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

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

See the class agenda here.

Assignment for Wednesday, November 15th:

Please post a specific rationale for your research project that exaplains the following things:

1. What is your argument. Take some time to explain it in some detail, highlighting what, in particular,  your research paper will be examining
2. What do you expect to discover given your research thus far.
3. Summarize at least two articles, books, websites, etc. that you have used as primary sources.  What do they contribute to your research? How will you be using them to make your argument?
4. What else do you need to do?  What elements of this paper are still not clear to you?

Please post your responses to the above questions in your blog by 4:00 pm on Wednesday.

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.

Please encourage your students to enter papers written for their 2006 UMW classes in the Writing Intensive Program’s sixteenth annual writing contest. Although the deadline for entering the contest is several months away, February 7, 2007, students may submit their papers this semester.

Attached is the entry form, which includes a  description of the contest. The form is available in the Writing Center, Trinkle 107A or online here.

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!)

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.

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