English 242 Blog Assignment
Due: February 14th, March 1st, April 3rd, April 26th, May 8th at 1:00 pm (beginning of class)
Our Goals: Blogs are websites that many writers use as a journal of sorts, to regularly post their observations, reflections, and information for others to read and comment on. Blogs are interactive, and the best bloggers read and comment on other bloggers’ posts so a conversation ensues. Some have called blogs a democratic space; I suggest that it’s a space for critical thinking, with room for many vibrant voices and opinions. Writing for a blog makes your ideas public and makes your ideas part of the larger conversation on the topic at hand, in our case, “The American Indian in Film.” Writing for a blog also helps you develop your own voice, using semi-formal prose to capture readers’ interest and the express your ideas and emotions. You may include images and quotations, but make sure that you use MLA citation to document any material not your own.
Assignment:
As soon as possible: accept the invitation I sent to you to contribute to http://english242blog.blogspot.com/ You will need a Google Account (Gmail account) in order to do it, so you will need to set one up if you don’t already have one.
For the assigned dates (see above), you will write one blog entry on our class blog that applies your analysis to a film we will watch in class. Each individual blog should be 2-3 paragraphs long. Your blog should focus on key points of analysis you want to make about the characters, visual effects, themes, etc., of the film and avoid summary of the film (at all costs!). The point of this is to share your thoughts about the film with others who have already seen it. Please let me know if your Gmail identity/login is unrelated to your name, so I know under what name you are contributing.
Within a week of each blog post: You will also read others’ blogs and reply to one of them within a week’s time. Your reply should be in the “comments” section of their post, and should be several sentences long—about one solid paragraph. The response should expand, question, and/or connect your classmate’s post to other ideas, blogs, readings, films, or other in-class material.
Evaluation Criteria:
Successful blogs will:
1) Present insightful responses and analysis of the films in question.
2) Go beyond summary to bring your view of the film to a reader who is interested in the film’s significance.
3) Be well written in terms of clarity and grammar (it should be edited prose), though a semi-formal tone is appropriate in the blogosphere.
4) Be appropriate commentary that respects classmates: limit swearing and inappropriate language (unless you are commenting on the dialogue of the movie/literature itself); focus on conveying your ideas about the movie. Present any interpretive disagreements in respectful terms (we aren’t going to rant).
5) Be completed on time: initial posts due by class time on the course calendar and above; responses due within one week from initial post.
How to Blog:
1) If you are stumped, check out the questions/prompts on the blog that Dr. H. will provide as “discussion starters” for the class on each film.
2) Compose your blog in a word processing program (so you can check spelling, grammar, etc., and so you have a place where it is saved in case of technology problems).
3) Go to http://english242blog.blogspot.com/
4) Click on the orange blogger icon in the upper left-hand corner .
5) This should take you to the dashboard (which resembles something like this):
6) Click the orange pencil button next to the blog title.
7) This will create a new post:
8) Give your post a title in the “post title” box at the top.
9) Cut and paste your blog post from the word processing program. (I recommend “Saving” at this point—box at the top)
10) Be sure that it is clear to Dr. H./the rest of class who you are. (i.e., if your gmail account is “Dr.Evil@gmail.com”, you need to indicate your name somewhere so you can be graded.)
11) You can preview, add links, pictures, or video.
12) Click “publish.”
13) Be sure to “View Blog” to make sure it is there.
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