The First Round of Posts

Okay! So my class has posted their first blogs. We are actually getting ready to post our second batch, which will follow up (thematically) with the first posts. Take a look at BLOG PROMPT #2 to the right.

In the meantime, let me follow through on what I outlined below (Welcome to Pop Write World!)...

The Round-Up

In the first round, I was looking for first entries to exhibit passion about favorite pieces of popular culture. As luck would have it, everyone wrote about something different! The quality of the posts (lumped together) was pretty good-- though some relied too much on summary and didn't offer much passion. As my students work on their next posts, I am going to ask them to be both more passionate and more observant of grammar/mechanics rules! While most were not bogged down with grammatical flubs, some were harder to read than others, and more attention to detail (and spell/grammar checks!) will result in much better posts!

Here's are some highlights:

Technically speaking, Underage Sale Prohibited's The Things We Love hit closest to the mark. It's the right length, offers good insights, and is well written.

Narratively speaking, Myrtle Beach in the Fall over on The Best Blog? is pretty entertaining. Good passion and delivery (if a bit shaky on the start).

Finally, one of my favorite's is Yesterday, Today and Forever over on happy-myworld. It's not the most technically sound (problems with run-ons and fragments), but it's got the most passion of the bunch!

Keep an eye out for new posts soon!

The Posts Are Coming!

My ENG 111 J class has been tasked to write their first blog postings! These posts will be due (we'll see how well they deal with deadlines...) by midnight next Monday (Feb. 2). So, check back early next week to read the first round of posts. On the right-hand side of this page, you'll find the first prompt (BLOG PROMPT #1).

The idea behind the prompt: Basically, what I'm trying to do is get a dialogue started about the culture that surrounds us. We tend to become composites of the products that we consume. As such, we identify closely with the songs, movies, and television shows that we love, watch regularly, and even set up to DVR or TiVo.

So, as we begin this writing and social experiment, I thought it best to write from home.

The goal is to eventually move this personal writing into a more public space-- to take statements like "I love Bruce Springsteen!" and qualify them with solid, analytical, researched and organized writing. By the time we stop posting, my students should have enough writing generated to produce quality, documented essays!

In the mean time, I've offered my own response to the prompt as an example. It's not great writing, but it's a start. To view this post, scroll through BLOG ROLL - ENG 111 J and click on Teacher Man's World of Words.

A funny thing happened on the way to blogging...

Hello all!

Since I started using blogging in my writing courses, I've relied primarily on Google's Blogger as a platform. It's easy to set up, it links with other services (Yahoo!), and it's the platform that I chose when I started my personal blog (somewhere out there in the world of words, disengaged from my "professional" self!).

So, when I started this project (again)-- with a unique group of students working at a distance-- I didn't give much thought to the "platform" issue.

Turns out, though, we have a problem.

The computers that my National Guard students are relying on have security blocks that won't allow them to access Blogger! As such, I am moving their operation over to WordPress.com instead. A by-product of this move? I think I like WordPress more than Blogger!

If you'd like to find out why, take a look at the new hub site: Pop Write World On Word Press.

What you'll find there is a more robust "hub" site. I've added layers of pages that allow outside-of-Blackboard access to project details. If you're a visitor (and not a graded participant!), then feel free to peruse these materials to get a better understanding of what this Pop Write World thing is all about!

Welcome to Pop Write World!

(This site was used in a previous semester for a different class. Feel free to check the archives for past posts. For a better understanding of Pop Write World, take a look at And So It Begins... The first incarnation of this site-- and its posts-- can be found at Pop Write.)

And So It Begins... Again!

What you are viewing right now is the central blog site for a writing experiment. True, for the students posting here, it is not an experiment so much as a graded assignment, but since the nature of this project is fluid (as all communication is...), much of what we do here is uncharted territory!

How Does This Work?

Simple: This site is the hub for students in two expository writing classes at Davidson County Community College. From this site, you will be able to access over 75 student blogs!

Over the course of the spring 2009 semester, these students will be posting a variety of things based on topics and guidelines established by their instructor-- me. In addition to posting on their sites, they will be encouraged (er, required!) to read and comment on their classmates writings.

The end results should be very interesting!

Oh, and there's a twist! A significant portion of the student bloggers (one course) are in a deployed National Guard unit. These gentlemen will be posting from... somewhere else! Interestingly enough, in talking with their commander, I discovered that as long as they don't post information that is too specific, they have a surprising amount of freedom to write. I look forward to hearing what they have to say!

That leaves me: While my students post on their blogs, I will monitor from the hub. I will post prompts for their blogs here, and then I will link to a real-time blog roll (to the right of the page). That way, you can check in, see what's on the menu for the week and then peruse the postings at your leisure! I also hope to cull interesting blogs from the masses and offer them in a "This Week, This Now" post.

What Happens Next?

This week marks the beginning of the spring 2009 semester. Blogging will begin as soon as all of my students get their blogs set up-- and I give them their first prompt. That should happen sometime next week.

Until then...

Out Of This World

The point of my students' first blog postings was to "sell" their favorite pop culture to unbelievers. The point of their second postings was to partake in their classmates' loves-- to see if they could be sold. For number three, I wanted them to take a step outside the comfortable sphere of our class (and our immediate culture) and try something new.

I mentioned to my class that I wanted them to experience something uncomfortable. We watched an episode of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days series, one that made some of them uncomfortable. The point, of course, was to expose them to the guiding principle of a show "that dares to ask the question "Do we really know what it's like to see the world through our neighbors' eyes?" (Amazon.com).

I wanted my students to simply walk in the world outside of Davidson County and then write about it. I asked them to be open and honest, as always, but I made sure to reiterate that I didn't want incendiary writing that showed no growth. There blogs were to be about expanding their cultural horizons.

From Blog to Blog

Once the students in my class set up their blogs, and then posted their first entries, I turned the tables on them: After reading and commenting on each others favorite pieces of popular culture, I had them swap and review! While their classmates may not have been unbelievers, they were a good test audience. So, for their second round of postings, they each picked one to "buy." Everyone picked (or was assigned :) !) one movie, television show, etc. and had to watch it, listen to it, read it, or experience it.

After they had a chance to take in the culture, they back and re-read their classmates' blogs and made note of things they agreed with, disagreed with, or thought needed to be added. Then they started drafting for their next postings.

I stressed the need to make sure that their blogs were appropriate and in good taste.

The Things We Love

On our very first day of class, I required my students to respond to this prompt:

The editors of Entertainment Weekly are putting together a special issue focusing on "The Things We Love." The magazine is soliciting articles from readers about their favorite movies, television shows, musicians and songs, and books.

Take a few minutes to think about the things you love to watch, listen to, and read.

Then write an essay about your favorite thing.

Their responses (handwritten in 60 minutes or less with very little guidance) were the seeds of our Pop Write World experience. My intention was to have them take their initial writings and revise them into concise blog postings. These first postings would be our starting point for future blogs about the culture that shapes and guides us.

For their revisions, they had a little more guidance. I asked them to re-read their initial writings and ask questions (What did you do well? What would you change? What makes sense? What doesn't make sense?). I gave them a handout with some process clues (What's the thesis? What are your main points? Where are your "hooks"? Where do you go from here?).

I also reiterated the key point to the blog experience: Because their "audience" will be the great big blog-o-sphere, I want them to approach blogging as if they were selling their wares to skeptics.

This project is all about audience.

While working on their revisions, I had them each set up separate blogs, and then I connected them to this site.

Each blog is different; each blogger has attempted the tasks I've described here.

Take a look and see what you think!

Oh, and there will be more to come…