Orange books and book reviews

What we call the orange book is a required text for Writing III and IV (all sections). It is a log book for extensive reading practice. Please start using it to log your readings for these courses right away.

You can find lots of easy books to read in the English Reading Garden (ERG), in the KGU Library. Please check out Mr. T's comic introduction to the ERG by command clicking on the link above, and then clicking on the image in the center of the comic site. After class, head over to the library to grab yourself a handful of books to read.

In order to promote fluency in your writing, I recommend that you read at least three graded readers a week. Starting this week, you must post a brief written review, in your own words (not copied or machine-translated) of at least one book per week. You should post 12 or more book reviews on your blog this semester.

For more info. about the orange book, please review the post entitled Extensive Reading Logs (2007.05.12). The PUK Library Collection is another place you can look for books to read, and for word counts for books that may not be listed in the orange book.

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Office Hours: Gmail for Appointments

This post announces my weekly office hour+ (Tuesday, 09:30-11:00), and shows where my physical office space is.


View pab's office in a larger map

If you'd like to meet either face-to-face (f2f) or online during my office hour+, please send a gmail message asking for an appointment at least 48 or, better yet, 72 hours in advance. Please use ... one of these subjects headings [with underscores, class, and section in the key string]:

• Writing_III-IV_1A: F2F, yyyy.mm.dd, please!
  
• Writing_III-IV_1A: Online, yyyy.mm.dd, please!

• Writing_III-IV_1C: F2F, yyyy.mm.dd, please!
  
• Writing_III-IV_1C: Online, yyyy.mm.dd, please!

Copy and paste one of the subject headings from here, if necessary, to make certain it is accurate (without the bullet point), carefully replacing "yyyy" with the calendar year, "mm" with a two-digit number for the month, and "dd" with a two-digit number for the date.

Then, in the body of all such [gmail] messages, please:

1. Explain why you would like to meet;
   
2. Suggest a time frame within my office hour+;
3. Include the last five digits of your student number; and
   
4. Spell out your full name (in a signature is fine).

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Class Bulletin: Know before you go!

This is a quick post pointing out a few things to help you get off to a smooth start when classes begin:
If you have concerns or questions about any of those points, please spell them out in comments on this post. Cheers.

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Blog Comment Security & Follow-up Settings

As I was browsing a student's blog today, I noticed that she had not enabled the Word Verification technology for comments on her blog (Dashboard, Settings, Comments).

I urge you all to make sure that you've turned Word Verification ON to avoid getting spammed. When that security technology is on, part of the comment window looks like this, with a string of twisted characters that visitors must type before submitting a comment, for example, "xhhzqtlm" (WordVerification screenshot).


I also recommend restricting who can comment on your blogs to registered users only (CommentsSettings screenshot). This should not trouble you, classmates, or community members who already have Google/Blogger identities (including gmail). If you are logged in already, your username will appear as a ready-made choice in the comment window (LoggedIn, "Choose an identity").



As you may see at the bottom edge of the LoggedIn screenshot, after commenting, logged-in users get an easy to use option to receive comment notification messages whenever blog owners or visitors reply. Just check the box next to "Email follow-up comments" (Follow-upComments screenshot), and you'll get messages with links leading quickly back to the original post where you can continue discussion.

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Docs and Spreadsheets Rock!

Google Docs and Spreadsheets are great ways to share and collaborate online on pieces of writing, spreadsheets, and presentations. The video below, a Common Craft Production, shows and tells how they work.

Please check it out. It should give you ideas for getting a group writing project underway, when you get a group assignment later. Though the presenter speaks rather quickly, reviewing the video a time or two should enable you to get the gist of what he says.



A great thing about Google Docs and Spreadsheets is that sign-in is the same as for Gmail! If you have Gmail open already, all you need to do is click on the "Documents" link in the toolbar at the top of the page.

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