Welcome!

Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?

As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).

Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!

--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100



Tuesday, October 19, 2010

growing up online


                Recently I previewed the documentary, “Growing Up Online,” which was directed and produced by Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio.  Throughout the entire video I gained a more diverse view on internet perspectives ranging from child to adult.  According to Dretzin and Maggio this newly found digital world is populated by the teenage population.  Some people even consider the online world a hidden world from adults.  The documentary takes a closer look in a few different students’ lives, and unfolds the truth that hides strictly on their face book or MySpace accounts.  Parents also share their concerns about the internet.
                Jessica Hunter was always a very shy little girl who struggled to make friends in school, but at the age of 14 Autumn Edows was born.  Edows was Hunters second/”online” Identity which was nothing like the girl her family and schoolmates knew. Edows was popular, sexy, and known for her provocative Goth photographs.  It is no surprise that many American parents worry about what their children are really doing online.  While some parents remain curious about their child’s online accounts, others go to the extreme and demand to know passwords.   Hunter/ Edows was considerably happy with her online fame, until one day the wrong eyes saw her profile.  Shortly after the school informed her parents about her MySpace, Autumn Edows was deleted.  Bad outcomes were also reported due to pictures involving alcohol was previewed by the wrong parents.  Children are also receiving negative advice through the internet.  One boy committed suicide and after his father did further research, he found a conversation of another boy supporting his decision to kill himself.   Even website promoting eating disorders are being read daily.  It is also said that the internet has caused the greatest generation gap yet.  That should play no surprise to any American parent as you see how secretive your teenager acts.
                Face book and MySpace have been involved in my life since I was a jr high student, so it is just how I have grown up.   Throughout the years each site has provided me with an instant connection with many of my class mates, and a way for me to stay in touch with friends who live far away.  This year above all others has caused technology to play a much larger part to help me stay in touch with many of my friends. Thanks to websites like face Book, I can see how my friends are doing by dropping by and commenting “hi,” or even video chatting over Skype.  My life has majorly been effected by this digital world, but I see it only helping me stay in touch with my friends.
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