Fantastic.
-->All the necessary information for this final assignment sequence of the semester should be available here: http://eng112.posterous.com/pages/assignments-4
Also: for completing it, the "Index of Templates" (found under "readings") may be of great assistance.
[inspired by "12 Reasons to Ditch the Pen"]
The death of the pen is not being replaced by digital writing tools. The pen might be, but that doesn't mean it should be forgotten and forsaken. Just because some new technology works for one person doesn't mean I should go all in on it, too.
I admit that I like the feel of writing by hand, but I'm more impressed with how cursive looks on the page, even with how I look while writing. I revel in those compliments about my handwriting. I smile at the shocked faces of colleagues, strangers and students when they see that I still write with a pen. How can someone who studies computers and writing, social media, or videogames still write like that? Well, this is how.
I write by hand because I lost everything due to a zip disk error while in undergrad. I lost the paper I was writing at the time. I lost all previous coursework. I lost every essay I wrote in high school. I lost every terrible poem, every awful short story. That loss taught me to never put complete trust in a computer again. Everything I write now is handwritten first. Everything. This includes blog entries, emails and even Twitter updates. And there's nothing for me to "get over," because this method, this outdated, time-wasting method of writing by hand, works. I make it work.
Writing by hand doesn't mean you are irrelevant to yourself, your colleagues or your students. It means you understand what technology works for you and in what capacity.
The computer keyboard is not the same as a pen and paper. I need a Pilot G2 .05 with blue ink and a blank page from a Moleskine notebook in order to write. This approach, this method focuses me and my thoughts to an indescribable degree.
Taking notes is not an outdated skill; neither is taking notes with a pen an outdated skill. Ask my #eng112 students who just completed Pop Up Scholarship and the newfound value they have for writing in the margins of academic articles.
Being fast isn't (and shouldn't be) everything. Writing by hand forces me to take the time to really develop my ideas first to myself before putting them anywhere else.
Handwriting means that editing happens during transcription. One sentence handwritten often becomes a full paragraph typed. I fail to see any harm in recopying either as it's important to back up everything, whether analog or digital.
I don't do much collaborative work (which is unfortunate, I know), so the ease-of-editing-by-others argument doesn't apply to me. I do think, though, that writing by hand can, in the end, better facilitate collaboration as it adds another layer of earlier editing. But how does writing by hand prevent the sharing of ideas and the making of meaning? This one extra step between having an original thought and sharing it is not a big deal. Writing by hand gives me an additional filter, perhaps making me think twice about something before posting it online.
With a pen in hand, I don't waste time figuring out spelling and grammar. I never have to worry about red, squiggly lines appearing under my words. I annotate when I can't think of a word (or how to spell it) and come back to them later.
If you have any idea of how to organize anything, there's no reason for clutter if you write by hand. I've been using the same black Moleskine notebooks for years now. Sure, I can't tag or apply a Google search, but it wasn't very difficult to develop (and refine) my own unique system for finding particular entries.
Since I know my own writing and my searching system, it is much more satisfying in terms of results.
My Moleskine notebook is a working file cabinet and it's with me wherever I go. A single notebook isn't burdensome, no matter the book bag, briefcase, etc. All the ideas and information I need fit in one notebook, which lasts about nine months before it's full and I need to start a new one.
I don't need an Internet connection or even electricity when writing by hand. A pen and paper are all I need. These physical materials aren't the end in itself, of course, only the beginning. Together, they are a beginning I want to never lose.
Also: the idea that ditching the pen and paper and going digital is an environmentally friendly move is laughable.
Also, too: initial commentary on Google Buzz about "12 Reasons" and my response
Also, too, also: Jerrid Kruse's comment on "12 Reasons"
Academic Showcase 2010 November 3, 2010
Posted by betajames in : Events, Student Resources, Undergraduate, University EventsI represented the department at last year’s Academic Showcase, so I was eager this year to make it a success rather than just a learning experience. This was achieved within the first thirty minutes of setting up the English table. In that short amount of time, I encountered more interested students than during last year’s event. Many prospectives were impressed and even surprised by the amount of student-produced work on the table.
A few observant students recognized Tom Foster’s How to Read Literature like a Professor. A couple others took note of Alicia Kent’s African, Native, and Jewish American Literature and the Reshaping of Modernism. The majority, though, took to the writing samples from classes taught by Mary Jo Kietzman and Jan Worth-Nelson. These prospective students, while curious about faculty publications, were more interested in what they would be doing in English courses at UM-Flint. Vickie Larsen helped address some of their curiosity with more official department materials, including a course catalog and specific information about available majors and minors in the program. Overall, I was thankful for the opportunity to enlighten in this way.
With materials from the New Bohemian Society, Sigma Tau Delta, Qua and other English student organizations on campus, I was also able to show students a range of intellectual opportunities beyond coursework. I’m confident that many came away from the English table at Academic Showcase with a better idea of what’s possible not only within English courses but beyond them.
I’m compelled to mention that twice I was mistaken for a student. “That’s very interesting,” said one parent after I provided information about the range of courses taught within the department. “And what’s your major?” I attribute this question not to my age (I’m 31) but to the youthful enthusiasm I expressed when talking about English. I often referenced at least one of the following:
What are popular jobs for English majors
Jobs for English majors – They do exist
10 most popular jobs for English majors and their salaries
Careers for English majors from Winthrop College
What can I do with this degree, English [pdf]
Great Jobs for English Majors, 3rd ed.
I’m an English Major Now What?
Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career
What Can You Do with a Major in English: Real People, Real Jobs, Real Reward
Thanks to Mary Jo Kietzman for student work, Maureen Thum for candy, Alicia Kent for publications, Vickie Larsen for department materials, Annemarie Toebosch for Sigma Tau Delta promotional materials, and to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions for coordinating and executing Academic Showcase 2010.
With any luck (and time), there will be more.
The former is available here: http://eng112.posterous.com/pages/assignments-4
The latter are available here: http://eng112.posterous.com/pages/readings-1
Also: for completing the former, the "Index of Templates" may be of great assistance.
Mashup may refer to:
- Mashup (digital), a digital media file containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video, and animation, which recombines and modifies existing digital works to create a derivative work.
- Mashup (music), the musical genre encompassing songs which consist entirely of parts of other songs
- Mashup (video), a video that is edited from more than one source to appear as one
- Mashup (book), a book which combines a pre-existing text, often a classic work of fiction, with a certain popular genre such as vampire or zombie narratives.
- Mashup (web application hybrid), a web application that combines data and/or functionality from more than one source
- Mash-Up (Glee), an October 2009 episode of the television series Glee.
via en.wikipedia.org
via youtube.com
via youtube.com
via youtube.com
via amazon.com
via youtube.com
Official assignment sheet will be up and available under "assignments" later today.
The Pop Up Scholarship assignment as well as the ENG112 syllabus have undergone another round of revisions. This occurred because of the session-long debate and discussion of Twitter in both sections. Please note the changes in due dates/times.
Writing of Twitter, here are the new agreements:
- For 11206: 5 tweets per week, blog posts count, blog comments do not.
- For 11207: Tuesdays and Thursdays are "tweet-heavy" days for the rest of the semester. Be sure to engage and participate on at least those two days of the week.
Twitter has been a great tool for receiving suggestions, getting ideas and posting links. I also like the fact that it encourages me to read and comment more about topics that I find interesting and would not have known otherwise. Twitter has helped me put down in writing what I need to say, not what I would like to say. 140 Characters catches up to you quickly when you have a lot to say.
So I have jumped right into Twitter. I have posted everyday for class and then some. But I do not think all of my classmates have the same enthusiasm as I have. There are only a handful that I see regularly. And others that use it must have missed the conversation about the hashtags. I do like the fact that Doc Shirmer is on Twitter. I know that if I see him online, I can get in touch with him almost immediately. And with Twitter's updated version, it has made it easier to follow RT's and @mentions....I 100% believe we should continue to use it and maybe even focus a bit more on what you can accomplish with Twitter.
Twitter would be more relevant to me if the class used it to interact with each other. Instead when I go to see what my class is saying on Twitter, I feel like I'm reading Facebook status updates-just little, and usually dull, tidbits about their day. When I can't think of what to Tweet I will look at what the class is saying about English 112, and see if I can find something I can respond too. Unfortunately this usually does not happen...There are a few things I like about Twitter still. It is a very easy way to ask the professor or our blogging group members questions. I prefer it to e-mail actually, because one can get quick, to the point answers. I also like how I can see questions that other people are asking, and the answers to their questions are sometimes helpful as well. With this in mind I do not think that the Twitter assignment has to end, the class just needs to refocus.
Perhaps I'm being too nitpicky but from what I was believed is that Twitter is a means for us to use to as a class keep in touch to help each other in our writing process, give us ideas, or maybe clarify the things not understood. So far I've seen few of that on Twitter. What I have seen for the most part is people pulling anything up to simply make their daily tweet with nothing anyone can really take away from it. If it has to stay then at least the tweet count should be lowered.
It was not until I was forced to sign up for this class that I truly understood Twitter's potential for me personally. Although I haven't kept up with tweeting everyday as I should have due to my inability to incorporate it into my daily routine, logging in and seeing so many other people's thoughts and wanting to respond caused me to realize that almost every tweet is a possible conversation starter, leading into discussions of topics as wide-ranging as my interests are. I am especially enamored of the idea that anytime I find an article online that I find thought-provoking, I can just call up Twitter and pass it along to others for further comment. I'm always finding cool stuff online that I wish I could tell someone about, and this gives me the capability to do it(without shouting across the house to my mom, like usual), even though most of what I would post would likely be off-topic for the scope of the class.
That is how i feel about the class doing twitter, its a chance for us all to tell eachother whats going on with the world, in the classroom and with eachother. That is if we choose to put that up there. With me not having my own laptop, or wireless internet, it does pose a challenge for me to meet every single deadline for twitter and for posterous, BUT when i get on twitter at the computer lab for 5 mins I can easily scroll through my page and either find something to retweet or reply on. I would definetly say that we should keep using twitter! I think that every english class should have the opportunity to use twitter. Its a great and fun experience!
Well, some may say that it is a waste of time and we should focus more on our writing styles and the content of our papers. This is fine, but I feel that Twitter is allowing me to find a way to get closer to my point than normal writing has. Since we are only allowed 140 characters per "tweet" we are made to get to what we are trying to say in fewer words. When you think about having to do this regularly when tweeting. don't you think it will eventually have an effect on your normal writing style? I feel it has has some effect on mine because I am paying more attention to not just the quality of my writing, but how long it is taking me to get my point across! Does anyone else feel this way?!?
I think we should not continue using twitter. I do not see any way this is helping me in an english or class sense. We have blogs and email for this purpose. I find this is only HURTING me because i am not into tweeting and i am always forgetting to make a post, and by the time i do it is to late. It doesnt have much meaning to me, Hence why i am always forgetting about it.
For readers interested in the broader context for these evaluations, find the Twitter assignment under "assignments."