PLEASE NOTE, THE NEW POLICY FOR READER'S NOTES: For the rest of the semester, you will be responsible for reading, listening, watching whatever the assigned material is on your own time outside of class (this will take you anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour). You should take notes in your in-class writing google.doc to help you remember what you read/watch/listen to. 

Here is a sample of my notes from the Rosa Parks TED Talk: 

Then, in-class, you will write and post to the discussion board. I am making this work due in-class to improve your collective chances at learning how to write about what you are asked to read in a class--I want the focus to be on the learning and not on wether or not you do the assignment. I hope you will see this as the opportunity it is and take advantage of it. 

And, keep in mind, the cookie deal is still on the table, even with the new policy. 

FOR IN-CLASS ON WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2020: Dr. Andy Holman continues as a Professor of History at BSU. For many years, he also served as coach to the BSU hockey team--which is a club sport at BSU. Make note of how Holman uses the history of the sport (the archival information), stories about the current (current at the time) team, and his own perspective on both to write his essay. This is essentially what you are being asked to do for your archival ethnography of BSU. 

For today's post, please write about 1) the archival material that Dr. Holman uses 2) the stories he tells about the current team experience and 3) what he learns from both about what it means to be a student/athlete at BSU. Finally, how does reading Dr Holman's experience help you to think about what to write about in your own paper? 

OVERVIEW: The point of doing our Reader's Notes in class today is twofold. 1) I want to show folks how to do them so they feel more confident when they do it on their own--including how much time it actually takes to do this work and what you have to do to prepare to do them well and 2) I want to make a connection between this TED talk on Rosa Parks and what we are doing with the BSU archives. 

DETAILS:  Remember that Reader's Notesare 250 words. For roughly 100-125 words, write a detailed summary of the TED TALK.Make sure that, as we've been saying, you've included the most important details and enough of them for use in your analysis. For roughly 100-125 words, try to answer this question: Why does the author, Dr. Ikard, want us to think about how Rosa Parks's story gets told incorrectly--why is the story we think we know about Parks so different from the real story? And why does it matter that we correct it? Remember that to answer these questions you must use the summary you've worked on to prove it--so you want to draw on the facts of the TED talk to prove your analysis of the talk. That's the relationship between thesis and evidence that we need to think about as a reader and as writer. 

If you can complete these two parts, you will have written a successful set of Reader's Notes

​But I have one more question:  connect this to the paper we are about to write about Bridgewater? What is the story you think you know about this school--it's reputation--and what is learning about the history telling you about the school? And why does it matter to perhaps correct the perception of Bridgewater. If you answer this part of the prompt, it will earn you one free set of Reader's Notes. That can help you if you have a lot to make up and it will give those of you who have posted all of them a day when you don't have to do an upcoming assignment. 

OVERVIEW: The reading for today's class, Mixed Blood Stew, is a memoir--nonfiction, a true story--of the author's search to understand who she is as a mixed-race person in white-dominant culture. She explores her relationship with her mother as well as with her grandmother in various memories she has of each of them (as well as other relatives). The way these memories are codified in the essay are by considering archival material.

DETAILS: For this set of Reader's Notes, first, please try to identify what those archives are. I'm using that term broadly, so don't freak out if can't immediately see all of them. Don't worry if you aren't sure. Take a guess. And 2) try to tell me what the author wants us to understand about race--in her own life and in her mother's and the other family in her life. Try to connect what the author is trying to make you understand (the thesis) through the evidence she gives us (the archives).

Don't worry if you aren't at 250 words. 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.  But, no matter what, post what you come up with and we'll work together in class to get to the full 250 words.

REMEMBER: I can't help you get better at this if I don't see work to begin with. 

​Can't find the essay on the syllabus? Here is a copy: