Midterm Trends

Hey everyone - here are some things I noticed about your midterms (other than the fact that you are all very wise). This is just a start; I'm sure I'll add more later.
--When you're asked WHY you wrote something, don't just say "because it was an assignment." Duh! But why do you think I assigned it? And as you started drafting, did a more personal purpose arise for you?
--Let's pay closer attention to who our audiences are. I always tell you that in assignment sheets so that you know who you are writing for.
--"Flow." Many of you mention it but few define it. What do you mean? Without a definition, it's not only vague to me, but it's probably vague to you. If you say you want to improve your "flow," what are you talking about? Transition words? Transitions sentences b/w paragraphs? The organization/order of your ideas? Of your paragraphs?
--In some of your midterms, I noticed that we aren't all clear on the fact that we'll be revising and polishing up *each* major assignment for the portfolio. You peers' and my comments mean something, so we need to take them into account. We write for readers, and we want to become better writers.

Ms. Ingram's Midterm

I can't believe we're half way through the semester already. I think we have accomplished a lot in these 8 weeks and we are on track to fitting everything in. ENGL 1102's course description is so rich and challenges us to learn a LOT. Anyway, I think I will set up my  midterm a little differently than yours. It seems most important for me to talk about curriculum, texts, assignments, and my teaching.

Curriculum: This is the first time I've taught this particular course description for ENGL 1102. I'm really enjoying it. It has pushed me to use digital technologies (like Blogger) in my teaching. I have ended up really liking Blogger. I know a handful of you guys are having a tough time with it--and we still can't figure out why some of our "dashboards" are different than others'--but thanks for sticking with it b/c I think it's been a valuable learning and writing experience for all of us. I also really like the extended inquiry project. As many of you have told me already, breaking down a research project into multiple parts has helped you stay organized and, more importantly, understand better how research and writing works. I love that.

Texts: I know some of you never "came around" to Peace Butter & Jelly. I think that's OK though and you can still learn from the experience of reading and meeting the author. I think as far as giving us a "jumping off point" to think and talk about what it means to be healthy, this text worked well. What I don't think *I* did well was help us use that first "What's it Like to Be You" essay as not only an ice-breaker piece and a way to connect with the book, but also as a way to brainstorm research topics and interests. I had planned that essay to help us brainstorm; what makes us, us could have helped us all see what we're interested in - either by reinforcing our interests and passions or showing us what might be lacking in our lives. I will keep that in mind in the Fall semester when I'm teaching 1102 again. And I think I'm going to use Peace Butter & Jelly and this "health" theme again - unless y'all tell me in your midterms that you're hating it.

Assignments: I am feeling really good about all the assignments we've done (with the exception of what I mentioned above). Our group conferences left me feeling confident in your work ethic, which in my experience is *the* biggest hindrance to research writing: not the writing, not the thinking, but the motivation to dig in. And I see that you're working and are ready to tackle the second half of the semester, starting with your 3-Sided essay - which I know will be challenging (and dare I say FUN). I think my favorite in-class activity so far was when I brought in props to get us inquiring about health. I will try to work more props into the semester. I have to thank my colleague Anthony Borrero for that idea.

What has really surprised me about the "What's It Like to Be You" essay is that so few students (fewer than 5 of 87 students) wrote about what it's like to be a college student. It's as if we don't want to be here, as if it's not part of who we are, as if we don't see college as anything but something to "get done" and move on from - to the "real" world. What I'd like to tell students is this is life - right now. Take this opportunity to learn about everything you can. College doesn't have to just be about getting that degree, which you might not ever directly use anyway. I'd like to ask students to start each day with this question: What can you take away from this truly awesome experience? College is an experience so few people in this world get to have.

My teaching: I'm always confident in my ability to break down material - and I always hope my enthusiasm for English rubs off on students, at least a little. I've tried this semester to vary our in-class activities and to keep my energy levels up. The two things I'd like to work on are (1) staying on top of my grading, which I think will be easier this half of the semester since I'm not preparing to present at any conferences. I'm afraid my chronic migraine is back (it's been looming in my brow and the bridge of my nose since at last Sunday), and that has the potential to slow me down in so many aspects of my life. This is one reason why I'm so interested in health. Anyway, so I will be working on both staying atop my grading and atop my  health. And (2), I'd also like to make more eye contact while I teach. I know I tend to look above my students' heads when I teach! It's easier to organize my thoughts that way, especially in my T/R 8:00, which is my "guinea pig" class in that they are always my first group of the week/lesson plans. But my goal is to inviting and encouraging, and I know my lack of eye contact must hinder that.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to sitting back in my pjs with some hot tea over Spring Break and reading your midterms as well. Or maybe it will be warm enough to sit on my back porch and grade. That would be lovely, because then the cats could come outside with me and hunt for lizards and sprawl out on the sunny pavement.
Ms. Ingram

Some Highlights from Post #4

The following are just some highlights I pulled from your 4th posts. If you have something interesting or insightful to say about blogging/research/writing that you'd like to add (or copy and paste from your 4th post), please do so in the "comments" section. I didn't mean to slight anyone and everyone wrote something worthwhile!! The words "made me think" and "intense" popped up a lot to describe blogging and research - GREAT! I'm personally very happy with how this blogging assignment has gone. And although Blogger was a supplement to the Annotated Bib assignment, it's not going away just yet, so don't lose your login info. -Ms Ingram

"Blogging has allowed me to identify exactly what I know and don't know."

"Blogging has taught me that writing down my thoughts somewhere where I can go back and read them is extremely beneficial. Blogging really helped me organize my thoughts and ideas. I also believe blogging can help you build off of your orignal topic. I learned that being organized can really payoff in the long-run. I predict that my blog will continue to be helpful to me as we begin our next papers."


"This blog...has helped me realize that I need to take the time and reflect on the work I have done and the progress I have made even if it isn’t a required assignment."


"when you write something down, it has a different significance and meaning then it does when it is in your head"

Fourth Blog Post Assignment

Let's move this due date back as well, to Saturday 2/25 by midnight.


For this post, let's focus on the "writing to learn" aspect of blogging.


You're probably used to using writing to communicate. You write e-mails to your family and friends back at home, you facebook chat, you text, you complete homework assignments, you write essays: you write all these things to communicate something. Maybe that e-mail to your mom is clarifying what time she'll pick you up from campus this Friday. Maybe that text to your friend was to communicate your excitement about your Spring Break trip. Perhaps that homework assignment was to communicate to your Sociology professor that you've read and understand last night's chapter. This blog assignment, however, has been less to communicate and more to learn. 


Return to the passage I quoted, from our textbooks, in my "First Blog Post Assignment" post:
Good writing comes from returning to your ideas on your own and with your classmates, reconsidering them, and revising them as your thinking develops. This is not something you can do with any specificity unless you have written down your ideas (12). 
The authors of our textbook are saying that you have to write, throughout the entire writing/research process, to keep track of your thoughts and to make sure your ideas are fully developed.


And consider this quote, one of my favorites:
I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it. -William Faulkner


Also consider this quote:
Writing has got to be an act of discovery. . .I write to find out what I'm thinking about.   -Edward Albee

So my question to you is, what have you learned from doing this blog? About the research process? The writing process? About your inquiry question? About yourself? Aim for a few meaty paragraphs here - and think about the genre of blogging. Even though you might want to contain your blog within my classes, which is absolutely fine, the larger purpose of blogging is to share your ideas with the blogosphere, with other blog writers and readers - and interesting blogs get followed. So, make your last post as interesting as possible. Put some muscle into it! Be creative. Be insightful. Be thorough. Have some fun!

Did You Know...

To all my shy students who would rather not walk over to the library and ask for assistance at the reference desk (where, by the way, there is always a librarian on duty!):

You can Chat LIVE with a librarian via the library website - http://library.uncc.edu/
Just click on "Live Chat" in the orange bar across the top. If the site asks you to log in, I believe you use the same login info as you do for 49er Express.

I'm enjoying your blogs!

Third Blog Post Assignment

This third blog post is now due Saturday 2/18 by midnight. Wow, I packed a lot into this semester-but there is SO much to think about as we traverse the world of academic writing.

Please answer the following questions in your 3rd post:

(1) Some of us struggled a bit with the infamous "list" on pg. 2 of our textbooks, so I'd like to revisit some of those concepts here...

Readers: The readers of your annotated bibs are you, me, and your classmates. But soon enough we will be entering into academic conversations with our essays. Who will YOU be writing to? Can you decipher yet who will make up your audience, even in broad terms? (Example: You are writing about the dangers of yoga, so your audience members will be those who practice yoga because you want them to be aware of the risks they are taking).


Timeliness: Making sure a reader understands why your topic is timely is crucial to them caring about your writing. Do you have a better understanding now of why your topic is timely, or how you can make it timely? Explain.


Investment: Your investment in your topic goes right along with timeliness; if you don't care about your topic, why should anyone else? Why are you invested in this topic? (In other words, why do you care about it?) Why do you think (many of our) high school teachers instructed you to write objectively without any sort of personal investment in your writing? Why do college teachers suddenly care that you care about what you're doing?


(2) Are you starting to see multiple viewpoints emerge in your research? Can you list them here?

(3) Tell us about one new and interesting thing you've learned about your topic this week. What have you learned about the process of researching?

(4) Read and respond to at least one other student's blog. Find a blog that interests you and provide an interesting perspective, some helpful advice, or ask some questions. In your post, please mention the blog you commented on so I can see it, too.

Good work - onward!

Second Blog Post Assignment

Your syllabus says this 2nd post is due Friday 2/10, but let's move that back to Sunday 2/12 by midnight.

OK, for your second post, please...

•  Tell us about the most interesting source you've found so far. What type of source is it? What's the title, and who is the author? Why is it interesting? Give us a brief summary of the source, in 5-6 sentences.
• As you've been researching, has your topic changed? Have you revised your inquiry question?  For instance, say your initial question was "Why do some people choose to be vegetarian?" As you've been researching, you've realized how you can narrow your scope to something like "Is it healthy for vegetarian parents to raise their children as vegetarians?" OR "In what ways is being vegetarian better for the environment?" How will narrowing your scope affect your research -and the eventual writing you'll do about this topic?
• What challenges are you facing in your research? How might you address these challenges? What research "tips" do you have for your peers?