Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The end of semester draws nigh!

What you do in these last few weeks is extremely important, if you want to earn credit for Writing III this year. This post provides a count-down to help keep you on track for successful completion of coursework.


Today's class: Wed., July 9th

Today was the next-to-last regular class meeting for spring semester. Those of you who were absent should:

  • View the two most recent snapshots (class work and homework, 2014.07.09) in the white-board snapshots folder that your instructor has shared with you, and then
  • Ask classmates (§1C) or peers (§1A) who attended class today to help you to understand and do what you missed.



Make-up class: Next Wed., July 16th

Next Wed., from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., is an early make-up class for students from §§ 1A and 1C who will be going abroad before the last regular class meeting (July 23rd, below). Those students will need to attend the make-up class next Wed. 

However, your instructor would like to invite the rest of you to come as well, to use the computer lab. space that he has reserved, so you can work together to catch up on and improve work on all assignments due before final exams. That is, the rest of you are welcome to attend the early make-up session, too, but only if you arrive by 9:00 a.m.


Last regular class meeting: Wed., July 23rd

The last regular class meetings this semester will be Wed., July 23rd, at the usual times. Everyone who is not going abroad on a university-sanctioned exchange program will need to attend. 


Last day of classes: Tues., July 29th

All course work except final blog posts, peer-to-peer comments, and Proto-Portfolio entries for July (below) will be due by midnight, July 29th, the last day of classes this semester. Course work due July 29th includes: 

  • Book reviews,
  • Corresponding bibliography entries, and 
  • Portfolio Elements updates and revisions.


Exam periods for Writing III, §§ 1A and 1C: Wed., July 30th

Semester final exams for students not going abroad on a university-sanctioned exchange program will be on Wed., July 30. Please note that exams periods are on a one-hour time schedule. You should plan to arrive 10-15 minutes before starting times, and have your work stations and browsers ready for use, because exams will begin immediately.


Proto-Portfolio (PPF) entries for July: Fri., Aug. 1st

All PPF entries for July will be due at the usual time: 5:00 p.m., the first of next month; Fri., Aug. 1st.* 


Please talk over this schedule of events with your classmates and peers. Then, if you have any concerns or questions about this count-down to the end of Writing III this semester, please spell them out in comments on this post at least 48 to 72 hours before particular events in the count-down. That lead-time will give your classmates, peers, and instructor an opportunity to share related concerns, questions, and understandings.

 ____________________
* Note: Original blog posts, book reviews, and peer-to-peer comments from Aug. 1st onward will count as fall semester coursework for Writing IV in §§ 1A and 1C.

[495 words]

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1A

The graphic in this post is to remind you of topics that you and your classmates shared from your free-writing posts on Wednesday, June 11. If you click on the graphic, you will be able to get a close look at the sub-topics on small branches of the mind-map. I've made two such posts: 
Please feel free to adopt topics, sub-topics, and organisational ideas from either of them to include in your next draft essays. 



[93 words]

Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1C

The graphic in this post is to remind you of topics that you and your classmates shared from your free-writing posts on Wednesday, June 11. If you click on the graphic, you will be able to get a close look at the sub-topics on small branches of the mind-map. I've made two such posts: 
Please feel free to adopt topics, sub-topics, and organisational ideas from either of them to include in your next draft essays. 




[93 words]

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Springboard for Reflections and Predictions

In a six-minute TED Talk, The Psychology of Your Future Self (March 2014), Dan Gilbert, a research psychologist, suggested:
Most of us can remember who we were 10 years ago, but we find it hard to imagine who we're going to be ... [10 years from now]. Only when we look backwards do we realize how much change happens in a decade" (Interactive Transcript, ¶¶ 7-8, via Blog this).


As a step towards the next essay assignment, language learning stories, please watch that TED Talk, keeping your own language skills in mind. The next step will be to create a free-writing post in which you:
  1. Describe ... your language skills ten years ago,
  2. Describe your language skills at present, and
  3. Predict your language skills ten years from now.
[129 words]

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Free Online Game for Food Donations and Language Learning

Online game to end hunger 

Correct answers for Free Rice quiz items generate food donations paid for by sponsors, whose banners appear on the web page. The level of difficulty automatically adjusts up for correct and down for incorrect answers.

Though on one occasion an inappropriate banner appeared, the non-profit site owners had written, "We are quick and careful to remove inappropriate content, if it is reported to us via email at wfp.freerice@wfp.org with 'Report inappropriate content' ... in the subject line" (http://freerice.com/about/faq). So I reported that inappropriate banner.

There are English, French, Italian, and Spanish versions of the game on the same site, with more quiz categories for English than for the other languages. There also is a Korean version on a separate site:


Registration is separate for the two sites, but not necessary to play; it will enable you to track your contributions on one site or the other.

Reference


World Food Programme. (2014). Free Rice 2.0 [online game]. Retrieved
          June 5, 2014, from http://freerice.com

[165 words]
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...