Fourth Blog Prompt

Both statements are true:

Border walls protect.
Border walls divide.

Which statement do you think is more true? Explain why. (Food for thought: "why"s are the most important questions! Responses to "why" questions should strive to be carefully thought out, rational/logical, include plenty of details with clear explanations, and be well-organized.)

Third Blog Prompt

Audience awareness is extremely important when writing because it influences everything from topic to word choice and sentence structure. As students, you often write only for your instructor. Let's be honest, this can make your writing terribly dry and boring. Blogging is a potential way to reinforce the need for audience awareness because you are writing for a "worldwide" audience not just your instructor.

Your first blog assignment this week is to examine the advertisements below.  View by simply clicking on each video. Explain: Who do you think the intended audience is and why for each ad? Be sure to utilize specific details from the ad to elaborate on your "why." Why should we be critical of intended audience in advertisements and other information that surrounds us?

Second Blog Prompt

For your second blog post this week, you will reflect on the reading for Thursday's class.  In chapter one of Hjortshoj's The Transition to College Writing, he explains that college is a transformative experience and high schools can only prepare students to get admitted to college, not for the challenges they will face being a student in college. Since college experiences can be so different and college instructors vary significantly, Hjortshoj argues that to be successful, college students need to be both alert and flexible.  Use your first semester of college to discuss Hjortshoj's ideas. What was the transition to college like for you? Do you agree with Hjortshoj? Why or why not? Besides alertness and flexibility, what other skills do you think successful college students should have.


In Hjortshoj's second chapter, "Language and Learning." he explains that specific uses of language determine the kind of learning that will take place in all of your courses. So you will need to develop effective listening, reading, and writing skills as you approach the learning you do in class.  How do you see these three processes (listening, reading, and writing) connected and why do you need all three to be an effective communicator? What do you think is the role of the first year writing course in college?

Blogging Requirements and First Blog Prompt

Welcome to the blogging experience! You will be keeping a blog as part of Composition 1 this spring semester. Your blogging requirements:

• You need to post to your blog at least one entry each week. This entry needs to be one complete paragraph following standards of good grammar and punctuation. Generally, your weekly entry will be based on a writing prompt that I will post for you on the class blog; however, sometimes your post will be based on a topic of your own choosing.

Once everyone has created their blog, you will be able to find a list (labeled "students") at the right hand side of this class blog page that will link you to everyone's blog, if you are interested in reading what your classmates post.

For your first blog today, I would like you to respond to the following prompt:
You wake up in jail and have no memory of how you got there. As you pace around the cell, you find five items in your pocket from the night before. As you look at each piece, the night slowly comes back to you. Write about your night, why you have these five items (and give a detailed description of each of these five items), and how you ended up in jail.

Have fun blogging!!