Blog Post #3: Waiting for Superman?

After watching the film Waiting for Superman, you probably have an opinion about the state of education in America. The film is powerful, but not everyone agrees with the argument the film makes. Please read "Grading 'Waiting for Superman'" from The Nation and see what the objections to the film are.

What do you now think about teachers' unions? The film makes them out to the the sole reason for the failing education system. Meanwhile, the teachers in Chicago are striking right now. Are those teachers causing the problems?

Blog Post #2: You and education

Thinking about what you know about education from our readings, compare your own educational experiences so far. What portrayl best represents your own education and why? Include photos of your past schools if possible to illustrate what kind of schools they were. Did class matter in the school you went to? What were you taught? How did it affect your career choices later in life? Please write about your own experience in the context of what we have been learning so far this semester.


My high school, St. Augustine HS

Blog post #1

Blog assignment #1:

Interviews

You will be interviewing a classmate for your first blog post. A good interview reveals something about the interviewee that we would not normally know. Make your questions in a way that will get your interviewee talking about something important to her.

The blog post will be well written in paragraph form, so you will be taking your answers and making them into a complete picture with your writing skills.

The blog post will also include photographs that your interviewee provides you. These photos should be a central part of your question and answers.

You will have time during the next week to work on perfecting your blog post before it is officially due. Please use your time wisely and proofread your work. Make it as professional and presentable as possible.

Why a Blog?

Ossabaw Island road

My inspiration for undertaking this blog assignment is inspired by a recent experience I had in Savannah, Georgia.  I was selected to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks Workshop there. We discussed the history of slavery in the area of the Sea Islands, and we we were able to meet the descendants of slaves who still live on Sapelo Island. Because of what I was able to learn about this summer, we will be reading and thinking about the issues these islanders face today. My fellow faculty members from across the country were so inspired that we decided to create a blog project where our students could share their work written about the history of Sapelo and Ossabaw Island with one another. It is called the Sapelo and Ossabaw Islands Writing Project . Because we have this technology, students from all over the country can now learn together, which is a wonderful opportunity.

Tabby structure built by slaves on Sapelo Island

Your second blog post this semester will be a collaborative blog post that you will both present to our class and post on this national blog. Your work will have to be polished and representative of the quality of work Cedar Crest students are capable of.

Marsh at Sapelo Island

Welcome!

Hello Writing 100 students!
Welcome to our course blog. You will be creating your own blog that I can link to this one.  We will be practicing writing skills along with enhancing your creativity, critical thinking, and technical skills with blogging!

You will be exploring the ideas in this course through your own personal experiences in this blog. Our first unit, for example, is about education. Since you have experienced education for many years in several different settings, your stories will be of interest in conjunction with the essays we will read.

Blogs also have multimedia capabilities, which is not something we can do in your formal papers. I want to see you connecting your ideas with your read through your writing as well as images and links to other places on the web.

I look forward to seeing your work over the semester!