Work you have been asked to Redo

Many of you have outstanding assignments I have asked to be redone. If you want credit for those assignments, please turn in the original with your redone version ASAP.

Work you have emailed me

Just a reminder: Many of you have emailed me assignments. Those are NOT graded until I get a hard copy of the assignment. If you want credit for emailed assignments, make sure you turn in the original in a hard copy AND you indicate to me that you emailed it to me first so I can double check that I have it in my emailed file.

Reading Packet

Please bring your Reading Packet to class. We will be working on the blank slate once we finish conversations.

conversation reminders

1. Your getting prepared, skeleton and questions should be done with your ARTICLE, not the chapter from the book. This can be turned in as a group effort or each person can do his/her own.
2. Remember to fill out your check list by the end of class on Weds. This is part of your grade.
3. Make sure to bring your group conversation evaluation sheet that I passed out in class to Monday Oct 28th. You will use that sheet to evaluate the other groups in the class.
4. ALL groups should be prepared to go first thing Monday Oct 28, no matter what your order. If you are not ready when it is your turn and you do the conversation late, you will lose 25% of your grade.  If for some reason when I call a group and they aren't ready, I will go to the next group. So, for example, it is possible that the group listed as #3 will actually go first, if the other two groups aren't ready.  
5. We will move quickly through our groups in class, so it is imperative that you are ready to go at the beginning of class. Please confirm questions and what you need to do BEFORE class. 
6. There will not be class time on Monday Oct 28th or Weds. the 30th to talk about the conversation.

Student skeleton example

I've posted an example of a skeleton done by a student for chapter 3 so that you can see how you might write the claims for your reasons.  Note carefully that the student does not describe what Carr does, nor does he mention clocks or maps in his reasons. Remember, clocks and maps are support for the reasons. As you work on the skeleton for chapter 4, consider that The Gutenberg Revolution and Scriptura Continua should only appear in your support. What we are concerned with is Carr's point about these examples.

Conversations are coming!

We will be signing up for conversations on Monday Oct. 21.  It's really important you are present so you don't miss the introduction or the sign up.

Revised Work

If you are doing work I've asked you to redo or you are turning in work you are revising, you MUST turn in the original work with it. Please make sure you indicate on the assignment that it is a "redo" or a "revision". Please do not mark up the original with lots of changes. It's too difficult to read. If you only have a couple of changes you can use the original, but if I've asked you to REDO it or your revisions are extensive, please turn in a NEW version (with the original one).

Emailed work

Just a reminder, if you email me your work, I must have a hard copy in order to grade the work.

Typing homework

Please make sure all work done outside of class is typed. I am grading upwards of 90 assignments each class day. It's imperative that the work is typed.

Quoting

Just a quick reminder that you should not be quoting anything. Please put material in your own words. It's you I want to hear!

Linear?

Anyone find linear in chapter 2? After much searching, I have been unable to locate it. Must have been carried over from the Prologue. If you did find it, let me know, otherwise just give up on that word. I did double check all the other words and, don't worry, they are all there!

reminders about late work

Just a few reminders about late work (this is also in the syllabus)
1. I accept late work for assignments we have NOT gone over in class. But, anything that is turned in late (which means after the class has ended) is 25% off per day late.  After class is considered one day late. Once we've gone over the work in class, it would not be fair to the class to accept any late work.
2. I do NOT accept late work for work done completely IN class.
3. If you are going to miss class or can't  get your work printed for class, you may email it to me, but it needs to be emailed BEFORE class. Work emailed after class is LATE.
4. These policies are designed to allow for stuff to come up without too much penalization but also to make sure we are treating everyone in class fairly.
5. If you email me work, you MUST bring a hard copy to the next class to get your work graded. If you don't get the work back from me, I haven't graded it.
6. If you have any questions, as always, let me know.

What are important concepts?

As you fill out your "getting prepared" for Monday's class, you might be asking yourself: what am I supposed to do with these important concepts?

Important concepts are the concepts and/or phrases that help us to understand the ideas in a text's argument. We need to understand why they are introduced by the author (explanation) and how they help further the argument.

So, for example, as you ponder "Google" as an important concept, you need to be asking yourself two questions:
1. Why did Churchwell introduce Google in this essay? To what purpose?  And, remember, your answer should be what she argues NOT what she does.
2. How does this concept help to further the argument she is making (another way to think about this is what idea is being supported with this concept?)

Notes on Notes

Notes should include: vocab defined!, ideas (not statements about what the essay does), and questions and thoughts you bring to the reading. Notes do not have to be typed.

After two weeks

Well, we've finished two weeks. Hope everyone is settling in. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Reminder that you need to complete the sentence/counter argument exercise to turn in on Weds. We won't be working anymore on it. And, also, be sure to go to the computer lab Wednesday.

Example of digital culture response

You can write your response in any format that covers the questions I've indicated you need to address. But, here is one 5/5 example:

The essay is asking should it be ok fro the government to collect our information? Citizens might argue that it violates their civil rights and freedom whereas government will argue that they are only doing it to have protection from terrorism. But, US citizens still consider it a violation of their privacy making the topic very controversial. I think that although it violates a human being's privacy, it will help the US stop terrorism from happening in the long run.

Response to digital culture summaries

A student asked for a copy of the response prompts for the digital culture summary. I thought others might want it as well, so I'm posting it here.  Keep asking questions!

Is the essay that is summarized an argument or a description?

•If an argument, ask the following

–What question is the essay asking?

–What are the possible answers?

–Why is this a controversial question?

•What do you think?

•Why should people care?

First week complete

Hope everyone had a good first week. If you have any questions or concerns please email me or post on the blog.

I've had some people asking about printing the reading packet for Monday. The best way to do this is to open the packet and cut and paste it to a word or google doc. Then print. If you have any problems let me know.

See you Monday!

Welcome Fall 2013 Students

We will be using this blog as our main course portal (not D2L).

This blog is used across several semesters, so you'll notice questions and answers below that may or may not relate to our class.  If you have questions, please send me an email: mvasudeva03@yahoo.com. Always copy to this email, any email or communication you send to me.

Main course material documents are here: you need the syllabus, the schedule and the reading packet for the beginning of the course. Make sure you do NOT print these until the Aug 16.

It may take a couple of weeks to get the hang of things in English 116. Do not despair. Stick with it and make sure that you EMAIL me if you have questions.  Please do not come to class without your work because you don't understand an assignment. Email me and ask.