Week of September 15th – 19th

Hi folks — no blog response due this week, but here’s the schedule (below). Of course, as you all already know, your drafts for your first essay are due on Monday. Please be sure to bring enough copies for your peer review group members (and one for me).

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: For those who go to any of the Fall for the Book festival events next week and write a thoughtful response to the reading or event (here on blog), I’ll give extra credit to you (equal to one blog response).

Monday	9/15: Essay #1 Draft DUE / Peer Review Workshop (please come with enough copies of your essay to give a copy to each of your peer reviewers and one for me).
Wednesday	9/17:  Read “The Tribe Has Spoken” (pp 182-193) in Common Culture
Friday	9/19: “Keeping it Real: Why We Like to Watch Reality Dating Television Shows” (pp 193-200) in Common Culture.

Week Three (Sept 8 – 12th):

Here’s the schedule of readings/work for the upcoming week (Sept 8-12). No blog response will be due for this week, but be sure to come to class prepared (with readings and assignments for class).

Monday	9/8:  Read Chapter 1, section on “Reading Images” (p. 22) in Common Culture. View: Ann Telnaes’ cartoons: Women’s Issues; Civil Rights; War on Terrorism; Environment / choose one cartoon from two categories that you like best and print a copy to bring to class and be prepared to discuss your interpretation of your image.
Wednesday	9/10: Class Meets in Innovation Hall, Room 327 / Writing Workshop
Friday	9/12: MEET ME IN THE LOBBY OF FENWICK LIBRARY

Response Assignment #2

Don’t forget (as I’m sure you won’t , that next Monday, September 1st is Labor Day, and thus we do not have class that morning!

For Wednesday, September 3rd, please do the following:

• Read “The Writing Process” from Frame Work (be prepared to discuss and/or respond to writing prompts in class). I emailed this reading to you on Friday, so if you didn’t get it, email me and let me know, and I’ll resend.
• Also – go to A Writer’s Reference web site, sign in and, if prompted, be sure you list my email address (kscotta@gmu.edu) so that I will receive the results of your work. Once you are at the main menu, click on Writing Exercises and complete the following exercises: E-ex C1-1 and E-ex C2-1.

For Friday, September 5th, please read the following:

• Read Chapter 1, section on “Active Reading” (pp 6-22) in Common Culture: Reading and Writing about American Popular Culture (required book for class). For your blog response, due on Monday, September 8th by no later than 7 a.m., respond to any one set of questions at the bottom of page 21 of your reading. Be sure that you back up your response with examples and/or evidence from the text (a quote or small passage that exemplifies your point).

Response Assignment #1

For Wednesday, class meets in Innovation Hall, Room 327! Also, please be sure to read the following, which I have sent to you via email (if you did not receive it, please email me):

• “Academically Speaking: Audience, Language, Power” from Frame Work: Culture, Storytelling, and College Writing (sent via email to your gmu account).
  

For Friday, please read:

• A Writer’s Reference Chapter: Composing and Revising, sections C1-C4.

Since we are all new to one another, let’s start off this blog by introducing ourselves. Tell us who you are, where you’re from, what your major is (or might be), and perhaps something about your hobbies, interests outside the classroom, or whatever else you think will help us better know who you are. If you have any particularly interesting story (or recent event you experienced), please feel free to share. I really don’t have any particular “format” in mind, so feel free to also be creative with this assignment — let your voice come to the surface!

Welcome!

Hi folks – welcome to your class blog. Each week, you will be expected to check this blog for reading/writing assignments. Frequently, you will be asked to respond to readings or specific assignments on this blog; other times, you will be asked to turn in a typed assignment. When asked to write a blog response, you may respond to the posted assignment by clicking on the “comments” link at the top of this blog, under the blog entry title (until someone posts the first comment, it will read “no comments”). The assignments will vary – between responses to your readings and writing assignments. Your responses on this blog is worth 30% of your grade, so be sure that you check this blog before each and every class for updated reading assignments and any announcements I might post!

In order to respond to blog assignments, you MUST register with WordPress. For username, please just put your first name and last initial (or whole last name – whichever you prefer), so that I can give you credit for each post (if you list yourself as “metrogirl” for example, I will have no idea who wrote the post and therefore cannot give you credit). Also, please register with the email address that you most often check, as this will be the email address to which I will send acknowledgment of receipt and credit. At the bottom of the registration form, you can either choose to get your own blog or “just a username”. For this class, all that is required is a username; but if you’ve been wanting to start your own blog, then you can certainly do that (it’s totally up to you and has no bearing on this course).

Also, please take a look around the blog, and familiarize yourself with the additional resources, links, and pages that are available to assist you. For instance, on the right side, you will note that there are several links; these are websites or additional resources that I thought may be useful to you as you go through this course. As we continue to move through the class, I will continue to post links that will be helpful to you (whether in reading, writing, or discussing certain pieces of writing). Please check the links often.

For more information about the class and what is expected of you on this blog, please click on the tab at the top entitled, “About Class Blog,” and then post a comment indicating that you understand what will be required of you on this course blog.