Comments about the debate?

I am interested in hearing what people have to say about the different types of argumentative styles used in the debate--what did you notice? What was effective? What was ineffective? The _way_ in which the candidates have been trying to persuade the American people is especially interesting to me...What do you think?

--Melissa

The verdict is in...many of you like blogging, some don't (and other thoughts)

Hey, everyone,

Well, the verdict is in. After 5 classes where I got to hear your presentations about blogging and talking to you about blogging, I have the impression that many of you like the experience of blogging. However, some of you don't like the experience, which makes me feel somewhat sad, but I think that it is a writing experience where we all can learn a lot from each other and (hopefully) that learning can bleed over into our 1301 and 1302 classes. Of course, there are students like Imran, who seems to feel conflicted about blogging--saying that he didn't like the experience in class, but writing in class that he enjoyed the experience. I don't know if students like him feel like he has to say something to make me feel better, or if he secretly likes the writing experience. (Oh no--perhaps he is a closet writer and just doesn't know it! :) Then, there are other students who thought it shouldn't be a English class experience, like Sarik, but who also seemed to have gotten things out of the experience. (Maybe it is possible that students like him think that the only learning about writing can come from writing essays?)

Anyway, I wanted to share what _I_ learned from the experience:

1) Blogging is an interesting writing experience because it provides a true egalitarian (spelling?), decentralized, non-authoritarian conversation. In other words, I can't control this writing environment, and many of you seemed to appreciate this. Often, in writing classrooms, theorists talk about resistance, where students "resist" the authority of the professor. However, this environment seems to overcome this resistance, by placing the ultimate control over writing in the hands of you students. This makes this writing experience, perhaps, a safer learning community where all of you feel more open to share...perhaps more open than you do in the classroom. Hopefully, when you feel more comfortable with each other and with me, you will be more open to learning and writing. Of course, one student brought up the point that he didn't feel comfortable sharing private information in a public forum, which brings me to lesson number 2.

2) I learned that blogging is an interesting writing experience because it is a public forum. It is interesting to see students play with their voice, styles of writing, etc, while struggling with the concept of audience. Some students seemed to be aware of the difficulty of addressing an audience in what is ultimately a private journalling manner. In other words, many of you had to make tough decisions of what to share and what to hold back. I had that same tough decision to make--how candid I wanted to be. Michael brought up the point that he wasn't sure what audience he was addressing. On face value, we are addressing each other in a classroom environment, but also, we are addressing the whole world. This is obvious in the number of "lurkers," i.e. random people not enrolled in our classes, who have been reading/responding to our posts, both on my own blog, and on your own blogs. I am not sure if students were fully aware of how public this writing environment is, but it certainly is more public than simply writing a paper and me being the only reader, or only a couple of peers reading what you wrote. This leads me to the third lesson:

3)A public writing environment is beneficial to students because it allows students to see different styles of writings of other students. Kim realized that students now-a-days are perhaps more deep in their thoughts than when she was in college "back in the day," before she recently came back to school. Sarik pointed out that he never really gets to know how other students write when you only get to write essays.

4) Another lesson I learned from blogging is that being candid and open with students can help with rapport and help me and students feel more comfortable with each other (this is related to lesson 1). It is good for students to recognize me as being human, and for me to be reminded that students are human too. Writing is fundementally a human activity, and only when we recognize each other's humanity can we truly understand and care about each other. I would argue that caring is a prerequisite for learning and teaching.

5) Blogging allows certain students to go beyond their distaste of writing and see a fuzzier division between personal writing and academic writing. For instance, Morgan, who has made it clear how much she dislikes academic writing, wrote beautiful writing that could easily be translated into academic writing. Other students did the same--using blogging as a place to make strong, insightful and persuasive "freewrites" that could be easily translated into essays. Perhaps, like freewriting, blogging simply gets our brains working--and makes it easier to translate our thoughts onto paper. It was also good that this is a conversation, because students got feedback on their thoughts. I also got feedback on my thoughts, which, in turn, helps me clarify my own writing.

So--those are some of the things I learned from the experience. I might assign another lab that involves blogging this semester--however, if I do this, I will have a mini-tutorial session to make sure all the anti-bloggers (who often seemed to be anti-bloggers due to technical difficulties) can actually get on and blog.

Cheers,
Melissa

What's your blog address?

Hey, guys. I would like to read everyone's blogs, and make it where everyone can read your own blogs. So, please comment to this blog and tell us what your blog address is. I have read a lot of people's blogs, but am not sure if I have read everyones. So, posting your blog address will really help me and other people find you.

--Melissa
lissahoop.blogspot.com

Even John Kerry and George Bush Blog!

And you thought I made up blogging...George Bush and John Kerry have official "blogs" you might want to check out. The blogs have been up for awhile and you can see various reactions to the debate via these blogs. Did anyone notice that John Kerry mentioned his website in the debate? The internet is playing a big communication role in this election!

Here are their blogs:

http://www.georgebush.com/blog/
http://blog.johnkerry.com

And here is a site that has both blogs, side by side:

http://coollame.org/bushkerry.php

Debate Watch

Some of you are discussing politics and one of you (I think Fauzia?) talked about watching the debates...for all interested in the debates, there will be a debate watch here on campus that should be very interesting. Here are the details:

The CCCCD Center for Scholarly & Civic Engagement presents

DEBATE WATCH 2004

BUSH VS. KERRY

Do you know where the candidates stand on the
issues? Are you being heard?

Listen. Learn. Raise Your Voice. Vote Smart.

Presidential Debate #1: September 30, 7:30PM

Presidential Debate #3: October 13, 7:30PM

Spring Creek Campus Conference Center AA135, C+

Voter registration (Sept. 30), a straw poll, debate activities, a post-debate discussion moderated by CCCCD Professor Diana Sage, and media coverage. Refreshments will be served.

Worried about your blogging

Hey guys,

I am starting to worry for the people who haven't blogged yet--this is an assignment that is hard to leave to the last minute, since it involves so many steps. I am so happy to see the people who have posted on my own blog, but I am disappointed to see that many of those same people haven't created their own blog. Please remember, posting on my blog is only part of the assignment! You also need to post three of your own entries on your _own_ blog; also, you need to respond to three different people with one post to each person on their blog. So, far, I have seen only a few people set up their own blogs, and only one person so far that has posted to another person's blog (thanks Deena!). So, this totals 7 blog posts, in all. Of course, I might be a worrywart, and it will all work out by Monday--which I really hope it does because I will be having an evaluation done in one of my classes by my boss early next week, who I have bragged about this blog activity to...so I don't want to seem like a failure. And I might seem like a failure if a lot of people don't complete the assignment and thus have something to talk about on Monday and Tuesday. Also, less selfishly, I want to post to your guys' blogs, since you have said things on my blog I want to individually respond to, which I can't do if you don't set up your blogs!

On a more informal note: I am sick. My 1302 classes might have noticed that I had to cancel my classes today so I could go to the doctor. I figured that if I took one day off to get medicine then I could prevent having to take off more days...so, I have used my _own_ emergency absence this semester. :( Later in the semester, you all will have a sub in November, when I have to take my Ph.D. exams...however, I will let you know more about this later on. Anyway, back to being sick...I am blaming it on you guys! So many of you have come to class or my conferences with the sniffles. :) Really, something is going around...some kind of ick. My mother-in-law was sick last week (who is probably the person I got it from, in reality) and now my husband looks like he caught it from me. Now I am on icky antibiotics, from a secondary throat infection that came out of the cold I caught at the end of last week. The funny thing is that my throat doesn't hurt! It feels like I have an ear-ache. Now, I wish that I had had my tonsils out long ago, since it looks like it is my tonsils that are infected, which is what is giving me the illusion of an ear-ache.

Now, I am going to go eat some chicken noodle soup, feel sorry for myself, and hope that more people create blogs and post to eachother's blogs!

Melissa

Therapy for the Sane

Dear fellow bloggers re: work and school,

I appreciate all the comments you all made about the problems with dealing with work and school. Like I said in class, hearing the myriads of experiences helped me better understand the difficult choices that students have to make. I realize how lucky I was to not have work while I was in school, outside of the workstudy jobs that I had on campus. As Nina pointed out, it is a fallacy to generalize from your own experiences. I do think that some students overestimate the need to work, and perhaps don't prioritize school. I also think that some students work for other reasons than simply money, and don't neccessarily have the foresight to be able to balance their work with their school. Another thing that still worries me about the trend of students who work over twenty hours a week, and go to school, is that there is a lower-standard in terms of what is expected out of school. For instance, the rule of thumb is that each class should require one hour of homework for each credit hour--meaning that ideally you should be spending almost forty hours a week, just on homework, for each class. However, obviously if people are working over twenty hours a week plus going to school, they are not spending that much time doing homework. I, on the otherhand, did have that much homework while I was in college. I wonder if students are perhaps having to do less homework, or simply ending up spending less time on their homework. Either way, it makes me worry about the quality of education that students receive while they go to school, compared to the quality of education that I received.

What do you think?

Melissa

Increasing Trend: Students who work

I have noticed a trend in my students, something I did not encounter at UTA or during my own college experience: Students who work 30-40 hours a week, usually in jobs that pay no more than eight dollars an hour. I think I find this amazing, first of all, because it is an experience I do not share...in college, I did work summer jobs and had a work-study job, but my living expenses were part of my tuition. Now, my tuition at Scripps, where I went, was over 27K a year. My parents did not contribute anything at the time to my college expenses, and so I received a lot of scholarships and a number of school loans to cover my tuition and living expenses. Cell-phones weren't common, and the main expense I had to pay for was my car, which I paid no more than $150 dollars a month for, insurance and payments. So, I could easily work 20 hours a week at five dollars an hour, and have extra spending money. Also, I never missed class because of my work schedule...I missed classes because I was sick, lazy, or didn't do the homework, and suffered the consequences for it. But, I am discovering the common trend of students working real jobs (albeit, many have low-paying, unskilled jobs) while they go to college, supposedly to pay for living expenses (although many students do live at home), cell-phones (I don't even have a cellphone!), cars (cheap used cars seem to be anthema to many college students--and don't even mention public transportation!), money to eat out, etc. The idea of students waiting to have a job _after_ college seems to be unknown, for the most part, for many community college students. What is even more amazing is that Collin County is a community college in a very upper-middle class area, where you would think the students would be able to depend on their parents to help them out through college! However, this seems not to be the case. What I wish students who choose to work would realize is that:

1) It is really discouraging to professors to hear from their students that work schedules dictates school schedules, and so many students cut class for work purposes and often see their work as more important than school. Professors will not make allowances because you work so many hours, and are too tired to study, or don't have enough time!

2) Financial aid, including federal work study jobs that pay as much as "real jobs," is available to pay for or offset the expenses of going to school.

3) Sacrifice is possible...you don't have to have the life-style you grew accustomed to while in high school...there are reasons that ramen noodles are so inexpensive!

4) If you work hard in college, actually get a degree, and perhaps postpone material things while in college, your earning potential will be much more in the long-run.

5) Insurance might be available through your parent's plans if you are a full-time student AND there are school insurances available that are low-cost.

6) If you work many hours a week, you miss out on the cultural and social activities that are available while you are in college.

7) It is hard to study and get good grades when you work a full-time job; if you study hard and get good grades, this increases your possibility of getting a scholarship when you transfer, and saves money in the long run!

I wonder if students know all the above when they decide to work so many hours? Do parents encourage their children to work while in college? Does anybody discuss with you your options before you enroll in college?

Obviously, there are students who have to work--those who are raising families, or going back to school later in life; however, I see too many students funding expenses, such as cars and cell-phones, that could be post-poned and aren't as neccessary as students think.

What do you think?

Melissa

Another English professor's blog at Collin County...

You might want to check out the blog of a colleague of mine. He is also using the blog in his classroom...

rhetorblog.blogspot.com

Freetime...what do you do with it?

Hi, all,

This is my first semester teaching that I actually have free time, which is amazing, because I am teaching more classes than I ever have had to! I might have mentioned this before in class, but this is my first semester teaching at Collin County after teaching at UT Arlington for almost five years. I was also working on my Ph.D. there, and with my own classes I was taking and teaching, helping to take care of my three year old step-son, very little money (this is the first job I will be making more than 1300 dollars a month!), getting married, buying a house and then moving, and being pregnant and then losing my daughter to SIDS, this is the first time I have the money, time or energy to do fun things! Now, my husband and I are secure in our marriage and starting to feel happy again after months of grieving, our step-son is able to play by himself (sort of) when he visits us, and we can afford to splurge _a little bit_, even though we still have to be careful because we are still catching up on various bills. So, this means I am open to suggestions of fun things to do. We live in downtown Dallas and I take the train to work, so we have been doing things around that area or that can be gotten to by the train. For instance, we are looking forward to the State Fair, and I have been watching tons of movies (just recently saw two good movies: Monsoon Wedding and Beautiful Mind), and reading some good books (most recently "Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold and Margaret Mead's biography). But, I am open to suggestions for fun things to do. Of course, I know that you guys might have less time for fun things now that you are in college, but maybe I can do the fun things you don't have time for, and report about them to you guys. :)

Keep writing,
Melissa