English 1006
Prompt #34
12 November 2013

Looking back, looking forward

Housekeeping matters

I've now replied to all the emails analyzing people's own learning reflections and asking to discuss them. If you emailed me by Sunday night and haven't received a reply, please email me again by this evening and say so, and I'll look for your email in my inbox. If you change your mind and do want to discuss your learning reflection, check the "Evaluation" section in the last prompt, and email me today.

I've also assembled all the responses I received to the feedback survey on the course. Surprisingly, there were only five. The comments are available here, or from the main course page. My reading of the fact that there were only five is that people don't expect that comments would make any difference, or don't have any comments to make. In case people read through the ones I got and decide that nobody said something that needs to be said, I've created a second way to offer the same kind of anonymous comments, questions and suggestions, linked from the main course page. I'll leave it up through Friday.

I'm even more surprised that only one person wrote about attending The Odyssey. I guess my impression, that a substantial number of people thought involving theatre in the course a good idea, was incorrect. I'm disappointed by that.

In class today

Last time, I asked everyone to choose two items on the Information about Poe and "The Tell-Tale Heart" thread of the forum that they found most valuable, and post an explanation of why each was valuable. I've selected out those most commonly identified as valuable, along with the reasons people gave. I'll give groups selections of those and ask groups to decide on the most convincing reasons people offered for the value of the information, and we'll discuss those reasons -- with an eye to understanding what sort of thing actually does help readers.

Attending to where things were found, and telling readers what they are (documenting sources)

Using the material on that same forum, I want everyone to spend some time between now and Thursday identifying the actual sources of some of the postings. Here's how we'll do that. Have a look at the postings (the original ones, with information that was found) of the two people whose names appear below yours in the alphabetical list on the records page (if someone didn't post, go on to the next name down. If you're at the bottom of the list, start again at the top).

For each, answer the following questions (if you can't answer them by using the information provided -- and this may well mean you need to do some searching, using the URL or directions in your posting -- say so, and say what you did to try to find more information):
  1. Who is the author of this material? If there's no author, what's the authority that vouches for the truth or value of the material?
  2. Does the material have a title? What kind of text is it (encyclopedia entry, article, blog post, whatever)
  3. Where was this material published, or made public? (a URL will not do; you need to identify the source -- a publication, a blog, a Web site, whatever.
  4. What's the date of this material (that is, when was it written and/or published)?
  5. What else is important to say about this reference (is it likely reliable? Useful for other things -- like providing further references?)
Post each of your sets of findings as a Reply to the original information posting (make sure you're reading the original posting when you click "Reply"). Format it as a list of answers to the questions (click here for a couple of examples). Use as a title for your posting Looking for Sources (if you don't, no one will be able to find your work, and it will serve no purpose).

 Something funny

As we discussed Private Lives, I was reminded that one important way to investigate what it is that a text expects of its audience is to consider examples that we think are funny. One example is Elyot's "Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs" was funny when it was written, but things have changed, and for it to be funny for us we have to assume some attitudes and values that are uncomfortable for most of us. What you should do between now and Thursday's class is to find one published thing -- text, cartoon, whatever -- that you laughed at, and post it, or a link to it, on the "This is funny . . . I think" forum on the Web site. If it's a text it shouldn't be more than a page or so long.

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