English 102 at Ashland

  Monday, March 30, will be Library Day. We will meet in the Archer Library, and a member of the library staff will conduct the class. I wanted this to be earlier, but we had schedule conflicts, so now this is showing up pretty late in the research process. To get the most from the day, I am going to encourage you to arrive with specific questions about doing the research for this paper. If you think of a question earlier, so much the better. If you email the question to me, I will forward it to the library staff person.

It is an awkward research paper writing schedule to be sure—navigating around Easter Break and URCA and a library visit that got pushed too late because they have other obligations. Even though I warned in class that I was going to change things, I don’t see any real advantages (and a lot of disadvantages) to modifying the schedule. We will end up doing some things (the thesis exercise, for example) well before we need them, but I think it will work anyhow. So the original Blackboard schedule and syllabus will be the plan

The list below is an attempt to adapt the research schedule from the Research Papers for Dummies website to our Ashland schedule. (Personal note: This kind of project always drives me a little crazy because every semester ends with chaos. In the Fall, we have to navigate around Thanksgiving Break; in the Spring it’s Easter.) I used the “Five-week plan” version, but I had some challenges, mainly because of Easter and because the library visit couldn’t be scheduled any earlier. Some of the in-class exercises do not quite fit because of calendar problems as well, and as I write this (March 19), I see that a few of the in-class exercises will need to move around a bit. I am assuming you will work through Sunday (sorry about that) but not through Easter Break. Probably home with family. Here goes: Selecting a topic (includes preliminary reading) — March 16 – 22 Conducting research (finding and evaluating sources, note taking) —...

Beginning this week, we will do a brief computer tutorial at the start of every Wednesday class. I am doing this for several reasons. The first is that about three or four students per section really do not know what they are doing, and they blunder along, struggling to do even the most basic tasks. Second, many of you never had any real computer teaching, partly because your high school teachers didn’t know this stuff either, and partly because of the myth that any kid who could work Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok had learned it all. (And, to be honest, many high schools function under the delusion that in the future nobody will write anything anyhow.) And third, there is always something new to learn, even for experts. I recently showed a colleague who was writing a PhD dissertation a quick, easy formatting trick for his References page. He had years of experience, but had never seen that one. Personal note here: I have been around the computer worl...

This material isn’t my attempt to write the assignments I gave you; rather, it’s my reflection on the authors and (to be honest) some of the thoughts which your papers generated. Alex Myers Generally I’m on the same page as all of you: almost everyone pointed out that there really are a lot of good men out there. Myers reflects on growing up in a “safe environment: a small Maine town with loving parents.” I have to wonder just what Papa Myers was like. Did he make lascivious comments about women’s bodies? That wouldn’t fit with the “safe environment” comment—I suspect that Alex did know at least one good man. I find myself wondering just what part of manhood Alex was yearning for before the transition. When I think of an ideal man, I think of mental strength, fairness, and a willingness to do what is right even if the act involves personal cost. That’s why we think of “real men” doing things such as joining the military or volunteering as fire fi...

Back during Covid, I used the Blogger software to keep people rolling and to give a sense of community to the classroom. Over the last couple of days, I’ve been working on my fall courses, and that led me to rethink how this thing can help us, so I’ve decided to make a few changes in our course. The main change is that the blog will now contain a lot more of the lecture material. This should open up some time for in-class writing and should also help those who cannot be with us for a class session. I am trying to move away from the classroom model which says, “You sit there and listen to me talking.” A second change is that you will see links in Blackboard to specific blog items (similar to the link which led you here today). One more bonus point is that all these blog items have a way to post a comment, so you have a direct path to asking questions or starting a conversation.

 American football is a brutal sport, and at least a quarter of my students play on AU teams. (A number probably played in high school too, but don't play in college.) I have had quite a number of students who suffered life-changing knee injuries and concussions. Other injuries are common too, but cracked ribs and broken arms do not seem to have the same potential for long-term disabilities. Just how common are concussions and knee injuries? Is anything being done to make the sport safer? What are the long-term prospects for kids who have suffered these things? (Some injuries may not seem to cause trouble until much later. My friend Bob played in high school and college, but did not need both knees replaced until he was in his 50s.) These are probably two different papers: head injuries and knee injuries. They really do not occur in the same way and I am sure the prevention and treatment would be very different as well.