As a young college writer, sometimes a road trip inspired me. I’ve always enjoyed travel – and I like to get to know my surroundings. The road trip is a fundamental method of ethnographic research. You gotta look for connections…
What I’m learning Re: SRTOL Papers – Rhetoric
These comments apply to many papers. I see semantic confusion facts vs. opinions (if this is a rhetorical ploy – it doesn’t work on the well-educated; consider your audience). I hear semantic confusion. Define terms as you will use them.…
15 things you don’t know about me
I cook. I like it and I’m pretty good at it. I do all the laundry at my house. I’m also the first to change dirty diapers – provided my son dirtied them. I taught kindergarten for a year. I…
Microlab Spring 2010
A student set a new high for my classes in the Microlab this semester: 86. Last year one person scored a 78. I’ve learned that the Writing Center tutors told us the scores average around 52%. Several students told me…
What’s been threatening my sleep
Just a few blocks down the street from me – on my daily route to and from work – something huge and bad has happened within the last 72 hours. At least 3 agencies, including state and federal (ATF, Animal…
Is this funny?
Passive voice
When I speak of excessive use of passive voice (or passive verbs) I refer to the over use of “to be” verbs: is, are, was, were, be, being, been and am. Passive verbs are to writing what salt is to…
Superbowl, gender diversity and the SRTOL paper
Absenteeism was up for my 2 classes on Monday. Some research shows this may be caused by the Superbowl. See a scholarly journal here, or see a more news magazine article here. It could also have been the weather. Maybe…
Response to Comp 2 literacy reflection.
This term’s Literacy Reflections impress me. We have some bright and thoughtful classmates. I’d like to note that for the first time in my almost-2-decade career in higher ed. about 90% of the class got the MLA heading right! What…
Reponse to Literacy Reflection: Comp 2
This term’s Literacy Reflections impress me. We have some bright and thoughtful classmates. I’d like to note that for the first time in my almost-2-decade career in higher ed. about 90% of the class got the MLA heading right! What…