Syllabus Draft

Instructor: Melanie Fallon Contact & Appointments:
Office: 1 Tate Hall melanie.fallon@hotmail.com
Hours: Tues/Thurs: 12:30-2:00 646.267.0640

Course Description:
The goal of English 1000 is to introduce students to the practice of academic writing in preparation for MU’s required Writing Intensive courses. “Writing” in this digital age can mean many things, however—blogging, email, social networking sites, comment spaces on websites and PowerPoint presentations all invite us to write, just as traditional essays do. In this class we will explore a number of different fields in which we play as writers, and ask how our writing changes as we move from one to the other, and what kinds of writing and thinking various formats and audiences invite from us.

Required Materials:
There are no books to buy. Instead, I will provide handouts of written texts as needed. There is also one film on the syllabus, This Is England (dir. Shane Meadows, 2006), which is available for rent at Ninth Street Video or from Netflix, or on loan from me. This class will take place in a computer lab, but you will also need easy access to a computer for homework assignments throughout the semester.

Required Activities:
10 blog posts
Wiki page: 150-200 wordsm with links
Flickr Project: 8 images plus notation, titled “This is America”
One 3-5 minute iMovie
One 4-6 page paper

Attendance Policies:
Despite what the catalog says, English 1000 is not a lecture class, but a cross between a seminar and a writing studio—and its success depends upon the thoughtful participation of everyone in the group. Please show respect for your peers, then, and for your own work, by showing up for class in both body and spirit—which means being on time. You are allowed 4 absences between now and the semester’s end, including absences for illness. For every class you miss after that, I will deduct a full letter grade from your overall grade for the course, however, and two instances of lateness exceeding 10 minutes will be considered equal to one absence. If you have six or more absences before [DATE], I will drop you from the course—but after that date, dropping without a grade is no longer an option. Finally, if a genuine emergency which will mean extended absences, please contact me as soon as possible.

Plagiarism:
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. You must properly cite the sources for all ideas and language not your own. You should examine a style manual, such as the latest edition of the MLA Handbook, or of Diana Hacker’s A Pocket Guide to Style, or else visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab— http://owl.english.purdue.edu—for citation guidelines (as well as good overall advice on writing). Be especially careful when doing Internet research. You may NEVER use a “paper mill” as a source, and all legitimate sources must be cited. Even accidental or trivial instances of plagiarism will result in a lowered grade, while serious cases will incur a zero for the assignment and referral to the Provost’s office, which may mean suspension or expulsion.

Support Services:
Sudden immersion in the complexities of college level writing—not to mention the rest of a whole new life—can be challenging. Remember, though: you are not alone! Please make use of office hours with me, and visit the Writing Lab (882-2946). You can also contact the Counseling Center (882-6601) for help with stress management and other issues.

Accommodations:
Please inform me if you have a disability and need any kind of classroom accommodations. You should also register with Disability Services at 882-4696.

Grade Breakdown:
In-Class Participation: 100 points
Blog: 150 points (10 pts per week)
Wiki page: 100 points
Flickr: 100 points (50 pts images, 50 pts text)
i-Movie Film Proposal (posted to Wiki): 150 points
“Digital Double” Paper: 150 points

Total: 750 points

750 A +
650-749 A
500-649 B
400-499 C
300-399 D
0-299 F

Week 1:

Tuesday: Introductions, review of syllabus

No Homework.

Thursday: Icebreaker (Lying Game); set up blogs.

Homework: A blog entry (250 words) titled “A Writer’s Autobiography.” Discuss high school writing, your experience of keeping a journal, email correspondence, text messages, journalism—any or all of the ways you write.

Week 2:

Tuesday: Discussion of blog entries, different writing histories.

Homework: Visit the following blogs:

www.alexanderchee.net
www.postsecret.blogspot.com
www.freakonomics.com
http://finallyfeminism101.blogspot.com
www.bookslut.com
http://blackademics.org
http://www.gigazine.net
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/
http://www.dailykos.com
www.radosh,net
http://www.boingboing.net
http://thesartorialist.com
http://family.go.com/parent-to-parent/blogs/catherine-newman-blog

Choose one of the blogs, read at least four posts, and, on your blog, write a description of the one you’ve chosen. What is its purpose? How does it look? Is it image or text heavy? Complicated or simple? What thoughts does it provoke? Would you visit it again?

Thursday: In-class presentation of blog reviews/discussion of blogs.

Homework: Visit classmates’ blogs. Write a 50-100 word comment to at least 3 classmates—1 of whom chose the same blog as you, 2 of whom didn’t—responding to their analysis, how you agree or don’t, how their interpretation made you see the blog differently.

Week 3:

Tuesday: In class, discuss protocol and ethics of blogging/commenting—and the experience of being read by a wider audience.

Homework: Find a blog YOU like, not on my list, write a review of what the blog’s subject, and perspective are, and put on your blogroll.

Thursday: In class, visit each other’s chosen blogs, discuss.

Homework: Write a blog post reflecting on the styles of blogs you’ve seen, which are more accessible to readers, and why.

Week 4:

Tuesday: Watch 1st half of This is England. Discuss processes of distillation and summarizing.

Homework: Post to blog a one-line summary of film, and then a one-paragraph summary of what we’ve seen so far.

Thursday: Watch 2nd half of movie. Discuss movie.

Homework: Post to blog a one-line summary and one-paragraph summary of whole film, plus one image or detail that, in your mind, captures the essence of the film.

Week 5:

Tuesday: Watch clips from film. Discuss visual information, process of note-taking, and transforming observations into questions.

Homework: On blog, post 5 questions the film is asking.

Thursday: Library lesson: research related to questions.

Homework: Blog post: type up your library findings and sources for each.

Week 6:

Tuesday: Wiki lesson. Begin posting one-line and one-paragraph summaries of This is England, and list of five questions to the Wiki. Add links to websites, other pages; create a web of connections.

Homework: Finish This is England wiki pages.

Thursday: Presentation of Wiki pages; begin creative writing exercise (Writing Home).

Homework: Type up/finish Writing Home exercise on blog. Comment on posts by 2 people whose blog you haven’t commented on yet.

Week 7

Tuesday: Flickr lesson/discuss flickr project. Collect 1st four images in class.

Homework: Annotate first 4 images; post link to blog.

Thursday: In-class presentations (6 students). Collect and annotate final 4 images.

Homework: Write a blog post (500 words) about your flickr project.

Week 8

Tuesday: In-class presentations, 6 students. In-class blogging about class flickrs as a whole—connections and similarities as well as differences.

Homework: Read and post comments on 3 blogs you haven’t before.

Thursday: 4 presentations. Creative writing exercise about clothing. 4 more presentations.

Homework: Blog about what you remember of the year you turned 13—not so much who you were and what you felt, but what you remember of the world around you. What did the other kids at school look like? How did the adults seem? What kinds of things did they say? What were your activities? What songs were on the radio? What movies at the theatre? What did your home and school and classroom and family car, if you had one, look like?

Week 9

Tuesday: Discuss iMovie project. iMovie training.

Homework: Choose 3 songs for your iMovie. Blog about the songs, background information, why you chose them what kinds of moods you think they will inspire.

Thursday: Discussion of songs. Begin choosing video clips and still images for iMovie. Share some ideas and resources.

Homework: Make first minute of iMovie.

Week 10

Tuesday: Mini presentations. Discussion. Continue searching for clips, images.

Homework: Blog post about iMovie’s progress.

Thursday: Start putting together/editing iMovie.

Homework: Write and record voice-over for iMovie.

Week 11

Tuesday: iMovie due! 6 Presentations

Homework: Blog post—reflection on what kind of writing the iMovie demanded, how it was different from, say, a blog or a wiki, and why.

Thursday: Next 6 presentations. Discussion of ideas from blog posts.

Homework: Comment on 2 class blogs you haven’t commented on yet. Read article on “Googlegangers”: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/us/10names.html

Week 12

Tuesday: Final 7 presentations. In class, read excerpt from Freud’s and Greene’s discussions of The Uncanny, and doubles and doppelgangers as sources of dread, and compare to the Times article.

Homework: Google yourself. Create a wiki page that lists all of your Googlegangers and the information about them, with links.

Thursday: Informal presentations/discussion of Googlegangers. Exercise: finding connections.

Homework: Write a blog post about connections other than name between the digital doubles, and between you and them. Anything surprising or unsettling? What direction do they point you in for further research? Find sites and sources about your connections, and provide links to them.

Thursday: Discuss web of connections, blog posts. Writing exercise: draft the opening of a paper, “This is [YOUR NAME].”

Homework: Finish the draft of your paper.

Week 13

THANKSGIVING—FINISH DRAFT OF DIGITAL DOUBLES PAPER

Week 14

Tuesday: In-class, read

Homework: Blog about what you plan to revise in your paper.

Thursday: In class, revise paper.

Homework: Finish paper revision.

Week 15

Tuesday: “This is [YOUR NAME]” final paper due. In-class presentations.

Homework: Blog a reflection on the experience of writing a print essay versus the visual projects.

Thursday: In-class presentations.

Homework: Comment on 2 blogs you’ve not commented on before.

Week 16

Tuesday: In-class presentations.

Thursday: Evaluations, farewells.