final extra credit opportunity this semester for 10 points

For those of you who don't have their 25 points of extra credit full yet:

If you want to improve your grade a little and can still use 10 points extra credit (only if you haven't reached your limit of 25 points per semester yet!), you're welcome to post a 500-700 words SUMMARY AND RESPONSE about the following article on "he/she" by Professor George Jochnowitz, who wrote our favorite article, "Everyone Likes Pizza, Doesn't He or She?"

Be very clear and concise in your summary; show that you have understood the article. Then, use critical thinking and write down your own thoughts about the topic!

(Of course, you can also do this extra credit blog if you already have 20 extra credit points and just need 5 to get the allowed 25 full. The rest will simply be deleted.)

Blog 30: Educational WebQuests

The reading summaries are done by:

ENGL300-1: Melanie Bloden for 5 pts. extra credit
ENGL300-2: Janesha Boyce-Ford for 5 pts. extra credit

The text for reading is HERE.

In this article Maureen Yoder explores the world of WebQuests. Yoder discusses exactly what a WebQuest is and explains the different aspects necessary to create a useful WebQuest. WebQuests were first introduced by Bernie Dodge and Tom March; the two created a lesson plan that gave students some sort of prompt or problem to research by following links provided on the WebQuest. Over the years teachers have started creating their own WebQuests, and WebQuests have gained a lot of popularity. According to Bernie Dodge there are certain things that make a well-thought out and effective WebQuest. A WebQuest should include an introduction, a task, a process, resources, an evaluation, and a conclusion. The introduction and task give a general background, and present the problem; often the “problem” is a scenario that can have many categories like, contemporary world issues, creating products, evaluating history, and basically anything worth teaching. Students are guided through the task by suggestions from the teacher or a step-by-step process provided. This really helps the students organize their project. Resources are included in the WebQuests from links found by the teacher, this is great because it gives the students credible sources and keeps them from aimlessly wondering cyber-space. The end product varies depending on the assignment, students may hand in paper reports, oral reports, performances, artwork, musical compositions, or anything else that teachers can think of. After the WebQuest is completed students can reflect back on their work and everything they learned.

WebQuests are an effect way to change up the normal routine of class work. WebQuests promote creativity and allow teachers to harness the, often overwhelming, internet. I am often overwhelmed by technology today and prefer to use paper and a pencil, but that is just another reason why I think WebQuests are so great. Teachers can take something, like the internet, and make it useful to students’ educations. In my opinion, WebQuests are an inventive way to make learning more interesting and hands-on for students.

-Melanie Bloden

Blog 29: Teaching and Learning Online with Wikis

The reading summaries are done by:

ENGL300-1: Jacob Collins for 5 pts. extra credit
ENGL300-2: Arlicia Ketchum

The text for reading is HERE.

Arlicia Ketchum

The article Teaching and Learning online with wikis written by Naomi Augar, Ruth Raitman and Wanlei Zhou basically shows its readers how to use Wiki. A wiki is website that is fully editable by the public. Wikis were given their names by Ward Cunniham after the Hawaiian word meaning “quick”. One of the most famous wiki websites is Wikipedia, an online collaborative encyclopedia. Wiki’s can also be used to assist in computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL). CSCL was first created in the 1990’s in an attempt to develop a public and educational collaboration by the means of technology in order to change the style of education and the research surrounding it. Students can use Wikis to share their common knowledge with other students in their class.

According to the authors, wikis have two different modes. The first mode is the document mode. In this mode, contributors to the wiki create different documents written in the third person. Eventually other users will come and edit the document by adding additional information to the documents topic.  The second mode is called thread mode. Thread mode is basically like a blog. User share an opinion and other users come and respond to those opinion with an opinion or facts of their own. Along with the two modes, Wiki also has two states: read state and edit state. These two states are self explanatory; however, in the read state users only see the wiki as a normal internet web page and in the edit state users are allowed to edit the information on the webpage.

Each Wiki has a very unique feature. These features can make it easier for an e-learning environment. The authors give an example of an experiment done on the students at Deakin University, in Victoria Australia. Students who attend this university in The School of Information Technology are required to an entire subject online through the Deakin University wiki entitled Deakin Studies Online (DSO). The DSO was created by the wiki syntax WebCT Vista. The DSO provides bullet boards, chat rooms, whiteboards, communication and collaboration for the students. In the experiment the professors at the university created a wiki type icebreaker, giving the students a two week time limit and goal. The results were that the students took very well to the wiki and quickly completed the icebreaker creating a sense of student to student collaboration and an e-learning environment. The article ends by stating that even though the students in this experiment used a wiki under specific circumstances, wikis are not specific to anything. They are social sites used to elaborate knowledge and share knowledge from user to user.

Blog 28: Educational Blogging

The reading summaries are done by:

ENGL300-1: Brittney Hosey for 5 pts. extra credit
ENGL300-2: Katelyn Kockler for 5 pts. extra credit

The text for reading is HERE.


In the article Blogging to Learn, Anne Bartlett-Bragg examines a new technological trend known as blogging. A blog is a posted log on the internet with dated entries. Blogs include personal editing, a hyper-linked posting structure, updates, public access, and archived postings. When first introduced, blogs gained popularity from personal bloggers who shared exerts of their lives. Today, there are categories and sub-categories of blogs created by a wide range of industries and users. It is reported that there could be over 2 million blogs posted, and it has been recorded that a new blog is created ever forty seconds. Saying that the blog-o-sphere has grown is a complete understatement. Among the lawyers, journalists, librarians, designers and huge number of corporations that are creating blogs, is educators; educators make large contributions to the blog-o-sphere. Conversing with others, considering the information and giving thoughtful feedback, is a significant learning tool. This is the main reason that blogging for educational purposes is so popular. Group blogs can be used by teachers as a sort of class bulletin board where students can comment and talk to each other about material. Blogs are used to publish students writings; students are given a real audience to write to, and they receive input which can help them create a sort of professional work shop. Other types of educational blogs consist of field reports and journals, personal opinion publishing, research journals, learning journals, and so much more. Academic blogs offer a freedom of tone, interaction with diverse populations, and speedy feedback. Bragg wrote of blogging as a 5-stage process: establishment, introspect, reflective monologues, reflective dialog, knowledge artefact. These five elements teach users a great deal of life skills in subtle and obvious ways. They must recall information and learn how to express ideas; while doing this users can slowly evaluate their own experiences. Then users can become more aware of the reflexive process, considering the experience, extracting meaning, and evaluating; during this stage users usually begin writing with more thought. The audience and its feedback provide constructive criticism, and users can further consider their style and thoughts. By the end users have formed writing and reading tools; they can evaluate other blogs and write helpful comments. All of the reasons listed above are ways that blogs can help students learn. Blogging has become a popular way to educate for good reasons. I have used a class blog before this class. It took a bit of time to get comfortable with, because I am about as technologically advanced as a cave-person. I really enjoy it though. I think being able to share ideas with people all over the world, with different views, is absolutely great. Not taking advantage of such unique and readily available perspectives almost seems wrong. I am going to look into different types of blogs.

-Melanie Bloden

Blog 27: American Indians and School Success

Reading summaries to be done by:

ENGL300-1: Jasmine Christmas
ENGL300-2: Dontrell Sims

The text for reading is HERE.

Blog 26: The Klingon Language

Reading summaries:
ENGL300-1: Jacob Collins for 5 pts. extra credit
ENGL300-2: Hannah McArthy
The comments by the whole class can be made as soon as this post appears; you don't need to wait for the summaries to be written!

Read about the history, the alphabet, and the phonetics of the Klingon language on the website of the Klingon Language Institute. Summarize its history and development, and state what you think about such an invented language. If you can write Klingon, write a sentence with translation ;-)
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by: Hannah McArthy

The information regarding the Klingon language was all found on The Klingon Language Institute’s website.  Dr. Mark Okrand, a trained linguist, created the Klingon language for Paramount Studios to be used in certain Star Trek movies.  The Klingon language contains its own grammar, usage, and vocabulary.  Dr. Okrand created the entire language, instead of only a few words, to sound alien.   These words and phrases could sometimes be heard in Star Trek, and it became one of the fastest growing languages.  Okrand’s concept of Klingon language was to create something that sounded unusual, while Paramount Pictures wanted something harsh.  Klingon was soon born.  Klingon contains combined sounds not usually heard in other languages.  Dr. Okrand created single sounds in Klingon, sometimes to be represented by multiple letters of English.  An example is the phrase “ng” which is a single sound in Klingon and is considered a single letter.  Mark Okrand also created his own orthography when he created the language.  The written language also has some different rules than English, such as capital and lower case letters being shown differently.  Having a capital letter means that the letter sounds different.  This means the first word of a sentence is not capitalized like in English, instead, the appropriate sound is capitalized.  Klingon is meant to be spoken forcefully with the intent of making the conversing partner wet, with saliva.  Klingon does not contain the letter g, q and Q are different sounds, and the apostrophe is considered its own letter.  When it comes to vowels, the Klingon language contains the consonant “b” on each side.  An example is the vowel “a” which will be “bab” in Klingon.  Consonants are seen at the end of syllables, between syllables, and before syllables.  An example shown on the Klingon Language Institute website is the vowel “a” and the consonant “ch” will be written “chachacha.”  Mark Okrand created the Klingon language, while writing multiple books regarding the language, and inspired an institution called the Klingon Language Institute.  The institute was created in 1992, to bring individuals together that have the same interest in the Klingon language.  The Klingon Language Institute’s main channel of information is through its own journal that is published quarterly called HolQeD. 

I found this website to be extremely interesting.  From watching Star Trek I have heard the different language, but I never asked where it came from.  I assumed it was random words and phrases created for the purpose of Star Trek.  I found it fascinating though that Dr. Mark Okrand went beyond a few words into a full blown language that contains rules.  Another thing I found interesting is that he veered away from making it have similarities from known languages, which added to the extra-terrestrial effect.

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Tom Swifties, in-class activity of 11/21/2011

As comments to this thread, please invent and post your own Tom Swifty!!! (5 pts.) If you work in groups, post all your group members' names, so everyone gets points.

Examples:

1. How do you start a model-T Ford without a battery?" asked Tom _____________ .
(answer: CRANKILY)

2. "I have to wear this cast for another six weeks," said Tom _________________ .
(answer: DISJOINTEDLY)

3. "I'm shocked," said Tom _____________________ .
(answer: ELECTRICALLY)

4. "I will end my life," Sue sighed. ("suicide")

Here's the Tom Swifties website, if you missed class and need to read the rules again.

Blog 25: The Amish Language

The reading summary is done by:

ENGL300-1: Sheri Partridge
ENGL300-2: Bridget Meador for 5 pts. extra credit

Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:

The text you need to read is here.

J. William Frey wrote an article titled “Amish ‘Triple-Talk’” that discusses the varied language known as Pennsylvania Dutch. In the original Pennsylvania Dutch language, there were influences from three other languages however nowadays there are only two strong influences. One group is said to still maintain the original Pennsylvania Dutch, the Amish people of York and Lancaster counties. Also known as ‘western’ Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. The Amish use their dialect in their everyday speech and reserve High German for church services and official matters. This means that some Amish may never use their High German if they are not church officials. However, to help preserve High German among the non-church officials, students are often taught High German in elementary grades and hymns are often sang in High German are church gatherings. Frey offers several distinguishing syllabic factors of the dialect of Pennsylvania Dutch. He states that these factors are much like the dialect of non-Amish Pennsylvanians and therefore, they can communicate flawlessly. An interesting fact to note is that the Amish High German contains no English words whatsoever. English words may be translated or re-constructed but it is the nature of High German to not borrow words. A short run-down of a typical Amish service is described. The sermons are either chanted, slowly, or auctioneered, high-pitched.

I believe this article is very interesting in the fact that I really was not even aware that the Amish spoke a different language. I believe it did a nice job describing the ideas behind the language the ways in which it is used. However, the section of the article describing the syllables and pronunciations was hard to follow and all-together not beneficial. I do not believe enough basic knowledge was provided of the language for someone who knows nothing of it to understand.

By: Bridget Meador

Blog 24: The Language of the Piraha

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Caitlin Spiller
ENGL300-2: Mary Meadows for 5 pts. extra credit

Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:
The text you need to read is here.

_________________________________________________________

Caitlin Spiller:

In this article linguist Daniel Everett attempts to learn the strange and difficult language of the Piraha, a tribe in Brazil. During his first visit to the tribe they tried to kill Daniel and his family, but he was able to stop them. Daniel spent seven years total living with the Piraha and attempting to learn their language. He found that there are only three pronouns and there is not a past tense. Words associated with time and color are rarely used, and numbers are not often used. There is debate among linguists about the absence of numbers. One linguist stated that they don't comprehend numbers. Everett attempted to teach the Pirahas to count to ten using Portuguese numbers, but none of them ever could. Everett stated that the Piraha peoples are not stupid, because they can communicate with people of neighboring tribes. He states that their language is so sparse because they live in the present and do no need as many words because of this. Names stay relatively the same throughout the tribe. People are given the name of someone they are similar to. There is no art either. As of now no one speaks Piraha as well as Everett, but researchers are attempting to travel and learn as well.

Blog 23: Humor in Grammar Teaching

The reading summary is done by:

ENGL300-1: Ross Henry
ENGL300-2: Bridget Meador

The article "The Straw Man Meets His Match: Six Arguments for Studying Humor in English Classes" by Alleen Pace Nilsen and Don L.F. Nilsen discusses the benefits of incorporating humor in classrooms. Research states that much effort has been put into eliminating humor from schools. The authors offer six arguments that their opponents have concerning why humor should not be used and the authors offer six justifications as to why it should.
The first argument is that children are exposed to enough humor outside of school. Nilsen and Nilsen say that this is exactly why it should be used in the classroom as well. Children will gain a better understanding of the various types of humor that are used in everday life as well as broadening the areas in which they draw experiences from for writing. The second argument is that teaching humor will eliminate time that could be use to teach "important" subjects such as literature and public speaking. By incorporating humor, students will enjoy the lessons and be more likely to retain the information and take an interest. The third argument is that teachers are supposed to be preparing students to earn a living. Well, with growing trends in humor-based careers it would appear that humor is doing just that. The fourth argument is that students are not mature enough and there will be a censorship issue. The Nilsen's state that yes, there will be but, it's okay. Children are going to encounter crude humor in their lives and they should be prepared with how to handle it and how to avoid using it themselves. The fifth argument is that humor can hurt people. Like the previous argument, it may hurt people's feelings but, that is why it must be taught so that children will learn the proper ways to use humor. The sixth argument is that not all teachers have a good sense of humor so, how are they expected to teach it? This article provides several lesson ideas for incorporating humor into lessons. Humor does not have to be used obviously and obtrusively. Children simply need to be aware of it and enjoy it.
By: Bridget Meador

Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:
The text you need to read is here

Blog 22: Esperanto

The reading summary is done by:

ENGL300-1: Michael Carnduff
ENGL300-2: Nick Griffith

Ludovic Zamenhof, a polish physician, grew up in Poland during the 19th where he heard many different languages including Polish, Yiddish, German, and Russian. He saw a lot of struggles between these different cultures and he thought that diversity of language was a major factor.

Dr.Zamenhof wanted to unite the world with the creation of an easy-to-learn language called Esperanto. Growing up, Dr. Zamenhof saw a violent struggle between different ethnic groups. He hoped creating a common language would help ease that strugge. Esperanto became popular in China and Europe after World War II. However, Esperanto did not last because it was not a native language. Outside of conventions no one really used it.

Dr. Zamenhof had a genuinely good idea when he created a united easy-to-learn language hoping to use it throughought the world. Ultimately, though, as easy as the language was to learn, it was not practical. I find it unfortunate that there is no universal language that would be able to overcome all communication barriers. However, since our language is a major part of culture, getting people to adopt a new way of speaking would be next to impossible. I found this article very interesting. Before reading this article, I had never heard of Esperanto. The closest thing we have to an international language is English. Unfortunately, English is one of the hardest languages to learn. As for now, our language barriers continue.

Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:
The text you need to read is here

Blog 21: To Grammar or Not to Grammar

The reading summary is done by:

ENGL300-1: Rebecca Borowiak for 5 pts. extra credit
ENGL300-2: Abigail Mbuvi

Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:
The text you need to read is here.

Blog 20: Grammar Without Grammar

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Kristen Andrews
ENGL300-2: Tyana Battle

The article, Grammar without Grammar: Just Playing, Around, Deborah Dean talks about her experience as a teacher doing assignments with adverbs, adjectives, subjects and direct objects. She found that her student’s performance in writing decreased when grammar was taking out of her curriculum by the district—a change she thought she would welcome. Dean set out to change her once stultifying grammar exercises into fun, educational assignments. Reviewing many books by many publishers, Dean resolved to try sentence imitation in her classroom. During sentence imitation, Deborah Dean was able to teach her students grammar without naming the parts of the sentence structure. Dean found that “these imitation activities were a way for students to work with language, to consider different ways of expressing an idea, and to begin to understand that many options for expressing an idea or thought exist-and that they had the ability to work to find more effective constructions”(87).

Dean’s objective in the classroom was to have her students think about how sentences are formed without putting them to sleep with stultifying exercises. She also helped her students grasp the concept of grammar without grammar by encouraging her students to pick their own sentences from their favorite children’s books and also from the books that they read as a class. Through constructing sentences and figuring out how many single ideas exist in one of the sentences the students learned “to see new ways to combine their ideas in their own writing” (Dean 88). In the end, Dean’s students learn to write better and identify parts of the sentence grammatically without ever knowing they learned to write more grammatically correct. In the end Deborah Dean states of her student’s progress, “My students are writing, and they are trying to write more effectively, and they understand how to look at what they read as a model for what they want to say. They know grammar-they just don't know that they do” (88). Her objective was met. She was able to teach her students to use grammar effectively without having to teach them standard grammar.

By:Tyana Battle

Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:
The text you need to read is here.

Blog 19: Grammar Instruction: What Teachers Say

The reading summary is done by:

ENGL300-1: LaMonica Brown
ENGL300-2: Stephanie Feeman
Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:
The text you need to read is here

English 300-01 LaMonica Brown

The article “Grammar Instruction: What Teachers Say” uncovers the many struggles of teaching grammar student from grammar school all the way to graduate school. Brenda Arnett Pretuzzella breaks down the differences between what colleges teach future teachers in education courses and what practicing teachers in schools actually do. She also found that grammar instruction was a waste of time.

Brenda shares some of her experiences she had with her student in high school. She found many students unable to learn correct grammar. “I would painstakingly prepare and teach a lesson on nouns and verbs, using the most creative and relevant examples I could think of, and many students would fail the quiz.” Brenda wanted to get rid of the traditional ways of teaching and come up with a whole other way to get through to her students. Another factor was that she had to teach high school student who can be disruptive and overly dramatic at times.

You also have to take into consideration that most schools are very diverse and kids from different races and cultures are using different languages. It is very hard to turn off the “slang” language and write in correct grammar.

English 300-2 Stephanie Feeman

The article, "Grammar Instruction, What teachers say" opened up a perspective that many people are unable to see on a daily basis. The author, Brenda Arnett Pretuzzella opened up the article by stating the huge difference between what they teach prospective teachers in college education courses and what practicing teachers actually do in the classroom. She said that most college courses discourage the idea of teaching formal grammar lessons, while most high school grammar teachers say they need grammar instruction in their classrooms.

The author talked about during the times she was in school, there was no question as to whether or not grammar was needed as a primary subject. She learned about the eight parts of speech, and how to diagram sentences. Then when she entered college she found out that grammar was a waste of time. In 1963, an article was published titled "Research in Written Composition." The authors, Richard Braddock, Richard Lloyd-Jones, and Lowell Shoer, conducted a study and found that most teachers agreed that teaching grammar had no positive effect on student writing. This lead to a suggestion that grammar instruction could therefore be abandoned. Many professors were overcome with joy when they heard this, because they found grammar dull and boring.

When she began teaching grammar in her own classroom she found that most students were incredibly reluctant to learn it. She tried to use creative teaching methods and relevant examples, yet students still seemed to fail the quizzes. She went on to talk about the difficulties in helping the student fix their writing mistakes, when they had no knowledge of common grammatical vocabulary. She tried many different ways to teach the students about even the most common grammar functions and she continued to feel inadequate. She said that she found that when she worked with students one on one they grasped the concepts better. Towards the end of the article she sums up that part of the difficulty in teaching grammar was the lack of resources. Since most professors and authors agreed that grammar was pointless, there was little literature on how to effectively teach grammar to students.

Blog 18: Collaboration: Writing Center Tutorials vs. Peer-Response Groups

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Joselyn Arteaga
ENGL300-2: Adriana Meneghetti

Due by class time on:
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on:
The text you need to read is here.

Eng300-1: Joselyn Arteaga

The article "Collaboration: Writing Center Tutorials vs. Peer-Response Groups" emphasizes the differences between two different types of collaboration which can be used by writers or students. According to article Collaboration, is a process writers engage in and teachers facilitate, is firmly entrenched in our thinking about the teaching of writing. Muriel Harris explains that there is two methods to "collaboration" which are collaborative writing and collaborative learning about writing. Collaborative writing, usually refers to two or more authors working together on a text and each having a responsibility to complete it . As for collaborative learning about writing, it's an interaction between a writer and a reader to help the writer with his writing skills. This type of collaboration is used for both writing centers and peer-response . The difference is that peer-response is an informal collaboration which colleagues help one another with their reviews and may be more opinionated than skilled. In writing centers there are tutors who need to be qualified in order to help writers improve their writing.

Informal collaboration is more about fixing written mistakes rather than tutoring which focuses on the writer's writing knowledge. Many instructors like to use peer-responses because although it might not perfect a paper but it allows students to be expose to different writing styles. Also reading their peers draft allows them to be focused on the subject and help improve skills of critical response by this process repetition.

Stephen North highlights the importance in tutoring rather than peer-response. He states that tutoring may help writers deal with anxiety, poor motivation, cultural confusion, ineffective or dysfunctional composing strategies, lack of knowledge, or inability to follow assignment directions. Tutors can also set up sessions for the writer improve a certain writing concerns and improve them. It allows students to ask questions and collaborate to find an effective way to master their writing problems.

Setting an agenda is different between the two types of collaboration. Usually, peer-responses are assigned by the teachers and it's up to the student when they will complete it, using the skills they learnt. As for tutorial it may become difficult because students usually want their papers to be corrected and be done but the tutor may want to focus on certain issues.

The advantage in peer-responses is that it has a better sense of audience and he learns over time to interact and become a good critic. The down side is that peers might not give constructive suggestions and may give negative comments which can lower the writers confidence. In contrast the benefit of going to a writing center is that he can receive one on one help and ask specific questions to approach certain issues. As for the negative side is that students may hear more suggestions rather than answers they anticipated, and student may become frustrated or angry.

By Joselyn Arteaga

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Andrea Dimitroff said...

I have benefited from both writing centers and peer editing. In comparing them, I would have to say that they can each be very helpful to the writer in different ways. Peer editing can be good for writers who are not very clear about their writing objective. In some of my past English classes, seeing the types of papers and arguments that my fellow classmates are making has given me clarity for the papers I write. Peer editing is tricky, though, especially if different ability levels are mixed (the weak writer may be intimidated by the strong writer's paper, or the strong writer may be overly critical of the weak writer). Peer editing should always be supervised by a teacher who can relate to writers of all levels.
I feel like writing center tutorials are for more direct writing help, and therefore, should be used less frequently than peer editing. Writing center tutorials provide not only clarity to the writer, but also direct instruction concerning fundamental things (like content, organization, and mechanical elements). Peer editing is less intensive than writing center tutorials.

October 25, 2011 1:29 PM

Rebecca Borowiak said...

I have never gone to the writing centers open to me in either my community college or Southern Illinois. I know many friends that have gone and they say they are helpful for the extra boost of clarity. I myself love peer editing. I enjoy receiving criticism from my peers for it helps me see what those my age are thinking when they read my paper.

I also benefit from reading other papers my peers have written about similar topics. Seeing the path they take on their paper in response to a topic inspires me to critical think about my own paper and helps me improve my writing further.

I would prefer peer editing over writing centers for those that do not need clarity or direct instruction. Peer editing is perfect for those that just need advice and a second pair of eyes upon their paper.

Blog 17: Fry Graph: How to Calculate the Readability Level you Write at

The following article will describe how you can calculate for which audience reading level you write. There is a formula for that, invented by Edward Fry.

As in-class activity, we will calculate our own readability level for BLOGGING. When our research essay is finished in a few weeks, we will calculate our readability level for RESEARCH WRITING.

Due by class time on: Fri., Oct. 7th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., Oct. 12th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.

When you write your COMMENT for the article below, please also comment on this question: "Do you think you write at a different level when you're blogging than when you're writing a research essay? Explain."

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Drewandria Burnside

According to Edward Fry the readability formula is a ranking system published in 1923 that determined the comprehension level of readers. Leveled reading is a system that was used distinguish the advancement of readers during the 19th century. It was not until the '30 that the concept of "leveled" reading became a scholastic tool used to signify the grade level of readers. The difference between the two methods of caculating literacy is the degree of objectivity. Most readability formulas have two variables of measurement; they are syntactic difficulty, which measures grammar and semantic diffulicty, which measures word meaning. Most readability formulas are caculated by the computer, but can be caculated by hand. Most readability scores are very accurate, because of the level of objectivity. Leveling on the other hand is more diffuclt to measure, because it includes text support factors.
I think that the entire concept of readability and leveling are two of the same entities. One is just meaures more of the context than the other, so to create a formula for the two seperately makes no sense and is a little redundent.

ENGL300-2: John Seratt

The article Readability Versus Leveling is about the two main way in which books are ranked on which who should be able to read them. The first readability is more objective and like a math equaion in how it is formulated, the next is leveling, leveling has more to do with what the reading is about more than how difficult it is to read.

The first of these two rankings was leveling. leveling came about in 1836 which was made famous by William Holmes McGuffey his system just ranked books on difficulty by way of numbers starting at on and going up. McGuffey went on to publish a set of books called the McGuffey readers these books were highly accepted in schools. The schools used them for different grade level readings. The way that leveling works is by looking more at the content of the reading. It looks at whether or not the reading would be interesting to the grade reading it, it looks at if there is illustrations within the book, and it also looks at the length of the book among other things. I believe that this ranking system is a good way to find why most children do not read in that they may not like that book that they are reading. The problem with this model though is that it does not go all the way into grade twelve it stays at the more primary level.

After The leveling system came the readability system this was created in the nineteen fifties and it was used in pretty much the same fashion; to rank a book's reading difficulty. the readability scale stayed the same until other companies came in and started breaking down the grades into more sections so that a book could be placed in the exact spot a student should be able to read it. The way that this readability scaling system works is that it is more like a math equation. Readability takes the syntactic difficulty which is the grammatical complexity that is measured by sentence length, also it takes the semantic difficulty which is pretty much the average length of the words within the writing. The average of these two are added then plotted on a chart to show what grade the reading is appropriate for.

In summation I feel that both of these systems have their strengths and weaknesses the leveling system does not get to the true difficulty of reading and does not go to all grades. The readability scale goes to all grade and tells the difficulty but it does not tell a teacher why a student may not enjoy the reading. with this I believe that both of these systems can work but not perfectly. To answer the question do I think that I blog at a different level than when I writ research papers? Yes I do feel I do just because research papers are supposed to be more scholarly and more in depth than a blog post.

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comment by Brittney Hosey:
The idea of leveling on anything is amazing to me. But touching on books first, I think this is an important part of the learning cycle. It's also useful for parents who are trying to decide what level their child reads at and in the end help them get further with that process. I think this also relates to games and puzzles that are aged. Parent's can buy a game for their child that is supposed to be able to be completed by their age group and this can show the parent whether or not their child is where they need to be or not.
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comment by Anne Gayes:
Leveling is a very good strategy when dealing with education groups. It is a good way to catagorize children when trying to find what best fits them in learning terms. Also it is a good tool to use to help the teachers understand what levels all her students are in. Leveling also does have it's weaknesses though. It does not test and evaluate children as much as it should. For this system to be completely accurate it must evaluate the person on more than one test.
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comment by Melanie Bloden:
Determining the levels or readability of books has strengths and weakness'.Leveling helps students find what reading materials will benefit them most. Readability is measured like a math formula. It also fits students with appropriate material. Leveling should be more detailed with its testing. I am not sure which systems my teachers have used in the past. I would like to know what methods my parents and teachers might have used when picking out books for me.

Blog 16: Dialect Boundaries

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Jacob Collins
ENGL300-2: Chris Zoeller

Due by class time on: Wednesday, Oct. 5th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., Oct. 7th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.

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The article entitled “Dialect Boundaries” seems to tackle both different accents as well as different slang between certain area's. To gather data, they tested people in Ohio which has the most dialectical difference do to its location. They did this by first having surveyors draw a map of where they thought the boundary lines existed and then to judge the strength of the differences had them fill out a survey about speakers in those areas that went as such: 1, exactly like you; 2, a little different; 3, somewhat

different; and 4, different.

The surveyors from the south rarely agreed on their map most responders agreed that their were two different dialect differences, which was north of Columbus and south of it. Those from southeast central felt like most of Ohio spoke the same while the far corners of the state had different dialects. Those from the central divided it up by saying the far north had a Chicago type accent, while those in the middle was more “normal” and average, and the southern part having a southern twang to it. One northwestern Ohio citizen mapped the northeast part of the state as “good plain English,” the northwest part “slight dutch” and the southern part “strong hillbilly; fast.”

The findings then are that folk perceptions can be drawn from a small geographical region, that people from different parts of the states answered differently, and perceptual dialectology and traditional dialectology can yield similar results. This disagrees with earlier studies that basically just split the state in half but it also shows that the results are only relative to those answering the questions, in my opinion.

I think it would be interesting to do the same study for the state of Illinois. I am literally from the most southern part of the State and feel like a have a “normal” accent and feel that anyone north of approximately St. Louis has a “northern” accent, but basically every person I talk to tell me that I have a strong southern accent and obviously feel like they have a normal one, while I think that they have a very, very strong northern accent. I find it very interesting the differences in perception from just one single state.

--Jacob Collins

Blog 15: A 1925 Lesson in Slang

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Jodi Witthaus
ENGL300-2: Megan Abell

Due on: Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Friday, October 7th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.

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By Megan Abell

A Summary of "A 1925 Lesson in Slang"

After reading Clark's article, I disagree with her statement that many offensive words have disappeared. I would argue that slang words have a higher chance of being integrated that this article would suggest. Slang has always been presented to me as being negative. I learned at a young age that sland was something that was not tolerated in the classroom. Yet with age, I have realized that some slang is ingrained in the English lanuage and in the language of the classroom.
The teacher explains how both these excerpts were taken from thieves. Shakespeare utilized this language of thieves through the characters in his plays--his plays are renowned as high culture in modern-day society. This, in itself, contradicts the assertion that most slang disappears, as the language of Shakespeare has been integrated into contemporary society with words such as bedroom, swagger, and rant. However, the meaning of slang can still exist, even if it tries to disappear. Slang insinuates meaning where none exist. Slang is, in itself. a means for alternating meaning for those who are unable to understand a more formal language. This article expresses how the words of thieves are constantly slithering into our language, because slang was once the language of thieves. Therefore, any slang that society uses today is taken from its language. For example, the word "kids" was taken from the term "kidnap," which today is also known as "kidnap," and kidnapping is the action of "child stealing." The word "slang" comes from the old language of Scandinavia, which meant "to talk abusively."
This article continues on to express how offensive slang really is, and because of this, slang terms never stay in existence for very long. The students come to the conclusion that words only last if they are not offensive very long. For example, calling an insane asylum, a "bug house" is very offensive to anyone who may know somebody who has been legally defined as "insane;" and what is even more interesting is that the term "bug house" is very rarely used in today's society.
That being said, I do agree with the notion that modern slang is not appropriate for conversation in the classroom, because it has the potential to be offensive. By using the intellectual language, students can increase their vocabulary and thus encourage them to establish a professional standard. Yet, slang is a huge part of the language that is utilized and thus needs to be addressed (in some manner) withing the classroom. I did find the article interesting because society constantly uses terms without having a true understanding of the meaning of the words, which makes us slightly ambiguous when determing whether or not the world is offensive.

Blog 14: Flipping the Switch between Text Speak and Standard English

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Anne Gayes
ENGL300-2: Josh Copple

Due by class time on: Monday, Oct. 3rd, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., Oct. 5th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.

Kristen Hawley Turner wrote an article called, Flipping the Switch: Code-Switching from Text Speak to Standard English. This article was about how our English language has changed after the invention of texting messaging. It then goes to talk about how our language has transformed into "text speak" ever since the start of communication technology. (Instant messaging, world wide web, text messaging, etc.)

At the beginning of this article Turner talks about how her little brother knew much about communication technology when he was in high school, and Turner was in college and did not know much about that technology yet. She goes on to explain how her little brother would teach her all the new technology so that she could keep up with the fast changing world. At that time turner was an English teacher and decided to take on trying to figure out why society changed the way they write after text messaging came out.

Turner starts to look into this new phenomenon by looking at her stedents and seeing why they use text speak and what began that. It was said, "the vast majority of teens have eagerly embraced written communication with their peers as they share messages on their social network pages, in emails and instant messages online, and through fast-paced thumb choreography on their cell phones" (Lenhart et al.i). This upcoming new communication between teenagers has sparked many concerned parents and teachers to be worried that text speak will affect their children's school performance. Teachers believe that text speaking has now entered into their grammar within school and that they are not using the proper English that society once always used. There was a counterargument by a writeer of the New York Times, and he claims that the fact that text speaking in entering children's writing within school should not be a problem. He states that "capitalization will disappear". This counterargument does not hold much ground for the concerned parents and teachers though, and they believe there needs to be a stop with this communication.

Researchers Rebecca S. Wheeler and Rachael Swords believe they have came up with a solution to this problem. They wrote a book that helps teachers and their stedents learn the difference between the way they communicate at home and with their friends verse the appropriate communication that should be used in school and the professional world. This book changed the way Turner looks at teaching her students proper English. It has helped her create lesson plans that are affective in getting across when not to use text speak, and what exactly proper English is. This is called "flip the switch lesson" and it is an effective way to help children understand when it is okay to use text speak and when it is not okay.
Overall, I believe this issue should be addressed and fixed. The methods that Wheeler and Swords came up with are very effective in helping fix this problem, and I think all teachers should use it to help their students learn proper English. Our language is changing in a decreasing manner every day, and there needs to be an end to this. I believe that it is okay to use text speak when talking to one's friends or close family, but everyone needs to understand proper English and use it in professional situations such as school or work. If everyone would be able to do this I believe our society would take a major step in the right direction.


By: Anne Gayes

Blog 13: What Makes Texting Distinctive?

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Britny Hawk
ENGL300-2: Dan Krieske

Due by class time on: Friday, Sept. 30th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Monday, Oct. 3rd, 2011
The text you need to read is here.

Blog 12: American Sign Language and Grammar

The reading summary is done by:
ENGL300-1: Emilie Russell
ENGL300-2: Rebecca Borowiak for extra credit

Due by class time on: Friday, Sept. 30th, 2011

The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Monday, Oct. 3rd, 2011

The text you need to read is here.
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by Emilie Russell:

In this article, the author opens up by explaining what ASL is. ASL is "a visual-gestural language which incorporates facial grammatical markers, physical affect markers, spatial linguistic information and fingerspelling, as well as signs made with the hands. In ASL, grammar means how a language works or its system of use. The author talks about how many people cannot cite grammatical details where their native language is concerned yet are fluent users of it. The article then talks about how a child acquires fluency through exposure and use. The child needs constant exposure and immersion. They don’t learn how to speak through academics but instead, they learn naturally.

In this article, the author demonstrates the importance of grammar and its use. The grammar of a language is its infrastructure, without grammar, language is reduced to simply words that cannot extend meaning. Linguistics does not consider a string of vocabulary to be a true language if no distinct and consistent rules are in place. This is true for ASL as well.

ASL differs from verbal communication because signs, in accordance with their individual functions, work together to form a phrase or sentence.  Sentences, in accordance with their functions, work together to form paragraphs, and so on. The author goes on to explain the ASL parts of speech which include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. ASL does not use passive voice and there are no articles expressed. ASL uses the same tense, subject, predicate, object, and particle as verbal communication.