Week of March 1-7

Here is what's on the schedule for this week:

*Read Chapters 3 & 4
*Review the details of the Cultural Event Paper.
*Choose an event and email me for approval.

Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 12 hours apart:

1). Is it possible to perceive others without, in some way, judging or categorizing them? If so, how? If not, how can we make the judgments we do make, more fair?

2). Do you agree that men and women use language differently? In what areas?

3). Pick one concept from the assigned readings, other than what has already been discussed this week, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

Remember to post 3 comments to your colleagues blogs.

Note: I have received your papers. For those that submitted papers, they were all on time. Good job! I will be grading over the next week or so, and will be returning papers towards the end of the week and into next weekend. I will email you if there is an issue with your paper.

Email

I will be away from email for a good majority of the day today, so apologize about any delay in response you may experience. I look forward to receiving your papers tonight, and kudos to those that have submitted your papers early. :)

Reminder: I will be on campus today in case you want meet.

Paper Submission Guidelines

A class member has brought to my attention a mis-type on the assignment sheets. The submission requirements state:

Submission: Email your finished paper to me at comm105spring2009@gmail.com as an attached file in Rich Text Format. To save your Outline in Rich Text Format use the "Save As" command under the "File" menu and choose "Rich Text Format" from the format options. Label your file with your last name and the assignment, as with StephenGreene_speechcritique.rtf (note that PCs will automatically add the .rtf extension to the file).

The word "Outline" should read "Essay", as not outline is required for the assignments in this course. I will upload new assignment sheets on Saturday to reflect the revised submission requirements.

Meeting in Person

I will be on campus tomorrow from approximately 11am to 12pm tomorrow morning. If you would like to drop by and chat, or to simply meet me in person, drop by anytime from 11 to 12. :)

Paper Tip#2

Instead of posting a series of "Paper Tips", I decided (as I mentioned in my last post), that I would upload the Grading Rubric to Blackboard. Make sure you are looking over that before you turn in your paper tomorrow.

Reminder: take the quiz this week. Make sure you are watching your time. You have only 20 minutes to complete the quiz, and it is your responsibility to submit your quiz within that time period. Blackboard will not cut off your quiz. If you go over your quiz time, please be aware that I will disqualify any question that was completed after the 20 minute time period.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Public Speech Critique

I suspect most students are working on the Public Speech Critique that is due on Friday. Make sure you are clear about the directions on the assignment sheet I have posted to Blackboard. If there are any questions, be sure to send me an email early enough for me to respond.

I will on campus on Friday if you are interested in meeting with me in person about your paper, or any concerns you have about the course. I will be in my office from about 11:15 to 11:45 and various times throughout the day. My office is located in HGH248. If you want to come by to chat, shoot me an email and let me know so I can be sure to be in my office at the time you want to stop by.

I have posted to the Handouts Page something called "Public Speech Critique Rubric". Please look it over before turning in your paper. This is how I will be grading your first essay!

Until later....

Week of February 22-28

Here is what's on the schedule for this week:

1). Read Chapter 10
2). Complete the Quiz on Chapters 9 & 10 on Blackboard
3). Start working on your first assignment, Public Speech Critique
4). Turn in your first assignment through email by Friday, February 27th at 11:59pm.
5). Use Chapters 9 & 10, and any other outside resources you would like, for your Public Speech Critique Paper.

Paper Tip: I will be posting a series of Paper Tips throughout the week. Make sure you check back everyday to make sure you are getting all necessary information for your paper. I suggest writing the bulk of your paper ASAP, and revise your paper towards the end of the week.

Review the assignment sheet in full before you turn in your assignment. I will be posting a grading sheet to Blackboard at the start of the week. Please look that over so you are aware of how I will be evaluating your paper.

Paper Tip#1

Hello Class! I will soon be posting a series of tips about the first paper, and writing in general. These tips will help understand what is expected for your first paper.

I have enjoyed reading your posts this week so far. I will be commenting on your posts tonight and tomorrow.

Have a great night.

Early Bird Posts

Hello All! Here is a list of folks who have blogged already this week. Go ahead and stop by their blog to get a start on your comments for the week.

aquarian1
CGH
chip9
Goober
haivanna
Nicciri
PARIS
sjsueducatedfool

Let's congratulate these folks for getting an early start! Good job!!!!!

Week of February 15-21

Reminder: Our weeks run from Sunday at 12:01am to Saturday at 11:59pm.

Here is what is on the Schedule and Participation Pages for this week:

*Read Chapter 9
*Participation in the Discussion
*Start working on Paper#1 - Speech Critique Assignment
*Assignment #1 is due by Friday, February 27th @ 11:59pm.

Discussion:
Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 12 hour apart:

1). Have you ever been influenced by a speaker? Think of the best speaker you've ever heard. What was it about that speaker that made his or her communication memorable? Think of the worst speaker you've ever heard. What do you remember about his or her message?

2). Consider a well-known speaker, for example, the current President of the United States. What is the speaker's strongest characteristics as a speaker? Is it credibility, attractiveness, power or all three? In what ways could the speaker build ethos in these areas?

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it. (Choose a topic that has not already been covered in this weeks discussion).

Remember: Post 3 responses to your colleagues blogs within the time period of Sunday 12:01am to Saturday 11:59pm. Please make sure that you are commenting on THIS WEEKS discussion, and NOT a previous weeks post.

Date Reminders

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Here are a couple of reminders from the Schedule Page on Blackboard:

Assignment #1, Public Speech Critique is due on February 27th by 11:59pm. Please email your paper in proper format to me by that date and time. Make sure your papers are on time, so plan ahead for technical difficulties etc...

Start looking for events for Assignment #2, Cultural Event Paper. Start looking for Cultural Events you are interested in attending. There are quite a few cities in the Bay Area and of course smaller towns that have Cultural Events. It may take some digging, but events should be plentiful.

Look for a post tonight or tomorrow with what is due for the coming week. I hope you all have a great day!

Blog Reminders

Here are the reminders about blogging and commenting I sent out last night:

1). There are 3 questions per discussion week. Please answer those questions in 1 post each on your blog. Make sure your posts are at least 12 hours apart. Pay attention to your date and time stamp. Each post should be 100 words minimum - there is no maximum.

2). Comments should be on 3 different blogs. Each comment should be a minimum of 100 words each. There is no time restriction for comments, and can all be done at the same time. Make sure you are logged into your blogger account when leaving comments so your alias/display name appears.

3). I check the word count for all blog posts and comments. It is your responsibility to make sure your posts and comments have a word count of 100 or more.

4). Your posts and comments need to be within a given discussion week. This means that if our week runs from 2/1 to 2/7, and you comment on a post that is not within that date range, you will not receive credit for that comment. I only check the posts and comments for that week. I do not go back and re-check past posts to see if someone has mistakenly commented on a past post.

5). It is recommended that you keep track of all dates/times/locations/word counts of your posts and comments. If you would like to email me about a grade, please include the following information in your email:
*Time and date of your posts including word counts
*Time and date of your comments including word counts

The information I have included here is located on the Participation Page on Blackboard. I also posted a blog on 2/1 about the first discussion week and reminded you of how blogging and commenting works. It is your responsibility to know everything that is on Blackboard and what is posted to my blog.

As always, I am available for questions through email, over Yahoo Messenger and of course to schedule a phone conversation at any time.

Social Constructionist Perspective

I am excited about the posts this week. I find this chapter very useful for a number of reasons. The first relating to the question posed about the Social Constructionist Perspective. The Social Constructionist Perspective assumes we see the world in a certain way and because of certain things. We build our world through our experiences and our symbolic, constructed reality.

Would you agree that we see our world through cultural blinders?

Do we follow 'social rules'? If so, what are examples of rules?

Does this approach have limitations?

Until later...

Early Bird Posts

Hello All! Here is a list of folks who have blogged already this week. Go ahead and stop by their blog to get a start on your comments for the week.

Goober
PARIS

Let's congratulate these folks for getting an early start! Good job!!!!!

Cultural Event Paper

I have only heard from a few people regarding the Cultural Event Paper. If you haven't done so, start checking newspapers and of course online for local events. Email me once you have made a decision about what cultural event you would like to attend.

Week #4 February 8-14

Listed below is from the Participation and Schedule Pages on Blackboard:

***Read Chapter 2 - Definitions, Models and Perspectives

***There is a Quiz this week on Chapters 1 & 2. Please go to Blackboard to take the quiz.

Discussion: Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 12 hours apart:

1). Consider the social constructionist perspective. How do we “build worlds” through communication? Think of some ideas we talk about in our culture that may not exist in other cultures. How do these concepts contribute to our happiness or success (of the lack of these) in our culture?

2). Consider the pragmatic perspective. Does it make sense to think of communication as patterned interaction? How is communication like a game? How is it different from a game?

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

***Remember to post 3 comments to your colleagues this week. As a reminder, the comments must be about the discussion this week. Posting on a past discussion will not count for credit.

Chapter 1 Outline Posted

I have posted an outline for Chapter One. You can access the outline by logging onto Blackboard and clicking on the "Handouts" page. Remember, the chapter outlines are not a replacement for reading the chapters. There is a plethora of information in the chapters themselves that is not on the outline. Please use the outline for review purposes.

Questions about Blogging

Some of you have emailed me with questions and I thought it would be helpful if the entire class saw the answers. Here you go:

1). Q- Do I have to post on 3 different blogs? Or can I post two or three times on the same blog as long as they are different posts?
A- You should comment on 3 different blogs.

2). Q- How do you keep track of our posts and comments?
A- I keep track of every post and comment on a spreadsheet every week we have a discussion. Each post you make on your blog will have a date and time stamp and I keep track of them to make sure they are at least 12 hours apart. Then, I check all comments made for that week. I will record the location of your comments.

3). Q- If I comment on someones post from last week, will I get credit?
A- No, I only check the blog posts for that week. Make sure you are checking the dates of the posts you are commenting on and of course, the content of the question to make sure it is an appropriate post.

4). Q- Do comments have to be at least 100 words like the posts do?
A- Yes, comments also need to be at least 100 words. I do word counts on all posts and comments to make sure you are reaching the 100 word minimum. Of course you can post more than 100 words, but 100 words is minimum.

5). Q- Should I keep track of the location of my comments?
A- Yes. Please keep track of comments and locations in case there is a discrepancy in recording or grading.

6). Q- What do I post as a comment?
A- Whatever you'd like as long as it has to do with the content of the post and related to the question I have asked. You can agree, disagree, add to the comment, ask thoughtful questions to the poster,give feedback, etc.... The comment content is up to you as long as it relates to course material, and of course the post itself.

7). Q- If I comment back to someone on my blog, do I get credit for it?
A- In short, no. You will only get credit for your three posts and three comments on other people's blogs. However, when someone asks you a question face to face, do you ignore them or give them the courtesy of an answer?

8). Q- How do you grade posts?
A- Content, answering the question in full, expressed thoughtfulness of course content and of course word count.

Contacting Your Instructor

Here is a little reminder about how you can go about contacting me. There are 3 ways:

1). Email. I check my email during the week, M-F numerous times a day. I also check my email periodically on the weekends, but response time may take a little longer than during the week.

2). Yahoo Messenger. Download Yahoo Messenger if you haven't already and add me as a friend: carolperezcommclass As it states on the "Getting Started" page, I do not use Yahoo Messenger for personal use, so anytime day or night you see me online, feel free to message me. My 'official' office hours are on Tuesday's and Thursday's from 10:00am to 11:00am, but I am online quite a bit more than that.

3). Phone conversations. I am always available to schedule a phone conversation whenever you'd like. If you have a question you don't think can be solved over email or yahoo messenger, we can certainly chat over the phone. It's just like on campus office hours, but quite a bit more convenient for you since you don't have to come down to campus.

I have been enjoying your first round of posts - keep it up. You will notice a bit later on this week that I will start commenting on your posts. You can comment back on your blog if you'd like by also leaving a "comment", but you are still responsible for 3 posts to your personal blog answering questions, and 3 comments on different blogs during any given discussion week (1 comment on 3 different blogs).

Assignment #2
Please review Assignment #2, the Cultural Event Paper. This assignment will take a bit of planing since you are responsible for finding a cultural event to attend. As the members of the class send me suggestions, I will post them to this blog, and tag the item "Cultural Events". Please start looking through newspapers, and of course browse online to see what qualifying events would take place before the due date of the paper. I would like every person to find at least one qualifying event and email it to me so I can post it for the entire class to see.

Chapter Notes
In the middle of every week that we have a reading assignment, I will post Chapter notes to the "Handouts Page". Please go to that page and download the notes. Of course these notes are not a replacement for reading the chapters, they should be used in conjunction with each chapter you are reading. If you rely on the notes alone, there will be quite a bit of pertinent information you will miss in the chapters. The information you read in the chapters will help in your success in this course.

Week of February 1 - 7

Welcome to your first week of completing assignments. Here is what's on the schedule for this week. Please be sure to pay close attention to deadlines (specifically dates AND times):

Our week started this morning at 12:01am and will end on Saturday at 11:59pm. Please have everything completed for this week by 11:59pm on Saturday.

1). Read Chapter 1: The Communication Tradition

2). Read over ALL three course projects. Public Speech Critique, Cultural Event Paper and Concept Application Paper. These are located on the "Projects" page on Blackboard.

3). Start searching for an event to attend for the Cultural Event Paper.

4). Complete Discussion Questions on your blog:
Answer one of the questions in each of your three separate posts, at least 12 hours apart. Please make sure you are creating a NEW POST for each question on your blog. You MUST WAIT 12 hours from the first post in order to create a second post. The same is true for the second and third post. I will record dates and times of your posts, so make sure they are at least 12 hours apart. EACH POST MUST BE 100 WORDS OR MORE.

*1). Think of a speaker you admire. Does his or her power to persuade come from ethos, pathos, or logos? Think about your own ability to persuade others. What personal qualities do you have that make you persuasive? Does Aristotle's classification scheme work for them, or do they fit into another category?

*2). The Greeks believed that to be an orator, an individual had to be morally good. Comment on whether you agree or disagree. What, if any, is the connection between goodness, truth, and public communication?

*3). Pick one concept from the reading assignment this week (Ch.1) that you found interesting or useful and and discuss it.

5). Comments
Remember to post ONE comment ON THREE DIFFERENT BLOGS between 12:01am on Sunday and 11:59pm on Saturday. This means that you will log onto MY BLOG at: http://comm105spring2009.blogspot.com/ and look at the lower right and corner to see a list of your colleagues blogs. Click on those blogs, read what was posted for this week, and respond. You need to make sure that you are responding to only what was discussed THIS WEEK. Comments posted to blogs that were NOT within this week will not be counted for points. Each comment must also be a minimum of 100 words.

Note: When you leave a comment, make sure you are logged into your blogspot account. In other words, you will need to make sure your "Display Name/Alias Name" shows up on the blog you are commenting on. I record the locations, dates and times of your comments as well.

Let me know if you have ANY questions about how blogging/discussions work.

Reminder: Check my blog everyday for updates, and check your email everyday in case there are emails you need to respond to pertaining to this course.

Happy Blogging!!!!