Authenticity and Technology (30 min)
Choose one comment that you want to discuss with a partner. One that really gets you think about authenticity; authenticity in combination with technologies like writing, photography, photo editing apps, etc.; or privacy.
After talking with your partner, be ready to share one question you have with the class. There are no better questions than genuine (authentic? lol) questions that you don’t feel like you have a clear answer for (and thus why you are asking the question!)
Questions I had based on your insightful comments:
From Kareem: do we have more freedom to fabricate now? Why or why not?
From Eva: can we “fake” authenticity in writing less so?
From Deona and Abdel: can we get different things from a notebook than a photo? What? Why? Because of writing? Because of privacy?
From Azrin and Nathanael O: do we like mistakes to try to see difference between humans and robots?
From Ethan: does taking your audience into consideration automatically make your writing less authentic?
Reading Response 1 (10 min)
Let’s preview the reading you’ll complete for Wednesday (to include annotations!) called “Defining My Identity Through Language: What I Learned about Literacy Narratives” by Kim Liao and what to write for Friday, September 13 for Reading Response 1.
Brightspace, Word/PDFs, File Management (15 min)
Brightspace! It’s new for me, too. For Friday, September 13 by 11:59pm you have to submit your first writing assignment. It’s a short one. We will have four of these, I think, this semester. They’ll be writing that responds directly to a reading we complete.
So, how do we submit stuff to Brightspace? Let’s walk through it. Go to our Brightspace page by logging into CUNYFirst and finding “Brightspace.” Do the following:
- Click our course
- Click “Assignments”
- Click “Reading Response 1”
- After reading the prompt and drafting your response, click “Add a File”
- Select the file on your device.
- Click “Upload”
- Click “Add”
- Click “Submit”
If you are doing all of your writing in something like Google Docs, make sure you turn it into a Word document or PDF. To do so in Google Docs:
- Click “File”
- Click “Download”
- Select either “Microsoft Word” or “PDF Document”
- Then save it on your device somewhere (makes sure it is somewhere you remember! More on that later)
All writing assignments need to be a Microsoft Word document or a PDF. I do not accept other file types. I do not accept hyperlinks to Google Docs and other browser-based word processors. I do not accept responses written directly into Brightspace. Just Microsoft Word and PDFs. Why? The greater the number of types of submission, the more difficult it is to manage on my end. I am a more efficient and timely commenter on student writing when the submission types are fewer.
Not sure about PDFs or Word?
PDFs
If you are using Google Docs, as already said, you can save it as a PDF. If you are working on an Apple device, you can save your .pages document or other types of documents as PDFs as well.
However, you still should download Adobe Acrobat if you have not done so already. That’s because I will be commenting on your PDFs and you won’t be able to easily view those comments without having Adobe. To download the free version of Adobe Acrobat so you can view those comments, go here. Make sure you uncheck “Install McAfee Security Scan Plus” (you don’t need that). Click “Download Acrobat Reader” and it will ask you some questions pertaining to your device. Once it is downloaded, and you want to view my comments on your PDF submissions, make sure you open the commented-PDF file with Adobe to view my comments.
Microsoft Word
You could also just use Microsoft Word. Baruch offers students this software for free. To download Microsoft Office (which includes Word, Excel, and other programs), go here and click “Installation Instructions” to download it to your device. Follow the instructions there.
File Management
I highly recommend creating folders on your device for each class you are taking this semester. So, if you have an “ENG 2100” folder, you can save all of your writing to that folder. That way, everything is all in one place and easy to find.
Literacy Narrative Invention (20-30 min)
Let’s review the prompt once more for the literacy narrative assignment. Wait. OMG. This never happens! I don’t remember where to find it. What do I do! I had a plan for an activity but it relies on finding the prompt for our first essay! But I don’t know where it is! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! What do I do? Who can help me? Please! Help!
Let’s brainstorm some technology that could be fun to write about. Spend the next 5 minutes and brainstorm as many technologies as possible that would be INTERESTING to write about and INTERESTING for your audience (our class) to read about in the context of this assignment. Don’t pick up your pen or pencil, keep writing stuff down. If you can’t think of something, just write “blah blah blah” and so on.
Okay, I’m going to partner you up to share what you came up with and decide on 3 technologies that would be most fun to read/write about…but you must work with someone who has the same first letter of your first name OR the letter closest to your first name in the alphabet. Figure it out! You are knowing-the-names-of-classmates experts at this point, right?
With your partner(s), list your 3 technologies on this Google Doc.
If time, let’s try some writing. Respond to the following: After reviewing the prompt and brainstorming some ideas to write about, what might you write about and why? What might go in your essay? Why? Keep writing. Don’t pick up your pen or pencil. Just keep going.
If time, share some initial ideas with a partner.
Survey Results (10 min)
Where to find clubs? Here is some handy places to do so: https://studentaffairs.baruch.cuny.edu/studentlife/student-activities/student-clubs-organizations/. Also, just start walking around the third floor of Newman Vertical Campus, especially during club hours on Thursday which are like 12-2pm? Something like that.
Financial hardship. Some of you mentioned financial, housing, and employment concerns. There is an emergency fund through the Dean of Students office that you can learn more about here that can help with financial and housing issues: Student Emergency Grants – Student Affairs | Baruch College (cuny.edu). For jobs, there is a page here for Baruch jobs for students. The Dean of Students is just a good place in general to go for any help you might need. If they can’t help, they will direct you somewhere that can.
Food access: There’s also some help for access to food through the Dean of Students, too. Go here for more information: Food Access – Student Affairs | Baruch College (cuny.edu)
Videos/Visuals: I’m not always good at this! When I taught online I did more videos but since so much of class is in person or getting practice reading and writing, I find it challenging to incorporate videos. I could do more with visuals in my lesson plans, though.
Other things that came up that people said was helpful I WILL be doing: group work, plenty of feedback, being clear on what’s due, freedom in topic choice to write about.
People mentioned value of taking notes: YES. Do that if it works for you.
Some expressed some concern about some of the assignments: let me know if you want to do an alternative assignment! I’m willing to do that sometimes. For instance, if after trying out the annotations for a few weeks that you find out it is not working for you: let me know! We can do an alternative that we create together.
Remember: COMMUNICATION. Don’t be shy. If I can do things to help you learn more, and it is a reasonable thing to do, I will do it. I want to talk with you about anything on your mind! If there’s some idea you have that can help you or others get more out of our time together, I want to hear it!
Next Time (5 min)
-Read Liao reading
-Annotate while reading Liao
-Complete your weekly private writing in your journal
-For Sep 13, submit Reading Response 1 on Brightspace
-Make sure you have scheduled a time to meet with me for the week of Sep 23