Week 1: Course Overview & Discourse Communities

Class Info

  • Dates: Monday, 1/29, Wednesday, 1/31
  • Meeting Info: 11:30am-12:45pm in room N602A

Objectives

  • To read, write, talk, and explore to get acquainted with the course, each other, the practice of noticing, and the concept of discourse communities

Monday, 1/29/24

Action

Texts:

  • Read the course’s Syllabus, which includes the description of the course, policies, what I expect from you, and what you can expect from me; the course’s schedule for an overview of the semester, as well as the “Welcome, Students” post and other materials on our site to get familiar with what’s available and to be ready to ask any questions you might have.
  • Read your classmates’ contributions to the discussions you’re all participating in on our site.
  • Video: “The Changing Room Illusion” by Michael A. Cohen
  • Blog post/Newsletter: “Small Change” from The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker

Writing

  • Join in our Introductions discussion by following the instructions included in the post. Please add your introduction early enough in the week to give everyone time to read the introductions before Wednesday’s class. Remember that even if you can’t create an OpenLab account or join our course, you can still add a comment with your introduction!
  • Annotate as you read our course’s texts. Start with annotating this shared doc of our syllabus.

In Class, Monday, 1/29:

  • Welcome
  • Introductions to ENG 1121
Michael A. Cohen – “The Changing Room Illusion”
  • The Art of Noticing
    • Blog post/Newsletter: “Small Change” from The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker
  • Annotating the Syllabus: what do we notice?
  • Course Site overview
    • sign up for the OpenLab and join our course
    • you can still do all of this week’s work even if you can’t yet sign up for the OpenLab to join our course.
  • Introductions to each other: What do you want to know about your classmates? What do you want us to know about you?
    • list of interview questions
    • Ashley: who’s your favorite music artist?
    • James: what’s your major and are you happy with it?
    • Erika: what are your hobbies?
    • Caryn: what languages other than English do you speak/know?
    • Daniel: cereal or milk first?
    • Scott: favorite food?
    • Ricardo: what’s the longest you can stay focused for? any tricks, please share
    • Filomena: do you like living in NYC and do you want to stay here?
    • Julissa: do you have any bad habits–what are they?
    • ???: do you have any pets?
    • Destiny: have you ever traveled and if so where to?
    • Destiny: favorite font
    • Emily: are you working while going to school, and if yes, where?
    • Roseangel: how long are you set for your major?
    • Andy: where do you want to go during your vacation/staycation?
    • Danielle: favorite color?
    • Prof. Rosen: what do you like noticing?
  • interviews and interviews recap
  • Q&A
  • Reading together
  • reflections
  • what stands out from the syllabus?
    • I’m nice! it’s written by a human (me)
    • sonic texts= sound
    • discussion-based
    • feedback, work more, put it all together
    • grading policy: what’s important to focus on
    • presentations to share ideas, feedback
    • projects: writing and presentations and all the stuff we do
    • no late work penalty in terms of grade
    • revision is important
    • incremental work is important
    • informal work and participation are really important, and the 30% of your grade shows that.
    • save your work, be organized, have a folder and digital folder. use cloud storage for all of your work!
    • no textbook
    • accessibility matters–let’s work together on this.
  • what questions do you have?
  • what do you want to emphasize for your classmates?

Wednesday, 1/31/24

Action

  • Complete the Student Survey about your access to technology
  • Finish any of the actions for Monday, 1/29 that you haven’t completed.

Texts:

Writing

  • Join in our first Noticing discussion by following the instructions included in the post. Remember that even if you can’t create an OpenLab account or join our course, you can still add a comment with your introduction!
  • Annotate as you read our course’s texts.

In Class, Wednesday, 1/31:

  • Interviews, continued
  • Writing (to be collected): What was your experience interviewing your classmates? What did you get out of the experience? What do you think the value of it is?
  • Reading: Personal Essay/Newspaper Article: “HERS/ She’s Your Basic LOL in NAD” by Perri Klass (Google Doc version if you want to share your annotations)
  • How do we annotate a text?
    • underline things we think will be important
    • identify main ideas and supporting ideas
    • ask questions about things we don’t understand
    • ask questions in conversation with the text
    • identify words we don’t know–and add the definition on the page if possible
    • use the margins or space on the page, or if not, use a notebook for reading notes
  • Slideshow: “Discourse Communities” by Carrie Hall
  • Discussion: what is a discourse community, what are our discourse communities, and why should we care?
    • speak the same language, use the same jargon, perhaps dress a certain way or gesture a certain way, have shared interests or goals.
    • one example: gamers (but does it matter which game? is there a gamer discourse community that connects all gamers, or are there different DCs for different games/game universes?
  • Preview for Monday:
    • 2 readings shared in class: Trifles by Susan Glaspell and “How to Read Like a Writer” by Mike Bunn
  • Q&A
    • we didn’t have time for this, but if you have questions, feel free to add a comment here, or if it’s more private, reach out to me at jrrosen@citytech.cuny.edu.
  • Reflections

Photo Credit:

“Hello” by Bruce Fingerhood via Flickr under the open license CC BY-NC 2.0 Deed