Author: Sarah Schmerler (Page 4 of 6)

Hi Students,

I am here for you via email and OpenLab messaging if you are confused about the work on the ASSIGNMENTS page. A number of you have reached out, and I’ve responded to clarify. I also hope my video helped.

If you ask me, what is most important? That you write in some kind of diary every day, and please share with us on Thursday (tomorrow) from what you’ve written by posting to OpenLab. I am doing this assignment, too. I will post an entry from my diary shortly.

I am so proud of all of you.

Yours,

-Prof. S.

Me on video. Helping you. Hope this works!! I had a few questions on email, so I made a video. I use a different website to demonstrate, but the principles are the same. Apologies for it cutting off at the end.

Your COMMENT is needed to this post.

In your COMMENT, you will use the words: “I, [YOUR NAME HERE], agree to abide by the rules of Circle Time.”

This is important. Why? Now that we are in an Online environment, safety is even more compromise-able. You may not share any video, text, image to social media from this site. You may not speak to others outside of our class of private matters discussed in our website Circle. Our safety is important to us, and we can not write well unless everyone knows their thoughts and insights and feelings are safe.

Every link in the chain keeps the circle safe, and this begins with you.

Hi class!

How am I doing? I don’t know. Lousy. Okay. Freaked out. Fine.

I am at my computer this Monday, during our class time, at 1PM. It gives me a sense of continuity, and I need that.

My son is home with me, finally, so I feel relieved but cramped. We can’t find a spot to put all his stuff.  I still drink my tea every morning as part of my daily routine. I write every morning for myself for about 20 minutes (well, sometimes more and sometimes less). I go outside and practice my hula hoops and walk. It is weird out there.

I decided that we need to begin this, our first full week of class, with Circle Time. We need community.

CIRCLE TIME Activity 1: Agree, in writing, in a comment to the Professor’s post, with the words “I, [YOUR NAME HERE] agree to abide by the rules of Circle Time.”

CIRCLE TIME Activity 2: Write 3 Comments. You will notice that I (the Professor) have endeavored to comment once on each person’s “Diary 2” Entry. Now, it is your turn. Write a comment on someone’s post — preferably someone who has not gotten many comments yet. Also, write a comment on anyone’s post you wish. Write more than one to one person, if you wish. Post a minimum of 3 comments before Thursday, March 26. (As Admin of the site, I see all comments in the dashboard.)

IMPORTANT addition to our site: Become familiar with our new MEMBER ROLL. Scroll down the right-hand side of our site. There you will see the name of everyone in the class who has posted (including yourself). You can easily search for a post this way, as well as keep track of your own work.

Once you are done with Circle Time, make yourself familiar with your new assignments this week on our ASSIGNMENTS page. I post there every week.

I hope you like what I’ve created for you.

Yours,

-Prof. S.

WEEK of March 19-20: This assignment is required of each student. If you have not yet posted to our site, I can’t add you to the new Members Links I have created on the site, and it will be much harder for me to track your work and give you credit.

Assignment for Week of March 19-20, Due Mar 23: Write a post to this site. Title it Diary Entry 2 and put your FIRST NAME in the title. For example: Diary Entry 2_Sarah.  Write about how you are doing now; how you have been doing up to now; add details, names, places — don’t just speak in generalities. Say what you’ve been up to, and/or what those close to you have been up to.

I am not grading you on perfect grammar here, but you should be as clear and error free as possible, and use language in an honest, direct, and understandable way. Keep the reader’s experience in mind, even if that reader is only you. Write like you care and you mean it. There is no length requirement, per se. Write what you wish.

Note 1: Please note that I changed the Privacy settings so that only those registered to our course can see the posts. However, if you still feel that you would like to have only me (the Professor) read your post, please adjust the “Visibility” setting on the upper right of your screen from “Public” to “Private.”

Note 2: During the last two classes before Recess, we all discussed how to post to OpenLab. Most of you complied with my first request to post, and I’ve already recorded your entries. Great! If you are still having trouble, see the OpenLab Help pages link.

Note 3: I strongly suggest you start doing your Online work on a device larger than a phone — at least at first — as the mobile interface is harder to navigate.

You are welcome to share your thoughts in “Comments” and to respond to each other’s comments as well. -ss

B”H

Mar 13, 2020

Dear Class,

First of all, I want to say how much I miss seeing each and every one of you in person. Nothing can replace gathering, seeing each other, talking, sharing in circle time. That said, there is great potential in this time as well. I want to share with you some “pros” that may well come out of our writing and working in this new Online environment:

1)Writing can be more intimate than talking. The page (paper, screen, whatever we are using as a surface) slows us down, and that’s a good thing. It allows us time to compose our thoughts. We don’t have to rush to fill an awkward silence like we do when talking to someone in person or on the phone. We say what we mean, and what we might otherwise not be able to say in person.

2)Listening isn’t always the easiest thing in the world, either. When you are reading, you have more time to think over the other person’s thoughts and “digest” them, get in touch with how you feel about them. You also have more time to consider your response.

3)A well-considered response is often a better response. Other people will thank you for your effort. You may even gain more language and vocabulary in the process – and retain your lessons longer.

4)”Shy people” make great writers. Those of us who feel uncomfortable to speak aloud in class are often the ones who speak the “loudest” on the page. Being “quiet”… having a self-analytical personality…well, that’s just a recipe for being a good writer. Maybe even a professional writer. : – )

I will stop there for now. You get the picture.

I also want to say that I am facing a lot of challenges, too. During this recess I have to figure out how to give you the same, high level of instruction you deserve. I am doing a lot of learning on how to adapt our course work to the online environment. What’s more, you need to feel safe in that environment, just as you do in class. I am getting up to speed, so that by March 19 I can: Tell you what’s expected of you; Tell you when I’m expecting it; Tell you the format/how you can submit it; Keep a sense of community/communication open for you with other students; Make it possible for you to reach me when you need help. Oh yes, I also want learning to be fun!

As you know, I can be a pretty unorthodox teacher, and you can well imagine that I have a lot of adapting to do here. (Can I still get chalk on my pants Online?) I hope you will bear with me while I do it. I think this will be a good ride, and that we are all going to learn, so let’s all keep our class community strong during this crisis and come through.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for being such a great class.

-Prof. Schmerler

..and what’s more, we are “on recess” for the next few days. I will find out how the English Dept. plans to handle this situation, and also, inform you as clearly as I possibly can on how to proceed over these next few days.

Meantime, I am going to copy below, verbatim, the notice I just received:

All CUNY schools will have a five-day instructional recess March 12-18. There will be no physical classes on campus. Students and faculty will be working on getting ready to have classes delivered via distance-learning for the remainder of the Spring semester.

CUNY’s 25 campuses, including dorms, libraries, research facilities, and essential on-campus services will remain open.

During the five-day recess, we expect students, faculty and staff to finish their plans to transition all instruction to distance education. Starting March 19, classes will resume in distance-learning form for the remainder of the Spring semester.

As always, the health and safety of the University community remains our top priority. These measures allows CUNY to continue serving its students while alleviating pressure on our areas during this public health threat.

More details will follow.

Stephen M. Soiffer, PhD

Special Assistant to the President

City Tech (New York City College of Technology)/CUNY”

I think I was coping really well with the coronavirus situation until yesterday, when I started to feel…worse, sort of about everything. Even trivial stuff. Do I have enough waffles? No? Why is that important? How often can I wash my hands? It’s like I’m looking for reassurance from trivial things — things, that I know on a logical level don’t really help, and yet I want them.

Only one waffle left? Oh no! That’s my favorite tea cup, btw. I always need tea.

I’m definitely hibernating more than usual, and am watching way more TV than ever. It’s what I want to do, or so I tell myself.

I don’t think that hoarding or over-shopping or panicking are good ideas. No. Yet, to reassure my boyfriend, I went and did some more major grocery shopping, and took a cab home. I don’t want to be one of those people cleaning out the store shelves, but it’s almost like that behavior, itself, is what’s catching.

My brother has helped me a lot. He has been through so many things, and is much older than I am, and his phone conversations help me put stuff in perspective. He thinks that the more cases that are reported, the better things are actually getting, because that means that people are actually being properly diagnosed and that the countries’ health organizations are finally getting into gear and becoming more effective in stopping the spread. He also told me that lots more money is being allocated to stopping the spread, and that funding, itself, is going to help. He thinks things will get worse, but that means, in a strange way, that they are definitely going to get better. Should I believe him?

I burnt the waffle after all.

One good thing I am noticing out of all this: I really value community much, much more. I am so grateful for the fact that I get to see good people, in dedicated groups and settings, all the time. People who live in isolated areas can’t say that.

Hi Class. I hope you are all well. It’s going to be important in the coming weeks that we all be able to communicate easily, and it’s also possible that we may need to communicate long distance. So: I have a new assignment for you. Write a Blog Post. Here. To This Site. Here is the prompt:

How are you feeling during this conronavirus situation? What is helping you cope? What behaviors are you noticing in yourself or in others? Do you have any insight or news or advice for your fellow students? And finally, can you list at least one or two positive things that are coming out of this experience for you?

Feel free to upload photos to your post. Please comment or refer to other posts as you read them in you post(s). We want 100% participation. We want to flood the course site with posts and words. Yes, this will count as credit in UNIT 2: Genre. 

I will change the privacy settings on our website so that only those of us who are Members of the site will be able to read it.

thank you.

stay well!!