The Assignment Link for Week Fifteen is Now Active

This is the last week of learning. Where has the semester gone.

After reading the assignments for the week, make sure to write and ask any remaining questions.

Steve

Examples of effective portfolios and reflective cover essays for ENG 241.

Examples of effective portfolios and reflective cover letter/essays from ENG 241.

Note, I wanted to get these up sooner rather than later, and it's the first time I've offered example portfolios to students; so, I have yet to any commentary as to what you'll find with each example. Some are full portfolios. Some are only the reflective cover essay. Almost all are examples of "A" level work. I'll try to provide some annotation by early next week.

In addition to the link above, I've added a link to the example page in this week's assignments. Look under: "Reading for the Week."

As always, write with questions.

Steve

Examples of Effective ENG 111 Course Portfolios

I have posted this link in this week's assignments, but here it is another time.  Remember, suspenders and belt are best insurance.

I am looking for examples for ENG 241; but, so far, I've only found a few, and I wanted to give you as much lead time as possible. 

As always, write with any questions.

Steve

Assignment Links for Week Fourteen Are Active.

As always, write with questions.

Steve

I will post assignments for the coming week tomorrow, Wednesday, 20 April.

Cloud Computing and the Constitution

Since we recently discussed how the Constitution continues to get interpreted and how important it is that common citizens stay informed and involved, I thought I'd share a recent piece which crossed my inbox on cloud computing and new threats to freedom of speech.  In case you are wondering, you are now among the 64% of Americans using a cloud based net application.  If for no other reason, this is true because you are using blogger:

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/04/the-constitutional-issues-raised-by-cloud-computing.html#posts

Steve

Extra credit history events in Richmond today, Saturday, 17 April

A few folks have either stopped by my office or emailed about ways to bring up a class participation grade which might be suffering or to earn a few more points to move a "B" to an "A."  My advice, as always, is to ask questions, so I can help you do your best in the course and to look to the extra-credit page.

I build in the extra credit because in an online course there are some teaching objectives it's hard to reach without it.  From your SDV course, some of you know you are kenisteitc learners, that is, you're more likely to learn and retain information if you absorb through physical experiences linked to the learning.  Visiting the Capital  Jefferson designed and 14th and Cary, where he argued Virginia into accepting the "Statue for Religious Freedom," can help folks learn about the time period, the authors, and the lit we've read in ways I can't hope to mirror through reading and writing assignments alone.

Today's a good day to earn up to five points extra-credit towards your final grade.  Today Richmond celebrates its history, especially as tied to the Civil War.  :Seventeen locations have open doors today, and they're free--today only.  There's also a host of special programming from Segway and Canal Boat rides to talks about slavery and African American labor in Richmond industries.  Places from the John Marshall house to the Maggie Walker house will be open for business.  You could do much worst than touring a few spots, like Brown Island on a Segway, on a nice Spring day and get half a letter grade boost toward your learning.

Here's the link:

http://futureofrichmondspast.org/events/april17/Civil-War-Emancipation-Day-schedule.pdf

Here's what you need to do to earn the extra credit.  Visist two or more of the sites and events over the course of the day.  Take pictures.  Write up a review in which you connect the sites and events to the reading for the course, tell your classmates if you liked what you saw, and then tell us a little about your visit.  That's it--a few paragraphs, a good day connecting the reading you've been doing to the place you live, and a couple of pictures.

Enjoy.

Steve

The Assignment Link for Week Thirteen Is Now Active

Thanks to those who wrote to ask about my father.  My brohter called yesterday.  My father is in the last stages of Alzheimer, and he is at the stage where his body is shutting down, he's only conscious once in awhile, and he's forgetting how to swallow.  The family made the decision yesterday to discontinue his IV and to let him go ahead a die.  It's time.  Hospice and my mother's church are there for the rest of the family, but--as you can guess--the immediacy of the problem and the effects on the family presented a difficult day.  Sometime over the next couple of weeks, I'll be taking of to go down and say good-bye, attend the funeral, and to be there for my family.  We have no way of knowing when this will be.

I'll keep you in the loop, but if I stopped teaching right now, you've learned more than most any other of my sections of ENG 241.  Your main job over the next weeks is to finish a first rate portfolio, so I can give you the high grade you've earned.

This week we'll touch on New England and the Puritans, then we'll jump to the Virginia colonies and settlement.  That will be the last reading for the course.  I'll leave you a full week to work on your portfolio, but you should begin now, as it's not a project to be rushed.

Steve

Posting the assignments for the week will be delayed by a day.

I heard some bad news about my father this afternoon, and dealing with it has put me behind in polishing and activating this week's assignments.  I'll post them tomorrow.  Here's the short version:

Reading:

Read Mary's Rowlandson's captivity narrative.  She's found in the section on New England fairly early on.  The captivity narrative is the story of her going through an Indian raid and the captivity of her and her family during King Phillip's War.  In all likelihood, you've never heard of the war, but it killed more per capita than any war in which the US or US colonies were involved before or since.  One out out every eleven people in the MA colony was killed.  Think about this number.

Writing:

Start updating your mid-term cover essay to become your portfolio cover essay.  As you do, make sure you have solid claims to make about what you have learned in the course and can point to one or--preferably--more pieces of evidence--mainly from your blog and class discussion--to demonstrate and discuss this learning.  I'm not just interesting in what you've learned and in your performance in the course, I'm much more interested in how you learned what you learned and--most important--how you see it affecting you now and in the future.  Remember, not all you've learned has come from the reading.  If the semester has gone well, you've learned a lot from the constellation of thinking, discussion, and writing which surrounds this reading, and not all of it will be "book learning."

In any event, as pre-writing start reviewing the material you've produced in the course and connecting these with claims you can make about what you've learned.

Sorry to be late with posting the work for the week.  My father is dying, and right now, my family needs me more than y'all need to know what to do tomorrow.

Steve

The basic lesson of the Enlightenment Section of the Course

Good job to everyone this week.  I always enjoy learning on the week where students share hard won advice.  


I hope many of you recognized the joy which comes from sharing your hard gained wisdom, and you also discovered that American discourse was built upon the willingness and usefulness of the many to share their wisdom and learn from their fellow citizens.  


It's one thing to say, "every man is created equal." It's another to learn that every person IS created equal, and every person is worth listening to and is someone from whom you can learn.  


Too often today, we reserve our learning and listening only to "experts," and we forget the basic lesson of the Enlightenment and the new democracy, namely, you can learn from and trust the common person to be wise.  Each has wisdom and a viewpoint which is worth going out of your way to listen to.  The recognition that everyone has wisdom to share is the basis of trusting the people with the final say in government and is, ultimately, the basis of our society.  It is also the basic lesson of this section of the class.  


Everyone is a potential Franklin.  Everyone has something to contribute.  The main task of our society is getting out of the way of everyone and creating chances at opportunity and free speech, so society at large and you individually can benefit from this immense pool of wisdom and talent.  This was the lesson which Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, and Henry gambled their lives, liberty, and sacred honor to teach the world.  Ultimately, to be an American citizen you have to be willing to say your say, but you also must respect your fellow citizens enough to learn to listen to them and trust them.  


Take care, and--as always--write with questions,


Steve

The Assignment Links for Week Twelve Are Now Active

This week you'll read and listen about the wide range of religious belief in America.  In particular, I've concentrated the reading on the religios beliefs of the founders in the personas of Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Franklin, and I've also concentrated on the Great Awakening--a period of intense religious ferver which preceded the Revolution.  


The Great Awakening is represented by a sermon by Jonathan Edwards and a podcast on George Whitfield.  You can think of these last two as the rock stars of their age.  Woman fainted when they spoke.  Men of good judgment (Franklin Autobiography)  gave all they had to charity.  Remember Franklin's going to hear a preacher and first decding to give him the copper coins in his pocket but ending up giving all he had--including the gold?  That was Whitfiled to whom Franklin was listening.

You'll also get to hear Enlightenment's take on Christian Religion.  These will come in the form of Jefferson's "Statue for Religious Freedom" and Tom Paine's "Profession of Faith" in his Age of Reason.  The founders took religion seriously, and many placed great value on the role it played in encouraging civil debate and discussion.  For some, like Jefferson, religious discussion--a subject we usually avoid in modern America--acted as a means through which each individual could weed out superstition from true belief.  If you want to get a handle on just how differently many founders viewed Christianity, google "The Jefferson Bible."

Your blog post for the week will have you writing your own profession of faith--a la Paine, and a discussion thread will have you attempting to track down religious believes you--as a class--share in common. This last discussion should give you some idea of the problem religious diversity was to the founders.  How do you bring together colonies, many of whom had state sanctioned religions?  As you read, listen, and write this week, begin thinking of the "Right to Religious Freedom" and "separation of church and state" as brilliant solutions of building a shared sense of political nationalism among diverse states and people.

As always, write with questions.

Steve  

John Brown Exhibit Extra Credit

Just in case you find yourself looking for something to do over the Easter weekend, the Virginia Historical Society on Boulevard is doing an exhibit on John Brown's raid.  It's a long running exhibit, so visiting isn't limited to Easter weekend. This exhibit is about the man behind the raid on Harper's Ferry.  You read about the raid in one of  Thoreau's essay, and the raid was the event leading up to the song "John Brown's Body," which you also read.  You may be more familiar with the harmony for the song as "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."  It can also be well argued that without John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, the Civil War may not have happened.

The way you receive extra credit for this or any of the other extra-credit trips is to take a picture(s) of yourself at the exhibit and post it to your blog.  Along with the picture, write a short review of it for other students, with emphasis on what you learned pertaining to the course or the literature we've read.   Remember, you get extra extra credit, if you make one of the field trips with one or more people from the class.  These extra credit trips and virtual filed trips are a good way to make up missed class participation points, that is, if you've been less than diligent in participating in class or committee discussions or you've been late with assignments.  

The John Brown exhibit field trip will be worth 3 points toward your final grade.  

Steve