UPDATE: 09.03.09

1) We previously viewed the below video in class and briefly discussed how it can be understood through the lens of rhetoric, composition, design, and advocacy as discussed in CDA:

As such, for your second blog post of the semester you will write a 300-500 response to the above clip, employing the terms and concepts from the textbook (e.g. purpose, audience, context, medium, strategies, arrangements, ethos, pathos, logos, etc.). Obviously, you cannot cover everything we have read, so select one or two concepts that you most connected with and address them appropriately. In addition to the word count, you must include 2 hyperlinks, and embed the Web 2.0 video. DUE: September 7, 2009 @ 7:00PM.

3) Your third blog post will, in fact, not be a post at all, but a "Link List" of your fellow classmates. To accomplish this task, enter the "Layout" menu and click on "Add a Gadget." Once you enter the sub-menu, click on "Link List." You can add individual student blogs by opening the main ENGL 151 blog in a separate window, then clicking on student names in the sidebar. This action should take you to each others' specific blogs. Simply, cut-and-paste the URL into the "Link List" dialogue box and your finished. Note: To receive the full point, make sure the list is both a) fully functional and b) in alphabetical order. DUE: September 7, 2009 @ 7:00PM.

4) Read CDA chapter 7, pages 181-221. In class next week, we will begin discussing in detail the past few chapters Make sure you are caught up on reading and prepared to discuss your insights.

Blog Post 1: Quotation on Writing

"One of the obligations of the writer is to say or sing all that he or she can, to deal with as much of the world as becomes possible to him or her in language." -Denise Levertov

WRITING: For your first blog post of the semester, you will incorporate a quote, image, and two hyperlinks into a 300-500 word response that reflects upon the quotation about writing you chose in class today. Be sure to incorporate the language from Compose, Design, Advocate into your post when appropriate (i.e. purpose, audience, context, communities, futures, argument, rhetoric, etc.). What about the particular quote you chose interested you? Did you agree, or disagree with what was written? Why or why not? What are some of the practical ramifications of the quote and how does it manifests itself in your writing or the writing of others. DUE: Thursday, September 3, 2009. Remember, if you don't email me your blog URL, you will not receive a grade for this post.

UPDATE: 09.01.09

Below are your homework assignments for the evening:

1) Write a 300-500 word post that reflects upon the quotation about writing you chose in class today. Be sure to incorporate the language from Compose, Design, Advocate into your post when appropriate (i.e. purpose, audience, context, communities, futures, argument, rhetoric, etc.). Save but do not publish the post. We will continue working on it in class Thursday.

2) In the body of an email, send me the URL to your blog at unlengl@gmail.com. The SUBJECT line of the email should be your first and last name as you want it to appear on the main blog site.

3) In CDA, please read chapter 2, pages 42-47, chapter 4, pages 79-96.

UPDATE: 08.31.09

There was a time when the teaching of writing resembled something similar to the video below:


In some instances, surely, instructors still explain writing in this manner: a teacher in front of a blackboard diagramming the intricate minutia of a sentence. But, for the most part, our contemporary context for writing has altered dramatically. Merely understanding the relative positions of particular grammatical-formations has shifted to a focus on global and procedural issues, as well as pragmatic usage. Or stated in other words, nowadays the teaching of writing primarily concerns itself with the writing process' recursive nature (a non-linear cycle of invention, drafting, and revision) and its ability to communicate so as to positively affect our futures. While this alteration of focus does not preclude grammar, it certainly does not situate it as a primary concern.

But the swerve from sentence level constructs to global-level issues does not encompass the totality of changes brought on by today's contexts. Writers of all types (whether they be students, teachers, journalists, business persons, copy-editors, travel writers, etc.) must now consider, adapt, operate proficiently in, and experiment with the possibilities of digital and online environments. Take for instance the below video:


As you saw, the video begins with a disembodied hand writing a seemingly simple statement about texts on a piece of white paper, then erasing and revising. Afterward, we are taken on a whirl-wind of visual stimuli that begins with hyperlinking, flows into HTML coding, XML coding, blogs, search engines, etc. No doubt, it can all be a bit overwhelming, especially given the rapid pace at which we are supposed to ingest the information.

While you are by no means required to comprehend everything we just watched, I do hope you come away with an understanding that writing in the digital age is both different, powerful, and necessary. With the creation of your blogs in class today, it is my hope that we can take that first step into producing texts that harness the capabilities of these new contexts, yet simultaneously grounds such advancement in the tried-and-true concepts of both rhetoric and argument. Certainly, as with any new material, there will be some technical and conceptual difficulties that we will need to overcome as a class, but these should be nothing we cannot deal with as a group and individually. Good luck and have fun.