Listing of the f07 blog grading periods

Just for the record, I am listing the three grading periods for your blogs for the f07 semester, for each of the four groups.

1. FIRST PERIOD
1. Group 1. 9/23 - 10/14
2. Group 2. 9/23 - 10/21
3. Group 3. 9/23 - 10/27
4. Group 4. 9/23 - 11/4
2. SECOND PERIOD
1. Group 1. 10/15 - 11/25
2. Group 2. 10/22 - 12/2
3. Group 3. 10/28 - 12/9
4. Group 4. 11/5 - 12/16
3. THIRD PERIOD
1. Group 1. 11/26 - 12/23 (already finished!)
2. Group 2. 12/3 - 12/30 (this coming week)
3. Group 3. 12/10 - 1/6
4. Group 4. 12/17 - 1/13

For each period, I am looking for a MINIMUM of 12 different posting days, ideally 3 times a week. More times a week would be better, but I cannot handle grading so many entries! If you have written at least the minimum number of times for any period, I'll give you a passing grade of 60 or more; if you have not, it's doubtful you'll pass.
Reminder: I'll keep only 2 of the three grades for the three periods, and average them together for your blog grade for the year. The lowest one will be dropped from the grade sheet. The blog grade will be about 40% or 50% of the final grade for the class.
Conclusion: if you have zeroes or very low grades for two periods, it is unlikely you'll pass the class at all, unless the rest of your work is really good.
I hope this is clear. If not, ask!!
Your merry teacher
Chris O'Brien

Option for all WRIT1 and WRINT students

As I announced in class this week, the last I'll require you to write your blogs this semester will be this coming Sunday, 12/16/07. That's the due date for Group 4. Further writing is optional, and if you want me to comment, let me know.
Since I don't want to disappoint anyone, I am adding an option for everybody. You can simply stop as of 12/16 if you want, but if you choose you can do one more blog period as already planned on my Google calendar, viewable at my homepage. If you do this, I will give you a grade for the third time too. . .and then see which of the three grades you earned is the lowest. I will DROP the lowest of the three grades, so if your first blog grade was bad, but the second and third were good, the first one won't bring your grade down. If you don't continue in your blogs, the first and second grades will both be counted. It's your choice; however, I need you to tell me if you are going to continue, or to stop. Please tell me in a blog post this week. I will also check in class next week.
I hope this new idea will please you. Take care!
Chris O'Brien

2nd Blog period: WRIT1 Feedback.

Dear WRIT1 students: This grade is the main one for your class (the combined 3 blog grades), so having a second low score can ruin your semester. I expect the combined blog grade will count about 40 or 50% of your semester grade. Therefore, if you get very low grades for the first two periods, you will likely have trouble passing the class. I can't help you if you don't seek help, so give me feedback or ask for help. . .please! If you don't care about your grade, why should I care?
I still cannot find Annie's blog site; please tell me in class today, Annie!
For Peggy: Please see my comments.
For Christy: I cannot find any English entries in your blog for the 2nd grading period--nor, indeed, any English entries at all! Is this the wrong blog?
Rossi: Similarly, it appears that there are no entries at all since before this 2nd grading period.
Paula: Your blog requests that I "wait [for] me" and I have, but still there are no entries at all. You'll have to wait till next period for a grade. So please "wait for me." However, even if you get a 100% on your next blog period (highly difficult to achieve, like a word level of 50 at "FreeRice.com") your top combined score will only be 33.3%. It's such a shame!

I really cannot understand the problem for most of you. You are destroying your writing grade, and what for?? If you do not understand the requirements, you ought to ASK! Or, as an alternative, you could always READ the instructions. I'd love to help intelligent students who try to do a good job and ask for assistance, but I'm not gonna chase you down the halls asking you for your homework. You are adults and are solely responsible for yourselves and your grades and your future. Grab the steering wheel and start to drive yourself towards your destination!
See you in the afternoon.
Chris O'Brien

Cautions and a Feedback Request

I note that many bloggers have not resumed their writing after the 2 week break. Don't hurt your chances at a good grade for the second blogging period, please. I have posted all deadlines on my calendar, visible on my main page, as well as how many posts there should be in all for each time. However, please note that I only consider the blogs for the specific period each time. . . So actually for each group, by the due date of your group's 2nd blog period, I will need to see at least 12 entries for the period. This includes all time between ONE DAY AFTER the previous due date until the new due date. For group 1, then, that will include the time between October 15th and November 25th (I will not expect entries for those two weeks when we all took a blog break). If this is unclear, please ask!!

Please note, everyone, that I cannot read your minds. If you disagree with anything I'm doing you must TELL ME if you want the situation to improve, as I have no other way to know. Also, please note that complaining to some other person who is not related to our class is the wrong way to solve the problem, and pretty grossly impolite too. Comment here if you want to tell me without my knowing who you are. . .just include the class name, WRIT1 or WRINT, if you want me to be able to act on your suggestions. And please. . .have some respect. I'm doing my best, but I have no feedback from you guys, so I just have to guess what you need. It would be unfair for you to blame me for not fixing a mystery problem that is a secret to me. But I will do my best to help you out and make the class more suitable to you if you let me know your needs.
Sincerely yours
Chris O'Brien

Follow up comments WRINT Group 4 1st period

Hola all. I was especially pleased with this 4th group of blogs, which were generally well written and *GASP* interesting to read as well! Still some grammar things, especially

1. Tense suitability
2. Number agreement
3. Count/noncount nouns

So I urge you all to take care. Now I'm done with the first period of blogging entries for both WRINT and WRIT1. Now for the next batch, which were due yesterday. . . . AAUUUGH!~!!

Please check your homepage, WRIT1 class. I've a special request for you!

Chris O'Brien

Fixed WRIT1 Blogs

Carrol

Please get going and post three paragraphs or more every week for the rest of the semester.

WRINT Group 4 blog comments for first grading period

Hi. Glad to see that the first group member, Samantha, has refreshingly kept up with her entries. Thank you Samantha!!

• No need to use "although" and "but" together; pick only one of these terms.
• "as possible as I can" is a weird phrase that turns up more and more frequently in blogs and other writing. It should be "as much as possible," "as much as I can," or "as much as I possibly can."

More feedback tomorrow!

WRIT1 Group 4 comments

First, I had better thank Barry, who appears to have provided content for at least 3 or 4 other students' blogs, since he wrote their haiku for another class. Not sure why his group members found writing a haiku so challenging when it was Barry who did the writing...oh well.
I don't seem to have Adam's blog address yet. Please, Adam, send it this week before it's too late.
Most people in this class, from any group, seem to think that the blog is something you only need to do a few times a semester. No! Please write thrice a week or more to get a passing score. Do that with good writing to get a good score.
At least it's very easy to grade these nonexistent blogs, which score in the single digits.
Also there seems to be no blog for Linda. Please--what's going on with this class?? Send it or regret it.
If you have a problem finishing or posting your journals, just let me know. If you don't I'll count it as "unexcused." One student asked me for an extra day to finish, and that was fine, but that was weeks ago.
Get it together, folks. Somebody'd better pass next time!

• Paragraph form, spell and grammar check, and 3 times a week to pass; none of that = probable failure for the class!

Chris O'Brien

Issue with the WRINT class's Change in Teachers for 2 1/2 weeks

Hi, I just got a comment in my guestbook--Gmail had put it into the spam folder, but it was from Nov. 11th. Here it is:

I don't like the exchange teacher thing. Why weren't we informed before it happened? Students do have the right to have a comment about the teaching plan, don't we?

So I have replied in this way, and posted it here so you all will have a chance to read it.

Hello, well, I can give you a couple of answers. First, you WERE informed about the change--nearly a week before it happened. I posted the information very shortly after class on Halloween, 10/31--because that was when Guan Shr first told me about the idea. I didn't know anything about it until about 3 PM on that day; I told you as soon as I knew about it.
If you people had done your homework--namely, checking my homepages regularly, as you should--you all would have known about this sooner. Instead, it seemed that 100% of the students were surprised about the news. Why was that?
Second, yes, you do have the right to have a comment about teaching plans--and you have just made one. Thanks for the comment.
If you want to explain more about why you don't like the change, please do. I don't know what the teacher is doing, but I know it's some sort of teaching experiment that she is required to do. Anyway, it won't affect your grade in my class, and you won't get a grade for her class either, so what does it matter in the end? You need not participate unless you want to!

• I hope you'll willingly participate in her experiment, but if you choose not to, it is your right to refuse; I am not requiring your participation, and I am not calling the roll these weeks. Do what you wish, but do please show respect for Guan Shr and her project, no matter how you feel about it; people with no manners do not earn any respect for themselves.
• Finally, why am I getting these questions, anyway? I already answered them in class on Nov. 7th.
  

Thank you anyway, mysterious student, for sharing your objections with me. I appreciate that; so many people are silent. Please share more info if you want to do so. Is something shocking happening to you? What, in fact, is the matter?? If you want me to make up 2 1/2 classes for you myself, I am willing to schedule make-up classes for you, as long as it fits into your schedules and mine. Let me know.

Chris O'Brien

WRINT group 3 Comments part 2

Hi. I'm now done with group 3 and so far nobody has even come close to earning a passing grade in the blogs! Few have followed the instructions and that's really too bad. Please consider following the directions in the future, unless you prefer not to pass the class. As adults, it's really your decision, but I fear that you would regret making that type of decision, so I'm here to warn you about it. Please check your blog comments for more information. Best to you. See you next time.
Chris O'Brien

WRIT1 Group 3 Comments

Hi there WRIT1sters.

• I have no blog address for Kitty as far as I can find. If you have one, Kitty, send me an email please, or reply to this post if you wish to have a blog grade. (you should want one!)
  
• Ellen and Renee's blogs have only one post each. That's as far as I got so far; if you have more entries then you must give them to me or send me the link right away. Otherwise your grades won't change.
• More later. . .

Chris O'Brien

Comments WRINT Group 3

I'm keeping notes for this group as I go. . .I may add to this later. . .

• Tiffany, I cannot find any way to make comments on your blog. Also, you have not made your articles visible, AND furthermore you're still using Yam.com, never advisable for an English class. Please could you try to fix these problems? You have enough entries, but it is very clear you have neither used a spellchecker nor a grammar checker at all, at least in some entries. Next time please do both and follow the other directions to improve your grade. Please let me know next class when the comments are turned on and the articles are visible. I don't have time to click for new pages for every article.
  
• I see how Mitzi's blog is on Yam, but is set up so it displays all articles fully and is all in English. If you are on Yam but have it set up wrong perhaps you can ask Mitzi for advice on how to do it right. Thanks, Mitzi!
• In general I'm still seeing lots of elementary school type mistakes with number, subjects, tense, punctuation, and so on. Nobody seems to be spell checking or grammar checking, two of my requirements this semester. Do try to follow the instructions I've given you in this blog. Thank you and see you in class. I have not really started grading your mid terms.

Chris O'Brien

Gimme a Break!

Hi, dear WRIT1 and WRINT students. I have to take a couple of weeks off from grading blogs, so I can catch up! I've been overwhelmed with many projects this semester and I've fallen behind, so during the next week (and theoretically over the past week too) I ask everyone to take a bit of a break from blogs. . .at any rate, I don't plan to grade any blog entries that are written during this period. . .between Nov. 5 and Nov. 18. However, if you're lacking in entries for your current period and you have some entries from that period, I suppose you can use those as substitutes so that you won't lose points for not having written elsewhen. I'll be with you in your comments section as long as you give me permission to do so. If not, no grade for you.
Thanks to those of you who are doing such lovely work on the Free Rice bonus. . .though I'm concerned about the possibility of Photoshopping or otherwise cheating, as several students have a vocabulary level of 50--the very highest level, which I cannot achieve myself, and which the homepage states is rarely achieved. It's strange, unless you have either a wonderful vocabulary or else a very good dictionary (or dictionary website) to aid you. At any rate, thanks for 'buying' that rice for the poor.
Chris O'Brien

Groups 1 and 2's blogs--WRIT1 and WRINT--feedback!

Hello.
I'm not too happy to see what you WRIT1 students have done so far--namely, very little. Please check my comments, if you have even given me a blog to see. Those who have not even done that are in more trouble than those who have one but haven't posted yet, but not much--grade wise, that is. Review the instructions and follow them all please.

For the WRINT students, similarly some have done little or nothing so far, and that has hurt their grades. Please do follow the instructions and also keep up with the schedule: three posts every week in English.

Please all students if you use Chinese in your blog too, please please. . . make a label for your Writing class posts that is the name of your class, WRIT1 or WRINT so I can easily find your English blog entries without hunting for them. The "labels" of this particular post are "Grumbling, Feedback, Instructions" as you can see below.
Also very important, show your posts on the page, don't force me to click

"more..."

every time I want to read what you have written. I asked you to avoid Yam and Wretch and those other Chinese-centered blog centers as they are not congenial to English writing, and I am upset to see that so many have used these anyway. Please consider a move to something that supports your new lives as ENGLISH MAJORS. Minimize your daily Chinese. . .this is the only time in your life when you can really focus on your major; don't throw the opportunity away!
Some people's blog addresses seem to have no current blogs attached. . ."404" is the refrain. For some, like Candice's, I cannot find any way to comment, so I can't give feedback. But I am sure there's no such word as "returing". Having a Chinese-only blog host makes trouble for you in this class!
PLEASE remember to spellcheck and grammar check BEFORE you post, guys.

I guess that at least half of the people from Groups 1 and 2 (both classes) got a zero this time; that is no good for your grades, my friends. And most of you who wrote something did not keep up and so still failed. Many have not even given me a current blog address yet. Well, if the weather hasn't alerted you, let me assure you that summer vacation is OVER. Get writing and reading, or reconsider your major.
For those few who have actually kept a regular journal this semester, I want to say THANK YOU!
Chris O'Brien

Behind-the-story Information from Harry Potter Author

There is some revealing information about the backstory behind the Hogwarts characters you may know fairly well available for readers who click here. But is this considered canon? In other words, can we accept her statements if they never appear in the books? Many schools of literary criticism maintain that only until the book is published can the author have any control over his or her text; after that it's in the mind of the reader that truth can be made. What do you think?
Let me know if you want by commenting on this post, please, for some bonus points.
Thanks to the Leaky Cauldron!

Shhh! Secret homework for all WRIT1 and WRINT students

I am sure that by now you know you ought to visit the "Writers' Block" blog--this one--once every week. So if you are reading this before week 6 you're doing right. Thank you.
Show me that you ARE indeed doing right. . .by sending me a link to the most interesting website you know that is available in English. It could be a specific web page, or a site in general (in other words, it could be something like www.yuntech.edu.tw/~oshuhua/keenlinks.html or something more general like www.yuntech.edu/).
Or if you really have something great to share with us all in Chinese, you can include that ALSO. This is not really extra credit; it is homework. If you don't do it you'll get a grade of zero. Please let your friends find it by themselves; they are responsible for their own grades in college classes, not you. The link should be posted, as before, as a comment to THIS POST. Don't send me email about it.

Take care and have a good week. If anybody still has not posted their blog address in a comment to July 9th's post, please do so before your class in Week Six; that is a grade for you too. 100% or 0%--your choice!
Please remember to keep to the schedule of 3 posts or more every week, all on different days. That is important to your grade. Also remember that you must do your own writing; don't copy from a book or the Web.
Chris O'Brien

Welcome, Writing Students in WRIT1 and WRINT!

Greetings, all 四應外一 students (in the Basic English Writing class) and students in the Intermediate Writing class. I'm Dr. Chris O'Brien.
This is the home blog for our class 5511, 初級寫作（一）, or Basic Writing I, nicknamed WRIT1, and the Intermediate Writing class, nicknamed WRINT, in your own Google Group nickname and elsewhere.

During the first week of this semester, you should do several things.

1. Send me your information from my homepage (www.yuntech.edu.tw/~oshuhua/)
2. Join up to my Google Group from the same homepage, reading my special instructions and using the right kind of "nickname": WRIT1, underscore, then your English name, underscore, and then the last 3 digits of your student number, like this: WRIT1_Nelly_063. All email you send me should use this nickname in the subject line, please.
3. Set up a free blog on Blogspot (www.blogger.com)--please do not use a blog service where everything is written in Chinese, as I don't read Chinese.

• Please do not have music playing on the blog, and let me see the text of your posts when I view the page with your blog (some services such as "yam.com" or "wretch" break these rules a lot, so please avoid them. Life's too short to keep turning off your music or search separate pages just to see what you wrote.)
  
• Also, please set up your blog so that anyone can comment; sometimes in the past people had me beg for permission just to give them instructive comments--what a drag! Path from Blogger: Dashboard > Settings > Comments > Who can comment? USE "ANYONE"

4. Please respond to this post (in other words, comment) and give me your Group nickname and the address of your blog.

• You should get started writing during the first week of classes.
  
• Please use ""WRIT1" as a tag or label for each of the posts on your own blog that you want me to grade, so I can see them all together, apart from any personal posts that I should ignore.
  
• You should write three times a week or more every week for this semester.
  
• Please remember that this is practice for college writing, so please use good grammar and spelling, and use paragraphs. Please use a spell-checker and grammar checker before you post.
  

• Remember that the goal is to practice writing carefully and correctly, frequently! I won't grade more than one post per day, so don't bother "scatterposting," that is, posting twelve times in one day, as some students have actually tried to do before!
  

I'll update this post as the semester approaches. Have fun writing!

Chris O'Brien

Your Blogs: a change in requirements. . .a nice change!

Hi, my dear students. I wanted to make sure you all know that I'm requiring several fewer weeks of your blogs.
Originally, I wanted you to write all the way to the final week of the semester (the 18th week), but now I'm only grading you up to the end of week 14: June 3rd.
That in effect means that I'll give you only two grades:

1. all the weeks from the second week of classes until the first due date you had on the Google calendar, (this first period has already passed) and
2. all the weeks from the week beginning with the first due date until the last day of the last week of required blogging, which is June 3rd: this coming Sunday.

• Please just make sure that in that second period you have at least three entries per week, average. Please recall also that the goal is to write frequently, not just to write three times for each week. Some students have been writing up to six entries on a single day, and I don't count the extras. They should be written all (or nearly so) on different dates! If you write too few times one week, write more frequently the following week, but don't just write two weeks' worth of entries all on one day. That is not really meaningful practice, and most of these entries are not worth your time or mine.
  
• If on June 3rd you still don't have enough entries, however, I'll give you another week to catch up.
  
• I won't count any entries after June 10th for your grade, so catch up this week or suffer the consequences!
  

Don't forget, also, that this coming Tuesday you should have a full draft of your essays with a title, citations, and a Works Cited page (a separate page!) in place. We'll be doing some group work next week and you'll be helping each other to spot any sort of mistakes and making suggestions, etc.

Please try a diamante and/or a haiku for next Tuesday if you want bonus points from that. That might help some of you who didn't have such a good blog grade first time around. Further, recall that you can get extra points at any time by fixing George Bush's broken English (a new bad English quote each time you refresh this blog's front page!). Help yourself to get a good grade, and have fun doing it! C'mon, try!

Sincerely,

The Sideburned Instructor

An Everyday Problem

Hi, folks. I want to remind you that "everyday" is an adjective, not an adverb. Here's a quote from one student's blog:

I hope I can see and chat with them everyday.

That should be, "I wish I could see them and chat with them every day." This is because "see" is not a transitive verb, but "chat with" is a transitive verb phrase; the "with" doesn't go with both verbs, only with one of them, so they need to be separated. Also, the "everyday" is fixed, changed to "every day" as it should be.

By 4/23 (yesterday), everyone should have had 24 blog entries--eight full weeks. Sadly, most students did not keep up with that schedule of 3 blog posts per week by the end of their first grading periods, so that cost them many points. Please keep up.

I still see lots and lots of errors in your blogs, though fewer than at first. Take care to avoid comma splices, and please also use the correct word forms; don't use a noun when the sentence calls for an adjective, for instance.

Everyone needs to get going on the mid-term assignment, due at the beginning of class next week--see the Yuntech homepage.
They must be free of grammar errors to pass. Please, go beyond elementary-school level grammar errors and start writing like college students, if you aren't doing so already. I would be ashamed to let anybody pass this class who cannot do that, and I'm not willing to do that or feel that way. Boost yourselves up and get ready to be high level English writers. I am aware that you studied essays and paragraphs and stuff last semester, but unfortunately the class seems to have had but little effect on your writing, so we're stuck in first gear till you can show me you can write even a basic paragraph without childish errors. Sorry to scold, but being an English major means that you are ABLE to use English at near-professional levels already. Some students in DAFL are not even near middle school levels!

Nobody got any bonus points for the Shakespeare's birthday bonus opportunity! Why not??
Chris

Funny Or Die: The Landlord » Gwarm

Funny Or Die: The Landlord » Gwarm

I don't know how they did this, but it's great to find someone who can understand this kind of talk. Was she trained, or what? Impressive attempt. Let's try something longer next. . .the next Star Trek movie, perhaps.

Do not attempt to write like this! Bushisms come to the Paperhood

I am now including a quote (which will change each time you reload the page) by temporary leader of the USA, George W. Bush, former cheerleader and brander for the "ΔΚΕ" fraternity. I do so in order to give you access to a mind that cannot use English at reasonably proficient "native speaker" levels (he grew up in Texas, a place stereotyped as one of many areas of the USA where standard English is not always heard) and you can practice analysis of bad English so that you can become better at self-editing. The quotes are found in the left-hand column of this blog.
I don't have an opinion about how intelligent he actually is (I'm lying), but at any rate his poor speaking skills give him the appearance of a dolt.
This is most unfortunate, as the President is, to a large extent, the "packaging" of a country for the time he's in office, and he is doing little to improve the nation's prestige, at least as far as his public speaking record goes.
Anyhow, I hope these quotes will both amuse and instruct you! For bonus points any time, just respond to this message or send me email that includes the quote and your interpretation of what's wrong with it--what he meant to say, and what his actual quote means (not all quotes will be quite suitable for this treatment; he just spouts utter nonsense sometimes).
Chris

New Google Service!

For your information, I'll mention this free new service from Google. I hope everything will come out all right for this new and exciting "underground" project.

Gratefulness

Hey there students,
Just wanted to thank you for being so good about checking your homepage at Yuntech. Check out the counter at the bottom of the page! Whoa!
Sincerely,
Chris

New Bonus Opportunity for Shakespeare's Birthday!

Check out my homepage's calendar to make sure when the birthday is. . . . . hee hee!

There is an amazing array of sort-of dumb stuff available here at a fellow Blogspot blog. I used the most recent post to create one of my own .

Now it's your turn! Find one of the generators that creates a picture with text of your own for bonus points. Make it clever and creative--funny if you can. Have fun. Make more than one. See which ones are your faves.

1. When you have done it, please first post your creation on your own blog.
   
2. Then comment on this post and include YOUR post's web address so I can find it quickly and easily.
   

• I want to choose the best 5 creations--you can enter this as often as you wish, though I know you don't have unlimited time for this foolishness.

Of course, any bad English will disqualify your entry, unless it's bad for a Reason.
So anyway, my dear students. . .have at thee! I hope you enjoy this.


Chris

Bonus Opportunity for WRIT2 Students--March 26th

I feel at loose ends today, and so I thought I could pick up my spirits by getting some free points into your grade. If you'd like a bonus, please write a paragraph about what you usually do when you need to do homework, but find it hard to concentrate. How do you get your mind focused, and get the work done on time? Or, if you prefer, how do you manage to take a break and make yourself feel fresher when you have too much homework to do? Do you have any suggestions for me? I am bogged down by my dissertation and two textbooks, both due on April 16th. Help me, and help yourself!
Please do check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation; however, you do not need to write formally. Be as casual and relaxed in your writing as you wish. Post your responses to this question as a comment to THIS POST--not email or a paper response!--by noon on Monday, March 26th for credit.

Thanks! I'll be talking about your "corporal punishment" essays and working with you on your textbooks. See you soon.

Chris O'Brien

Common errors in your early posts

Hi class.
The most common problems I'm seeing in the blogs of groups 1-3 so far are:
Paragraphs having too few sentences, generally only one! There must be at least 3 sentences in a proper paragraph. That means that you shouldn't hit "return" after typing only one sentence.
Also, there is plenty of sloppy grammar, such as:

• Subject/verb agreement
• Tenses mixed together
• missing articles (OMG!)

PLUS, problems with punctuation and with spelling. Really--for English majors, you have a lot of catching up to do--that means lots of extra reading that you need to take responsibility for. Without enough input, you cannot have good output. So--READ! Especially, please read your own writing before you post it. Many of these errors are, I sincerely hope, careless mistakes that you could really have fixed by yourselves. If not. . . well, let me just say that this is not the level of writing that I should be seeing in pre-professional English users. You have got to improve your ability with DAILY practice. . .and I mean quality practice.

Please don't forget your writing homework, posted at my Yuntech page. Give it to me printed or written on paper at the beginning of class, or you will not be graded. Don't fail through carelessness.
Some people, such as student 001, have written NOTHING yet, as far as I can find. Remember that the assignment is to write at LEAST three times every week. That means EVERY week, folks.
See you all tomorrow. Take care and get a good sleep.
By the way, I finished the full draft of my dissertation on Saturday!
Chris

In case of incorrect Google Group Nicknames. . .

If you have not used the right kind of nickname, please read this:

It turns out that it is NOT NECESSARY for you to re-sign-up for the Groups. Your nickname can be changed very easily from inside the Group. I feel surprised that after searching for quite a while, I still failed to discover this; my NEWS student, Albert, showed me how last night.

To change your nickname, log in to the Google group, and then from the homepage, on the right side of the screen, click on 編輯我的會員資格 (edit my membership).

From there, you can see your current nickname and can change it to the right sort of name. Please do so this week. Thank you!!

Chris

Nickname Troubles Can be Resolved Easily!

Hi, Students!
So far only six (I think, and one did it incorrectly) students have submitted their blogs to me. Please do so by commenting on the original post, at the bottom of the page, before noon on Monday. Thanks!

I'm sorry that it is currently impossible to change the language of the Google Group on your computer; if your system is a Chinese one, it seems, you're stuck with a Chinese Google Group, which is too bad!

Because. . .

You should really avoid using Chinese for your daily routines unless you have to communicate with some uneducated person who cannot use this international language. It's by far the best thing to use English for all your daily needs. . .at least until you are no longer English majors. At least, for this class, don't use Chinese for your blogs and for the Group. So far, all six students have used Chinese-only blog sites. I can't read anything there, and I shouldn't have to need to, 'cause this is English class. Your class, not mine.

If you already have blogs at "yam.com" or whatever, well. . .okay, but can you tell me how to view them in English? I know that "wretch" can be set up to be viewed in English, so please could you do so?
And don't forget that you need to use a label for your English homework journal entries so I can find them. And--please check your spelling and grammar, would you? What else is Bill Gates good for?

Sorry for my grumpiness . . . it's been a trying time recently and I feel irritated anyhow.

Chris

Textbook Chosen! Hints for your Blogs. Greetings!

Happy Tuesday!

A group of WRIT2 students agreed today that the textbook should be At A Glance: Paragraphs 3rd Edition, by Lee Brandon; I believe that Chris (your classmate, not your teacher) is ordering a copy for each of you and it should arrive soon. The book is pretty inexpensive: $275, minus a 15% discount (I think that's the right amount!).

ALSO, please remember--and tell your other LIT1 classmates, please!--that for the Google Group, to use your "nickname", such as "WRIT2_Chris_806," and not just a name or email address. I want to know immediately who you are.

ALSO, please also note that your blogs should be set up so I can comment on your English journal entries without registering or anything. I think you should set it up so anyone can comment.

If you don't want me to grade every entry in your blog, set up a label with the name "Chris" or "WRIT2" or "English" for the class journal entries so I can find the right ones easily. For instance, I will send this post with the labels "Instructions" and "News."

Thanks, and it's good to get to know you. Don't forget to send me your information, with your "nickname" in the last text box. . .and, please send me your photos. . .So far only 1 student has done so. I got it fine.

Take care and let me know if you run into trouble.

Chris O'Brien

Welcome to the Paperhood!

This is the first post on the Paperhood, the neighborhood of Writing students who live online on this Writer's Block (or should that be "Writer's Blog"??).

WRIT2 students, thank you for coming; please come here again every week this semester.
I want every student in our class to set up a weblog (blog) online. (You might want to go here and get a free one; there are other free blog services as well, and I don't have any preferences, as long as your blog is in English!) You will use these blogs as your online journals. I need to be able to leave comments on your writing there. Of course, I don't mind if you put your own Chinese blog messages etc. there, but I will naturally only count the English ones. For your online journals, you must post in English at least three times every week for a total of 12 posts per month. (Small variations, such as two posts one week followed by 4 the following week, are acceptable, but the total must be at least 12 per four weeks.)
This week (beginning Feb. 26th) you should set yours up and give me the address by putting it as a comment on this post here.

Don't forget to give me your "Nickname" also. That is, first the name of this class (WRIT2), then an underscore (_), then your English name, then another underscore, then the last 3 digits of your student number. Like this:

WRIT2_Chris_806

You also should visit your pages here and here every week (sign up at the top of this page, please, and let me know if you have trouble--it's new and I don't understand it very well yet). Thank you for your cooperation.
I think we will use this blog as our main headquarters, with the Yuntech page for schedules and the "google group" page for turning in assignments. We'll see how it goes.

Let me tell you about your homework for this coming week (March 5th):
1. Leave a comment to THIS VERY posting on this very blog, telling me your own blog's address and your "nickname" (see above).
2. On your own blog, leave a post or more than one post, answering the following questions:

• What did you learn in writing class last semester, and what was new to you?
• What do you feel are your strong and weak points in your writing ability in English? Is it grammar, spelling, formatting, or expressing yourself smoothly, or is it something else? Please try to be specific.
• Also, give me your thoughts on how this first week of school is going for you.

I'm sure you can figure it out yourself, but I'll just mention that with a blog, you can't get away with what other students in the past have done with paper journals: wait till the last moment, and then write twelve journal entries in one evening--switching pens sometimes to fool me. Also, it is easy for me to tell and check if you are cheating by copying other people's writing from the 'Net. Don't try! If you have trouble following the instructions, tell me about that in your blog, but do not be a bad person just to get a good grade in school. It's not worth it!!

Also, like other students, you should go here and submit your basic information for me, and furthermore, please join my student group.
Thank you very much. Sincerely,
Chris O'Brien