And crastination yet again

I don't write enough. I keep things in my head too long.

Maybe "representations of the social"... that's what I'm thinking now.

Procrastination...

My writing class this semester has a different population than before. I do, to some extent, miss the younger students, but having the insights of students who have been here for awhile helps a lot. I haven't been thinking dissertation in a while, and I'm still nagging at myself to bite the proverbial bullet and start work on a "the social" vs. "mmorpg's" work.

More work later.

Discussion posts...

Purged from the lovely land of Blackboard, these are the posts that, for better or worse, I asked students to respond to this semester. Always room for improvement, yeah?

"Im a gud riter becus I rite gud seds"
--This bit came home from my son's Kindergarten class. Properly translated, it reads:
"I'm a good writer because I write good sentences."
--Well? True? Yes? No? (a more nuanced answer perhaps?) Some places you can go with this discussion--

What makes good writing? What is it? Have you done it? How do you know when it's not? What makes a good sentence? Take these things as far as you can--respond to your classmates, or start your own thread. Feel free to link us to examples, if you find it useful in making your point.

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This week is the Peer Review for the first paper. In honor of that, I'm going to ask for your thoughts on the social aspects of writing.
First things first: Is writing a social act(ion) or is it purely an individual task? How, why, or why not?
Second: What sort of issues does either of these views bring up? If writing IS social, how do we deal with issues like ownership, grades, etc.? If it's individual, how do we justify things like peer review, or co-authored books, movies, songs, etc.?

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Rhetoric.

From the little discussion on Friday, it seems like some defining is necessary. So, for this post, find (re: Google, etc) a definition that seems to apply to rhetoric as a term. Copy the link in your post, but put the definition in your own words as well. It, like several of the ideas we'll encounter this semester, is a pretty abstract concept, so it will also help to ground your definition in some concrete action or issue.

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he paper we're currently working on deals primarily with using outside sources. In fact, today (Wednesday) in the library, the reference folks gave you presentations on some sources--we'll talk about that later.

But what makes a good source? What makes it useful? When do you cite it? When do you not "have" to? All of these questions we can answer in class, actually, but what I want to focus on is a particular source.

Wikipedia. The name alone brings tremors to the college instructor.

So, what do you know about it already? What have you used it for? Why should you use it? (if you think you should) Why should you not? What have you heard? Good? Bad? etc.

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o, your task for this week is to discuss the meaning(s) of, and sort out the fallout from a term which tends to rear its head in my courses every semester. I'm not going to push you in any direction (at first). You may choose to use online resources, as well as your own opinions (pun--you'll get it in a sec), as well as each other's responses. You should consider what the term means, what it might possibly mean to others, what connotations (or rhetorical meanings and usages) it might have. And finally, what does it have to do with composition, argumentation, etc?

That term is "opinion". See? Pun.

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I've heard the following from old and somewhat crotchety teachers: "It's hard to get students to look at popular culture in critical ways".

So A: is it true, for you as students? When we think about advertising fads, television shows, movies, songs, etc... is it harder to look at these items in the same way that we might dissect a more formal argument? If so, what prevents us from doing so?

And B: a possible issue is that once you begin to dissect popular culture issues, you can no longer "enjoy" them in the same way. As in, because I know enough about music to write it, I hear the songs differently. (or) As a film critic, I "see" films in much different ways. Is this really a problem that you see?

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The Writing Center.

So, once you meet with them, use a post to "process" what happened. What did you do? Was it helpful? Did you hate it? Were you so impressed that you couldn't believe I haven't sent you there already? THEN, tell me why. What happened that was helpful, unhelpful, good, sucky, boring, stupid, etc?

Good luck. I'm actually very interested in what you have to say, as we just hired a new director over there, and I've only worked for the old one. Oh, and if I share anything you say (which I might) I will of course not mention names or identify you in any way.

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Course Retrospective.

As you might remember, this response should be a page long retrospective of the course. You'll print it off and add it to the process folder which is due Tuesday, before 3pm, on my desk. It will replace the lowest grade that you received on a Style response.

Option A: Just like the Style responses, produce a Summary, Analysis, and Personal Response paragraph. Feel free to be critical in the analysis, as it gives me feedback on what could be done to better the course.

Option B: Still a page long, but dealing with 3 issues that the class brought up, and their importance (or lack of importance) to your upcoming courses and career.

Option 3: A page long, dealing with something that you personally learned (or hated) from each of the 3 paper cycles.

Good luck.

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Lessons learned? Yep.

Sometimes things go poorly.

Suffering from stress, sickness, and the time suck of thinking.

Also, thanks to some brilliant advice, this dissertation appears to be headed in the multi-disciplinary direction. I hope things work out like I hope they do.

titles.

Towards a Social Pedagogy: Student Ecologies and Why You Should Give a Crap.


hmmm... I think there's still something needed. Too much work to worry about such things.

Cultural Literacy...

So, as of this instant, I'm designing an almost paperless course for First Year Composition based on Cultural LIteracy. I'm also winding my way (wending?) through literary criticism on the X-Men for a project in the realm of Transnational Rhetoric. This idea of looking at our own world critically (or being able to at least) is what it seems I've always wanted to do. It's where I've hinted at in prior courses that I've taught, but I've never been ... gutsy? enough to attempt it in courses I was taking, or projects I wanted to finish for real live "grades".

I really thought Cultur(al) Studies had sort've been done, and that no one gave a damn any more. Was I wrong? Where did such an idea come from? At any rate. I'm thinking I'll declare it as my secondary area for the PhD. Is it a "real" area?

It is if I say it is.

Oh, and my initial line for the X-Men paper? "Does it matter that Magneto's a Jew? Of COURSE it DOES.

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

http://www.swinmc.net/documents/facebook.pdf

The Benefits of Facebook ‘‘Friends:’’ Social
Capital and College Students’ Use of
Online Social Network Sites
Nicole B. Ellison
Charles Steinfield
Cliff Lampe
Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media
Michigan State University
This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social
network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to
assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital
that assesses one’s ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited
community, which we call maintained social capital. Regression analyses conducted on
results from a survey of undergraduate students (N = 286) suggest a strong association
between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship
being to bridging social capital. In addition, Facebook usage was found to
interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide
greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.