We have completed 25% of this class!!!

Wow!! That went really fast. We're done with the first progress report period. If you were not here yesterday, or, if you need more time to finish your assessment, please do so now.

If you're one of the many people who lost documents because Word 2007 is awful, please let me know, so I can show you how to save.

If you've finished your assessment, please download and complete the "course assessment and self-assessment," on the class homepage.

If I don't have both of your articles of the week, please make sure I have them before I leave at the end of the day; they are worth 15% of your grade.

Your classwork grade includes: your original/revised piece of writing (+reflection), the direct quotation work from Monday (you chose the three quotations to use), the annotation of the 9/11 article, the Attica analytic writing piece, and the essay/car analogy.   If I don't have them, send them to me ASAP. I will be grading on Friday. IF YOU ARE SENDING MAKE-UP WORK, PUT

ASSIGNMENT IN THE SUBJECT LINE OR I CAN'T GRADE IT!!!

That is all, I think. When we return after the long weekend, we're going to move onto further annotation skills, paraphrasing, summarizing and probably our first essay.

Assessment One, Progress Report Period One

Today is your first assessment; it's worth 25% of your grade.
You will find it under the attachments, labeled "Assessment One, Progress Report Period One".

Many of you have had trouble saving documents. If you are not 200% sure how to save a doc that you've downloaded (it's weird and complicated with Word 2007), I'll show you how.

We'll have NO losing of our assessments!!!

When you are done, email it to me, with the subject line "Assessment." Any emails sent without subject lines will be returned to sender unread.

Greetings from Roots Cafe, Brooklyn!

As I write this, I'm sitting in a Brooklyn hipster cafe. I've just had some blueberry coffee cake, and I'm pretty sure that 2/3 of the people here are teachers. They're all talking about lesson plans, and they all look tired. I want to tell them it's too early in the year to be that tired. Lord knows how they'll be doing in March. EVERYONE has the same MacBook Pro.

I've just finished glancing over your analytic work on the Attica piece, and I think we need to spend some time refining our use of direct quotations.  Our goal for today, therefore, is learning how to connect direct quotations to our writing and thinking. I've put together a lesson that breaks down the process a little more closely. If you think you're SOLID with this, read through the Power Point on your own, and complete the assignment on your own.

Before we get started, I want you to GET STARTED by answering the following question (as a comment in My Blog): There are 6 pails, 3 of the pails are filled with water. Can you move only one pail and make a pattern of: full pail, empty pail, full pail, empty pail, full pail, empty pail?

Look at the pails in formulating your response!!

 Remember, some of you have a reflection and annotation due tomorrow.

Classwork, Friday, September 23

Hello Section One! (If you're in Friday's 5th period class, you are in section one).

This seemed like it was sort of a tough week, so we're not going to start anything new. If you did not give me a printed out copy of the Attica analytic writing piece, please print it out and hand it to me.

If  already have it, use this period to work on your annotation and reflection piece for the article of the week, which is DUE TUESDAY.

That is all. Keep calm and carry on. 

Next week:
Monday--writing practice
Tuesday--ASSESSMENT FIRST PERIOD
Wednesday--Self- and Course-assessment. 

Friday, September 23

Good morning, Section 6! (if you have me first period today, you are Section 6)

This was sort of a stressful week, it seemed. You guys seemed miserable with the analytic writing. Sorry! Stress you have to deal with now is stress you won't have to deal with in college english, though.

Please print out your Attica work from the last couple of days and hand it to me.

Also, last week's "Article of the Week" is due. Please give me your reflection and your annotations.

When both of those things are done, you can start on this week's "Article of the Week." It is titled "If It Feels Right," and can be found in front of my desk, under the skeleton. 

Why this blog, and how will we use it?

After just two weeks of teaching two sections of Introduction to College Writing, I already have 300+ email messages in my inbox, most of which are lacking subject lines. As The Dude in The Big Lebowski says, "The Dude cannot abide."

I can't abide the amount of email I'm getting. I can't read it, I can't grade it. In many cases, I can't even figure out what question you're responding to.

You all complained when I wanted to set up Twitter as a way of dealing with the volume. 

And so, this blog. When there is a question for a warm-up, it will be posted here. When there is a reflection, you will post it here (unless I specify that it should be in the body of an email that has an assignment attached to it).

Here's how it's going to work:
1. The blog will be open, with the question posted.
2. Click on "comments."
3. Sign in (using your gmail account). 
4. Respond to the question in the comment.
5. Keep calm and carry on.

Sp, let's experiment a bit. In a comment, please answer the following question: What's good about the new system? What problems might we experience? You have five minutes to figure out how to sign in, and to post your response.