Class Blog
Due on the day of the reading assignment, each reading assignment will be accompanied by a student-written blog post. The class will be divided into groups, with the groups evenly splitting the reading assignment load. Each group will post their analysis by 8am that morning so that the rest of the class can read their post before class.
Requirements: 400-500 words. Every member must contribute to the reading and writing of the post. The post will cover three main points: 1-short summary of the reading. 2-sample application of the reading. 3- Three to five questions about the reading.
Our class blog is hosted on persuasivewriting17.ning.com. You will need to sign in to access it.
Groups for Class Blog:
- Group 1: Ryan, Sereen, Dustin
- Group 2: Kasse, Hailey, Sarah M.
- Group 3: Ma’ila, Jessica, Yuji
- Group 4: Austin, Evan, Katie
- Group 5: Sarah K., Daniel, Joshua
- Group 6: Jordan, Cristina, AJ
- Group 7: Katrina, Rachel, Amanda
- Group 8: McKenzie, Matthew, Katherine
Personal Blog
You will maintain your own personal blog over the course of the entire semester. You get to pick what the audience, the topic, and pretty much everything else about it–however, the blog must have a clearly defined audience and some sort of persuasive intent. Argument 3 will draw from your work on your personal blog.
You will post a minimum of 10 posts over the course of the semester. Each post must be at least 200 words long.
You should also comment on at least 4 classmate’s blogs per week.
Ideas for types of blog posts: analyzing a source or argument related to your topic; presenting your argument on an aspect of the subject; responding to a main counterargument about the issue; defining key terms; giving new application to something; connecting to current events; describing the progress of something; etc.
Twitter Modification (Feb. 16, 2010):
All of you that have done the specified number of tweets per week have received full credit for Twitter so far.
Due to the many things you’re responsible for in this class, the Twitter assignment will be wrapping up early. (That does not mean you should stop using it, as it can be a valuable rhetorical tools—just that you will no longer be graded for using it.)
You’ve got two last weeks in which you’re required to use Twitter (2/15-2/20 and 2/22-27).
To get the rest of the Twitter points, this is what you need to do:
- Do 10 tweets per week, as per the traditional assignment.
- Follow 10 more people talking about your subject matter/are part of your target community.
- Engage in 3 conversations about your subject area with people not in the class. This should be back-and-forth…. Perhaps someone (not in the class) tweets about something and then you @ reply to engage in a conversation. Don’t try to engage twitter accounts like NPR, CNN, or other automated feeds—try to engage with real people who will respond to you.
- On Monday, March 1st, bring a 1 paragraph reflection on the twitter assignment to class. This should include the list of 10 additional users you followed, a copy-pasted version of the 3 Twitter conversations, and a general reflection of what you learned about persuasion through the Twitter assignment, what worked well about the assignment, and what could be improved in the assignment.
The Original Assignment:
Twitter helps students create connections with the teacher, with their peers in the class, and with experts in their field of research. We will experiment with Twitter this semester, regularly discussing what is working and what is a waste of time.
- Establish a presence in an area of interest, related to the topic of your blog.
- Broadcast your work, thoughts, insights, research, etc.
- Follow individuals engaged in the same discussions you are, and contribute to the conversation.
- Follow your classmates so you can see what they are working on and comment on their blog posts.
The details:
Each week, each individual will be required to post
> 3 tweets regarding your topic
> 1 tweet advertising your blog post
> 3 @replies (here’s a good Twitter crash course)
>10 tweets, total, per week (those listed above plus however many you need to get to 10).
Note: This assignment will be graded weekly. Do not fall behind. This is a good portion of your grade. It’s easy and simple and you can do it from your phone or your computer.
Our class on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kathycowley/engl312
New Media Plan
A short write-up describing your plan for the personal blog and for twitter over the course of the semester. This should include details about when your going to post the blog, what blog posts will consist of, use of images, hyperlinks, etc. in the blog, how you plan to integrate twitter with the blog, details on your audience, and a justification of why the new media you’re going to create deserves to exist.
New Media Plan Samples:
