I was born and raised in Taos, New Mexico and loved the innocence of my youth and Taos being a small town which enhanced that aspect. My parents had six children and I was lucky to be the fifth of six of them. I say that because my father was an abusive alcoholic and since I was down the line of children, I did not receive the brunt of the violence that he imposed on the older children and my mother. My parents divorced when I was ten years old and most of the rest of my care and discipline was divided between my older brothers and my only sister as my mother became disinterested in finishing the task of raising my younger brother and me. Actually, I took a part in raising myself since my siblings had their own lives to deal with. Therefore, early on in my life I had to make many decisions for myself, and as a result, I became independant at a young age. Today, my older siblings depend on me for counsel in certain areas of their lives and I am amazed at how that aspect has turned around. My mother is now 86 years old and I am her legal guardian with the responsibility of making all of her financial, medical, and living decisions.
My higher education came later in life, having seen a husband through undergraduate school, law school and three children through most of high school. I received my BA and MA in English at UNM and now teach.
My first impressions of Good Reasons are good. It's clearly written, flows well, and brings up many of the points I often try to raise with my 101/102 students. As I mentioned last class, I am fond of, perhaps unpopularly, of trying to emphasize logical reasoning in 102 certainly and sometimes introducing it briefly in 101. While I agree that Toulmin is too complicated, I personally like to teach basic syllogisms (premises, conclusions). I find that comp students often have trouble identifying the first premises in an argument, which I think is really important to their unpacking the rhetoric. Then I make sure that as we continue thru the semester that I point out logical argument in the texts, or ask them to identify first premises, etc. I have found that I get generally good responses to this--they feel as if they are learning something.
I'm glad they included some of the logical fallacies. Personally, I like to make up my own examples from current events, or the readings in the class--they are usually humorous or pointed (current events). I find students respond really well to this exercise.
Too bad they didn't include Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" in the censorship section.
I think a really challenging sequence would be the rhetoric of the US/Iraq War....
I find that in the beginning, they need lots of modeling about how to analyze a text, how to outline a reading (this helps them figure out how to write their own outlines), which particular aspects of the argument they are most excited/disturbed by. So, just reading Good Reasons probably won't be sufficient if you don't think up good reinforcement exercises to go with it (summary vs. analysis vs. evaluation, etc.)
This fall, as part of our preparations for the orientation, Susan's group is working on break off discussions for Thursday of that week. If you want info on the group's choices thus far, let me know.
The query I am posting concerns one of my assigned discussions...the position of queer instructors/students in the classrom. This comes after some threating remarks made to a few of the queer TAs last year.
Are there any examples, comments, questions, or writings/articles you think should be included in this discussion?
Two Questions:
1. Are we going to learn how to set one of these mothers up?
2. What is involved in administering one of these?
Sitting here listening to and contributing to the tappings sounds, I wonder how such technologies as blogging contribute to argument as dialogue? The group seems strangely separated although physically sitting close to one another. Where are the interruptions? The outbursts of insight or of frustration?
In short, is this cyber community as beneficial as Plato's meeting of like-minded individuals to debate, argue, talk, philosophize about topics from the alphabet to zoology?
question: an archeologist finds two frozen bodies high in the Alps. They are, or were, dressed in rags made from mammoth fur..he declares he has found the bodies of adam and eve....how can he prove it?
Another thought about the 102 book--it seems so liberal, which is just fine with me, but from what I read there doesn't seem to be much balance. I've only read the first section of the book--up until about pg. 350--though. Are the sequence ideas at the back more balanced than the selections in the comp sections?
Are we going to teach 102 in terms of Definition Arguments, Causal Arguments, Evaluation arguments, etc.? If so, will there be certain kinds of papers that have to go into the portfolio, i.e. one Definition and one Causal?
Also, in the past, we've used texts that encourage certain topics, but aren't necessarily already sequenced. This seems like a main difference to me--the sequencing topics are clearly laid out at the end of the book.
An-young ha-se-yo! (Hello! in Korean). My name is Hyon C. "Billy" Brown. I was born in Korea and moved to this country in 1971, at age of 15. However, since 1971 to 1999, I have avoid the proper learning of this counry's language. I, however, at the late age of mid 40, finally realized the importance of good verbal and written communication skills for one's own banifit. Therefore, I came back to the UNM,where I began and dropped out in 1981, to finish my endeavor to become a better and more compotent person.
This book has changed the way I teach 102. The last time I taught 102, I used Different Voices - women writing about the Holocaust. Different Voices was a text with interesting readings, but it had nothing to do with teaching students about writing. The subject matter was too narrow, and teaching students to write arguments about texts that focused on personal narrative was difficult.
Good Reasons is a text that focuses on writing different kinds of arguments. It provides good examples about how to read critically and write analytically. The contemporary issues are interesting, but they are not foregrounded as much as the writing process.
The core of my biography is my education and work experience. I went to college after high school in the town I grew up in, Wausau, WI. I transferred to UW Madison and graduated with an English degree. I then took a teaching certification, taught in Milwaukee public and private schools, and did graduate work in special education. I then pursued my dream to do graduate work in English Literature by attending the University of New Mexico, where I am half-way through an MA in English Literature.
This is just to say
That I like that the woman on the cover is forming a 'W' with her lips. Though I have heard some criticism of the cover art, I find it apropos
I tried planting sunflowers a few weeks ago, but the birds ate all the seeds except for three, which sprouted but are not exactly thriving. Also, I have had some fun with online personality tests and chopping up dead trees with a handsaw. So much for my vacation.
I was born a "hinou-ema" on the Day of the Dead in the same depressed lumber town as Kurt Cobain and the photographer Lee Friedlander; if you tell me which town it is, I'll buy you a cup of coffee. The day I was born, my parents almost hit a herd of elk on the way to the hospital. And the fun facts go on....
I'm currently a PhD student in literature specializing in post-colonial theory and modernist/post-modernist fiction. However, I have not forgotten my roots in creative writing, having received an MA in CW in 1994 here at UNM.
I was named Rita in a bar, by a guy named Bob. The story is longer than that, but not really that interesting. It was a matter of hearing rather than beer. I own a classic tractor -- an Aliss Chalmers G -- that I used to drive when cultivating onions on my farmer's farm.
I am known in other circles as the Knitting Dominatrix. I like to mig weld, too.
If I had my druthers, there would be enough water in Albuquerque so that I could grow tomatoes, artichokes and asparagus (among other yummies) without the fight. In the best of all possible worlds, I would spend my days maintaining thousands of hummingbird feeders.
This is my third year in the Ph.D. program. I am currently teaching English 102, and studying for comps. I completed my coursework last spring. My goal is to finish my Ph.D. by the time I am 40. I turn 38 this summer.
I am an Army brat, and spent most of my childhood in the Midwest.
I teach composition (101, 102, and 220), and in the fall I will be teaching technical writing. I am working on my PhD in 19th century American literature, and I enjoy visiting Yellowstone and rehabilitating raccoons (and bunnies too).
I was born and raised in Maryland, went to undergrad in Virginia and finished my MA in Long Island. I came to the University of New Mexico to study Chicano/a literature but have come to love the open land, the challenging mountain biking trails, and snowboarding under a beautiful blue sky. I am currently in my fifth year of the PhD program and hope to finish my degree sometime in the very near future, or just sometime.
Good afternoon. As a professor at UNM, I've spent years teaching writing--first-year writing, advanced composition, technical communications, and graduate forums on writing in literary, scientific, and professional disciplines. While I've learned much from studying linguistics and rhetoric, I've also learned much from OJT: on the job training, that is. Writers not only read; they write, frequently unsuccessfully. These trials, and many errors, have helped me teach writing more effectively. . . .I hope.
Currently I am writing my thesis for my master's degree in secondary education. When I'm not at UNM, you can find me teaching English at Rio Grande High School. During the school year, I teach English 10 and English 11. At the moment I'm teaching three summer school classes at Rio for the incoming freshman who are not prepared for the trials of high school. I hope to learn how to set up a blog for literature discussions for my students.
I have been a technical writer and editor much of my professional life, although in recent years my emphasis has shifted to fiction (in fact, my technical background provided my entry into fiction, as my three novels and several short stories arose through my experiences in water and wastewater treatment and analysis). I also write poetry, some of which has been published.
Welcome to CompTheoryBlog. This blog was originally created to house discussion from Susan Romano's Spring 2003 CompTheory class. We're repurposing it for use as a teaching tool for her 540 class and also for the Teaching Tech Writing students.
You've all been added to the CompTheoryBlog located here at: http://comp.theanswergrape.com/. Your first step is to submit a brief biography about yourself to CompTheoryBlog.
I've included the instructions for logging on, changing your password, and submitting your first "post" (discussion). You can also find discussion about class blogging and a version of these instructions at my blog here: http://theanswergrape.com/aweeblog/mt/archives/000576.html.
You are now ready to post to the blog.
If your post is very long, post the first paragraph in the "Entry Body" and the remainder of your post in "Extended Entry". This will create a link at the bottom of your post where people can view the complete entry.
Post your entry by selecting the "save" button at the end and make sure the drop-down post-status bar is set to 'publish.' ("preview" if you want to view it first). Wait for the site to rebuild (it will say that it is rebuilding). The "edit entry" page will tell you that "Your entry has been saved. You can now make any changes to the entry itself, edit the authored-on date, edit comments, or send a notification."
Notifications let everyone know that something new has been posted to the blog. They are very important, especially for new bloggers, to keep everyone abreast of what is being posted to the blog.
In the future, you can edit any of your entries by selecting the "edit entry" button on the left panel, and then selecting an individual entry to be modified/deleted. You can only modify/delete your own entries.
You can contact me at thegrape@unm.edu(IM: Answergrape) or via phone at 272-7090.
I know some of you were just CLAMORING to login in and see what the heck was going on, but there was a rather unfortunate incident, something that we at work like to call "a learning opportunity." Yes, that nice word for SNAFU.
The user table was deleted, which meant that nobody could log in or anything for the past two days. If you logged in and changed your userid and password, it has been reset back to the original password and the beginning of your email address.
Sorry for the delay. Give it a try again.
Currently, I'm working on my Master's degree here at UNM in Professional Writing, and my thesis concerns blogging as argument as a way to teach critical thinking to expand the quality and scope of civil discourse. I'm slated to speak as part of a blogging group at the next Conference on College Composition and Communication workshop on the process and advantages of blogging (they refer to my section as the "blogging evangelist" section).
If you stand around for too long and look interested, I will probably offer you a blog. I say the word "blog" aloud. A lot.