in_class: September 2007 Archives

You will start working on this during class.

Any words I have mentioned in class or that you have encountered in your assigned readings are fair game for the quiz, but obviously if I have written my own definition and put it in the glossary, I feel it's extra important.

Recall the story about the UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have been visited by federal agents after he ordered a book through inter-library loan. The story hit all the right buttons with the student's professors (one of whom expressed worries that the feds were watching him) and journalists (who zealously guard First Amendment privileges, which seemed to be threatened when a student was harassed for wanting to read a book). As it happened, that story was full of holes and quickly fell apart. "The feds ate my homework" is just the kind of juicy story that will attract attention.

On Constitution Day, I thought we would look a little more at the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights, which guarantees five freedoms -- press, speech, religion, assembly, and petition.

The purpose of this entry is for all of us to practice creating a blog entry on our individual sites, in such a way as to create a link from the new page back to this page, and from this page back to the new page that comments on it.

Imagine if you read something in a book, then pulled out a piece of your own paper and jotted down a note about it.  Somebody else who came along and read the same book would never know that a piece of paper exists somewhere with your thoughts on it.

Blogging can seem lonely and pointless unless other people read and respond to what you have written. So follow these steps, and you'll draw more readers to your writing.

For each assignment that is marked in the daily course plan as an "assigned text" (or just "text" on the "Outline" page), follow these steps as part of your participation grade.

1. Read: Read the assigned text.
2. React: 24 hours before we discuss an assigned text in class, post your Agenda Item (a brief quote from the assigned reading, and a brief note explaining what you'd say when called on in class) posted to your blog, following the trackback procedure (see the "Help" page for the "Trackback Tutorial"). Even if you haven't finished the assigned reading yet, please do post your agenda item on time.)
3. Respond: Before class time, I'd like to see everyone post 2-4 comments on peer blogs, but our class is small enough that I think we should all follow each other's blogs.
4. Reflect: Bring to class a half-page reflection paper that mentions by name a student whose agenda item helped you notice or question something about the assigned reading. I encourage you to post that half-page reflection on your blog, but doing so is optional. (Your upcoming portfolio assignments will ask you to include examples of blog entries that show your ability to reflect deeply, to launch a good discussion, etc., so it will be to your benefit to plan to publish longer reflections on topics that really interest you.)

If you have any questions, feel free to post them right here.

Language, Tone, Concision

Structure of a News Story

• Lead
• Quotes/Key Details
  
• Nut
• News (run through all kinds of newsworthiness)
  
• Background (connect to previous events to show significance of developments)
  
• Other Details
  

Developing News / Writing to Deadline

An ongoing story can twist suddenly. Sago Mine; Duke Lacrosse party; see this soft story on the grieving parents of a missing preschooler; then, the preschooler's mother "fears charges" and was recently named a suspect.

Invisible Observer