Writer, Professor, and Everything Else
I’m pleased to announce my first entry into “film making,” this eight and a half minute flick, “The Celebration of Student Writing: The Movie.” This was a ton of fun to make, and I think it’s ultimately going to be useful too. I’m obviously biased, but I think it does a pretty good job of showing what the CSW is all about.
Anyway, watch and enjoy:
Here’s one of those “build it on the web and they will come” kinda stories:
Buried in the mountain of email I’ve received at the end of the semester from all quarters was a message from the web site editor of Preservation Online, which part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She was requesting a photograph I took of the University of Michigan football stadium, aka, “The Big House.” My first thought was “what is she talking about?” My second thought– and I emailed her about this– was she must be referring to this picture:
Well, it turns out that I did take a couple of other pictures, including this one inside the stadium:
Anyway, the link to the Preservation Online article that features my photo is here. As long as “published” doesn’t mean “paid,” I’ve got another credit to add to my name.
Hmm, maybe on my CV?
From a resource called “All Headline News” comes this story, “Scottish School Forces Students To Use Fountain Pens.” There’s not much really there beyond the headline of the story (other than the students claim to like using fountain pens), but I thought it was worth linking to in my ongoing collection of links about handwriting and penmanship. I am beginning to sense a different sabbatical project….
Another one of those things to think about for my teaching: “Students, teachers give high scores to online writing assessments,” which comes from some sort of southern Connecticut newspaper group– the Hartford Advocate? The Hartford Courant? I’m not sure…
Anyway, here’s a passage from the opening:
In Connecticut, schools in Bristol, Glastonbury, Windsor, New Fairfield, Killingly and Stonington received state grants last year to try the technology. East Haven also has a pilot program.
The online assessment tools, which are accessed by subscription, analyze a student’s writing sample to point out potential problems in organization, grammar, sentence complexity and other issues.
The technology doesn’t replace teachers, however, because computers cannot provide subjective feedback on skills such as analysis, creativity and interpretation.
However, many educators say the programs are a helpful tool that offer the kind of individual attention often not available in crowded classrooms.
Now, every time some sort of electronic grading tool is brought up among a bunch of composition teachers, especially in places like the WPA-L electronic mailing list, people go freakin’ nuts. And certainly I understand that it isn’t really possible to separate “content” and “mechanics” easily, that these tools can be easily misused, and they generally don’t work as well as the makers of the software often claim.
But if these tools are being used like this, if they are being used to help students deal with “mechanics,” and if they can help ease the workload of grading papers (and let’s face it, the worst part of teaching is grading), well, why not?
Via Collin’s blog, I found out about Reconstruction, 6.4 (2006), a special issue of the journal on blogging. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I am sure that I will soon enough.
Actually, I haven’t had much time to read much of anything or do anything as of late. Or so it seems. There are two reasons for this. First, I am easily distracted. I had intended to get up and exercise this morning (someone ought to use the treadmill we have!), but I was almost immediately distracted by an email a friend of mine sent me about the Tuscan Milk phenomenon. I blogged about it on my unofficial blog, but I suppose I could have written about it as an “internets trend” here, too.
Second, life/work keeps interrupting me. For example, in my role as the accidental WPA, I am going to a previously unplanned meeting this morning with some of the folks in the new EMU Student Center, where we will be having our annual (well, once a semester– would that be bi-annual?) semester “Celebration of Student Writing.” This is the first time we’ve had this event, which attracts around 1000-1500 people, in the new student center, and it appears that there are some, um, “new rules” that have to be sorted out.
Anyway, I guess what I need to do is stop being distracted by my computer and just exercise, dammit, and I think I need to build in research/scholarship time into my schedule and stick to it. Dammit.
Who says that hypertext stories are all like “difficult listening music” and made only for adults? From my wife (who found it in a mailing list that discusses children’s literature) comes “Inanimate Alice.” I’ve only seen/experienced the first one on China, but I am looking forward to playing with the other installments soon. Definitely a good thing to include for English 516 and/or English 444.
I had seen this about a week ago, but I got another email reminding me about it today:
The Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 1.
I’ve had a unit (off and on) in English 516 where we talk about sites like this, and as I start thinking more about planning the online version of 516 I’m going to teach in the winter, this site makes me think it’d be a cool thing to include. If nothing else, the layout is neato.
From 43 folders, this advice on “hacking” your way out of writer’s block. I especially like the idea about “vacuuming your lungs.” I came across this via jill/text.
Normally, I try to stay away from posting things here that are overtly political, though I have to say that I do agree with the sentiments that Neil Young is expressing in his song “Let’s Impeach the President” and his album Living With War. And I like Neil Young well enough.
But I just thought that this video for the song “Let’s Impeach the President” was really brilliant. It just does a really good job of parodying/imitating the genre, of mixing words and images and sounds, of reporting research data, etc. It’d be great to show students in FY Comp– well, except maybe the politics would stir things up too much…. Or maybe that would be a good thing.
Here it is also available via YouTube:
It’s another November, and that means it’s another National Novel Writing Month, another month where I am unlikely to write a novel. Oh, well…. Actually, I think this is a great idea, but the problem I (and nearly every other academic I know) is that November is a pretty crazy month as far as work goes.
Anyway, I have two thoughts for now. First, it’s worthwhile checking out this site once in a while since they have some interesting stories about people participating in NaNoWriMo. Second, I have recommended to graduate students stuck on their final projects the book about all this written by the founder of this “dare,” Chris Baty, No Plot, No Problem. Baty is of course talking about fiction writing, but I have to say I admire so many of his techniques for just “getting it down” on a page (or, I suppose, a screen) that are in this book. Stuck on a writing project? Buy this book.
In the meantime, check out the site.