Writing Studio Bulletin: WSB 2-01 (Fall 2010) - BRs

This bulletin contains reminders about book reviews for 2nd semester. If you have concerns or questions about the content of this bulletin, please spell them out in comments on this post.

Click on the graphic representing classnotes (above) to get a closer look.

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Quotations and references for book reviews

This post recap's a series of quick demonstration posts I made on pab's potpourri today (2010.12.08) to show how to quote short passages from books that you're reading and reviewing. After each snippet from a potpourri post, I'm adding brief explanations.

The snippets below represent short quotations, or what I call "tasty morsels" to whet readers' appetites for books that you're reviewing, sandwiched between brief introductory and follow-up remarks of a personal nature. That is, from the reviewer's point of view.

The list of references at the end of this post also comes from pab's potpourri, as do the labels I suggested for reviews of ... [the] two books [I've listed]. Green highlights flag publication information that appears both in short references immediately following quotations, and in complete, APA-style references to list at the end of book review posts.

My favorite line in the book is when Heathcliff says, "I have to remind myself to breathe – almost remind my heart to beat!" (Bronte, 1989, p. 65). It reminds me how strongly our thoughts can influence our bodies. (BR 2-16: Emile Bronte's Wuthering Heights, 2010.12.08)

The underlines I've added to the first quotation from Wuthering Heights (2-16, above) are to show how I've sandwiched the quotation between remarks in the present tense. That is consistent with the present tense in the quotation itself.

The most impressive passage for me was when Heathcliff ... [said], "I have to remind myself to breathe – almost to remind my heart to beat" Bronte, 1989, p. 65). That made me realize how much our thoughts and emotions influence our lives. (BR 2-19: Wuthering Heights, 2010.12.08)

The underlines I've added to the second quotation from Wuthering Heights (2-19, above) are to show how I've sandwiched the quotation between remarks in the past tense. For most practical purposes, either present or past tense will do, as long as you are consistent in context. 

I hadn't been consistent during the second demonstration, so after class I removed "says" from the post, and replaced it with "... [said]." Spaced periods ("...") mark the removal point, and square brackets frame the word that I added.

The labels I proposed for reviews of Wuthering Heights (Bronte, 1989) were: books, classics, fiction, and reviews. Bold typeface here indicates required labels.

Now let's move on to the other examples, in this case quotations from a piece of non-fiction. Please note that below, as well as for the examples from a piece of fiction above, I've use superlative... forms ("most ...").

In this book there were lots of surprises. The most surprising bit of information about the U.S. was that there are literally hundreds of "national parks, national seashores, national forests, and [national] recreation areas" (Cox, 1990, p. 4). I've seen some of them already. I really want to go and see more of them soon! (BR 2-17: Wild America by Teresa Cox)

To sandwich the first quotation from Wild America (2-17, above), I used past tense at first, reflecting a while[-]reading perspective, followed by present perfect and present tense expressions, suggesting a transition to personal experience and a current state of mind. Square brackets, this time within the quotation, frame a word added to clarify wording from the original.

This book is full of surprises. I was most surprised to learn, "There are more than three hundred national parks, ... seashores, ... forests, and recreation areas" in the U.S. (Cox, 1990, p. 4). I have visited some of them already. Reading this book makes me want to visit some more. (BR 2-18: Wild America)

To sandwich the second quotation from Wild America (2-18, above), the sequence of tenses I used is rather (or too) complicated. It ranges from present tense, to past, to past perfect, and back to present tense. What was I thinking?

Actually, I was trying to shorten and clarify the quotation, by removing words from the original, rather than adding words to it. [Strings of] spaced periods (ellipses), this time within the quotation, mark removal points. In spite of the wobbly time frames around it, the shorter quotation from Wild America in snippet 2-18 is easier to read than the extended one in snippet 2-17.

The labels I proposed for reviews of Wild America (Cox, 1990) were: books, geography, non-fiction, and reviews. Bold typeface again indicates required labels.

References

Bronte, Emily. (1989). Wuthering Heights [Longman Classics series]. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.

Cox, Teresa. (1990). Wild America. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.

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Rick's KGU Writing 2010: English Games

In a quick post, English Games (2010.11.29), Rick points out three [fun] pre-intermediate grammar games from Oxford University Press. There are [plenty] more games where those come from.

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Peer-to-peer comments survey

Thank you again for your responses to my questionnaire about peer-to-peer comments on essays. By the time you read this, I will have invited you to view the underlying spreadsheet and data collection, but as of this morning (Tuesday, November 16, 2010), I stopped accepting responses.


Now I would like to encourage everyone to browse all of the responses, especially those to free response items 8-10 (currently in columns I-K). There you should look, in particular, for common qualities and types of comments that you, your classmates, and your peers appreciate, and ways that you all like to respond to each another.


While you are browsing the entire data collection, there are a number of points of interest and concern to which I would like to direct your attention. I have flagged a few of those points with colors that I've explained in the Color key (currently column M). I'll also explain some of them here.


First of all, you need not be concerned about responses in column B or F that look like dates (B2-B10, F2-F10). Those early responses came in before I realized the spreadsheet automatically changed responses like 1-5 and 6-10 into to a date format that displays 1/5/2010 and 6/10/2010, respectively. Anyone who plans to create surveys with Google Forms should remember to reset formatting on columns for responses like that from "Normal" to "Plain text."


Second, URLs are critical for internet research and formal written references. Even for less formal computer-mediated communication, it is essential to provide URLs pointing exactly where readers of your writing expect to go when they follow links that you give them.


However, in columns C and H there are a few URLs that reflect searches within blogs (for labels) rather than pointing directly to essay posts, for example:

• ....blogspot.com/search/label/essays

There also are a number of URLs that lead directly to comments, bypassing essays proper, for example,

• .....blogspot.com/2010/10/my-language-learning-experience_24.html#comments

There even are a couple URLs more detailed than that, for example:

• ...blogspot.com/2010/10/essay-2-02a.html?showComment=1289352477130#c7270187716401701175

Next you may notice a number of text clippings in columns D and G that include Japanese characters. I believe that the owners of blogs they use for an English writing course are doing themselves, their classmates, and their peers a disservice by leaving their blogs set to display Japanese. So I urge you all to set your blogs to display English most if not all of the time (except perhaps when you are tweaking blog settings), in order to provide yourselves and each other with ample opportunities for English reading as well as writing in this course.


As with URLs, research and written references depend upon accurate and complete data collection from various resources. Yet also in columns D and G are a number of clippings that omit the comment authors' names (blog handles), date stamps for those comments, or both.


Although those omissions are not a major problem for a simple survey such as this one about peer-to-peer comments on essays, the data collection and referencing habits that you start or develop in the Writing Studio will make a difference for future writing assignments and business tasks. It is quicker and easier to get the information readers need or want, and to record and share it accurately once and for all, than it is for you or anyone else to retrieve that information over and over again.


Last but not least is the matter of communicating your ideas in free response items not only clearly and completely yet economically, but also accurately. Machine translations, by and large, fail to produce accurate reflections of anything longer than words or phrases, or other than short simple sentences. So by all means, avoid dependence on machine translations; write short simple sentences that you can check yourselves.


Anything else that you are planning to post (that is, other than brainstorms, quick comments, or quickposts), you should check for grammar and spelling faults in a word-processing program – before you post it. Examples without explanations, or before brief explanations, also may fall flat. For a counter-example, please see: "Second, …" (above). If you approach surveys like this one for coursework as you might approach an online job application for a full-time position in a prestigious company or an important organization, I think you'll have the right mindset for online writing.

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Where had all my comments gone?

As I was updating my Proto-Portfolios the other day, I got a strange feeling that the numbers of comments I'd sent out were much lower than they should be (row five). Indeed they were. Although I expected to have missed counting a few odd comments here and there, the total displayed in cell 5K turned out to be off by over a hundred!

What was the problem? I'd been doing my best to remember to toggle the follow-up comment option ON, whenever I started to write a comment on someone else's blog. When that option is ON, before you preview or post, it looks like this if the page display is in Japanese.

Comment window: "Follow-up comments ..." ON

Not only do I get a copy of my out-going comments sent to me by mail, to collect and count monthly for entries on row five [of] Proto-Portfolios spreadsheets, I also receive mail notification of answers to questions or responses to suggestions that I post in comments on other people's blogs. Mail notifications include links that make it easy to follow-up on follow-ups. Forgetting to select that option a few times a semester wasn't the problem.

The problem was searches that I'd used to retrieve mail messages to remind me of comments on other people's blogs were missing a large proportion, more than 80%, of previous comments from first semester. A typical monthly search started like this:

Search terms from English notification message

Today it finally dawned on me why that kind of search had missed so many recent comments. Such searches failed to retrieve mail reminding me of comments that I'd left on blogs whose owners set them to display in Japanese. Sifting through All Mail archives by hand, I discovered numerous automated mail messages with Japanese lead-ins that had been slipping through my searches.

The following search, using the Japanese message lead-in, turned up over a hundred more comments to add to Proto-Portfolio tallies for first semester.

Search terms from Japanese notification message

Granted, it may be possible to refine each of those two searches with additional words or characters, for example, "... new comment [on]" (blogs set to display in English). Nevertheless, I'm satisfied that combined search results reflect the bulk of comments of which I've elected to get follow-up mail notifications.

The key to gathering info. automatically for entries on row five of Proto-Portfolios is still the same: Remember to switch follow-up comment notification ON before posting comments on classmates' and peers' blogs. The same is true for following up easily on written exchanges started or continuing in comments on blog posts: Switch follow-up comment notification ON before posting!

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PocketCultures: Poll of the Month (September 2010)

Thanks to a link from Carla Arena, who explores "the wonders of the Online World" from Brazilia (Google Profile), I discovered the PocketCultures website today. On it, prominently displayed near the top of the home page, was a Poll of the Month asking, "How many languages do you speak?"

Though people responding to that poll hardly represent a random sample of world populations, or even blogger populations for that matter, it is interesting to note two points in particular:

1. Less than a quarter of current responses represent speakers of only one language, and
2. More than a quarter of the responses represent speakers of more than three languages!

 (2010.09.28, c. 11:00 JST)

How about you: How many languages do you speak now, and how many do you want to be able to speak in the future?

If you're interested in finding out about various cultures around the world, PocketCultures offers three categories of posts to explore, focusing on topics, people, and blogs. Check 'em out, and let us know what you discover in a comment on this post when you get back!

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YouTube - podEnglish's Channel

If [you] enjoy watching short, sometimes humorous video clips to practice listening and review English expressions and grammar that you know – or to learn more, you might like to try these micro-lessons:

• YouTube - podEnglish's Channel: "Bite[-]sized video English lessons to help you learn English.... This is the complete collection of English lessons from beginner to advanced" (channel info.).

There are 80 clips on that channel now, both topic-focused and situational. In addition to that collection, you also can find six other playlists of videos at various levels of instruction (beginner, elementary, intermediate, and advanced) to choose from here.

Please let your classmates, peers, and me know which ones you try, and what you think of them, by sharing your thoughts in comments on this post. If you wish, you can use the "same window" link recipe from the LTD Project Wiki (HTML Tips & Tutorials) to add reader-friendly links from your comments to selected videos you recommend.

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Writing III: Exam Items, 2010, §1C

There are prompts for three short essay items in the slideshow presentation below. Please view the entire presentation, and read and follow all directions carefully.

You will need to post an individual response to each item, in a single comment for each, on the three reflecting pool posts earmarked for your section (§1A or §1C, below), not on this post. I suggest that you compose and then grammar- and spell-check your responses in a word-processing application before posting them, because you will be unable to edit your responses after you post them as comments.

Section 1A	Section 1C
Reflecting Pool 1 (§1A, only) Developing Awareness	Reflecting Pool 4 (§1C, only) Developing Awareness
Reflecting Pool 2 (§1A, only) Facing Challenges	Reflecting Pool 5 (§1C, only) Facing Challenges
Reflecting Pool 3 (§1A, only) Achieving Satisfaction	Reflecting Pool 6 (§1C, only) Achieving Satisfaction

Writing III 2010: §§ 1A and 1C

View more presentations from Paul Beaufait.

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Writing III, 2010: Reflecting Pool 4 (§1C, only)

Reflecting Pool 4 (§1C, only)

Please post an individual response to item one, Developing Awareness (Writing III 2010, slide 5), in a single comment on this post.

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Writing III, 2010: Reflecting Pool 5 (§1C, only)

Reflecting Pool 5 (§1C, only)

Please post an individual response to item ... [two], Facing Challenges (Writing III 2010, slide 6), in a single comment on this post.

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Writing III, 2010: Reflecting Pool 6 (§1C, only)

Reflecting Pool 6 (§1C, only)

Please post an individual response to item ... [three], Achieving Satisfaction (Writing III 2010, slide 7), in a single comment on this post.

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Writing III: Exam Items, 2010, §1A

There are prompts for three short essay items in the slideshow presentation below. Please view the entire presentation, and read and follow all directions carefully.

You will need to post an individual response to each item, in a single comment for each, on the three reflecting pool posts earmarked for your section (§1A or §1C, below), not on this post. I suggest that you compose and then grammar- and spell-check your responses in a word-processing application before posting them, because you will be unable to edit your responses after you post them as comments.

Section 1A	Section 1C
Reflecting Pool 1 (§1A, only) Developing Awareness	Reflecting Pool 4 (§1C, only) Developing Awareness
Reflecting Pool 2 (§1A, only) Facing Challenges	Reflecting Pool 5 (§1C, only) Facing Challenges
Reflecting Pool 3 (§1A, only) Achieving Satisfaction	Reflecting Pool 6 (§1C, only) Achieving Satisfaction

Writing III 2010: §§ 1A and 1C

View more presentations from Paul Beaufait.

Writing III, 2010: Reflecting Pool 1 (§1A, only)

Reflecting Pool 1 (§1A, only)

Please post an individual response to item one, Developing Awareness (Writing III 2010, slide 5), in a single comment on this post.

Writing III, 2010: Reflecting Pool 2 (§1A, only)

Reflecting Pool 2 (§1A, only)

Please post an individual response to item ... [two], Facing Challenges (Writing III 2010, slide 6), in a single comment on this post.

Writing III, 2010: Reflecting Pool 3 (§1A, only)

Reflecting Pool 3 (§1A, only)

Please post an individual response to item ... [three], Achieving Satisfaction (Writing III 2010, slide 7), in a single comment on this post.

Exam Schedule: Spring 2010

The graphic below offers a preview of the schedule of posts for exams this Spring semester; the list of posts is in reverse chronological order. Please refresh your browser windows accordingly, at the starting times for your exams.

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MindMap Outline & Screenshot

These are a couple of screenshots I took of the MindMap I roughed out in class last week, and an outline derived from it:

My Garden

• lawn
  
  
  • grass
    
    
    • fertilizing
    • mowing
    • trimming
    • weeding
• garden
  
  
  • flowers
  • ground cover
  • vegetables
• hedge
  
  
  • shrubs
    
    
    • trimming
      
      
      • summer
      • winter
• trees
  
  
  • cherry tree
  • Christmas trees
  • other tree?
• wildlife
  
  
  • ants
  • birds
    
    
    • humming birds
    • pigeons
  • centipedes
  • spiders
  • worms
• leisure
  
  
  • barbecuing
  • star-gazing
  • thinking

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Please check out the Gadgets sheet ...

... in the Gadgets, Pages, and Settings page of the Writing Studio Blog. I updated it today with instructions and URLs for setting up your own Class Feeds.

I suggest putting one or both of those feeds at the foot of your blogs, where you'll be able follow recent blog posts by classmates and peers during summer vacation. On the Design (layout) page of your blog, you can click on Add a Gadget, and find the Feed gadget tool in the Basic collection. However, you need to make sure to plug in entire URLs from the Gadgets page of the spreadsheet. They're long, and complicated, so copy and paste them carefully into your new Feed gadget(-s).

I also want to remind you that, starting Aug. 1, you'll be able to count posts and get extra credit for early book reviews in your Fall semester Proto-Portfolios (Aug. - Jan.). Blog on!

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1st Semester Portfolios: Discussion Post

In this post I quote liberally from student comments on a previous post (10 portfolio posts from Writing IV (2009-10), 2010.06.29). Concerns and questions that I gleaned from those comments focus on four aspects of coursework:

1. Word Counts, 
2. Blog Posts, 
3. Blog Designs, and 
4. Portfolio Development. 

I'd like to reflect a bit on each in turn.

1. Word Counts

Niina said, "I was puzzled about [the] number of words, because there were some person who they reached 10000 words[,] and there were some person who they didn't reach 10000 words in first semester" (WED JUN 30, 11:17:00 AM JST).

Asaki asked, "Should I post more than 10,000 words, right?" (WED JUN 30, 10:08:00 AM JST).

Though the questions in the previous post (10 portfolio posts..., 2010.06.29) focused on second semester portfolios, Niina's right; some of the 1st semester proto-portfolios included in those second semester portfolios last year (2009-10) occasionally did reveal total word counts less than 10K words. That may be why Asaki asked whether she should "post more than 10,000 words...." She's right, too; everyone should exceed the target for original writing, by writing – not copying – 10K+ words this semester.

The closing date for word counts, book reviews, and other blog posts is the due date for 1st semester Portfolios; please check the Calendar of Events page and Writing Studio Blog calendar for details.

2. Book Reviews (BRs) and Other Posts

YUKI asked, "How many BRs do i need to finish in this semester?" (WED JUN 30, 10:21:00 AM JST).

Kana said, "I'd like to know what to write except diary" (WED JUN 30, 09:57:00 AM JST).

As I have told students who asked in person, in class, the target number of original book reviews is 12 or more [for] this semester. Book Review Showcases in Portfolio Templates (sheet 1_2_BRs) already have space for 15 or more. That's one per week, on average. If you write more, you can increase the number of rows in your spreadsheet; if you need help doing so, please ask someone who knows how.

Regarding what to write about in routine weekly posts (three or more per week, on average), your imaginations are the limits. For more about topics and foci for day-to-day posts, please see Beating Blogger's Block and Citing Sources (WSBlog, 2008.10.10).

3. Blog Designs

Hitomi said, "I concerned about their blog design[-s]. Some blog is cute" (WED JUN 30, 11:31:00 AM JST).

I'm concerned about blog designs, too. Two of my main concerns are: 1) ease of reading, and 2) efficient use of your time to demonstrate and develop your writing ability. You may wonder what that means.

By "ease of reading," in general, I'm talking about neither too large nor too small fonts, and neither too colorful nor too plain texts. For example, too little contrast between texts and background colors defeats readability. You may have heard me say, "I think pink stinks!" That is, especially, light pink on white or dark pink on red. It is best to stick to dark text colors on light backgrounds, or light text colors on dark backgrounds.

Standard blog templates usually take both readability and color coordination into consideration. They are quick and easy to choose or replace.

By "efficient use of your time...," I mean that, if you spend hours and hours trying to get your blog design just perfect, right away, or trying to turn almost every word in a post a different color, you may lose hours and hours that you might better have spent:

• Writing or re-writing blog posts, book reviews, or essays;
• Commenting on classmates' and peers' posts; and 
• Responding thoughtfully to comments on your own.

4. Portfolio Development

Chika mused, "What shall I do to make a good portfolio?" (WED JUN 30, 10:15:00 AM JST).

Chika's musing is spot on. A short and general answer for now is to keep looking around, listening carefully to, and learning from your classmates, peers, and predecessors. Weak or strong, they provide the best examples and models available.

Now, in hope of promoting a[n] open exchange regarding portfolio development and enhancement, I'd like to leave this post open for follow-on comments. Please feel free to express additional concerns and questions about your portfolios for this semester in comments on this post, as well as to respond here to those of your classmates and peers. I'd also like to ask in advance for your understanding that questions about portfolios and their composite elements for this semester, at least questions not voiced in class, belong in comments here – on this post – rather than in individual mail messages.

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PS: Even if you don't comment on this post, you SHOULD "subscribe by email" (at the foot of the comment window) to get notified immediately whenever classmates or peers comment here.

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10 portfolio posts from Writing IV (2009-10)

Last year, students in sections 1A and 1C built their first and second semester portfolios in separate blog posts. The ten listed below are from second semester (Writing IV, 2009-10).

Though you'll be building your portfolios on individual blog pages, using a modified portfolio template, I still hope that perusing the ten portfolios listed below will give you an idea of what you can do to showcase and reflect upon your own work in Writing III and IV this year.

§1A

• Portfolios for Writting IV, Setion 1A (2010.01.06)
• Portfolio for Writing IV (2010.01.14)
• Portfolio (2010.01.14)
• Portfolio for Writing IV (2010.01.08)
• [no title on original post] (2010.01.06)

§1C

• Portfolio for Writing IV (2010.01.10)
• Ｍｙ　ｐｏｒｔｆｏｌｉｏ (2010.01.06)
• Portfolio Writing IV (2009-10 ) (2010.02.06)
• Portfolio for Writing IV (2010.01.06)
• Writing(2009-8) (2010.01.06)
• Portfolio for Writing IV (2009-10) (2010.01.06)

Please look all ten over, and let your classmates and peers know what you see and think in a comment on this post. Here a some questions to get you started thinking about portfolios.

• What impressed or surprised you most as you perused those 10 posts?
• What concerned or puzzled you most about those portfolios?
• What did you notice that might strengthen portfolio presentations?
• What did you notice that might weaken portfolio presentations?
• What else would you like to know about developing your own portfolios?

I look forward to reading lots of thoughtful and though-provoking comments on this post.

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Videos, quizzes, transcripts, and notes

Below is a sample video-based listening comprehension quiz drawn from the Real Canadian Songbook. After listening to the song, and taking the quiz, you can check your answers against the transcript, and read the notes to find out more about "culture, grammar, slang, or pronunciation" (ESL Video Quiz, Quiz Instructions, sidebar).



This quiz is in the Low Intermediate category. If you'd like something less or more challenging, try quizzes in other categories ranging from Beginning to High Intermediate. On the ESL Video :: Free ESL/EFL Video Activities for English Students website, there also are different kinds of music and other kinds of videos to choose from, for example:

• How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

I can hardly wait to go back for more!

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Commenting Tips

In class today, I invited students who had completed their self-assessments to go walk-about, so to speak, among peers' and near-peers' blogs. In case you didn't join us, or you want to have another go, this post will help you retrace our footsteps.

There is a link leading to lists of blogs for other classes on the Writing Studio Wiki, in §2.3. When you visit peers' blogs, please read their posts carefully and thoroughly; then post friendly, neighborly comments.

Now here's a tip to help you follow exchanges on the posts on which you comment, and to help you keep track of your out-going comments[, too]: Activate the follow-up mail option BEFORE you post your comments!

• In the comment interface on each post, click on the subscription link:
• Subscribe by mail (in English displays), OR
• メールで登録解除 (in Japanese displays).
• Then compose, preview, and publish your comments.

Afterwards, Blogger will send follow-up messages automatically to your gmail account to let you know when blog owners reply, or other visitors post additional comments. These follow-up messages will help you return easily to on-going comment exchanges. They also will help you remember how many comments you leave on classmates' and peers' blogs, for tallies in your Proto-Portfolios.

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The Blogging Handbook

"This is a handbook for beginners and experts!"

 (WikiEducator, Blogging, ¶1, emphasis in original)

The Blogging Handbook
Looking at blogs Set up a blog Manage a blog Using a blog Getting the most out of your blog Writing effectively for a blog What's in a post? Getting to the point Telling the story Critical analysis Where to now?

Source: Create and maintain a basic weblog/Writing effectively for a blog, "available under [a] Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License" (WikiEducator, retrieved 2010.06.10).

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Essay 1-01c: Your Essay Title Goes Here

[Type a short paragraph introducing your voice recording.]



[Type a short summary of this post.]

[15 words]

Essay 1-01c: ...

[Type introduction about here.]



[Type conclusion about here.]

Audacity Recording: QuickStart Guide and Tutorials

This post displays a couple video tutorials that I discovered recently along with a QuickStart Guide prepared by the Celebrate Ohklahoma Voices community (Resources: Handouts: Audacity) on coachcarolesite (Audacity Lessons). Both videos explain basic startup steps, then mention a few other ways to use Audacity. The second one also explains where to get Audacity, as well as the encoder necessary to export MP3 audio files from Audacity, for use at home if you wish.

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Assignments and How to Find Out about Them

This post represents: 1) updated information about current assignments, 2) reminders of on-going assignments, and 3) general suggestions for inquiries about assignments, all of which I sent out recently in an occasional reply to an individual student. I want to share the information, reminders, and suggestions with everyone concerned.

1. The numbered outline in the message that I'm quoting (indented and in italics below) includes boardwork annotations from the second period class as well as further elaborations I made specifically for that individual mail reply. In general, I expect you to depend upon in-class listening, note-making, and screen capture to gather classwork and homework assignment details yourselves.
2. On-going blogging assignments are just that, on-going. So please expect few or no further reminders of those.
3. The follow-up suggestions in the message below reflect where to turn first for information about assignments, and how to focus and frame follow-up inquiries. Please use those suggestions to coach and guide one another from now on.

Hi ...,

Thank your for writing (Wed, May 19, 2010 at 11:49 PM; ...). I'm sorry to hear that you were sick [1st period] on Wednesday, May 19, 2010. 

As always in Writing III, §§ 1A and 1C, there were both classwork and homework assignments. The following outline, revised somewhat during the 1C class meeting and annotated below, should give you a rough idea of what you missed in 1A (classwork, 0-3.2; homework, 3.1-5). I suggest that you confer with classmates (1A) or near-peers (1C) for details and tips.

0. Label draft essay posts (1-02a): drafts, essays, reviews, websites, … (including a suitable topic label).

1. Comment [PQRS] on 3-5 classmates' essay posts (1-02a) [immediately] UP list from yours on class blog lists:

Writing_III-IV_10-11_1A+1C
(Writing Studio Blog sidebar, Course Links)

1.1. Praise what you find informative and interesting in their essays;
1.2. Question what is unknown or unclear after reading their essays;
1.3. Reflect on what you understand from their essays; and
1.4. Suggest other information they could add, or other ways to improve their essays.

2. Respond briefly to comments on your draft essay (1-02a) in an additional comment (or two) on your draft essay.

3. Revise your essay (1-02b) in preparation for a complete, separate post including:

3.01 Short Title (centered),

3.02 Introductory ¶,

3.03 Three (3) or more body ¶¶,

3.04 Concluding ¶, and

3.05 A list of APA-style References

3.1. Add answers and info. to existing or new ¶¶ in your essay in a word-processing program (OpenOffice, Pages, or Word [in KGU Mac labs]).
3.2. Add APA-style website references created in Recipes4Success: Citation Maker (Writing Studio Blog sidebar, Course Links) to a References section at the foot of your revised essay.
3.3. Follow other suggestions from classmates or peers to improve your essay.
3.4. Grammar and spell-check your revised essay thoroughly in in a word-processing program (OpenOffice, Pages or Word [in KGU Mac labs]).

3.5. Publish your revised essay in a separate (new) post on your blog:

By the due date (Writing Studio Calendar),

In a new post entitled:

"Essay 1-02b: [Short Title]"
(without quotation marks or square brackets), AND

With the following labels: essays, reviews, revisions, websites, … (including a suitable topic label).

Day 1-06a[-b] (2010.05.19)

There also are on-going blogging assignments for Writing III-IV, namely: 

a. Weekly book review posts with APA-style references, and 

b. Other routine blog posts on topics of your choice.

On average, you should be publishing 3-5, or more, blog posts per week. 

In addition, Mr. T... (Cc:) tracks your progress on weekly typing assignments, and came in person to remind some of your peers about typing assignments. After you mail your weekly typing trials to Mr. T, you should post _grammar and spelling checked_ versions of them on your blog, 

The next time that you're absent, I'd appreciate it if you would confer with classmates (many of whom have snapshots of the outline above), and check the Writing Studio Calendar, before sending mail. Then please focus your in-person or mail inquiries on concerns or questions above or beyond what you can learn for those nearby sources.

There is no need to reply to this message, but please do share what you learn from it with your classmates and peers. Also, please (re-)read the Mail Protocol section of the Writing Studio Wiki (Home Page, §10), and follow the instructions there, before sending any more mail messages. 

Cheers, PB

(personal correspondence, Thu, May 20, 2010 at 10:01 AM) 

As always, if you have concerns or questions about current or on-going assignments, or [about] the general reminders and suggestions reflected in the reply that I've cross-posted above, I encourage you to share them. You may share them a) in comments on this post, b) in comments on other posts to which your concerns or questions relate more closely than they do to this one, or c) at the earliest opportunity in class, rather than transmitting them through individual mail messages. I appreciate your cooperation.

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