I hope you had a restful few days off and are ready to continue our discussion of Discourse Communities!

Please read and consider the quote below:

There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.

M. Scott Peck

Be ready to talk about these questions when we meet on Monday:

  • What does Peck mean by this quote?
  • Do you agree or disagree with him? Why?
  • Have you seen this idea in action? How?
  • How does this quote relate to our discussion on discourse communities?

This coming week will be short for ENG1121 (no classes at City Tech on Wednesday, September 15 or Thursday, September 16), but will be a thoughtful week.

You may think: “What does the professor mean by thoughtful?”

First, by Monday’s class (September 13) you’ll hopefully have completed the assignments I posted in Week 3 and repeated in Week 4’s Agendas. We’ll discuss the nuts and bolts of Unit 1’s major writing assignment. You’ll have time to ask questions about the assignment and start thinking about which discourse community you’ll use for this assignment, whether you’ll write a speech or a letter, and the audience you’ll be speaking to about your discourse community.

Second, you’re going to need to make decisions about the things I mentioned. You’ll have time during class, of course, but you’ll have to spend time working on this on your own. (The first draft is due October 6, so, time is limited!)

Finally, your homework after class on Monday will help you decide the genre (letter or speech) of your U1 assignment, and can serve as good examples to follow!

The details are on the Agenda for Week 4!