Blog address(es):
Section 305- http://surfacing168.blogspot.com/
Section 306- http://housekeeping168.blogspot.com/
Each student will be authorized to compose new posts (after the first section of class). To create a new post simply click the words “New Post” in the upper right corner of the blog. It would be a good idea to mess around with the blog (without actually creating a new post!) before the day your blog post is actually due. That way, if you have questions you can contact me or a classmate.
II. Timeline
Each student will compose 2 blog posts—one of which you’ll write alone and the other of which you’ll write with 1-2 classmates. We will create the blogging schedule on the first section meeting, and after that it will be the responsibility of each student/group to complete their post on-time, thoroughly, and thoughtfully. There will be blogs before almost each class meeting (none when there are papers due or tests) and all students are expected not only to read every blog post, but to write one comment on a post, each week.
III. What is a blog post in this class?
Blog assignment #1— Close Reading
For this assignment, each student (individually) will identify a passage from the assigned reading, copy that passage over onto the blog, and the compose a 2+ paragraph-long close reading of the passage. This blog post should conclude with 2-3 thoughtful questions that will stimulate conversation in the next discussion section.
Blog assignment #2—Library Research
For this blogging assignment, each student will work with 1-2 classmates to gather research relevant to the assigned reading (from the library, the historical society, or their online resources) and will compose a 4-5 paragraph-long post introducing the research they’ve done and building an analysis of the text in question from that research.
Once the blog post has been written, each group will make a 10 minute oral presentation which should answer the following questions:
what were the challenges & successes of your research?
what kind of research did you choose to pursue? why?
how does this research illuminate the text in question?
(at this point your group should take the class through a close-reading which links your research to the texts’ themes/characters/cultural or historical significance)
IV. Commenting
Each week that you do not compose a blog post (and that someone else does!), you are required to comment on at least one of your classmates’ posts. Each comment should be respectful, thoughtful, and should represent a full thought. For this reason, each comment should be no less than 3 sentences long. Your comments should be made by 7pm on each Friday, although it will benefit everyone if you are able to make comments a full day before a given discussion section.
V. Citation
All blog posts and comments must site their sources. This includes quotations from a given text, outside sources, and images. If the source you’re citing is online then you can simply link your quotation to your source using the “Link” function on Blogger.com. If you are citing the text or another off-line source than please add a parenthetical citation after your quoted or summarized passage using the Chicago guidelines for “First Reference” (see: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocChiNotes_1stRef.html). If you have questions about this please feel free to ask me! And, when in doubt cite more/more thoroughly!
VI. Grading
I will not grade your individual or group blog posts, but will simply check to see that you’ve completed the post in a timely fashion and that you’ve made a good-faith effort to engage the text and your audience. The same procedures will be applied to your comments, which are required each week that you’re not posting.
Final Notes & Thoughts
It’s striking to me how many different ways people ‘blog’. Or even that “blog” which is a noun, really, is also a verb—a word that means something a little bit different than “writing.” Some people’s blogs are just images (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/). Some blogs only have music (http://www.daytrotter.com/). Some people blog really personally/informally (http://thisisindexed.com/) and some blogs are formal/professional (http://www.3quarksdaily.com/). In a way the beauty of blogging is its flexibility, agility, expansiveness.
Now, by including a blog in our coursework it is my intention to open up some of this flexibility to you. I encourage you to add pictures, links, even music to your posts/comments. This is a space for you to be creative in your rumination/reflection about literature.
With that said, I do want you to err on the side of formality and professionalism. Think of your blog entries and mini-essays not as text messages. Write carefully, write correctly, write beautifully. Do not use abbreviations (lol, wtf). Do not post anything that is inappropriate. Do not write anything hateful, prejudiced, or offensive in any way.
Here are some neat/really smart blogs to inspire your posting:
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/
http://www.thesmartset.com/
http://maudnewton.com/blog/
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/
http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/frontal-cortex/
http://blogs.plos.org/badphysics/
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