OVERVIEW: In 1890, two weeks before two students, Ryder and Howe, were set to graduate, a series of events unfolded that got them expelled from what was then called Bridgewater State Normal School. Included here and on the syllabus are a series of letters between faculty, the then president of the school (Boyden--called Principal Boyden at the time), community members who fought on behalf of the two young women, and a letter from one of the women themselves to a faculty member who voted for their expulsion. Also, included here are excerpts from images from the original letters as well. 

Read through the letters and take a peak at these letters in all their 1890 glory. You may struggle a little with the language--because people spoke and wrote very differently then--but I think you'll get the gist of it. 

DETAILS ABOUT WHAT TO POST
In your Reader's Notes, try to identify ways that this situation, while seemingly feeling like something that would never happen today, feels familiar. What would be the 2020 version of this kind of scandal at BSU? Can you imagine anything like this happening on our campus today? And how would it go down? What does it say about how things have changed or not changed in terms of how the role and place of women in our society? 

Remember, you have 250-300 words. You can do this. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes,assignment page. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end. ​

OVERVIEW: Included here (and on the syllabus) is a pic of the 1924 Bridgewater Normal School (you know it as your very own BSU). 

DETAILS
1. READ THE CREED. It will take you all of five minutes. It's the lightest and easiest reading you'll have to do all semester. 

2. THINK: Once you've read the creed, consider what it seems to be saying about what was expected, in 1924, of Bridgewater students. Secondly, think about what you think you know about Bridgewater students today--or at the very least what you know about yourself as a new Bridgewater student. How do you measure up? 

3. POST:  What you thought about in #2. What did the school seem to value in student behavior in 1924?Do those values seem like good ones to have?  What do you think the school values in student behavior today? How do you think the student "code of conduct" would be different in 2020--nearly 100 years later? 

Remember, you have 250-300 words. You can do this. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes,assignment page. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end. 

The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar is a story told using archives. What the main characters in this (true) story learn about their own lives comes from looking at the past. The past is documented in letters, pictures, newspaper clippings, and oral histories. That's the kind of stuff that makes up an archive. 

For this set of Reader's Notes, I want you to tell me two things: 1) tell me all the different documents that the granddaughter uses to learn things about Bobby Dunbar, the kidnapping, and her family. She talks to actual people, but I'm interested right now in you telling me about all the things that aren't people. Be specific. Don't just say she uses papers. Point to specific moments and documents from the podcast. 

Then 2) tell me how searching around in the past affected the present lives of the people in the story. Here, again, try not to talk in a cliche. Try to look seriously as the effects of the past on the people still alive today. 

Remember, you have 250-300 words. You can do this. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes, assignment page. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end. 

For our first official set of Reader's Notes, you must first listen to the "Wonder Woman" segment of the "Super Powers" episode of the radio program This American Life.​ You can access that podcast from the syllabus.

NOTE: you don't need to listen to the entire hour long podcast, just the Wonder Woman episode.  

Once you've listened to the podcast, review the general requirements of what to do for Reader's Notes. Then post, below, your 300 words, in keeping with the requirements of the assignments, AND, consider what we've been talking about makes a good piece of writing about another person: the details, the facts, the information about that person (evidence) prove what it is the writer wants us to know and believe about the person (thesis). So, in "Wonder Woman," what are all of the things that we learn about the person who is the focus of the story, Zora, from the author Kelly McEvers? And then, what is the big idea--the thesis--the thing that the author want us, ultimately, to understand about Zora? 

WARNING: Remember what I said about not writing in cliches. It would be easy, in this story, to come up with a cliche, but I'm telling you ahead of time, Zora and her story are more complicated than it might seem.

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end. 

BROCCOLI, READER'S NOTES, AND PARTNER PROFILE MINI-PAPER
Today in class, as it said on the syllabus, you should have read the short essay about Dr. Ed Brush, professor of Chemistry here at BSU. As you will have perhaps noticed, I wrote that piece. it's an example of a profile, and an example (though a longer version of it) of your first assignment for the semester, The Partner Interview Mini-paper. 

For today, we are focusing on how to successfully write a set of Reader's Notes. We'll go over the assignment in class, but, essentially, for every reading we have in class, you'll need to post BEFORE CLASS your Reader's Notes for whatever we watch, read, listen to, etc. 

FOR TODAY'S CLASS: As we talked about in class today, there are two kinds of information that make up a profile. There is the actual information about the person. And then there is what the author decides it means. In your small group, you discussed both of these two parts of the essay. Please post a short summary of what you discussed by "commenting" or "replying" to this post (see below for full directions). This counts as a first reading journal, even if you aren't super detailed or even right. It counts as long as you post it. If you don't post it. It counts as a "U" and you can't revise it. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end.