First ENGL 301 Q&A discussion board: questions about syllabus, policies, etc.

5/26/2020

I would like for us to get into the habit as functioning as a community of practice. One way to do that is to post questions about the course--any kind of question--to a common space so that we can all benefit from the ask and from the answer.

If one person has a question, most likely others have it. And, admittedly, I'd rather answer the same question once rather than 13 times.

You may have weeks where you don't have any questions, and that's fine, but this space will be available to you every week just in case. I will check it as frequently as I can and answer as promptly as I can. Of course, if you have a question that you would prefer not to ask in this shared space, you should still email me privately to fill me in on your situation. This is a space for more general and less personal issues.

FOR THIS FIRST WEEK: Once you've done a read of the policies and syllabus for this course, post a question that you have about what you saw there or other questions related to our five weeks together that you don't feel like you have the answer to just yet.

23 Comments

Hannah Dziadyk

5/26/2020 02:56:19 pm

For the interview with a teacher will we be assigned a BSU alumni to interview or are we going to be assigned to a BSU alumni?

5/26/2020 03:18:11 pm

Hi Hannah! That was fast. Actually, these folks will be either invited guests to a shared synchronous class and students will get to meet them live OR , if you can't make the synchronous session, you will watch the recorded interview on your own time. I'm enlisting the the help of 5 to 8 BSU alums for the project so you don't have to worry about locating an interviewee for the project.

Brianna Walsh

5/26/2020 05:07:20 pm

Is the book club something that we would do as well? If so would we be doing that in our groups or choose independently the book we want to read?

5/26/2020 06:36:17 pm

The book club is a project that will run during the last three weeks of the summer. More information will be forthcoming on our website once I adapt the assignment for an online experience, however, basically, in the small online groups that we are trying to arrange, you'll talk about the books. That's one part of the project. You'll also keep an informal journal--sort of like an in-class writing, but not, obviously, in-class. As part of the final portfolio, you'll reflect on the experience and the relationship between reading and writing that you see.

Ali Nolan

5/26/2020 05:24:01 pm

You're really clear cut with your expectations and what is required of us, thank you for that! You mentioned you had never imagined transferring this class to an online format, I can't imagine how rough that must have been. My question is how can we make this transition from face-to-face to online easier for you?

5/26/2020 06:27:45 pm

Wow. No one has asked me that! Thank you. Well, I guess be patient with me. I'll be honest: I'm working with an ATP student this summer and, right now, I'm in the middle of organizing the reading and placement of the incoming first year class into first year writing. Which is a lot. So I might not always be as quick as you need me to be. But I'll do right by you, I promise. And any mistakes I make will not affect your grade. If I think of other stuff, I'll reach out. I like to problem solve with my students rather than for them.

Lydia Theriault

5/27/2020 05:50:46 am

Hello Dr. Torda! Hi everyone!

So the book Lives on The Boundary, is not the book club book we will be reading but a separate one assigned later?

5/27/2020 12:52:51 pm

Correct. Lives on the Boundary is not the book club book. But we will be reading all of Lives. I'd like for the class to pick the book club book with my guidance.

Fiona Bell

5/27/2020 08:17:27 am

Hi Dr. Torda,
I read through the syllabus and don't really have any questions because you laid it all out very nicely. I figured I'd toss you a broad question instead: what are some tips you have for doing well in your class? (is there anything you look for/anything you want us to avoid etc etc)
Thank you!!!

5/27/2020 01:00:04 pm

Hi Fiona--

Well, be authentic. I hate bad group discussions (in-class) and I hate dumb discussion board posts. The "Oh, I totally agree with you" kinds of posts. I like real talk. I'll try my best to make it possible to say smart things, and I just hope students try to be game about class--be into it.

The other thing I would say is just do the work and don't panic. I'm a super easy grader--I'll have more to say about that as the summer goes on. Grades mess everything up. I want people to learn stuff. And I know that if you do the things I'm asking you to do, you'll learn stuff and, thus, will earn a good grade. I ask people to earn their grade by doing a lot of smaller things instead of asking them to do one or two really big things. So it can feel overwhelming--I get that. I also get that I'm often asking you to do things you haven't been asked to do before--so you don't have a formula. And I know that can be unnerving. And here we are at the beginning of the strangest summer of the strangest year on record and you might not trust me. But, I'm telling you, trust me. Give the class some honest good effort, don't panic if you don't feel like you are doing exactly what you think I want you to do, and trust that it will work out. Because it will.

Lindsay Vo

5/27/2020 01:16:54 pm

Hi everyone! I am so excited to start this course. The only question I have is in regards to the book club. Which books would you suggest?

5/28/2020 08:56:17 am

This will be a discussion we have in class. I will give you some recommendations, but your small group will need to decide. The point of book club is to think about how reading supports writing and how writing supports reading--how writing about a text helps you to understand it. And so if you pick a book that is too easy, you won't get as much out of this project as you could. If you think about it, our students struggle as readers of texts that we, as teachers, don't struggle with. So, for book club, we want to select texts that will challenge us the way books we assign in our future classrooms would challenge our students. Again, this will be a great conversation in our class next week (not this week. We are doing other things in class this week).

Paige Couture

5/27/2020 03:09:44 pm

Hi everyone!

I really love the idea that Dr. Torda is using a website for the class, instead of just using blackboard. I've never had a professor that taught through a website, at least to the point where we can communicate with each other on it. I'm also thankful for this class, because teaching and writing are my favorite hobbies. How did you think about creating this type of class (unless it was made by BSU)? What captured your attention about it enough to want to teach it? This would be the type of course I would want to teach.

5/28/2020 08:53:16 am

I've been teaching this class almost since I started at BSU. That was 20 years ago and, frankly, at the time, I was a little overwhelmed by it because I was not a high school teacher. I had to learn a lot fast. The class has evolved over time. And, honestly, I'm quite proud of it--and the teachers it has helped to shape, some of whom you'll get to meet as part of the interview project. As for the teaching website, I've done this for years--since I first learned how to create a website in graduate school. It helps to make all the information easily available to students at any time (your dog can't eat a web page) and, also, it's keeps me organized during the semester. And it's an archive. All of my courses--all assignments, policies, readings, etc--are saved in the cloud that houses this website. And my website is much prettier than stupid blackboard. I like for my website to be aesthetically pleasing.

Maddie Butkus

5/27/2020 08:51:04 pm

Hey everyone!
One question that I have is for the interviews, if we do them on a call, would you want us to come up with specific questions to ask? Or just kind of see where the conversation goes?

5/28/2020 08:39:05 am

Hi Maddie--

This is actually one of the things we'll talk about in our zoom meetings today. As small group, you'll come up with questions. Then I'll share the questions in a discussion board and, as a class, you'll come up with a list of 5 to 7 questions that all of our interviewees will answer. I've lined up a wide range of BSU alum teachers and they will be joining us for different zoom time slots. I'll record them and post them to our website as we go. Folks will be able to use any of the archives to complete their assignment. More complete info on the interview assignment will be available on our website shortly.

alexa parham

5/27/2020 08:58:58 pm

hello,
I am a bit stressed, overall (not with just your class, with my other class too - its my senior seminar). So, just to be clear - there will be further information coming on the website about teh book club right?

And, how often will we be doing the journal passages?

Thank you!!

5/27/2020 09:00:53 pm

also, when will we be doing the interviews? you will be assigning us with someone correct?
and, will their be guided questions or will we just be talking with them?

5/28/2020 08:46:00 am

I think if you scroll through this discussion you'll see I've answered this. These interviews are not one-on-one. We will interview them live in our online class as a small group. I'll archive those interviews that folks don't get to watch live and post them to our website. Then you'll be able to complete the assignment, by the end of the five weeks, using the interviews you select.

Again, complete information will be available shortly. It's tough to try to have every assignment worked out before I really understand what people are available for (both you and the folks we are interviewing). You'll have all this information by Tuesday of next week.

5/28/2020 08:42:27 am

Hi Alexa--

There will be more information coming about book club shortly. And we'll spend at least one class meeting talking about it as well. The reading journals, which will be posted to discussion boards, will happen twice a week--once for our Tuesday class and once for our Thursday class. That will be made clear in the syllabus.

One small note: now that I have a better sense about when folks can meet, I'm probably going to alter the deadlines for when posts are due during the next four weeks.

But, seriously, don't panic. I'll coach you through it, and, also, as will become clear, the syllabus will have live links to everything you'll need to do the assignments. Promise.

Kaylee Tavares

5/28/2020 09:06:08 am

Hi,
I am interested in the assignments in which our class will be asked to provide feedback on student work. I am curious where you get the examples of student work and what age group they are typically from. Thank you!

Matt Erti

5/28/2020 11:54:23 am

Hey,

I am really excited to take this class and I have to applaud Dr. Torda for having a website just for the course instead of using blackboard. One big concern I've had for the course is that in the first email you sent us, you mentioned that the purpose of the class is to have us "leave the course feeling you have an good idea of how to think about your role as a writing teacher in the ELA classroom". Are there still other learning opportunities in this class for someone who doesn't plan on becoming a writing teacher?

Megan LeBlanc

5/28/2020 02:20:01 pm

After reading through the syllabus and attending the Zoom meeting today, I don't have any questions just yet!

First ENGL 301 Q&A discussion board: questions about syllabus, policies, etc.

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Summer 2020 ENGL 301

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