Finally a Friday!

It's Friday! At last!

And yes, my day today was (despite the computer media meltdown) a major improvement over yesterday's nightmare. I even found some money. :-)

So, here I sit reflecting on a very interesting first week of school. They are always so long and drawn out--I say they are the longest week of the year, and I think that is true--but this year's version, with its insanely un-August weather, must have been the worst ever. Still--and despite losing some quality kids to schedule changes (Carissa )--I think this was overall a very nice first week. I'm pretty impressed with the quality of students in all of my classes, and I'm looking forward to excellent things.

One area that (of course) remains to be seen is the use of the boards, which is an essential element of the class as a whole. Most of you have registered, though there are a few stragglers who need to get it taken care of right away. This weekend's assignments in all classes focus on the boards. Kind of a "let's get started" thing.

So with that in mind, here is what you should do:

Everyone: Explore the areas of the boards specific to your class to get a sense of how people were using the boards last year (for better or worse). All old posts will be deleted Sunday evening. (N.B: Don't post in any old threads; they will all be emptied or deleted.)

CW: In the "Prologues" board, post the current draft of your prologue. To do so, create a topic using your piece's title or working title as the subject. Copy and paste. Once you have posted, you will need to do a bit of editing. Click modify and edit where the punctuation has changed. (Apostrophes change into question marks.) Then save it.

After your post successfully, just go away for a bit. Return on Sunday or so, and see if you can provide some feedback to four or five of your classmates' pieces. Quote where you can for specificity.

E2H: In the E2H section, on the board called "Emerson/Thoreau," find the child board called "Transcendentalist Quotes and Precepts." Read the two locked posts that are there. One explains how to post and one explains the specific assignment. Then...

Select two of your prepared quotations and post what you have written. Then log off and come back later to see who else has posted and to provide responses in other threads. By weekend's end, you should have posted two threads of your own and at least four responses.

E3H: In the E3H section, on the board called "Poetry," find the child board called "E3H Metapoems." Read the locked post that you find there.It explains what you will need to do. Post early and often. :-) By weekend's end, you should have posted at least four or five times. When starting topics, be aware of whether someone else has begun something similar; don't start something that echoes another thread. Just post there.

Oh, and don't forget your "Frozen Moment" drafts for Monday!

Any questions about the boards? Can't get on? Haven't received your registration confirmation? Other issues? Email me!

Meanwhile...

Have a great weekend. You've earned it!

J: color me happy Music: Pixie--Ani Difranco