Letter to Next Year's College Writing I Class

Tracy expects us to participate in class and read aloud. Come to class prepared and on time. Make sure you turn your assignments in on time to prevent getting a lower grade. Take all the help you can get. Feel free to express and force your opinion, we are all in this together and for the same reason. Do NOT Procrastinate, the assignments take a lot longer than they appear, however the more time and effort you put into the assignments, the better the grade you'll receive. Don't be afraid to express yourselves in your journals and essays. Make sure you allot specific time just for research as that can be more time consuming than the essays themself. If attending two classes, prepare yourself to lose your weekends for eight weeks. There is and there will be a lot to be done, but in the end it should be self rewarding. So after the 8 weeks of hard tedious work, Drinks on Tracy!!
DB, JW, ME, JB, AR, RS, ZT

Letter to Next Year's College Writing I Class

A Balancing Act

Plan on spending a good portion of your weekend on essays--either researching or writing. The day between class you will spend some time on homework. Try to work ahead when you have time. Read the They Say/I Say assignment before writing the next essay. If you are taking a course in addition to this one, plan on quitting your day job.

If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Just do the assignments--take it one day at a time. Pay attention in class, and relax--it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Be prepared to work hard. You get out of it what you put into it. The mix of ages also gives a different perspective.

Leanne, Bernie, Colleen, MaryRose, Bianca and Jane

Responding to Rebecca Mead

Regarding Rebecca Mead's article, "You've Got Blog," the editors of The Conscious Reader suggest:
Respond to Mead's comment that blogs create "a world in which the personal lives of participants have become part of the public domain." What is the value, if any, of putting personal information online for strangers to read? Would you be comfortable with compromising your own privacy by writing an intimate blog? (Shrodes 317)

Malcom X Page Numbers

"A Homemade Education" by Malcom X actually appears on pages 800-807 of The Conscious Reader.

Instructor Draft Yes, Peer Draft No

On Wednesday, October 11th, you do need to hand in your Essay 3 instructor draft, but you do not have to have a peer draft of anything ready.
Contrary to the topic named for that day in your calendar, there will be no peer review on Wednesday.
There have been some other changes to the reading and writing assignments for the last three weeks of class. I'll distribute a revised calendar in class, and it's on my academic webiste, too, at: http://academics.keene.edu/tmendham/documents/CalendarFPCFa06_3.pdf

Citing Indirect Sources

If you have to cite an indirect source, which means somebody's words that are published in a second source, put the abbreviation "qtd. in" (quoted in) in your in-text citation.

Christina Nehring disdains the smug air of some book lovers; she reports, "There's a new piety in the air: the self congratulation of book lovers" (qtd in Graff 21).

Your A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker should be your main resource in citing, but there's also a handy online guide at DianaHacker.com: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c08_s1.html

Essay 2 Directions

The directions for Essay 2 are available at:
http://academics.keene.edu/tmendham
FPC
Essay 2: Responding to a Text

Where Do You Write?

Where do you write? On a park bench? At your computer? On the sofa? Share what place works best for you.
Click on the little Comments link at the bottom of this post to respond. (This is an optional, informal discussion, and not required work for the course.)

Welcome to the College Writing I Blog!

This is a place to communicate online with our community of scholars.

How do I post?
Three ways. You can
1) Click on the Comments link at the bottom of any of the posts that are already here
2) Or you can send an email to the secret address (only members of the class know what it is)
3) Or if you are logged on as a member you can create a new post.

Is this private?
No. Right now the blog is set up so anyone can comment. If we get intrusive comments from outside the class I'll start moderating them, or change the settings so that you have to be logged on to comment. We're using a free, public service, not something set up by Franklin Pierce College, so we'll see how it goes.

What is this thing?
It's a blog, which is short for "web log," meaning an online diary. Blogs are a relatively new phenomenon, and have been growing exponentially in popularity over the last 5 years. We're using the service called Blogger because it's free and easy.

So am I, like, famous?
Well, not yet. But if you're hooked on this blogging thing, set up one of your own, and tell us about it. We'll all come visit you.