Blog Details

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I WRITE ON MY BLOG?

This course requires you to write weekly on your blog. I won’t specify past that; if you want to write on your blog five times a week, even better. I won’t be grading on the number of times you write, but your thoughtful attempt to create interesting, context-specific posts. Sometimes I will ask you to answer specific questions, write on particular topics, or expand on an in-class writing exercise. When this happens, these writings will also be factored into your weekly points along with your usual writing.

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?

Your writing should have two emphases, although I won’t stop you if you want to log on to say “Go Colts!” or tell us about something that happened during breakfast:

1. Writing: Share comments, questions, and discoveries about your writing and the writings of others. This includes writing inside and outside of this course. Consider audience, rhetorical situation, context, place, language, tone, style, punctuation, and diction always acceptable topics. Where you write, why you write what you write, and how you write are of particular interest. This might be the only time in your life you have a rapt audience when discussing semi-colon use.
2. Research: This is also a place to log information and reflect on your discoveries about your community as you go through the research process. Write about your community; write about your research: successes, failures, problems, questions. Remember that our blogs are public, so treat sensitive information—specific names, for example—delicately.

Third but unofficially, your blog is a place to reflect on how class is going for you: big class, small groups, assignments, etc (remembering, of course, who reads your blog). Any question, topic, or issue raised in class is good fodder for blog writing.

HOW WILL MY BLOG BE GRADED?

You will receive a blog grade of up to 10 points each week, which will be averaged into a 90-80-70-60 grading scale at the end of the semester. You will not be graded on your writing as a craft; instead, you will be graded on your thoughtful fulfillment of the blog assignments. I will assign blog points on Friday afternoons, and you can find them under “My Grades” on blackboard. Any weekend blog posts will be considered part of the coming week.

If you have a concern about a weekly grade, please contact me immediately. However, I consider your points points to be earned, however informally. So please, please, don’t ask why I “took off” points. You don’t begin with a 10 each week; you begin with 0.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE?

Thanks for asking. You will also be required to read and respond to your classmates blogs on a regular basis. By regular, I mean weekly. Again, how you interpret this is up to you. I will ask you to respond to certain entries, but outside of these requested responses, blog surf at will.