Class Report: ENGL 135.60174, Advanced Composition–28 July 2016

After addressing questions from and concerns about the previous class meeting, discussion treated student questions about readings and upcoming assignments. Instructor remarks about them were offered, as well, including an exhortation to get the work done that is assigned. Some comma usage, concerns of grammatical number, and concerns of gendered usage were addressed, too.

Students are reminded of the following assignments’ due dates:

  • Annotated Bibliography, 1 August 2016 at 0059
  • Week 4 Discussions, 1 August 2016 at 0059

Note that assessment of the assignments may be slowed this week, as the instructor is moving.

Note that a template and sample of the Annotated Bibliography are available in the course shell. An example of an annotated bibliography similar to that requested of students can be found here. An older, similar example can be found here. An example of a more expansive annotated bibliography, one meant to stand as an independent project, can be found here.

The class met as scheduled, at 1800 in Rm. 111 of the DeVry San Antonio campus. The class roster listed 13 students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Of them, seven attended, verified by a brief written exercise. Student participation was better than in previous weeks. No students attended office hours.

Class Report: ENGL 135.60174, Advanced Composition–21 July 2016

After addressing questions from and concerns of the previous class meeting, discussion treated student questions and comments about the week’s readings and assignments. Instructor remarks about them followed, as did review of stylistic and mechanical concerns noted as presenting problems to students, including commas with introductory prepositional phrases and signal phrases for quotations.

Due to ongoing technical concerns, an unofficial copy of the course syllabus, taken from the official, has been posted to the course shell and is here: ENGL 135 Syllabus (Unofficial Copy for Workaround).

Students are reminded of the following assignments’ due dates:

  • Research Proposal (due to the appropriate dropbox at or before 0059 CDT on 25 July 2016)
  • APA Assessment Module (due to the appropriate dropbox at or before 0059 CDT on 25 July 2016)
  • Graded Discussions for Week 3 (to be completed at or before before 0059 CDT on 25 July 2016)

Please note that a template, sample, and rubric for the Research Proposal are available in the course shell. A similar assignment, albeit one for a different institution, is discussed here, with a sample here; review of the materials might provide a usefully divergent perspective on the kind of writing to be done.

A rubric for the APA Assessment Module may be found in the Doc Sharing folder in the course shell, as well as here: ENGL 135 APA Assessment Rubric. Please note, too, that the specific nature of the Assessment Module will preclude an example of it from being developed.

The class, which was observed by other faculty, met as scheduled, at 1800 in Rm. 111 of the DeVry San Antonio campus. The class roster listed 13 students enrolled, a decline of two since the last class meeting. Of them, eight attended, verified by a brief written exercise. Student participation was reasonably good. No students attended office hours.

About Additional Updates to My Teaching Life

I have received word about upcoming events relating to my teaching career. At DeVry University, I have been offered a section of ENGL 227: Professional Writing for the September 2016 session. At Schreiner University, I have been offered a section of ENGL 1301: Rhetoric & Composition and a section of ENGL 3333/THRE 3333: Shakespeare: Comedies & Sonnets (the class is cross-listed) for the Fall 2016 term. I have accepted the offers, which are in addition to the courses I had already been assigned.

Information on the courses is in development, but I thought it might be good to keep people abreast of what is going on with me as I move forward with the Instruction part of Elliott RWI.

An Update for DeVry

In class last night, a quirk in my assessment practices was identified. As such, I have revised my ENGL 135 Discussion assignment sheet; the new version is here: ENGL 135 Discussion Assignment Sheet Revision. It will be fully in force beginning with Week 3.

As a bridge-over, those students who had posted under the earlier stated deadline on Week 2 will receive full credit. Those who posted under the more common deadline on Week 2 will receive partial credit. It is my hope that the solution will read as equitable and allow for a better understanding moving forward.

Class Report: ENGL 135.60174, Advanced Composition–14 July 2016

After addressing questions from the previous class meeting and announcing ongoing activities, discussion reviewed materials from the end-of-class activity and treated student questions about the readings and written assignments for the week. Instructor remarks about them followed, as did notes about researching and related activities. Emphasized was the idea of research as the generation of new knowledge, rather than the recapitulation of old; research must begin with what is known, but it must move forward past it for any advancement to occur.

Students are reminded of the following assignments’ due dates:

  • Information Literacy Module (due to the appropriate dropbox at or before 0059 CDT on 18 July 2016)
  • Source Summary (due to the appropriate dropbox at or before 0059 CDT on 18 July 2016)
  • Graded Discussions for Week 2 (to be completed at or before before 0059 CDT on 18 July 2016)

A rubric for the Information Literacy Module appears here: ENGL 135 Information Literacy Rubric. The Information Literacy Module is described in the course syllabus, the article it references is that treated in the Source Summary assignment. Note that, due to the restrictive nature of the assignment, no sample will be provided.

Note that a sample of the Source Summary assignment is already provided in the course materials.

The class met as scheduled, at 1800 in Rm. 111 of the DeVry San Antonio campus. The class roster listed 15 students enrolled, a decline of one since the last class meeting. Of them, seven received credit for having attended, verified by both a sign-in sheet and a brief written exercise; an eight was present for part of the class but left before signing in or sending an email. Student participation was adequate and somewhat improved over the previous week. No students attended office hours.

Class Report: ENGL 135.60174, Advanced Composition–7 July 2016

Class discussion reiterated the instructor’s introduction and welcomed students to the course. Requested statements of University policies regarding late work and missed discussions were read aloud. Pre-existing questions about the readings not answered in online discussions were entertained, as were similar questions about assignments. Some additional remarks about both were offered. Basic concerns of argumentative writing and rhetoric received attention, as well, ensuring that students were given the opportunity to work from a common base of knowledge for the course. Some comments were made about email formatting, too, as were notes about technological difficulties.

Students are reminded of the following assignments’ due dates:

  • Topic Selection (due to the appropriate dropbox at or before 0059 CDT on 11 July 2016)
  • Graded Discussions for Week 1 (to be completed at or before before 0059 CDT on 11 July 2016)
  • Introduction Discussion (to be completed at or before 0059 CDT on 11 July 2016)

More advice about due dates is available here: >>click this link<<.

Please be sure to review discussion policies for the course, available here: ENGL 135 Discussion Assignment Sheet.

Additionally, Dr. Sarvis is offering an APA workshop at the San Antonio campus from 1000 to 1200 on 9 July 2016. Registration information is posted to the course discussions.

The class met as scheduled, at 1800 in Rm. 111 of the DeVry San Antonio campus. The class roster listed 16 students enrolled. Of them, eight attended, verified by both a sign-in sheet and a brief writing assignment. Student participation was adequate, although it is hoped that more students will speak up at greater length in coming weeks. No students attended office hours.

About Due Dates at DeVry

The thought occurs that a more concrete assertion of due dates is needed than has been provided. To rectify that problem, then, the following:

Discussions

Each week’s online discussions extend to 0059 on Monday of the next week. As such, the closing dates for each week’s graded discussions are

  • Week 1, 11 July 2016
  • Week 2, 18 July 2016
  • Week 3, 25 July 2016
  • Week 4, 1 August 2016
  • Week 5, 8 August 2016
  • Week 6, 15 August 2016
  • Week 7, 22 August 2016

Note that there are no graded discussions for Week 8. That does not mean there are no discussions that week, however; they should inform the Course Project Reflective Postscript.

Also, please do keep in mind the discussion requirements for the class, noted here: ENGL 135 Discussion Assignment Sheet.

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Course Project Components

The overall course project, culminating in the production of a conference-length paper, is broken down into a number of components. Such an additive model seeks to make the task of compiling a work that advances human knowledge less intimidating to those (relatively) new to it. Due dates for each part are noted below:

  • Topic Selection, 11 July 2016 at 0059
  • Information Literacy Module, 18 July 2016 at 0059
  • Source Summary, 18 July 2016 at 0059
  • APA Assessment Module, 25 July 2016 at 0059
  • Research Proposal, 25 July 2016 at 0059
  • Annotated Bibliography, 1 August 2016 at 0059
  • Course Project First Draft, 8 August 2016 at 0059
  • Course Project Second Draft, 15 August 2016 at 0059
  • Course Project Final Draft, 22 August 2016 at 0059
  • Course Project Reflective Postscript, end of class time on 25 August 2016 (class time will be given to completion of the assignment and to course evaluations)

Yes, multiple assignments are due at the same time. No, it is not necessary to turn them in at the time noted; earlier submission is encouraged (but be sure the assignment is done, and done well), and early commencement of work on the course project is strongly encouraged. And as far as grading goes…when multiple assignments are due at the same time, the assignments worth more of the grade will be graded first. (Some of my comments about grading, here, will be relevant.)

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I hope the information helps, and I look forward to seeing what my students present.