IMPORTANT

Section 01: I have taken ill & will not be able to make class tomorrow, Thursday, 03.01.07; therefore; class will be cancelled. Please, come prepared to discuss the reflective essays in "RCWW5.pdf" on Tuesday, 03.06.07. IF YOU ARE FRIENDS W/ANYONE IN CLASS, PLEASE INFORM THEM OF THE ALTERATION TO THE SCHEDULE.

FYI: Comments, which are now due on Mondays, will be reduced from 100 words to 50-75 words--excepting, of course, the comment to this blog which is to contain only the suggestion for a sub-title.

Overhauls & Assignments for 02.27.07

After discussing the status of our blogs with both classes, it appears as though the criteria set by each section was very similar. As such, I have attempted to synthesize the new guidelines so as to streamline the standards & not hold each section to different evaluative measures. Therefore, the guidelines you see below, while not exact, resemble extremely closely those we formulated in class.

New Minimum Criteria for Weekly Assignments

Word Count:	250-500
Hyperlinks:	at least 1
Multi-media:	1 Image or Video

Additional alterations are as follows: Comments will now be due on Monday evening instead of Sunday evening & individual blogs will contain a formatted sub-heading (more on that in a bit).

FYI: Re-evaluation of Comments will take place during the second session of this week.

Below are the homework assignments for this week.

1) Your first post utilizing the new weekly posting standards will be a freewrite. As such, you will determine your own subject matter & write from whatever angle you feel appropriate. But, remember the following syllabus regulations:

All members of the course must commit to creating a place of study where everyone is treated with respect & courtesy. Everyone must share in the commitment to protect the integrity, rights, & personal safety of each member of the classroom & virtual community.

This would also be a good time to remind everyone that, while writing posts for this class, your language, attitude, & conduct should adhere to the same policies as in the brick & mortar classroom. Disrespect directed towards others in the virtual realm will be dealt with in the way same it would be if your were on campus.

2) Instead of writing a second post, each student is to alter their blog Layout so as to contain links to the main ENGL 1020 hub & the individual blogs of every student in their section. You may provide links to the other section as well, but it is not required. To perform this task, you will first need to go to your "Dashboard." Once there, click on "Layout" in the manage section. A screen will load that contains a schemata of your blog. In the side-bar section, click "Add a Page Element" & select "Link List." A new dialogue box will open in which you will be able to enter URL of each student's blog & a "site name." The "site name" should be each student's name.

3) 4 comments. 1 comment will be to this post. In it, you should forward a suggestion as to what the standardized sub-heading should be for the 1020 blogs. Keep in mind that, although your primary audience is other members of ENGL 1020, anyone with access to the internet can view your blog. You should keep this in mind when formulating your suggestion. 2 comments will need to be made to bloggers not affiliated with ENGL 1020. Perhaps, you could comment on 1 of the blogs you analyzed in class, a friend of yours that has a blog, or another blog you read on a regular basis. Your final comment should be to another student in ENGL 1020.

4) Please, make sure to bring the sample Reflective Essays from "RCWW5.pdf" to this week's second session.

FYI: Peer review & final draft due dates for the Reflective Essay are located in the post below.

Update for 02.26.07

The guidelines for your Reflective Essay are now up on Blackboard. The file is labled "RCWW5b.pdf." Section 01: we will be conducting peer reviews on 03.13 & 03.15. Section 10: we will be conducting peer reviews on 03.12 & 03.14. Both sections, YOUR FINAL DRAFT IS DUE BY 03.18.

The assignments for this week's writings will be posted Tuesday morning after both sections have had a chance to alter the parameters for weekly posts.

Update for 02.22.07

Permanent links for my email address & Blackboard are now located at the bottom of this blog.

Homework for Week 02.19.07

Due Date: 02.25.07

1) Section 01 & 10: Each of you will be assigned a blog from Fimoculous' "Best Blogs of 2006 that (Maybe) You aren't Reading." Analyze the site, asking yourself "How is this blog composed?" & "What types of conventions & components does the blog utilize?" You should consider both content & form. Afterwards, consider how the blog you were assigned differs from your own blog. How can you incorporate those differences into your own site? (Remember: 500 words & 1 hyperlink) Below are the site assignments:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Section 01: Algarni, Yusuf; Altman, Martha

Section 10: Acosta, Jose; Alkayam, Ronit

http://we-make-money-not-art.com

Section 01: Alwazna, Ahmad; Brake, Michelle

Section 10: Benton, Elizabeth; Bos, Nathan

http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/
Section 01: Bui, Nancy; Chavez, Jennifer

Section 10: Deng, Aaron; Kim, David

http://www.historyofthebutton.com/

Section 01: Dominguez, Donielle; Fisher, Analisa

Section 10: Kissell, Chelsea; Le, Nga

http://blogs.citypages.com/corpus/

Section 01: Forrester, Christopher; Gebreyesus, Wogahta

Section 10: Lopez, Jordan; Marquez, Genevieve

http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy

Section 01: Houck, Hannah; Josette, Molly

Section 10: Moran, Ed; Mount, Amanda

http://stereogum.com/

Section 01: Krier, Rachel; Lama, Tsering

Section 10: Palissa, Anna; Ters, Anna

http://screens.blogs.nytimes.com/

Section 01: Mahmood, Sophia; Martinez, Jacqueline

Section 10: Tian, Lu; Tran, Jonathan

http://www.makezine.com/blog/

Section 01: Mohammed, Issah; Petit, Bridgette

Section 10: Tucker, Brady; Xie, Jiarui

http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/

Section 01: Redig, Korin; Rodarte, Graciela

Section 10: Yllescas, Jackie; Jordan, Chadwick

http://web.ncf.ca/ek867/wood_s_lot.html

Section 01: Wallace, Kiah; Wang, Fu; Vogt, Breanna

2) Select an image on-line that you find interesting, unique, or aesthetically compelling. Incorporate that image into a blog post & write a fictitious 250 word caption for the image. DO NOT use any portion of an existing caption for the image. DO NOT research the image or its context. The caption you generate should derive solely from your observation of & reflection on the image itself. Click here for techniques & guidelines on writing a caption. Obviously, 250 words is longer than most traditional captions, so slavish adherence to the guidelines on the site is not mandatory.

While you may choose any image on the web you want (no pornography, please), here are some sites with images that may be helpful if you are having a difficult time selecting and image: 1, 2, 3, & 4.

3) Write 4 100 word comments on 4 other students' posts. 1 post should be for another student who evaluated the same blog as you & a second comment should be for another student's evaluation of a blog you did not write on. The other 2 comments can be for any other posts you desire.

IMPORTANT: The post below contains this week's reading assignments. Please, download & read the appropriate files if you already have not.

Readings for Week Beginning 02.19.07

Section 01 & 10: For the first session of the week, please read "Beyond2.pdf" & "RCWW5.pdf" pages 158-161. As always, these files can be found on Blackboard. For the second session of the week, read "RCWW5.pdf" pages 162-173.

Also, REMEMBER TO BRING ALL 3 PEER REVIEW FORMS to class. These will count toward your final grade on the Observational Essay.

The writing assignments for this week will be posted soon, so check back in the next day or two.

FYI: Thursday, 02.22.07 @ 7:00pm, The Dikeou Collection will host at poetry reading by Bin Ramke. As previously mentioned, this will be a valid extra credit assignment.

Extra Credit Assignments

The Dikeou Collection sent out the following e-flier; all of the below events are available for extra credit. Guidelines are the same as those listed in the previous post.

poetryatdikeou

The Dikeou Collection is pleased to announce the launch of a new poetry and fiction reading series, poetryatdikeou. The inaugural reading will take place on Thursday February 22nd, 2007 at 7pm, with Bin Ramke reading from his forthcoming book Tendril. Ramke is a professor of English at the University of Denver where he also edits the Denver Quarterly. He is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Airs, Waters, Places (2001) and Matter (2004). Jillian Mukavetz, an undergraduate student of his, will kick off the evening with a reading of her own work.

In 2007, the Dikeou Collection will also host a series of group readings and chapbook swaps. Already slated to read in 2007 are Elizabeth Robinson (March 22nd) and Jake Adam York (April 12th).

For more information, please email info@dikeoucollection.org, call (303) 623-3001.

Update for 02.11.07

I uploaded the Peer Review form for your Observational Essay to Blackboard. Please, download the file & bring two copies to class, as well as two hard copies of your rough draft.

Remember, each successfully completed Peer Review accounts for 1 point (4 points) of your total grade (15 points).

Update for 02.05.07

Please, post 2 100 word comments to other students' blogs this week.
Due Date: 02.11.07

Uncreative Interlude: Writing Assignment for Week 4

As a reprieve from the more analytical writing we have undertaken the past two weeks, as well as providing you with more time to observe your subject matter & write a rough draft, we will produce a text written in a collage format. This week's post will draw from notions of conceptual writing & the Dada poem. Follow the directions below:

Necessary Materials: a) a dictionary & b) a computer with internet capabilities.

01) Turn on your computer, log on to the internet, & access your blogger account.

02) Compose a "New Post."

03) In the "Compose" template, type: "Randomly Selected Words:"

04) Open a new window in your internet browser; connect to Google.com in this new window.

05) Open your dictionary to the letter "A."

06) Randomly select a word from the aforementioned letter.

07) Return to blogger's "Compose" template & type the word selected from the aforementioned letter after the "Randomly Selected Words:" prompt.

08) Return to the Google window.

09) Type the randomly selected word from the aforementioned letter into the search engine's dialogue box.

10) Select the first site that your Google search retrieves.

11) Using the "Cntrl+C" function, copy a sentence from the site's homepage (If there is no text on the homepage, copy text from any page on the site).

12) Return to the window that contains the "Compose" screen for your blogger account; paste the copied material into your "Compose" template using the "Cntrl+V" function.

13) Add a hyperlink to the first word in the sentence that connects to the page you copied the sentence from.

14) Repeat items 5-13 for all 26 letters in the alphabet.

Here is an example of A-D. Remember, you need to complete this for A-Z.

****************************************************************************************
Randomly Selected Words: annex, bosque, clarin, druse

Since the turn of the century, the Madison hard rock trio Droids Attack have perfected the art of musical warfare and have unleashed an onslaught of intense raw hooks upon the helpless masses. Hills, canyons and prairies--lakes, rivers and streams--wildlife, recreation or relaxation--there's something for everyone in Bosque County. Ocurre en medio de la polémica que se generó luego de que Economía relevara a la funcionaria a cargo del área de medición de precios. The main actors were Tariq al-Hakīm (meaning Ruler), also known as al-Hakīm bi-Amr Allah or Ruler in the Name of God, and Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad, the main architect of the movement.

****************************************************************************************

Due Date: 02.11.07

IMPORTANT: The post below this assignment contains due dates for your Observational Essay. Please, check out the dates & make sure you have all necessary materials completed for that particular class period.

Due Dates for Observational Essay

Section 01

02.13.07 & 02.15.07: For Tuesday & Thrusday of next week, you will need 2 typed, hard copies of your rough draft, as well as 2 copies of the Peer Review Form (I will upload these to Blackboard later this week). Each Peer Review will count as 1 point (for a total of 4 points) toward the 15 point total.

02.20.07: The final copy of your Observational Essay is to be posted on your blog before Tuesday's class.

Section 10

02.12.07 & 02.14.07: For Monday & Wednesday of next week, you will need 2 typed, hard copies of your rough draft, as well as 2 copies of the Peer Review Form (I will upload these to Blackboard later this week). Each Peer Review will count as 1 point (for a total of 4 points) toward the 15 point total.

02.19.07: The final copy of your Observational Essay is to be posted on your blog before Monday's class.