A little note about Academic Professionalism
Classmate Review is Sunday November 3. Make sure you take the comments from conference and apply them to Draft #2 for classmate feedback and evaluation.
Make sure you double check who is now in your group. Our class size has changed, so we will be shuffling groups around. I will have that shuffle done before Friday night and make shared folders available as soon as I finish.
On SUNDAY NOV 3, you must have addressed all the concerns we discussed in conference last week and upload your P2Draft 2 to your group's shared folder AS WELL AS the link to it on Canvas. You must have it uploaded to TWO PLACES before 11:59 pm tonight. Remember that your classmates cannot mark up or make comments on a PDF or a Pages file, so upload your draft to the shared folder as a Google doc. Don't assume you are in the same group. Some people were reassigned to new groups. Go to the Find Your Group page to access the new shared folder for your group. Repeat the same process as before of making a copy of your classmates' draft and label it "Your initials comments for Their initials". See the previous lecture about classmate review for more information on how to do that. For this draft, you will be reviewing your classmates drafts for their analysis of the examples in connection with the conventions they listed for their subgenre.
When you read your classmate's draft:
1. Title: Is it Evocative? Do you have a suggestion for a better title? If not, mark "Good Title". Examples of a bad title: Project 2 Draft 2, or the name of the subgenre.
2. The Introduction: Strike out any sentences which are writing into the paragraph. Does the composer start talking about subgenres generally or the specific subgenre? Strike through the unnecessary words.
3. Use this highlighter key and mark these things in your classmate's paper
Yellow: highlight cliches, vague language, pointing sentences (Sentences which begin This is, That is, There are, It is, They are), set up sentences (sentences which only exist to set up the information in the next sentence) and questionable word choice. Red: highlight summary, any instances of first person (I, me, my, mine, we, our), 2nd person (you, your, yours), logical fallacies, and weak or unbelievable statements. Orange: passive voice or telling instead of showing Green: Any sentences which you think are written well. Blue: Any patterns which indicate what the future of that subgenre could hold, for example, if the writer references new storytelling structures, setting, diversity, accessibility, or other patterns. 4, Paragraphs: Are the paragraphs too long? Mark too long paragraphs or where the writer is shifting into a new topic which could be worked into a new paragraph. 5. Transitions: Strike through all basic transitional statements (The first example, the first finding, in conclusion). 6. Conclusion: Strike through any unnecessary summary. Underline the answer to the So What? question. At the end of your classmate's document list three things you think they should continue to work on and two things they are doing well in their paper.
Classmate Review should be completed before 11:59 pm on TUESDAY, NOV 5. Then, you must complete the Classmate Evaluation Form and upload it to Canvas before 11:59 pm on WEDNESDAY, NOV 6. Remember the classmate evaluation form will determine your grade for participating in the assignment.
REMEMBER: Project #2 Draft 3 is due before 11:59 pm on SUNDAY NOV 10.
If you wish to revise Project #1, make sure you complete the Revision Memo and email it to me before 11:59 pm on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4.
I wanted to review Academic Professionalism.
Many of you are first year FSU students. And usually by now you are no longer terrified to walk alone to class, you know which food lines will be shortest at lunch, and whether ChickFilA will be worth the wait. But you are still learning the soft skills about surviving in college, such as interacting with adults in a professional manner.
We are an online class, which means we do not get as much face-to-face time. This means you are getting ample practice in processing and executing online communication. Every email you send, tweet you post, and video chat appearance is an experience in digital academic professionalism. Here are some things to keep in mind.
Attendance and Participation make a difference in who wants to work with you: No one wants to work with the person who only complains about how they have to do things. No one wants to work with someone who always misses their deadlines. Your classmates are very protective of their time and want good feedback on their projects during classmate review and group work. In the past, students have written negative reviews for classmates who blow off classmate review. Group assignments and Twitter discussions are designed to get you talking to each other about the material because, at some point, you won't be working to please teachers, but coworkers, bosses, clients, and associates.
To be on time is to be on time: Showing up early, especially in digital video meetings, means you may be stepping on someone else's meeting time, or intruding on your instructor's time. In video chats, you would be interrupting an existing meeting, and the instructor has to pause to message you to tell you that you are interrupting the meeting and that you should call back at your appointed time. Extend the same courtesy for in-person meetings with professors as well. If Office Hours don't begin until 1 pm, don't show up at 12:45 pm hoping they can go ahead and see you. You could be interrupting their lunch time and they are going to be too nice to tell you to your face that you interrupted them.
Don't walk around while you are video chatting: Yes, technology is marvelous, but when you walk around on a video chat, you make the other person dizzy. Sit still.
Don't use your time with your professor to look up a file on your computer: Your professor is then waiting for you to be prepared for the meeting. Have the paper easily accessible on your computer before you show up.
Always take notes: It is not rude to take notes when you are meeting with a professor. It is rude to look up files, other websites, or log onto Canvas while speaking with a professor. Before going down the rabbit hole of but-I-thought-I-uploaded-that-already, ask the person you are meeting with, "Do you mind if I pull that up real quick?" Also know that it is rude to check text messages or other notifications when meeting with a professor. Turn off your notifications when you meet with a professor.
Office Hours exist for a reason: Standing in front of your professor to say you need help is humbling, but no one is going to judge you and all it does is show your professor how seriously you are taking the class. HOWEVER, use the time to get better at the class and not just to chat. Listen to the feedback and adjust accordingly.
Advocate for yourself, but don't show up to argue: If you have located a discrepancy in the syllabus, let your professor know. Your syllabus is a contract between you and your professor. Your professor wants to work with you. They want to have a discussion about what you are understanding and not understanding. They want to offer you opportunities to learn, which is what college is about. However, showing up to Office Hours wearing your fight face, proclaiming how the class policies are not fair, listing excuses, and making demands is not a way to move the needle in your favor. If you are mad, write down all the reasons you are mad. List all your excuses. Rant and rage on paper (not online). Then wait 24 hours and make a new list of things you want to cover in the meeting. When you see your professor, instead of saying, "I want to discuss my grade!" say, "I would like to know how I can improve my grade."
Don't wait until the end of the semester to decide to improve your grade: I don't keep a list of paper prompts that you can throw together at the end of the semester to improve your grade. You can't make up the points you lose skipping a project through extra credit work. If you have completed all the projects and are displeased with your grade, complete the revision memo and contact me about those revisions. If you have had a rough semester, go to your advisor, Undergraduate Services, the SDRC, or Case Management services and discuss your options and resources.
If you send an email on your iPhone, take the time to write it so it sounds professional: Everyone loves their phone. Almost everyone sends emails from their phone. But don't send an email to a professor until you have listed all your questions and concerns, made sure you included a greeting and a farewell, and made sure you maintained a professional tone. If your professor's response leads you to ask more questions, ask to set up an appointment. Not everything can be covered in an email.
If a meeting time doesn't work for you, offer an alternative time or date: Sending a message to an instructor which reads, "I can't come to office hours because my schedule doesn't allow it" doesn't tell your professor when you ARE available, and then they are grasping at straws. Offer a possible time (or date) and work from there.
Don't blow off a meeting: If you can't show up for a meeting, send the person an email explaining that you can't. You are not required to explain why, only that you can't. Don't just not show up. That wastes that person's time.
Text-based communication is not perfect: this is why we have so many face-to-face video chats. I try to answer all questions posted on Twitter, but if it is something we have covered in the lecture, I will allow another student to answer it or to screenshot where the answer is located. If the words on the screen are not helping you, set up a meeting in Office Hours. I can provide more examples, insight, or just hear out how you are interpreting our lectures.
If someone sounds sharp in tone, it might not have anything to do with you: Professors are humans who have to interact with other humans. Their frustrations may be about their personal lives, not their professional ones. Remember, professors also have to fight for on-campus parking, wait in line for Starbucks, and sometimes forget to pack an umbrella. Everyone does their best, but know that when a professor's voice is sharp (either in digital spaces or face-to-face), we are not mad at you. You job in that situation is to remain professional.
Remember that you are interacting with other humans who have lives outside of your sphere. Respect that they also just want to lay around and watch Netflix. When you make a commitment, stick with it or let the other person know that you are no longer committed, so they can move on.
Don't forget:
If you wish to revise Project #1, make sure you complete the Revision Memo and email it to me before 11:59 pm on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4.
Classmate Review is Next Week. Make sure you take the comments from conference and apply them to Draft #2 for classmate feedback and evaluation.
