Tag Archives: Digital Tools

Class 07

Good morning, all. Hope you had a chance to enjoy this glorious weekend. Today in class, we’ll review a number of the key concepts from Module 1, go over the expectations we can have for each other when it comes to Essay 1 (due Wednesday), and prepare to sharpen our use of digital tools, academic writing skills, and the richness of our class community as we turn to Module 2: Defining Book Groups.

You’ll want to start in the “Goals and Plans” Doc. There, you’ll see a list of the content and skills we covered this Module. We’ll spend some time writing and talking today about the ways we covered that content–and articulating moment where things “clicked” and questions we still have. Module 1 was quite a lot, but don’t worry, we’ll circle back to most of it in Module 2. That’s one thing about writing: it requires practice, and the more “reps” you get, the better.

After that, I’ll share an example of a student essay from Fall 2020 in response to this same prompt. We’ll look at it as a group, considering where we see its main idea, its evidence, its signs of organization, and the way the writer follows conventions.

With the balance of class, you’ll work on one of three things in independent work:

  1. Give a “shout-out” (do people even say that anymore?) or some “shine” (as they say in my kids’ elementary school) to another person in class who did great work in some way. Post that as a reply to this post by the start of our next class. (So, to be clear, if you don’t finish this in class, it’s OK to finish it as homework.)
  2. Use the “checklist” linked to on the “Goals and Plans” Doc to proofread your essay. There’s also a copy of it in the submission form for this essay. It must follow MLA format or I may ask you to revise it before marking it COMPLETE.
  3. If you’re listed under one of the “housekeeping” tasks, it means you’ve not completed the set-up of one or more digital tools. Please do this first, before the other two activities, and let me know if you need any help. I’ll have some breakout rooms open so we can talk without disturbing others doing independent work.

Class 01: Welcome to ENG 111

This is the Academic Commons page for ENGL 111. A few bits of information about books and digital tools that might be helpful as we introduce the course today.

Books & Book Groups

Our class lists four books available for purchase. You need only acquire and read ONE. The choices are Fairest by Meredith Talusan; Heavy by Kiese Laymon, and Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Diaz (available in both English and Spanish editions).

Our class uses book groups to practice, analyze, and hone the skills of academic reading and essay writing. You’ll have a choice of three books. Each is a memoir about race and identity in the contemporary United States. From these three (again, Diaz’s Ordinary Girls is available in English and Spanish) you will acquire and read ONE.

It wouldn’t be a COVID semester without an early snafu so here’s ours. The books were ordered to the Lehman Bookstore. Apparently, as of August 24, they are “out of stock.” If that is the case (and if it is, I’m sorry to hear it), then I’d suggest ordering them through Bookshop.Org or Powells.com. You don’t need them right away, and again, you DON’T need to buy all three. Just one. I’ll go over this more over our first week.

Digital Tools

This Fall, we’ll use a number of digital tools to work. The big ones are CUNY Academic Commons, Hypothes.is, and Zoom.

CUNY Academic Commons

The Commons is one tool we will use a lot. You’ll use your CCNY email address to join the Commons. The instructions for how to join the Commons are here. Within the Commons, there’s our class blog (this is it). That blog is on our course site (the overall site you’re on now and every link in the menu above.) You’ll use the Commons as creators, too, designing your own four-page portfolios over the course of the semester.

What is the Commons blog?

Our blog is a place where the reading and writing work of the semester will get done. When we think and talk about the “world as a text,” this is where the words get processed. I’ll do most of this processing at first; you’ll do much of it by the end. I’ll invite you to the class group via your City College emails. Once you join the class site and class group, you should all have the ability to leave comments. We’ll test this out as early as our first week. As your instructor, I should have the means to leave public and private comments. Both will have their purposes as we produce informal writing.

What is the Commons group?

The ongoing link for the Commons group is here. You should receive an email inviting you to join it in your Lehman email. The instructions for how to join our Commons group are here. Readings and files and discussion threads are all possible uses for this. I’m still learning how to use this feature so we’ll see what works.

What is Hypothes.is?

Hypothesis is a social reading plug-in. You might think of it as a cross between Comments on Google Docs and the notes you take in your psychology textbook. We’ll use this to discuss a variety of readings as a group, including some of the writing you do yourselves. You can also make private notes using Hypothes.is. It works best on Chrome. The link to join the Hypothes.is group is here.

“But I hate technology.”

This is, of course, a writing class and not a technology class. While our major assignments, exploratory exercises, disciplinary writing experiments, and other informal classwork will certainly develop some of your digital literacy skills, the main goal of that work ahead of us is to nurture your capacity as a reader, writer, researcher, and active, accountable, engaged member of this academic community.

Links

Tasks (in-class, Aug 25, finish by Aug 30)