In-Class Work

Tuesday, February 24

 

Today you’re on your own. Paul Formisano will provide computer support. Please be sure to return computers—turned off—to Paul at the end of the period.

 

While You’re Waiting . . .

FIRST: Someone make a list on the board of blogs that need people to participate in their polls.

SECOND: Sign on to be a FOLLOWER of every blog in your group—no exceptions.

 

THIRD: Think about your prep for today: You prepared for today by observing yourself as commenter, a hugely important kind of writing. You have examined your personal commenting history and made note of your best comments--those that demonstrated intellectual engagement with a given blog’s content and that worked to “shape” the blog. Then, with this self-knowledge, you demonstrated to your group-mates just what a high excellence commenter you are by posting really fine comments to each blog.

 

Task 1 (30-35 minutes): Making Sense of Comments Together

Go through ALL comments on the blog I’ve assigned you to read below. Now write a short paragraph (on your machine) telling the blogger/author what his or her community wants to see happen. This should take some careful thought; you’re not just copying and pasting in and listing all the comments you see.  Instead, you are abstracting—making a much more general assessment of how this blog’s readers are engaged or are trying to become engaged.

 

Then come back together as an entire group. Everyone is familiar with everyone’s blog—so everyone can contribute to the assessment. The group task is to provide a blueprint for how each blogger might proceed from here on out. This blueprint should/may/can/will lead to a sound research agenda. Blog authors: Take good notes. You’ll be asked to flesh out this blueprint.

 

Wait! What if a given blog has insufficient comments? What if you’re the person assigned to that insufficiently-commented blog?  Then you’ll need to BE the commenter for now and you can complain very loudly about it to your group-mates. (Read through the blog and do the job others have not, as time permits.)

 

What to do with these words now and later?

  1. Save them (now)
  2. Share in group discussion (now--see below)
  3. Go home and work on your abstraction (later)
  4. Re-craft your insights as a constructive comment—post to the blog under scrutiny (later)

 

Red Team

Wendy: Read Five-O-Fresh (Justin)

Jamie: Read Means of Persuasion (Lindsay)

Lindsay: Read One For My Baby (Wendy)

Justin: Read ThirtySomething Gamers (Jamie).

 

Lady Lobos

Alex: Read A Penny for Your Thoughts (Regan)

Regan: Read LiteraryCinema (Shannon)

Shannon: Read Kung Foo Dad (Alex)

 

Green Chilie/s

Geoff: Read Sports on Both Sides of the Pond (Joe)

Matt: Read Verde in the Burque (Lori)

Joe: Read Committed to Celluloid (Matt)

Victor: Read Beerology 101 (Geoff)

Lori: Read New Mexican Taste Buds (Victor)

 

Bloggers

Nathan: Read Inconsistent Beauty (Sam)

Sam: Read Cryptomnesia (Shay)

Sergio: Read Change the Change (Nathan)

Shay: Read Independent Financial Freedom (Sergio)

 

 

Task 2# Post Titles

  1. Turn to the Huff Post Guide pp. 191-219—a selection of what editors consider their best posts. Read the TITLES ONLY. Together (all group members) write a one-sentence instruction for How to Write a Good Post Title. SAVE IT.
  2. Now go through the post titles on your assigned blog (the one you’re reading—see above). Select TWO—one “best” post title and another “not so good” post title.
  3. Come together as a group. Share best titles and say why. Rewrite the “not so good” ones—as a group. SAVE THESE.

 

Task # 3 Editing and Blog Tending (If There’s Time, Get Started)

 

Pick one or two of your own posts; find the edit post function in Blogger. Edit. This means fixing links, re-sizing images, correcting grammar and misspellings, improving the verbal style; framing a link or video more carefully.

 

Common issues across all your blogs:

--You link to an article or video but do not tell readers anything about what they’re going to see and why you want them to watch.  “Cool” is not a sufficient framing device. 

--You link to an article but do not really comment on it. “This article is about cats” is not enough; instead take a clip (a quotation)—get it up front—and talk about it.

--You’ve committed sloppy writing (the verbal); restyle your prose.

--Cite your sources! (see my individual comments on blogger protocols)

--Update your profile. Some of you are still “following” people’s practice blogs and not their real blogs.  

--Check that all links are working.

--Do a readability check. A good many of you have background/font relationships that are considered very hard to read. Experiment with changes and ask group mates about readability.

--Lean on group-mates to help you correct oddities in your banners or other areas. If you don’t have an html/css expert in your group, at least note what needs fixing.

--For your most recent posts, make sure you are giving readers strong incentives to comment. Check other blogs for ideas.