Tag: WordPress

Posted in English 1103, Teaching, Writing

ENG 1103: Reviewing Your Blog and Planning for the Final Reflection

Posted on by janemlucas
WordPress Logo, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org

Directions for the Blog Update/Review

Today’s class will be devoted to updating your blog, reviewing your classmates’ sites, and planning for the final reflection that you will compose in class on Wednesday. Devote the first half of class to updating your blog and reviewing your classmates’ sites. In the second half of the class, you will not be permitted to use your laptops, tablets, or phones. That time will be devoted to planning for your final reflection.

To update your blog, complete the check list below and make any necessary changes to your site.

  • All three of my major essay assignments (my literacy narrative, my analysis, and my final essay and annotated bibliography) are published on my blog.
  • My final essay and annotated bibliography assignment is the top post on my blog (followed by my analysis and my literacy narrative).
  • All three of the blog posts for my major essay assignments include an image that documents part of my writing process away from the screen.
  • All three of the blog posts for my major essay assignments include an embedded link to a relevant website.
  • I have corrected any errors of spelling, punctuation, grammar, mechanics, and style in my blog posts.

After you have updated your blog, devote the remainder of the first half of class to reviewing your classmates’ sites. You are encouraged, but not required, to type brief comments and/or like your classmates’ posts.

Directions for Planning Your Reflection

Review your class handouts and journal entries and determine what you consider your most significant work and the feature or features of the course that have benefited your development as a writer and a student. Features to consider include the following:

  • Planning, drafting, and revising your final essay and annotated bibliography. Since you recently composed a reflection on this assignment, it should not be the main focus of your final reflection.
  • Keeping a journal
  • Delivering your group presentation on one of the lessons in the Check, Please! course
  • Studying one of the readings examined in the second half of the semester, including “The Case for Writing Longhand,” “Skim Reading is the New Normal,” “Strawberry Spring,” the excerpt from On Writing, or the sample final essay and annotated bibliography.
  • Writing for an online audience beyond the classroom/creating and maintaining a WordPress blog
  • Collaborating with your classmates on in-class writing assignments
  • Playing Scrabble/Collaborating with your teammates on Wordplay Day
  • Writing longhand
  • Limiting screen time

You may focus on two, three, or four features of the course (but no more than four).

After you determine what features of the course you will address, select a minimum of one relevant quotation to integrate into your reflection. The quotation you include may be one from Writing Analytically or a relevant quotation from one of the texts that we have studied in the second half of the semester.

Next Up

In class on Wednesday, you will compose your final refelection for the course.

Posted in English 1103, Teaching, Writing

ENG 1103: First-Day Follow-Up

Posted on by janemlucas

Am I the person who will teach your English 1103 class? I posed that question yesterday in class as a starting point for analysis, one of the key features of the course.

To begin the collaboration and inquiry that will figure prominently this semester—along with analysis—you worked together in groups to find the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the course. Continue to review the syllabus, which is posted in the Content section of Blackboard. An additional copy of the syllabus is included at the end of this blog entry. If you have any questions about the assignments, the course policies, or the calendar, please let me know.

Textbook

All of you in sections 23 and 24 of English 1103 are required to have the paperback edition of the textbook, Writing Analytically, 8th edition, by David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen. Bring your copy to class on the days when the title, Writing Analytically, appears in bold on the course calendar. On those days, we will examine portions of the chapters in class and complete some of the exercises related to the reading.

Your first reading assignment in the textbook will be scheduled for mid-September, which will give you ample time to order and receive your copy before you are required to have it in class. (Unlike my copy, pictured at the top of this blog entry, your textbook will not be in a binder.) Your textbook’s cover looks like this:

Other Required Materials

  • Writer’s notebook/journal, bring to every class. 
  • Loose leaf paper (for drafts and short in-class assignments), bring to every Monday and Wednesday class
  • Pen with dark ink, bring to every class
  • Pocket portfolio (for class handouts), bring to every class

WordPress Blog

As practice in developing your web literacy and writing for a broader online audience, you will maintain a free WordPress blog for the class. As soon as possible, create a free blog at wordpress.com. After you create your blog, email the address, or URL, to me, and I will link your blog to our class page, English at High Point. If you encounter technical difficulties creating your blog or publishing a post, email help@wordpress.com or contact the HPU Help Desk: helpdesk@highpoint.edu, 336-841-HELP (3457).

You will post the revisions of all of your major writing assignments both to your blog and to Blackboard. The posts that you publish for class will be public. You are welcome to create additional posts on your own. If you prefer for some of those posts to be private, keep them in draft form or choose the private visibility option. 

You may also be asked to post comments to your classmates’ blogs and to mine.

Posted in Teaching, Writing

ENG 111: First Week Follow-Up

Posted on by janemlucas
Required Materials: A Writer’s Reference, a WordPress Blog Account, journal notebook. Maus, pocket portfolio, and loose-leaf notebook paper

As a follow-up to our first week of class, I offer these notes on the assignments, course requirements, and resources that we covered on January 11 and 13:

  • Last week, you should have read pages GT3-24 of A Writer’s Reference, reviewed the syllabus and calendar, and made note in your journal of any questions you have about the course.
  • The two short quizzes in Moodle (verify attendance and academic integrity) should be completed no later than 11:50 PM on Sunday, January 24. Almost all of you have completed those quizzes already. Thank you!
  • The Pre-Assessment, on the ENG 111 Pre-Assessment site, must be completed by 11:55 PM on Sunday, January 24. Most of you have not yet completed it. Please do so ASAP.
  • Create a blog in WordPress. After you have done so, send me the address by email to jmlucas3@gtcc.edu, or reply to this blog post. I will then link your blog to our class page, https://janelucas.com/english-at-gtcc/. Over the course of the semester, you will be required to post four assignments to your blog: your introductory blog post and the revisions of your three essays.
  • If you have issues creating your blog or publishing your first post, visit the support page, https://wordpress.com/support/. If you cannot find a solution there, email help@wordpress.com.
  • Look to the Titan Hub as a resource. Located on the third floor of the Learning Resource Center on campus, the Titan Hub is open 9-4 Monday-Friday. The Hub can help you with all technical matters related to your course work at GTCC. If you need to download and install Microsoft Word (you will need to type many of your GTCC writing assignments in Word), if you need help with MS Teams, or have trouble with your password, Titan Hub, https://www.gtcc.edu/student-life/tutoring-center-for-academic-engagement/titan-hub.php, can help. In addition to visiting Titan Hub on the third floor of the LRC, you can contact the hub by phone or email: 336-334-4822, ext. 50318, cae@gtcc.edu.
  • If you have any questions about navigating your first days of the semester, I encourage you to reach out to our class tutor, Catherine Titus, crtitus@gtcc.edu. Catherine has been at GTCC longer than I have, and she is an excellent resource. You have seen Catherine in our Teams meetings, and she will join us for our in-person meetings beginning the week of February 15.