From the page where the college chair dialogues with the high school chair, I was happy to find a link to more info about how the academy explains to the 'little leagues' what they do. (Of course, since it's a 1997 conversation at stake, I wonder how much things have changed.) Anyways, the final sentence of said explanation highlights the goal of writing: "to keep the readers reading".
I like that thought. It's as simple and insightful as the line "a writer writes" by Anne Lamott...or whoever that was. The idea of keeping the reader reading probably stands out to me b/c today in 20803 we talked about how the first argument you have to make is, "Hey--you should listen to what I have to say here."
And assuming you get that far (assuming I've gotten that far right now), then it's the perilous trek of keeping that attention, directing it to what you hope will convince. How do you keep the readers reading? Maybe the grant-writer-special-speaker tomorrow will have the silver bullet.
18 February 2010
eCollege Emergency Number--Answered 24 hours
Today I discovered eCollege has a 1-800 number that is answered 24 hours a day!!! It is 1-800-826-1665.
Respecting your students' high school education.
Have you guys seen this webpage? Letter to a high school English teacher.
It is a letter from a high school teacher to an English dept chair, complaining that his/her students tell him/her that their college instructors tell them to forget all they learned in high school. Then there is the Chair's response letter.
A friend posted it on FB; I am trying to figure out how to incorporate this into a discussion question for my students.
It is a letter from a high school teacher to an English dept chair, complaining that his/her students tell him/her that their college instructors tell them to forget all they learned in high school. Then there is the Chair's response letter.
A friend posted it on FB; I am trying to figure out how to incorporate this into a discussion question for my students.
24 January 2010
Prezi
I have discovered a wonderful online tool to replace the snooze-inducing powerpoint: Prezi. It's awesome. After a small learning curve, I managed to make a pretty snazzy presentation on rhetorical analysis, based on the EA text. There is essentially an unlimited screen area, and you can drag and drop and move about objects and whatnot. This is my first stab at a Prezi, and I know I will be working with this tool a lot more for class. There are some wonderful tutorials on the website to help you get started - I am truly a geek, because this is how I spent my Saturday night.
16 January 2010
Helpful Software
I am a software/online/GTD/organizational geek. I am terribly excited by the concept of a store full of empty boxes, and think that whoever dreamed up an organizer for a drawer of socks is overdue for that Nobel Peace Prize. I might add, however, that this fascination with all things organizational does not carry over to my real life as much as I would like. There are, though, a few things which I have run across recently that caused me to think SERIOUS FROG FODDER.
I am attempting to be more tree-friendly, and really want to cut back on my wild and unchecked printing practices. I am, though, one of those who likes to write on my reading material - even if I just want to appear to have read the articles assigned for class versus making any intelligent commentary in the margins. My habit of noting things in the margin, highlighting, and otherwise marking up my texts was at odds with my desire to avoid being the Dick Cheney of the woodlands, and this caused me great pain. Fortunately, there is Skim. From the website: "Skim is a PDF reader and note-taker for OS X. It is designed to help you read and annotate scientific papers in PDF, but is also great for viewing any PDF file." Why they specify the papers must be scientific, I don't know - as I am learning in Carrie's "Writing for the Professions" class, we literary types can get pretty crazy with our marginalia.
Another really handy and excellent tool that I have run across is called Free Mind and is mind mapping software. I played around with it thinking that I would use it as I worked on a paper last semester, but as is typical, I ran out of time and was forced to just woman up and write the paper already.
Finally, here's a free file converter that I have used when my students insist on sending me documents with the dreaded ".wth" extension. The online file converter has been a godsend for me many times. It will even translate a .pdf into .doc if you ask it nicely.
I am hoping that my spring semester is well organized, neatly highlighted and well mind-mapped out, and I hope yours is as well.save
I am attempting to be more tree-friendly, and really want to cut back on my wild and unchecked printing practices. I am, though, one of those who likes to write on my reading material - even if I just want to appear to have read the articles assigned for class versus making any intelligent commentary in the margins. My habit of noting things in the margin, highlighting, and otherwise marking up my texts was at odds with my desire to avoid being the Dick Cheney of the woodlands, and this caused me great pain. Fortunately, there is Skim. From the website: "Skim is a PDF reader and note-taker for OS X. It is designed to help you read and annotate scientific papers in PDF, but is also great for viewing any PDF file." Why they specify the papers must be scientific, I don't know - as I am learning in Carrie's "Writing for the Professions" class, we literary types can get pretty crazy with our marginalia.
Another really handy and excellent tool that I have run across is called Free Mind and is mind mapping software. I played around with it thinking that I would use it as I worked on a paper last semester, but as is typical, I ran out of time and was forced to just woman up and write the paper already.
Finally, here's a free file converter that I have used when my students insist on sending me documents with the dreaded ".wth" extension. The online file converter has been a godsend for me many times. It will even translate a .pdf into .doc if you ask it nicely.
I am hoping that my spring semester is well organized, neatly highlighted and well mind-mapped out, and I hope yours is as well.save
30 November 2009
Resource for Teaching Literature
I know that most of us teach composition most of the time, but if you're thinking about teaching Literature any time soon, you might consider creating a University Reader. I used one this semester for my Major American Writers course, and I'll be using their services again in the spring. It just couldn't be easier.
University Readers (UR) is a course-readers creation, printing, and publishing service. You simply select your readings, send them to UR, and direct students to the easy-to-order site. UR takes care of all copyright issues, allows you to proof all versions, and you can even design awesome covers for your reader using their (again) easy-to-use site. If you don't want to upload digital versions of your texts, UR will send you a FedEx label and you can ship hard copies of your texts free of charge. And the best part: while students are waiting for their URs in the mail, they can access the first 20% of the texts free online as .PDF files.
I swear I don't work for this company. I have just had an excellent experience and thought I would pass along the fun and frivolity. I should admit, though, that I did not discover UR on my own. Megan Griffin and Dr. Gaul both suggested the service, so I'm publicly passing on the good advice. If you have any questions or would like some more information, feel free to email me. And you can always check out the UR website: http://www.universityreaders.com/.
Happy end of the semester!!
University Readers (UR) is a course-readers creation, printing, and publishing service. You simply select your readings, send them to UR, and direct students to the easy-to-order site. UR takes care of all copyright issues, allows you to proof all versions, and you can even design awesome covers for your reader using their (again) easy-to-use site. If you don't want to upload digital versions of your texts, UR will send you a FedEx label and you can ship hard copies of your texts free of charge. And the best part: while students are waiting for their URs in the mail, they can access the first 20% of the texts free online as .PDF files.
I swear I don't work for this company. I have just had an excellent experience and thought I would pass along the fun and frivolity. I should admit, though, that I did not discover UR on my own. Megan Griffin and Dr. Gaul both suggested the service, so I'm publicly passing on the good advice. If you have any questions or would like some more information, feel free to email me. And you can always check out the UR website: http://www.universityreaders.com/.
Happy end of the semester!!
Child Care Survey - Please Respond!
Just in case you missed the email GSS sent out recently regarding child care, I wanted to post it here as well...
GSS is trying to determine how we can best help TCU grad students who are also parents - and we know that child care is a massive issue facing this community. We have put together a very, very short survey to help us determine how we can best serve the TCU grad students/parents, and I do hope that if you are a grad student, and a parent, you take the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ncRoqlTPWm9ZSpxQ_2f5uTpQ_3d_3d
Any questions? Comments? Complaints? I'm all ears...
Senatorially yours,
Laura the Treasurer
GSS is trying to determine how we can best help TCU grad students who are also parents - and we know that child care is a massive issue facing this community. We have put together a very, very short survey to help us determine how we can best serve the TCU grad students/parents, and I do hope that if you are a grad student, and a parent, you take the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ncRoqlTPWm9ZSpxQ_2f5uTpQ_3d_3d
Any questions? Comments? Complaints? I'm all ears...
Senatorially yours,
Laura the Treasurer
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)