Rackin' up the Nerd Points! or, How I Spent the Last Week of my Summer Vacation

Paul McGann as the nearly forgotten
 8th Doctor.  Q:  Who played the Master?

This blog is for my English 102 class.  I saw the assignment in the course syllabus on Blackboard, so I thought I'd try to get it set up.  I'm not sure what we will be writing about here, but at the moment I'm still processing the last week.  My older sister, Rebbie (short for Rebecca.  Don't call her Becky!), and I have been spending a lot more time together since our mom died a few months ago, and she has been taking/dragging me to many places I never thought of going before:  a renaissance fair, her cosplay group (I will never tell what they did to me, so don't ask), a comic book swap-meet (MiniMiniConMadness--I bought a couple of old She-Hulks for my dad; he used to be a fan, he says, but he still is), just to name a few that will probably make you think that Reb is a nerd princess (we went other places, too).  She isn't, but even if she were, there's nothing wrong with that!  She has a couple of friends who are heavily into it.  Her main sf/fantasy interest after Dracula is -- wait for it!---Dr. Who.  I confess, I like Dr. Who, too, but I'm pretty much on the fringes of the fan culture. I don't really have a main interest in this area. 

Tonight we're going with her Whovian pals (yes, I speak some Who) to see the season premiere of Dr. Who (which we already watched on tv last night) at a theater in Woodridge.  BBCAmerica was running old episodes non-stop all this last week, and we saw most of them.  Rebbie says she is going to give me a test later.  I'm ready-- the answer to the question under the picture above is Eric Roberts.        

To my First Year Comp Colleagues: The Ongoing Pedagogy Project

(note:  Rhonda will be back later today)

Those of you who have been following this blog are already aware that my goal here is both to provide a sample for my 101 and 102 students and to present a method for creating a realistic research paper assignment, i.e. one that is representative of actual assignments in college courses.  If you haven't read the initial material, there are links above.
Since my department is shifting to new textbooks this term (Ruszkiewicz, John J. and Jay T. Dolmage.  How to Write Anything:  A Guide and a Reference with Readings.  2^nd ed.  Boston:  Bedford/St. Martins, 2012, and  Ruszkiewicz, John J.  A Reader’s Guide to College Writing.  Boston:  Bedford/St. Martins, 2014), this seems like a good time for a brief progress report.  Over the past few years, the most obvious result has been a decrease in students dropping the course, which has been my greatest encouragement.  In addition, the problems I've seen students having are the same ones we all see every semester:  writing issues, difficulty with time management, critical thinking skills that aren't yet up to the material, etc (here in Illinois, high schools apparently focus primarily on 5-paragraph essays, with the result that many students can't immediately grasp the reality that those won't work at the college level:  for some, it's a kind of security blanket, and they resist the change).  All of these are college-readiness issues that should have been addressed before they enter our classrooms, but that doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon.  So, as far as the things I can control go, this project is producing a quantifiable benefit.
New versions of the assignments and critical model packet will be available shortly (links will be on the left).

Finally, my thanks to those who sent condolences after my mother's death.  I am very hopeful that the gaps in posts that have marked this year to date will not be necessary again.

And now, Rhonda is up next.  She is taking 102 this term, so if you need a 101 example,  use the Fall 2011 or 2012 entries.