Due to this class being rather shy, I decided to use a few Padlets to allow students to share their ideas. We first covered Large Project 1 and all of its details before using a Padlet to brainstorm anonymously; I also shared that same link with the fully online English 120 in case they wanted to add to the ideas or see what others were going to argue about. Then we wrapped up Chapter Zero by using a different Padlet to answer the questions in Exercise 9. That took the students a bit more time than I expected, but their answers ranged from simple to complex. Before we wrapped up class, I handed out the Chapter 1 Exercises on paper; this is their homework . We might take time to view the Padlet posts from those Exercise 9 questions next Wednesday, too. I might've forgotten to stress that there was an introductory quiz for them to take before leaving class, but I can remind them in a week as well.

So, I attempted to use the large screen in my 11am class, and I guess I was using the wrong connector because we ended up flying by the seat of our pants - we did use the Slack app to brainstorm for Large Project 1, after I shared the links to the sample projects of the two options (Fake Company Project and Project Playlist). That was followed by me going through each option a little more in depth, a few students asked questions, and then they took the Large Project 1 Intro Quiz in Blackboard which confirmed that they had heard the instructions and reviewed the samples.  I repeated this process, WITH the big screen working, for the 1pm class. Some student in class used the puke emoji on his buddy's brainstorming post in Slack, so I guess you could say the students like that app. Maybe . {I'm posting this tweet below because I did get very frustrated with my MacBook not connecting to the large screen today, and then when it did connect in the 1pm class, it appeared that Blackboa...

I have a shy group in this class, and there are only ten of them, BUT we still had a relatively good conversation regarding the first exercises in Group Zero/Chapter Zero . We completed a few from Exercises 1-3, then added to Exercise 6 together; if we have time, I'd like to do Exercise 9 together Wednesday. I might have them attempt Chapter 1's exercises on their own on Wednesday? We'll see. I've already revised the schedule to include all of these changes. I introduced myself a little bit better at the beginning of this class (vs last week), and I mentioned that I rarely teach this one f2f (developed the fully online in 2006!), so we'll kind of " blaze our own path ." It's definitely difficult to use a fully online shell for a in-person class or vice versa. Unlike what some people want to say, online and f2f are two complicated beasts; each has their bonuses and pitfalls. I like them both for very different reasons. And since this class revolves arou...

We started with a "round robin" of student names and they chose whether to state a boring fact about themselves OR what cartoon character they'd turn into (OR they could even pass on answering those inquiries). Then I "showed off" the Ultra Blackboard shell a little bit before we jumped into the schedule. I requested that they have the Beginning of Semester Reflection, First Quiz, and Slack stuff done today, if possible. Before I handed out the Reflection on paper, I read aloud the various exercises for Group Zero (they had that handout on paper, too). I figured this might help them hear and see all of their choices before deciding which ones to create. The last 15 minutes were aimed at working on the Reflection, Slack, and Quiz. On Wednesday, I'll introduce Large Project 1; we'll have more work time for the large project and Group Zero next week. One of the memes shared in Slack by an 11am student:

A few recent tweets: The "me" of 10yrs ago would be shocked at the teacher I've evolved into. I don't have a slidedeck for tomorrow, nor do I have any major activities planned for Day 1. I'm simply going to make sure the Ss know that my class will be easy & not stressful. #ungrading I am asking them to share - in #Slack - a #meme that describes who they are as humans or students or writers. Here is my contribution to that: A non-tweet is this: I'm trying a few new things this semester. The Slack App is one, and a Suggestion Box is another. Slack will be an online gathering space for us. It won't be used for "points" or attendance, but students can share work there and engage with one another whether they can make it to class in-person or not. The Suggestion Box idea comes from Twitter, and I don't know if students will use it, but it gives them an anonymous voice to bring up anything that might make class easier/better for them (and me, t...