"Mr B...'s class[es are] ... doing Shrek!" (tomei)

On the KGUWriting blog, tomei spilled the beans already. He wrote, "Mr B...'s class[es are] ... doing Shrek!" (2008.04.23).

This post is to offer thanks for his finding and sharing a Shrek YouTube clip there, to raise awareness of this selection. While I'm writing, I'd also like to ask a couple of favors, and to amplify upon advice tomei gave regarding soundtracks on DVDs.

To be precise, both writing classes that I teach this semester (1A and 1C) are doing the same movie this go 'round. I've based the assignment of Shrek to everyone on that movie's being the flick that most students in both classes expressed first preferences for reviewing in their next essays, in shows of hands in the Mac lab. yesterday morning (2008.04.23). These were the top three preferences (no others got more than one vote):

1. Shrek: 1A (10) + 1C (11) = 21
2. Harry Potter: 1A (4) + 1C (8) = 12
3. Mrs. Doubtfire: 1A (5) + 1C (0) = 5
   

So I'd appreciate tomei's correcting the title of the post cited above to read "classes" (plural).

I'd also appreciate it if everyone would avoid using family names in their public postings. Please use given names, or given + initial when there are two students whose given names are the same (e.g.: Chie N. or Chie T.); or blog handles, like pab or tomei, with capitalization as in the originals, or abbreviations, like Mr B or Mr. B., instead.

Regarding soundtracks, when you are watching Shrek recorded on a DVD, tomei suggests switching subtitles on, and selecting English. This will amplify your listening and viewing experience in English as an additional language by adding reading to the admix of skills that you are using simultaneously.

Happy Shrek viewing, everyone! Please stay tuned here, too, for follow-up posts on the first movie review assignment for this semester.

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Next Up: Movie Reviews

To get you started thinking about the next essay assignment, I've collected links to three movie reviews for you to peruse. The short list below is organized in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest.

After you've read those reviews over, we'll brainstorm in class to come up with ideas for types of content to include in your own movie reviews. If you finish reading these three examples early (perhaps before class), you can use the label "movies" on SaaaE's blog (sidebar, left) to find other examples.

1. The Curse of the Golden Flower (Rick, 2008.04. 18)
2. Toy Story (SaaaE, 2007.10.10)*
3. Sean Bean in Sharpe adventure films (pab, 2007.04.12)

__________
* Note: For her portfolio, SaaaE selected Toy Story as her best movie review (WEI, §§1.o-1.2, 2008.01.30).

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Writing Studio Bulletin 1-01 (2008)

This is the first Writing Studio Bulletin for this year. The number in the title indicates that it is the first one for this spring semester (2008). From now on I'll use the abbreviation WSB plus numbers and a subtitle. This bulletin includes two items:

1. Writing Studio Wiki: News and Updates
2. Book Reviews: Numbers, Titles, and Labels
   

Writing Studio Wiki: News and Updates

• The Writing Studio Wiki is the first place to go for every class. I list significant changes on a yellow notepad in the upper right corner of the home page. Today it looks like this:

Book Reviews: Numbers, Titles, and Labels

For your book reviews this semester, I'd like you to use a uniform title consisting of abbreviations, numbers, and short book titles, like these examples, but without bullets in your actual blog post titles:

• BR 1-01: Mountains Beyond Mountains
• BR 1-02: Tuesdays with Morrie
• BR 1-03: ...
  

That's "BR" for Book Review, "1-..." for first semester, "...-01" for your first review this semester, then "...-02" and "...-03" for your next couple of reviews. Please note these typographic details:

• Single digits for semester numbers,
  
• Double-digits (with leading zeros now) for review numbers,
• Single spaces between the abbreviations and the numbers, and
• Single spaces between the colons (":") and the short book titles.
  

Last but not least, please remember to label all of your book reviews with at least two labels:

• books, reviews, ... (and more specific ones, if you like).

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WinK Wiki Resource: Model Book Reviews

This post announces a new WinK Wiki resource listing, describing, and linking to student book reviews that you can use a guides and models for your own blog posts:

• Model Book Reviews (2008.04.16)
  

This is also a reminder that the on-going (semester-long) book review writing assignment calls for you to write one or more book reviews each week (12 or more during spring semester). There is a growing range of easy-to-read genres and titles in the English Reading Garden at the KGU library.

As I noted in Orange Books and Book Reviews (2008.04.15), book reviews must neither be copied nor machine-translated, and, as I suggested in class today, book reviews generally should be as long as or longer than your longest five-minute typing speed trials. Moreover, your book reviews should be more accurate than typing speed trials, thanks to Blogger and Word spelling and grammer checks, and well-organized, too!

Please don't forget to label your book reviews with at least two labels: books and reviews. You can add genre labels (such as romance or SciFi), if you wish.

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Sample Reading Log Page

The scanned image below represents a reading log page from a student's orange book. The student who produced that log reviewed 20 books on her blog last fall semester. Her first page shows that she started by trying books from a variety of graded reader collections: non-fiction, "NF;" science, "SC;"... ; see: series abbreviations, below), and at a variety of levels (Young Learners' equivalents: YL 0.1-2.8). During fall semester she read 20 books and over 48,000 words.

Another student, whose photocopied pages were not so sharp and clear, logged 31 books for the year, and read over 170,000 words!

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