Final: Constituting the End or Purpose

"Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” That Michael Jordan quote kicked off this semester. As the weeks progressed, English 100 students rose to the challenge and pushed past any limits or fears you had about college writing. You faced many new challenges in this course and you kept going. These challenges ranged from the simple things, like finding a parking spot, to the more complex, like uploading papers on turnitin.com at 2 in the morning.

So, are all those critics right? Is this a generation of “google-eyed zombies” too plugged in to care? Text addicts that don’t know themselves, let alone know how to spell? The dumbing down of a disconnected generation? I don’t think so. You proved them wrong.

Here are a few of the topics, issues and assignments we took on over the past 17 weeks as we made our way through contemporary American culture with a lens on the intersection of education, identity and technology: Narrative writing, critical analysis, summary writing, group presentations, book reviews, website critiques, literary analysis, figurative language, social media, online privacy, advertising and the perception of reality, work, success, money vs. happiness, censorship, media violence, culture and identity. Doesn't sound disconnected to me. Just the opposite. Aware, connected and concerned.

So, keep moving forward, believe in your dreams, and don’t be bothered by limits, because as Albert Einstein said, “Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” I wish you every success as you continue your academic journey.~~LM

PS: I used dictionary.com to get my definition of "final." I now have 1500 cookies on my laptop...and I'm ok with that. :)

Our Journey in English 100, via the Cloud

Never. Stop. Learning.

Week 16. We are headed into the home stretch now. Remember that article on the 7 errors? In class on Wednesday, we're finally going to take a look at that. We're also going to brainstorm ideas in preparation for the Final, and wrap up our discussion of literature (Chopin's "Story of an Hour"/9am; "Bees",/11am--and poetry/both)

Week 15: It is Possible

Week 15 of the semester. This week we are going to continue the Group Presentations and be talking about figurative language in literature. You are moving towards the finish line--you can do this-it is possible. See you in class.

Changing Who You Become

Week 8, we took a deeper look at the first section of the novel, and how "choice" plays a role in Junior's life.

"And this book says something else: that as much as you can love your parents, as much as you can love your community, as much as you can love your family, you can also be radically different from them.

It says that you can be part of your family and yet distinct from it, and that doesn’t change your love for your family, but it changes who you become."

Sherman Alexie, speaking about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

Caught in the Net or There By Choice?

Week 7: We started Chapter 2, "Does Personal Privacy Have Limits?" The two readings look at the issue of online privacy, but from different points of view. David Plotz makes the point that we only care about privacy when it's our *own* privacy at stake. Jack Shafer, meanwhile, feels like when we are online, our privacy is being invaded to such a degree that it's like "Big Brother" run amok. He even goes so far to say, "you're paying with your privacy." Is the Internet (social media, gaming, etc) worth the price of your privacy? What do you think?

No shortcuts

We just passed Week 5 of the semester and students have set up their own blogs. Our topic this week is advertising, so you'll get to read some good critical analysis of a variety of ads in the posts. Browse some of the blogs, see what folks had to say, and comment.

This is the time to stay motivated and remember: there aren't any shortcuts--you just have to keep going.