of you who haven't already, send me your papers ASAP" type of e-mail to the entire class, but I've got nothing on this kid. Tomorrow I have to discuss how his not turning in journals and not participating in workshops is effecting his grade... Yippee.

"Oh, I believe in Yesterday!"

Yesterday, I went to two kickboxing classes, I ran while on campus, and the only meal I had/made time for was breakfast. That was very, very stupid. This resulted in my running, kneeing, punching, push-kicking, etc., "-ings" (and consequently being kneed/punched/push-kicked, etc., etc.) twice as much as normal with not near enough calories to help me rejuvenate over-night with what little sleep I got ... All of this made me very bruised and tired this morning, and I was not at all on my game. 

My list of things that needed to get done today:
1. Discuss essay workshops
2. Go over the general issue people had (i.e. summarizing rhetorical moves instead of analyzing how they work)
3. Get them signed up for conferences
4. Vote on moving final due date back a week
5. Open discussion of the reading

What actually got done:
Numbers 1-5

What was done "well":
1-4


They took part in conversation, which was fantastic, because they picked up on the energy that I didn't have, and really took over class. FABULOUS. Did it go where I wanted it to go? ... not really. What we ended up talking about today was sort of a tie-back to what we'd discussed earlier in the quarter, but I guess that's kind of great in a way. It shows that they were paying attention then, and that they're still thinking about it. I love that. Even though we didn't do exactly what I wanted. It's still a win. 

And now a clip of "how it should have ended..."

Berger (Monday/Wednesday) was mildly successful in that they were interested in talking about it, but not so successful in that almost all of their journals reflected the idea of "original work" as "true meaning" that we need to get back to...

So today I brought out the Atari.
Well, I brought up the Atari on Google. We looked at the original gaming console, and they were amazed at such "old-school" technology. So I asked them what's changed since then? : MORE BUTTONS. Lots more buttons.

Yes. Brilliant. But how did we get more buttons? Technology advanced, and POOF! More buttons!?...

"People furthered technology."
Fabulous. How? (Questioning them felt like pulling teeth!)

"By taking what others had, and improving it."
But Atari came first - don't you wish you could go back to Atari, and that PS3 never existed?

...
that sunk in a bit better...

We then discussed forwarding information, learning from others around us, and then switched over to our reading for the day, McKibben, and true conversation began :)

Fabulous tales of exploitation were told, we discussed "Shark Week," shark-finning, and I asked how other sources are exploited. One student mentioned vampire stories, and another brought up Twilight. Jackie's right - it gets them talking, and I'm glad I wasn't the one to bring it up because it never ended: Twilight books, movies, soundtracks, graphic novels, television shows (True Blood?), other movies, and one of the most popular sources that bred them all - Dracula (but not the book - they still went to the old black and white film!). 

We talked about what moves all horror films had in common (scary music, a shower scene, something popping out, blood, etc., etc.), and how each film still remained unique (the way they use the commonalities, and the audience they're intended for)... it was cool....I related that to genre of text, and we started talking about what expectations we have for certain texts, but ran out of time... *sigh* Conversations like today make me wish class wasn't just an hour long.

... Honest questions make for awkward silences...

Three of my students didn't do the reading on Monday, so I hung the three of them up on a clothes line by their ears, and everyone took turns throwing chalk at them.

... just kidding.

I honestly didn't know what to say. I decided to steal Darcy's quote-passing activity to get discussions going, and as quotes were passed, three students ended up without quotes to work with. Two students said they weren't able to get the reading (even though I made sure to show them how to get it the Friday before), and another said he hadn't finished it (he'd read the first page). "How can you participate unless you read the material? More importantly, how can your classmates participate now that you can't contribute a quote for them to work with? This is an honest question, guys." ... I found myself in a very quiet room, and so I asked if the students sitting next to the students without quotes could share the one they received, and we moved on.


For a brief moment, I thought about sending the students out to go read the article, but being absent from class wouldn't do them any good, and I also wanted to talk about citing their sources... if they were gone from that, it would just be more stress for them and for me to have to re-tell them what they missed; besides, I'm not their disciplinarian. That's not a role I'm here to play.

SO... I think I scared them enough - I did tell them last week that I "reserve the right" to give them response papers to each reading if I think they're not doing the work. Maybe that fact will have to come up again.

Why, Hellooooo Friday!

Student voice and their "creations."
Academic discourse.
My acquired southern accent/discourse.
Audience.
Visual rhetoric.
Prep for Berger reading.
Journals.
Go over blackboard posts.

I feel like today was a bit rushed - partly because the computer threw a mild hissy-fit every time that I rolled the keyboard into the cabinet; Also, the students weren't talking much today, so I felt like I was talking A LOT. I got them to talk more when we discussed visual rhetoric, and had them apply their knowledge of rhetorical moves on a few "Got Milk" ads (the ads featured The Incredible Hulk, Superman, Wolverine, Rhiana, and Chris Brown). This is practice for their paper coming up! But there was definitely an air of "TGIF-ness" (that's a word)... Monday will be exciting with Berger :) They just need to recharge their batteries. I am looking forward to winter quarter schedule though - having nearly 2 hours together twice a week instead of the 1 hour three times a week will be helpful; that way, they'll be free to have larger discussions without my fearing that we aren't getting to the information we need to cover.

In a world where students take an interest in the parts of speech...

My dears,
In the near future, should you decide to  have a discussion on how gender roles/codes are being reinforced through the almighty television and how to analyze visual rhetoric, do not begin the discussion with "So, what's the difference between 'sex' and 'gender'?"... Why I did not expect sass,  I don't know - but the quick response I got from monsieur "L" was this: "sex can also be a verb!"... *face-palm*


Other than that strange start to our conversation, the day went well. In the students' papers, many of them noted how they were excited to advance their vocabulary, so I hit them with a text written in a sociological discourse that many of them would likely use in the future (vocab included words such as ideology, masculinity, gender codes, social hegemony, patriarchal, and more) We discussed the vocabulary first - many of them  said they had to read the text with a dictionary in hand, and a couple said they read it more than twice. "Great! That's an excellent practice!" (said an enthusiastic me.) Also, I got one of the quieter students to speak up! (May I just say "BOOYAH!!"?)

I was going to give them a HUGE reading on voice, but I cut it (Because it was HUGE) and gave them a smaller reading instead. We'll talk about voice/purpose/audience/etc., etc., in class Friday, and get to setting up Berger... This is going to be fun :)

Day 2 - Hurry up and Discuss!

I decided to use the edited version of “Seeing” that we first read in the Best Essays text so that I could pair it with the Schlosser reading. Some of them loved Dillard; others hated her; two didn’t even read her; and quite a few found her decision to write a nature piece questionable. They decided that the purpose of the text was to point out the ways that people see and experience life... to which I begged for more information: “Good! Can you say more? Are there different ways of seeing  as you go through life?" The discussion branched into the 2 ways of seeing that Dillard mentions (analyzing and “letting go”), and how/when/where we use either (Dillard 126). I asked if they believe a person could “always” be in one frame of mind or the other, if there are certain things which force one to be analytical besides schoolwork? Are there ways of “making” a person see one way or the other, or were there things that begged you to remain oblivious?

They decided that schoolwork demanded that they be analytical (duh!). So I asked them about  the two different kinds of people who go to movie theaters (those who talk throughout, and those who go to “zone out” and embrace a willing suspension of disbelief) and the experience of either movie-goer. In The Lord of the Rings films, for example, there are several allusions to Biblical scripture,  but you don’t have to analyze them to enjoy the films. I asked them about movies which force the audience to think analytically the entire time (Films like The Sixth Sense, and they brought up Inception): what is it about the film, or how does the director direct it in such a way as to force you to “see” analytically? We talked about pathos, logos, and ethos a bit, and how authors/directors/companies use rhetoric to catch your attention, sell products, instill social expectations, etc., and then picked up the Schlosser text, and discussed how they could relate his article to what we had already been discussing.

We looked at the great lengths that the researchers went through to create a product that would sell: forming think tanks, hiring child psychologists, looking into dream therapy, etc., etc., and so they not only knew their product; they knew their audience, and how to rhetorically shape their ads (more likely to appeal to pathos and ethos than they are to use logos with children). I brought up the 1995 Budweiser frogs commercial, and, to my dismay, they were all too young to have seen or remember it. However, one of the students volunteered “furbies,” another the “Chia pet,” and others shouted memorable commercials that they remembered, and how they made them think of what should and shouldn’t be bought. How did those commercials effect the way that they saw children around them? They hadn’t thought of that before. What about the commercials made them memorable? What caught the eye? Why did they “need” what was being shown?

I left it at that, and gave them a reading by Aaron Devor on Gender Roles and public perception, and told them to watch for commercials that they believe are successful, and then be ready to discuss why they're successful in class.I've got a stack of literacy history papers to mark, and then I'm off!

Day 1... *Insert a sigh of relief here*

It would be a big, fat lie if I said I slept well last night. I had class yesterday, and the professor couldn't get any of her technology to work for the life of her. Her power point, syllabus, and video clip all failed, and she spent much of the time muttering under her breath about the computer. Luckily, that didn't happen to me this morning; I went to class early to set everything up only to find that I'd spent the evening worrying over nothing.

This morning my students were VERY quiet at first, so I played a small practical joke on them By introducing myself in French, and (still speaking in French) asked them if they were there for French 101 (to which I quickly assured them that if they weren't, they were in the correct class) that got a laugh, and they at least started talking to their neighbors about their being relieved. It got better from there - thinking over that again, that was risky, but they were making me nervous with their blank stares.

We first talked about their expectations for the class (they all said they expect to "write"), and I went over my definition of the class, and my job to help them - not rule over them. From there we went over the basics of the syllabus, then I had them get up out of their chairs to meet 5 interesting facts about 5 different people before I broke them up into 2 teams to play Karen's baseball game. (The game went fairly well because they'd gotten a chance to meet one another before the game, and were able to guess many of the answers). After the game, I had them introduce the people they'd talked to earlier to see if they'd still remembered, and then we talked a bit about what was due Monday, and (because I completely forgot that my class I doesn't end at 8:50) I let them go "early."

A few instances that gave me insight into my class this morning are:
a) After I'd walked into the classroom, one student ("E") popped her head into the class and asked my permission to enter the room. I smiled, invited her in, and we began to talk, but I immediately discovered something about my students: they're young, and they're terrified of me. I tried to address that fact as each student came in, by smiling, greeting them, and encouraging them to get to know one another, but that definitely threw me for a loop.

b) While playing the baseball game, one of the students' facts was that before we got going, he/she was really afraid of the class. I didn't poke around and ask who'd written it, and I didn't want to dwell on the idea of their being afraid, but the person who was guessing actually said "I think that applies to all of us, right?" and they all laughed, so I'm happy that they resolved the issue (however "small") together.

c) Talkers: who's a talker, who isn't, and who can make others talk. While playing baseball, I allowed the players to get feedback from their teams if they weren't sure who had written the fact, and some of the talkers would ask the quieter folks their opinions. One student ("D") gently forced one of the quieter students ("F") to participate by insisting that he looked like he knew the answer. They struck out, but at least "F" participated, and wanted to be up to bat next!

Overall, I'm looking forward to the quarter!

Testing - testing... is this thing even on?

So...test post. I'll define my blog title! :) It might seem a little creepy, I guess, if you don't know where it comes from (No, it's not originally mine). It comes from Act II Scene II of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, and the actual quote is Guildenstern's "O, there has been much throwing about of brains" as pertains to the discussion of the war of the theatres at the time. I've always liked the quote because (even though it's not what Guildenstern meant) the idea of throwing one's brain - instead of just words - in an argument is favorable.

When I think of "throwing about brains," I think of people putting all their thoughts into what they're saying; to throw words is simple, and often mindlessly done, but to truly wrap  your mind around something before you commit to speaking on the matter takes true respect for others and oneself. I'm aware that I don't always "throw about" my every thought before I speak, but I suppose with a blog I've time to edit/revise my thoughts and put a bit more effort into it. At any rate, I hope to throw brains at/with y'all. Let's see if this works, shall we? (moves mouse over to the "publish post" link and winces)...