English 101

Tonight’s class agenda can be found here.

Update: As usual, if you have any questions or concerns, post them them in the comments of this post. I am currently online.

Once again, excellent work with the peer review.  I read through the essays as well as the comments and you all are really striking a nice balance between offering both  encouragement and a thoughtful critique.  Now, take the comments and work through a revision that will be due in the wiki next Monday, November 20th.

“See” you all tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. virtually, be sure to sign onto the blog at 6:00 pm.

Due Date: Monday, 11/13 by 6pm in the class wiki

Problem-posing education, according to Freire, “sets itself the task of demythologizing”; it “stimulates true reflection and action”; it allows students to be “engaged in inquiry and creative transformation.” These are grand and powerful phrases, and it is interesting to consider what they might mean if applied to the work to a course in reading and writing.

If the object for study were Freire’s essay, “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education,” what would Freire (or a teacher determined to adapt his practices) ask students to do with the essay? What writing assignment might he set for his students? Prepare that assignment, or a set of questions or guidelines or instructions (or whatever) that Freire might prepare for his class. Once you’ve prepared the writing assignment, write that essay that you think would best fulfill it. If you have any questions about this assignment, let me know in the comments.

10ad.org features two Absolut Vodka ads created by the Media Foundation, a Canadian Political group that publishes the magazine Adbusters.

Read up on the Media Foundation and Adbusters and let me know what you think their take on advertising is in relationship to what we have discussed thus far this semester (use the comments for your findings). You may also find some good resources for your research.

Finally, Krysta found a great video by Dove, you may want to take a look at it, if you haven’t already: Campaign for Real Beauty (this videos works quite well with many of the ideas we have been exploring, thanks Krysta!)

Virtual Class

See the class agenda here.

Assignment for Wednesday, November 1st:

Please post a rationale for your research project in your blog by 4:00 pm on Wednesday. I would like you to explain your reason for doing this research (why is it important?), what you expect to discover, and a list of resources you have consulted (or intend to consult) when researching your particular topic.

Update:

I have read through all the essays and the comments for each, and I just wanted to let those of you who “showed up” know that you did an excellent job of closely reading and critiquing your classmates work. The responses overall were sharp, honest, and encouraging. Bravo!

Now, there are three things I would ask of you as follow-up:

1. Share your candid feedback about this virtual class meeting -how did it feel to be reading and commenting on each other’s papers in a distributed, non-centralized manner?
2. I noticed some of you referred to the person whose paper you were reading in the third person. For example, “Johnny used Bordo and Douglas quite effectively in this paper …” This makes it almost appear as if you were writing the comments more for me than the author -why? Does this kind of online, distributed workshopping breed such impersonality? Or was this more a product of how I framed the assignment? I would like your responses to both the first and second questions above in the comments thread of this blog post.
3. You are now free to re-write your essays using the feedback you have received. The second draft will be due in the wiki no later than Friday, November 3rd.