Fall 2022 Schedule

WEEK ONE__________________________________________

Thursday 8/25

• Class Activities:
  • Course introduction
  • Multimodality in the writing classroom
  • Preview the S-Blog and course website
  • Preparing for the first online assignment
  • Visualizing Sustainability

Online Assignment for Week 1:

• • Reading like a writer: in our first online activity, we will practice describing our own writing and that of others as a series of intentional writerly choices grounded in a clear sense of audience, purpose, and genre that shape the meaning of any given text. A secondary goal is to familiarize ourselves with the blogging platform. Online activities for this week include two core readings and the blogging instructions. Please read each of these items closely and carefully. There is also a brief blogging activity.
• Readings Due: 
  • Mike Bunn, “How to Read like a Writer“
  • Ruxandra Guidi, “Real Men Drive Electric Trucks” (PDF if needed)
  • Blogging Instructions
• Assignment Due: 
  • Blog 1: Reading Like A Writer. Due by 5:00 PM on Tuesday 8/30. In a post of 450 – 500 words, share some of the ways that you applied the tips and tools in Bunn’s essay to Guidi’s essay. In your blog post, be sure to do the following:
    • Use a dynamic title (e.g. not just “blog post 1)
    • Cite quoted evidence from both Bunn and Davis
    • Incorporate media in fitting ways (image or video)
    • Insert at least two links (in this case, at least to the Bunn and Guidi essays would be strong choices, but you can link as widely as you’d like)
    • Conclude by reflecting on where you think you are in your own reflective and “writerly” approach to composition. What do you hope or think your peers would say if asked to read your first blog post “like a writer”?
    • Make sure you use the category “Blog 1” for your blog post. You can assign the category on the right-hand side of the blog composition box. You’ll see the complete list of possible categories.
  • I will use this Blog Rubric (note that it is two pages in the print version, but it will be embedded in oaks) to evaluate your blog posts, and you will have an opportunity to revise this first one.

Thursday 9/1

• Class Activities:
  • Literacies as a guiding concept
  • Summary skills–group summary of Brandt’s “Sponsors of Literacy”
  • Your literacy narrative: SLN brainstorm and sharing
  • Introduction to Project 1: Sustainability Literacy Narrative
  • Student Info and Goals Sheet
  • Group Activity

• Readings Due:
  • Deborah Brandt, “Sponsors of Literacy” (available under “Readings” tab–password protected. See OAKS announcement for the password.
  • Writing an Effective Summary

• Assignments Due: 
  • Please comment in some detail (100-200 words) on two of your peers’ first blog posts. Just select the two posts that come directly after your published post. If you are the last or second-to-last to post (in that case there will be just one or zero posts after yours) please cycle back to the first of our class posts. just return to the first two posts by selecting the category “Blog 1” from the left-hand side of the website under my contact info, and the first post will be at the top. Don’t just offer general reflections (e.g. “great post, I like your ideas!”). Instead, address the post more specifically. What did you like about their engagement with Davis’s essay? What would you add or what questions would you ask to clarify? What did you like about your peers’ own writing? If there was a previous comment by the professor or another peer, you might engage the ongoing “thread” under the post.

Online Activities for Week 2:

• Activities: 
  • For this week’s online activities, we will read a selection from Andres Edwards’s The Heart of Sustainability (2015). Using the tips we discussed from the reading on writing an effective summary linked above, you will compose a summary and response blog post in relation to the chapters from Edwards’s book. This will be a great way to practice your summary skills, and also to learn some core concepts from the field of sustainability studies that we will continue to return to and use throughout the semester.
• Readings Due:
  • Andres Edwards, from The Heart of Sustainability (2015) . Available under “Readings” tab. Password protected. See OAKS announcement for the password.
• Assignments Due: 
  • Student Info and Goals Sheet
  • Blog 2: Summary & Response. Due Tuesday 9/6 @ 5:00. 600–750 word summary & response related to the the Edwards selection from Heart of Sustainability. Refer to “Writing an Effective Summary” linked earlier in the schedule for Week 2. The bulk of the post should be summary-based, and you should cover the main points of each chapter, writing for an external audience unfamiliar with the text. There are many organizational possibilities for your blog post, but whatever you do, please make sure to use paragraphs to help structure your summary. And please focus on developing meaningful transitions between different parts of your summary rather than simply writing phrases such as “in the next chapter.” Finally, make sure you dedicate at least 1 substantial paragraph in the conclusion for your own response. Please use the strategies we discussed and employed when discussing Brandt’s essay in the previous class. The same blog post rubric used for the first blog assignment will be used for this one. Make sure the post is composed for an outside audience (i.e. unfamiliar with Edwards, so you should introduce him more fully).

WEEK THREE_____________________________________

Thursday 9/8

• Class Activities:
  • Strategies and structures for the sustainability literacy narrative: Sustainability Literacy Narrative Feedback Tool
• Assignment Due:
  • Please come to class prepared to discuss three possible narrative focal points for your sustainability literacy narrative
  • Sign-up for SLN one-on-one conferences
• Readings Due:
  • Select the SLN Sample Category Link on the main course website and read each of the 5 narratives. Be ready to discuss 1 that you found particularly compelling in more detail.

Online Activities:

• Assignments Due:
  • Sustainability Literacy Narrative (SLN) Draft: Due Monday 9/12 by midnight. Please save your SLN as a “draft” (do not “publish”) to the course blog. Experiment with including possible media (images, video, etc.). In addition to discussing the narrative as a whole, we will discuss in our individual conferences how you might use these multimedia elements when you post the final draft to the course blog.

WEEK FOUR______________________________________

Thursday 9/15

This week will include both our regularly scheduled class and one-on-one conferences.

• Overview:
  • This week, we will discuss strategies for editorial review, and begin work on a more expansive editorial review activity.
• Readings Due:
  • Richard Straub, “How To Respond–Really Respond–To Other Students’ Writing” (available under “Readings” tab)
  • Writing Tips (note linked readings within page)

Online Activities:

• Assignments Due: 
  • Provide feedback for your assigned peer-review partner by Friday at 5:00 PM (you will have some time during class to work on the peer review).
  • Due Sunday 9/18 at midnight: “Good Writing”–reply to post

*** Final SLN project posted to the blog by Tuesday 9/20 at midnight ***