Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140430

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed eighteen students, unchanged since last class meeting. Twelve attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Thirteen attended.

Discussion continued to focus on explication of Bisson's "Billy and the Spacemen" in preparation for the final exam. Some twenty minutes of class time was given to a quiz, through which attendance was assessed.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140430

Class began as scheduled at 9:30am in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, unchanged since last class meeting. All attended.

Discussion centered on Johnson and the differences between descriptive and prescriptive lexicography. Commonalities of criticism of Paradise Lost were noted, as well.

Attendance was assessed via a quiz.

Blog Use Survey

Students, if you would be so kind as to fill out the following survey so that I can improve my course offerings, I would be appreciative. -Prof. Elliott

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hY6jkZtPYGAkaYamJ-I7t6rzkGVoz1c-k8_Vb91r7gE/viewform

Monday, April 28, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140428

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed eighteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Thirteen attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since last class meeting. Fourteen attended.

Both sections discussed the final exam reading, Bisson's "Billy and the Spacemen." A quiz and student evaluations are forthcoming.

Attendance in each section was assessed informally.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140428

Class began as scheduled in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, unchanged since last class meeting. Thirteen attended.

After a visit by a particularly special guest, discussion touched on the conference papers recently submitted and concerns of the summative exam (to be administered next Monday) before treating Pope.

Attendance was assessed informally. A quiz is expected for Wednesday.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140425

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed eighteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Twelve attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Twelve attended.

Discussion in both sections opened with questions about student impressions of the evaluation essay that was to have been submitted before class began. It moved thence to discuss the final exam assignment sheet and Terry Bisson's "Billy and the Spacemen." The story will inform the final exam; students are urged to have a copy, which can be gotten from the OSU library databases and which will be the topic of discussion for much of next week.

Attendance was assessed informally.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140425

Class began as schedudled at 9:30am in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Ten attended.

Discussion opened with comments regarding the just-submitted conference-length paper. It moved thence into discussion of Addison and The Spectator.

Attendance was assessed informally.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140421

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed eighteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Twelve attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Eleven attended.

In both classes, discussion opened with comments regarding the upcoming final exam. It moved thence to address student concerns regarding the evaluation essay due on Friday before student broke off into small groups to conduct one final peer review session.

Attendance in both sections was assessed informally.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140423

Class began as scheduled at 9:30am in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. All attended.

Discussion opened with questions about student progress on the conference paper, due Friday. Afterward, it moved to a discussion of Swift, cannibalism, anthropophagy, and colonialist tropes. Readings for 25 and 28 April were swapped; Friday's reading will be the Addison materials in the course textbook instead of the Pope, and the Pope will be treated Monday.

Attendance was assessed informally.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140421

ENGL 1113.006 began slightly behind schedule (due to instructor error) at 11:35am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed eighteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Thirteen attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Fifteen attended.

Discussion in both classes asked after student progress on the evaluation essays due Friday. Students were told to bring hard copies of their drafts to class on Wednesday for a final peer review session. From there, discussion moved to treat issues of tone, working from examples derived from earlier student submissions for instructor review.

Attendance in both sections was assessed via riddle quiz.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140421

Class began slightly ahead of schedule at approximately 9:27am in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, unchanged since last class meeting. All attended.

Discussion opened early following student comments about the difficulty of the conference paper. It moved from there to talk about Jonathan Swift and A Modest Proposal. Discussion of Swift will be reprised on Wednesday with comments about Gulliver's Travels.

Attendance was assessed through a quiz modeled after the first section of the summative exam.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Regarding Website Updates

One of the things that MLA citation style asks scholars to track when referencing online materials is the date of last update. That is, scholars are asked to know and account for when the materials they use were last amended. This is due in part to the fluidity of online materials and in part as a holdover of the reliance upon print sources traditionally typical of those who work in the academic humanities. Because I am a member of the MLA and because I teach courses in disciplines that largely accede to MLA standards, I expect my students to keep track of such information, and my ethical stance requires me therefore to offer them that information in my own materials whenever I can.

During the Spring 2014 term at Oklahoma State University, however, this has not always been possible. There have been several occasions when I was unable to access the part of my course website where I make that information available--the comments section at the bottom of most pages. I tried to open the pages with several Internet browsers, and, although I could see the main material of the pages, I could not pull up my comments. This prevented me from being able to provide the information I would have liked to have provided in the way I want to provide it, and I neglected to take other opportunities to correct the error at the times in question.

I have, I believe, gone through the relevant pages and provided a date of update that, if not actually corresponding to the dates I made changes, at least do not have their last recorded updates before changes went through. Hopefully, the corrections will suffice to ensure that students have some idea of the recency of the information on my webpages and thus do not look to out-of-date data for their work.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140418

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed eighteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Fifteen attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Twelve attended.

Discussion in both classes opened with questions about student progress on the evaluation essays. It moved from there to a discussion of abbreviations and other points of academic usage and academic standards.

Attendance was assessed informally. Students are advised that a riddle quiz is forthcoming.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140418

Class began as scheduled in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Thirteen attended.

Discussion opened with the usual questions about student progress on the conference-length paper and reviewed the answers to the quiz from Monday. It moved on to touch on Aprha Behn and introduce postcolonial theory. Edward Said was noted as a seminal figure in the field.

Attendance was assessed informally.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140416

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed eighteen students, one fewer than at the last report. Thirteen attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last report. Thirteen attended.

Discussion in both sections opened with questions about students' perceived performance on the evaluation essay, of which a draft was to have been submitted before the beginning of class time. It moved thence to cover general usage concerns before discussing and offering in-class practice with the riddles that inform many assignments.

Attendance in both sections was assessed informally.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140416

Class began as scheduled at 9:30am in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, unchanged since the last report. All attended.

Discussion asked after student progress on conference papers, covering several concerns of citation and formatting. It then moved to inquire after events of the past Monday before engaging with the life and work of Margaret Cavendish. Noted was the relative lack of coverage of Cavendish.

Attendance was assessed informally.

Follow-up to 14 April 2014

Students:

I hope that class this Monday was useful for you and that you benefited from working, if only briefly, with my senior colleague. Exposure to different teaching styles is usually instructive.

I will in the next few days be going over reports and work from those classes. There are a few things that will demand more immediate attention (instructor drafts in the composition classes, for example), and I will attend to them first. I will get the other materials handled, though; worry not.

Until class,

Prof. Elliott

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Announcement Regarding 14 April 2014

Students, although I am being called up for jury duty once again, classes will not be cancelled on 14 April 2014. Prof. Randi Eldevik has generously agreed to cover all three of my classes that day, for which I am grateful.

ENGL 2543.002 can expect to have a discussion of the contexts and concepts informing the Restoration and Long Eighteenth Century; there will be questions provided to stimulate discussion. There will also be a quiz of the usual sort.

ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007 can expect to have peer review sessions; students in them should come prepared with hard-copies of their evaluation essays. Guidelines will be distributed in class. Attendance will be assessed via sign-in sheet.

Make the most of the time. I hope to see you soon.

Prof. Elliott

Friday, April 11, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140411

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed nineteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Nine attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Fifteen attended.

Discussion opened with questions about student progress on the evaluation essays. An extra peer-review session is on offer for Monday, 14 April 2014, pending scheduling concerns; students are expected to have drafts on hand and to be awaiting information regarding schedules. Questions of usage were also addressed.

Attendance was assessed informally. Students should be aware that some are losing points for poor attendance; others will be issued failing grades for it, per stated policy.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140411

Class began as scheduled at 9:30a in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fourteen students, one fewer than at the last class meeting. Twelve attended.

Discussion opened with the usual questions about student progress on assignments. It moved from there to treat Paradise Lost, focusing on Book IX and referencing the instances of the pathetic fallacy in the depiction of the Fall.

Attendance was assessed informally. Students should note that next week will begin the use of Volume 3 of the class anthology.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140409

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed nineteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Thirteen attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed sixteen students, one fewer than at the last class meeting. Fourteen attended.

Both sections focused on addressing student questions about the evaluation essay and principles of English usage.

Attendance in both sections was assessed informally.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140409

Class began as scheduled at 9:30am in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fifteen students, unchanged since last class meeting. Fourteen attended.

Class opened with the usual questions about student progress on the upcoming conference length paper. Discussion moved from there to conisderation of Milton's Paradise Lost, focusing on the rationale behind figuring Satan as the protagonist of the piece.

Attendance was assessed informally. Students are exhorted to read the entirely of Paradise Lost as time permits, as it is a central piece of English-language literature.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140407

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed nineteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Ten attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed seventeen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Seven attended.

Both classes focused on carrying out peer review of the evaluation essay. A quiz was taken from the presence of the peer review draft in class. Attendance was assessed informally.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140407

Class began as scheduled in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed fifteen students, one fewer than at the last class meeting. Twelve attended.

Discussion opened with the usual questions regarding student progress on conference papers before moving to Milton and Areopagitica.

Attendance was assessed through a quiz modeled after the summative exam to be conducted at the end of the term.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140404

ENGL 1113.006 began a bit later than the scheduled 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed nineteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Eleven attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed seventeen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Twelve attended.

Formal discussion in both sections opened with questions about student progress on the evaluation essay, of which a draft is due for peer review on Monday, 7 April 2014. After addressing student concerns, discussion turned to examining a textbook example of evaluative writing.

Attendance in both sections was assessed informally.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140404

Class began as scheduled in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Eleven attended.

Discussion opened with questions about student progress on the conference paper. It moved from there to consideration of the poetry of John Donne, focusing on "The Flea" and several Holy Sonnets.

Attendance was assessed informally. Further opportunities to study for the final exam are forthcoming.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Class Reports, ENGL 1113.006 and ENGL 1113.007, 20140402

ENGL 1113.006 began as scheduled at 11:30am in Classroom Building Room 108. The class roster listed nineteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Fifteen attended.

ENGL 1113.007 began as scheduled at 12:30pm in Classroom Building Room 122. The class roster listed seventeen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Fifteen attended.

Discussion opened with questions regarding student progress on the upcoming evaluation essay. Student concerns about structure and content were addressed. In addition, ENGL 1113.006 reviewed a textbook example of evaluative writing.

Attendance was assessed informally in both sections. Students are advised to review the assigned readings.

Class Report, ENGL 2543.002, 20140402

Class began as scheduled at 9:30am in Morrill Hall Room 202. The class roster listed sixteen students, unchanged since the last class meeting. Fourteen attended.

Discussion opened with questions about student progress on the upcoming conference-length paper and moved to a recapitulation of the previous meeting's quiz. From there, it turned to Ben Jonson and nascent Cavalier poetry, emphasizing historical context.

Attendance was assessed informally.