Mind-Maps for University Life Essay Prep.

Please click on the graphics below to get closer looks at the various topics that the collective mind-maps from last week covered.

University Life (1C, 2014.05.14)

University Life (1A, 2014.05.14)

Please feel free to write about topics from either map in your essay prep. (free-writing) posts. Ideally each main (blue) branch will serve as the basis for one or more paragraphs.

[63 words]

Learning with Computers (1A)

Learning with computers

• Advantages
• academic work
• HW
• reports
• presentations
• other assignments
• blogging
• dictionary work
• developing job skills
• learning to use programs
• office tools
• email
• dictionaries
• spell checkers
• touch typing
• Making files
• presentations
• graphs
• spreadsheets
• information processing
• word-processing documents
• reports
• using the Internet
• using paperless media
• getting familiar with useful sites
• news sites
• language learning sites
• English
• games
• jokes
• news programs
• other languages
• getting authentic English input
• YouTube
• translating
• phrases
• E to J
• J to E
• Equipment
• portable devices
• working anywhere
• storage capcity
• local storage
• personal information
• remote storage
• security systems
• Disadvantages
• developing dependencies
• electrical power
• mediated communication
• minimal physical activity
• developing physical ailments
• eye problems
• eye fatigue
• bleary vision
• back problems
• neck problems
• shoulder problems
• (obesity)
• time requirements
• information overload
• Coping strategies
• using solar power sources
• avoiding physical ailments from extended use of computers
• other solutions to problems related to using computers

[208 words]

Writing Rules! Advice From The Times on Writing Well - NYTimes.com

In Writing Rules! Advice From The Times on Writing Well, my favorites are rules five and nine. Here are a few excerpts from those two rules, and from one of the cross-linked readings.

Rule five, Study Sentences, comprises two related suggestions:

Look for examples of interesting sentence structure and sentence variety in a work you are studying or reading, then write your own "copy-change” versions, in which you borrow another author’s structure and use it to create your own piece. 

You might also consider excerpts from children’s book[-s] to review sound literary devices and explore the music that sentences make.

(Rule 5: Study Sentences, ¶¶4-5, italics added)

A Pomegranate Words page illustrates the "copy-change" process with poetry, if you follow the first link in the passage above. Yet the process of imitating sentence structure–not copying content–applies equally to prose, as does the advice on that page to give credit to your sources:

If there's no trace of the source, you don't need to give anyone else credit. If, on the other hand, evidence of the original structure remains, you should give a nod to the first writer in some way.

(Pomegranate Words, 2008, Poetry: Copy Change (Imitation), ¶2).

Rule nine, Fail, again from the Times, may sound a bit too adventurous–until you read the explanations. Though the subject heading, "Fail," is an attention grabber, the point is to learn from your mistakes by collecting and reflecting on your written work:

Value mistakes, and the successes that grow from them, by keeping a portfolio of your work, including revisions and editing exercises. You might even reflect in writing on how your writing has progressed....

(Rule 9: Fail, ¶2, italics added)

The suggestions that I've highlighted above should seem quite familiar to you by now. If they don't, please ask about them either in class, or in comments on this post.

[312 words]

Incorporating quoted passages

This post presents three versions of a filtering and focusing post that I wrote for another blog (The LTD Project Blog, 2012.06.22). I am posting these three versions here to show how to:

1. Sandwich paragraph-length quotations between personal reflections;
2. Shift the balance of content from quotations to reflections, by:
1. summarizing rather than quoting an interview prompt, and
2. adding further reflections; and
3. Quote short, already quoted passages, using nested quotation marks.

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Version 1

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about his former teachers.

You write in the book about the important role certain teachers played in your life. Tell us about those teachers and what key lessons they taught you that you've put to use in your life and career.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

(Dan Rather: LibraryThing Author Interview)

Among other issues he addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional media.  At the end of the interview, Rather also mentioned new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports).

[174 words]

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Version 2

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about important roles his former teachers had played.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

(Dan Rather: LibraryThing Author Interview)

Among other issues he addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional media.  At the end of the interview, Rather also mentioned developing new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports).

[141 words]

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Version 3

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about important roles his former teachers had played.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

(Dan Rather: LibraryThing Author Interview)

Among other issues he also addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional [news] media. That was in response to a passage the interviewer had quoted from Rather's memoirs, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News, about "'censorship masquerading as good business'" (2012).

At the end of the interview, Rather mentioned developing new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a TV series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports). I'm looking forward to following those developments.

[180 words]

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The third version of the post on that other blog is approximately the same length that the first version was. However, in the third version, the proportion of quoted text has decreased from about 56% (98/174) to 36% (65/180). Square brackets around the word "news" in the third version indicate that I added that word after publishing the post.

[642 words]

Rough Class Outlines for Draft Essays: §1C

This post represents rough outlines developed in class from proposals of themes and foci for your next essays, thematic reviews of the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire. Once you choose a major theme or two from the outline from your section (§1C), you are welcome to draw related ideas from the outline for the other section doing thematic reviews of the same movie (§1A).

You can get closer looks at the snapshots showing expansions of various sections of the class outline by clicking on the graphics in this post. Again, please feel free to mix and match themes and foci from the outline for the other section (in a separate post), with those from your class (above). 

Assignment details for your draft essays are in course calendar event descriptions. You'll be getting automated reminders by mail a few days before your essays are due. Please read those messages carefully and completely. Then, if you have concerns or questions about the current assignment, please spell them out right away in comments on this post, where everyone can see them – at least two days before the assignment is due.

[4 words {remainder of text 

replicates previous post}]

Rough Class Outlines for Draft Essays: §1A

This post represents rough outlines developed in class from proposals of themes and foci for your next essays, thematic reviews of the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire. Once you choose a major theme or two from the outline from your class (§1A), you are welcome to draw related ideas from the outline for the other section doing thematic reviews of the same movie (§1C).

You can get closer looks at the snapshots showing expansions of various sections of the class outline by clicking on the graphics in this post. Again, please feel free to mix and match themes and foci from the outline for the other section (in a separate post), with those from your class (above).

Assignment details for your draft essays are in course calendar event descriptions. You'll be getting automated reminders by mail a few days before your essays are due. Please read those messages carefully and completely. Then, if you have concerns or questions about the current assignment, please spell them out right away in comments on this post, where everyone can see them – at least two days before the assignment is due.

[188 words]

Topic outlines from comments and questions

This post shows screenshots of outlines that we compiled during class meetings today. The outlines represent topics of interest gleaned from peer-to-peer comments and questions on posts of previous draft essays.

The first four screenshots below represent topics that came up in section 1A (§1A, below). I've moved a few of the topics up, down, or side to side, to put similar topics together, and sub-topics at similar levels in the organizational hierarchy. The next three screenshots below represent topics that students in section 1C shared in class, some of which I've rearranged or re-combined as well.

As you review your own essays, and plan your next revisions, please feel free to select, (re-)mix, and match topics from either or both of the extended outlines below, to amplify and extend in Essay 1-02b what you've already written in Essay 1-02a.

§1A

RoughOutlines1A-1

RoughOutlines1A-2

RoughOutlines1A-3

RoughOutlines1A-4

§1C

RoughOutlines1C-1

RoughOutlines1C-2

RoughOutlines1C-3

[149 words]

Follow-on to questions on "Can you use chopsticks?"

This post comprises a screencast showing initial stages of building a mindmap from questions included in comments on the post, "Can you use chopsticks?" (pab, Speechable) (2010.03.13). If you use headphones or speakers, you can listen to the soundtrack, as I explain the steps involved (5 minutes).


I've used the map to group the questions into clouds relating to one aspect or another of the graphic representation in that post. When I answer those questions, at the end of this post, I'll answer them together, and each group of answers will become a separate paragraph (or more) at the end of this post.

For a full-blown viewing of those early stages in mindmap development, click here:  2010-04-20_1149

The next graphic shows the mindmap in a more or less finished form. If you click on the graphic, you will get a full-size view of what's in each cloud.

Below is a response to comments on a previous post ("Can you use chopsticks?"..., 2010.03.13) composed of answers to the questions in the mindmap clouds above. The composition process involves moving from lists to maps, and from simple answers to paragraphs. Here goes....


The picture I posted in the "Can you use chopsticks?" post showed an omelette that I'd filled with fermented soybeans instead of cheese. Though when I first encountered fermented soybeans, I found their texture rather off-putting, and even now if I'm not careful eating them, the stringy contrails they leave can get stuck in my beard, I find them not only healthy, but tasty, too. If I may say so myself, of course my omelettes are delicious. If not, why would I make them? They're quick and quite easy to make.

My favorite way of eating omelettes used to be smothered in ketchup. Now, however, I prefer something spicier, so I use a southwestern North American style hot sauce, salsa, and I season the egg and milk mixture that goes into the omelettes themselves with dried red peppers! After Nami had asked about spicy Korean style pickled cabbages, I decided to try that instead of soybeans, and that was delicious, too.

Friends and I used to joke about using chopsticks being a good way to lose weight. However, the better I get at using them the faster I can eat. Nevertheless, I usually eat omelettes with a fork, as you may see in a series of pictures to follow from my cell-phone cam.

The other bit of tableware that was visible in the snapshot and graphic in that "Can you use chopsticks?" post was a medium-sized plate decorated with a character from Beatrix Potter stories, namely Tigger, who has long been one of my favorites. I've enjoyed his self-description, "The wonderful thing about Tiggers...," for almost as long as I can remember. The only such storybook character of which I have a longer memory is Owl, but I'll save that for another story.

As far as the characters that Aya, Yuka and Ryota mentioned in their comments go, I know two out of three,  Anpanman and Snoopy. Snoopy has been around since I was a child, long, long, ago, in newspapers before animated feature shows. I used to like drawing him dancing and perched on top of his doghouse. Anpanman might be easier to draw, but I never was too keen the animated series in which he starred.

[555 words]

Sample Mind-Map for Language Learning Story Essays

Using Freemind software available in Mac labs on campus @ KGU, I prepared a sample mind-map to guide you through preparation of your next essays, Personal Language Learning Stories: Past, Present, and Future (2-03a, fall semester, 2009-10). Though making your own maps is not a requirement for the current assignment, please feel free to do so, and to post your maps in essay prep. posts on you blogs, where your classmates and peers can admire and comment on them as you develop your outlines and complete your essays proper.

You are also welcome to post your outlines (draft and revised), whether or not you derive them from mind-maps, in order to document various steps [in the writing process], in additional posts that you label "essay prep." (without the quotation marks), along with any free-writing that you do on topics related to the current assignment. If preliminary and revised versions of your maps, outlines, free-writing passages, and complete essay drafts differ significantly from each other, and you explain the differences and cross-link between separate posts, those separate posts may serve as evidence of your progress through the current assignment. If, on the other hand, you make only minor revisions in one or more of your essay prep. posts, please remember to update word counts at the foot of those posts.

I saved a couple different views of the sample mind-map as graphics for display in this blog post. The second and third views below show expansions of different sections of the map itself. Please note that the topics and sub-topics displayed in the expanded view of the Body section are only suggestions, rather than a complete catalog of all possible key points and supporting information. What goes in you own maps and/or outlines should reflect your personal language learning experiences and plans.

____________________

Note: If you click on the graphics, they should display in new browser tabs or windows.

[313 words]

PS: I forgot to mention the original source of inspiration for this essay assignment, Tim Murphey's (1998) students' Language Learning Histories, and their predecessors.

Reference

Murphey, Tim. (1998). Language Hungry Students' Language Learning Histories II. Nagoya, Japan: South Mountain Press.

[+ 40 words]

New Sidebar Gadget: Followers

A new Blogger gadget that I've just added to the sidebar opens another avenue of access to Writing Studio Blog updates. It's down to the right, between Local Favorites and Subscribe via gmail (now Get mailed!) gadgets. It's the green starred item in the sidebar Layout screenshot (right).

The first avenue for notification of updates was subscription via mail functionality provided by Feedburner, which I blogged up last January (Subscribe via Gmail Today!, 2008.01.10). You may have missed that, if you failed to read up on previous posts as I suggested at the beginning of Writing III. Some folks prefer mail notifications; others depend upon handy lists of links to favorite sites in their own sidebars, or feed readers there or elsewhere (for example: Google Reader).

Now signing up to follow a blog generates an RSS feed in your own Dashboard, and there are at least two ways to get started. One works for any Blogger blog (though it doesn't seem to work on Edublogs, at least not right away); you just grab the URL of a blog you want to follow, and "ADD" it to your Dashboard Reading List. Here's a snapshot of the list I've started:

The "ADD" button is at the foot of your list.

The other way to follow a Blogger blog is to find one you want to follow that displays a Followers gadget. You can subscribe through the gadget, and updates from that blog will automatically appear in your Dashboard Reading List. For more info. about following, including private or public following options, I recommend these Blogger Help Center posts:

• What is following?
• How do I use the Blogger Reading List?
• How do I add the Following gadget to my blog?

[279 words]

Learning with Computers (LwC): Class Outlines

The class outlines depicted below represent the main points that you should cover in the sixth essay assigned for this semester. We collected main points, topics, and sub-topics from individual lists of ideas that students brainstormed and posted as essay prep., brainstorms and quickposts in class, then combined related items and created hierarchies from them to construct working outlines.

The outline from Writing IV, §1a, is in two overlapping parts; the outline from §1c is in one part. If you click on the images (below), you can get full-size views.

1. LwC_outlines20081210_1a-1.png,
   
2. LwC_outlines20081210_1a-2.png, and
   
3. LwC_outlines20081210_1c-0.png

You should feel free to adopt ideas for topics and sub-topics from either class outline, and add your own supporting ideas (anecdotes, arguments, examples, opinions [, reasons {pab, 2008.12.11}]), but make certain to cover all of the main points from the outline for your own class. Details in the outlines, especially "Other...?", you may treat as variables.

LwC_outlines20081210_1a-1.png

LwC_outlines20081210_1a-2.png

LwC_outlines20081210_1c-0.png

If you have questions or concerns about how to use these outlines to compose and organize your essays, please spell them out in individual comments on this post well in advance of the due date (Writing Studio Calendar: 6th essays...). Finally, please remember to label all assigned essays, and only assigned essays, with the label "essays" (plural, no capitalization).

[216 words]

Posts in Preparation of Next Essays

To prepare for upcoming essays, thematic movie reviews due next Tuesday (Writing Studio Calendar, 3rd essays due, November 4, 2008), last week I asked you to make two quickposts after you had viewed the movie to review, Mrs. Doubtfire:

1. A quick list of themes that you'd noticed in the movie, with the labels:
   
• essay prep., lists, quickposts
  
2. A quick first impression of the movie, with the labels:
   
• essay prep., free-writing, quickposts
  

In class today, I asked you to share items from those lists of themes found in the movie, and to reflect on themes shared in each class by making two (2) more quickposts, each on a theme shared in class. Please label your two in-class posts with at least these three labels: 1) essay prep., 2) free-writing, and 3) quickposts. If you wish, you may add the themes themselves to labels on these posts. If you click on the graphic (above), a larger format version will appear.

The purpose of free-writing in class today was three-fold, namely to:

• demonstrate your fluency in writing on themes of your choice, and with or without reference to the movie;
• lessen the number of weekly posts that you would need to write outside of class, so you can concentrate on outlining and drafting your essays this coming week; and
  
• collect and publicize your thoughts relating directly or indirectly to themes in the movie.
  

Unfortunately, those of you who hadn't watched Mrs. Doubtfire had little other choice but to free-write without reference to the movie. All together, as of the end of class today, you should have had at least four (4) essay prep. posts on your blog leading up to your next movie reviews.

Between now and the due date for your thematic reviews of Mrs. Doubtfire, I would like you to make at least two more preparatory posts:

1. A topic outline of the theme from the movie, including the main points that you want to make about it, with the labels:
• essay prep., and
• outlines (a new label for most of you, I believe); and
  
2. A complete first draft of your essay, including:
• a paragraph introducing the movie briefly, along with your choice of themes, and outlining the main points that you will make about your choice;
• three or more body paragraphs explaining your interpretations of the theme (hopefully one evident throughout the movie), and supporting your interpretations with concrete, detailed examples from the movie; and
• a concluding paragraph summing up your interpretations of the theme, and how you have supported your interpretations of it.
  

Students in both class meetings today asked how long these essays need to be. However they frowned at my stock answer, which is, "long enough to cover the themes you choose, and [to] support your interpretations of them." So I told all I would expect them to write at least 500 words, a round number that may suffice only if each and every word is on target, that is, on the themes that you choose from the movie.

[491 words]

PS: If you have concerns or questions about this assignment, please spell them out in comments on this post, well in advance of the due date. Though I will be away on business in Tokyo (Friday, Oct. 31 - Monday, Nov. 3), I will make every effort to respond in a timely fashion to comments made soon (before I leave).

[+ 59 words]

Original post revised 2008.11.06 [+ 1 word]

5th Essays: Personal Language Learning History

These concept maps represents the main points that I expect you to cover in your fifth essays, your language learning histories, which are due by June 15 (calendar). They are by no means exhaustive of all possibilities, so please feel free to add other main points of your own, for example, if you studied English during elementary school, or learned more than one language from your parents or relatives at home.

Original version (1st period)

Revised version (2nd period)

More additions to the node about "people involved" (2008.06.11)

[88 words]

A Map of the Process: Draft Movie Reviews

This image (a quick concept map, nothing fancy) reflects the process we used today to prepare draft movie review essays:



Comments about what we did are more than welcome on this quick post.

[33 words]