The Sounds of Silence

Must be the end of the semester. It's awfully quiet around here.

With the End in Sight, Thoughts on Next Semester

I think one of my primary coping mechanisms for end-of-the-semester burnout and craziness is to start thinking about the next semester--what I'll do better, what I'll do new, what I'll undoubtedly end up doing the same (though Aunt Joanna's tonic sounds promising, too). Somehow, the paper grind at the end and its accompanying disappointment as I discover how many students just didn't get "there" is easier to deal with if i fantasize about the future. So, I've been thinking about the fall and some of things I'm looking forward to doing, like teaching Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Diana Son's Stop Kiss. But mostly I've been thinking about whether or not to blog in the classroom, and if so, in what manner--individual student blogs, group blogs, a community blog, etc.

There's been a lot of talk recently--much of which I haven't fully read yet from lack of time--about whether blogging is best for what we do here: connect as academics who teach in a particular discipline. As someone who started blogging because it looked like a great classroom tool but then became a blogger for its own sake, I have to admit that I'm leaning toward that philosophy--that blogging works best in spaces like these. But am I right?

I want you guys to help me decide whether to use blogs in the fall, so I'm asking. Who intends to blog in the classroom in their next semester and in what form? And why?

Call for Materials Re: Visual Rhetoric

Please note the following request from Kathleen Hardiman at Red Rocks Community College:

I'm currently working on a website project as part of a technology-related Fellowship and I'm in the process of collecting material related to visual rhetoric (aka visual literacy) exercises. This website will be a useful portal offering resources in writing, literature, and creative writing geared toward community college instructors.

If you have any exercises that bring visual or popular culture into your classroom, I'd love to add them to my growing archive. These can be handouts, worksheets, or just ideas that have proved successful.

Please email any exercises to hardiman@colorado.edu. Many thanks!!

The Research Paper

In what course(s), if any, do you teach "the research paper," and how exactly do you define that term?