Unit 3 Reflection; Final Course Takeaways

ENGL 105: Writing at the Research University, with Paul Blom

Section 008, Fall 2024

T, Th; 9:30am-10:45am

Hamilton Hall, Room 150

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Tues. Dec. 3, 2024

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Log into our Canvas course site and then to go Modules>In-Class Activities.

Click the link to open today’s lesson plan slides (these slides).

You’ll need to have access to our daily lesson plan slides during every class session.

Open your materials for today; keep Canvas open also.

If you run into issues accessing our Canvas course site and/or our lesson plan for today, please let me know asap.

Make sure you sit with your group members! (Names listed on the next slide.)

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Student Working Groups

Make sure you sit with your NEW group members at the start of every class:

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Announcements

• Remind Paul to begin recording (Zoom recording available after class).
• As you read and work, please feel free to contribute to the following Google Doc, “Suggested Readings or Other Content” (Link also at Canvas>Modules>In-Class Activities).
• The extra credit assignment on Writing in Business (Canvas>Files>Extra Credit - Writing in Business) was due last night and has been collected!
• Course evaluations for this course opened on Thurs. Nov. 21 and are due by 11:59pm on Wed. Dec. 4 (LDOC). They’re anonymous and voluntary; link in your email. Please complete these evaluations! They are vitally important to my career. Please be honest, specific, and compassionate.
• All students should receive an email from cas_evaluations@unc.edu with a list of their courses to be evaluated.
• Any student who did not receive that email can log in directly at https://blueeval.unc.edu/Blue/ and should see a list of their courses to be evaluated under the Tasks section when they log in.
• Any student who has issues accessing their evaluations for a College course, who cannot log into the Blue Course Evaluation system, or does not receive the email can reach out to the College Course Evaluation team at cas_evaluations@unc.edu for support and resolution. This email is monitored Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
• Remember that graduate student instructors (or TAs) are especially vulnerable, as are female instructors and instructors of color.
• As of last night _2_/19 students have completed the course eval for this class.
• Extension for UP3! Originally due by 11:59pm on Mon. Dec. 2; now due by 11:59pm on Wed. Dec. 4.
• Today is our final class session! Tomorrow is LDOC!

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Today’s Class

Last Class:

• Our penultimate (second-to-last) class session!
• Comparing writing in the disciplines
• UP3 rough cut workshop

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Today’s Class:

• Reflection on Unit 3
• Final course takeaways
• (Our final class session! Intro>body>conclusion)

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TODAY’S LEARNING OBJECTIVES - By the end of this class session, you will be able to:

• Articulate how you have (hopefully) grown as a student, scholar, writer, researcher, and communicator as a result of this course
• Articulate how your experiences relate to the overall course goals and learning objectives for ENGL 105
• Compare your initial goals/worries about this course with your current abilities/confidence as a student, writer, and researcher
• Utilize the skills, info, and methods from this course and apply it to future coursework and academic/professional work beyond college
• Complete and submit a highly effective Unit 3 Project to achieve your goals

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Preparing for Today

Everyone should have already:

• Looked through all grades and feedback you have been provided
• Continued composing/finalizing your UP3 video essay (now due tomorrow night by 11:59pm)
• Submitted any extra-credit work (due last night by 11:59pm)
• Come to class today with any remaining questions in general
• Checked your Canvas gradebook for missing/incorrect grades to bring to my attention asap.

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Your Chosen Topics for Unit 3

• NAME REDACTED: “The Things They Carried” by O’Brien
• NAME REDACTED: “Araby” by Joyce
• NAME REDACTED: “The Birthmark” by Hawthorne
• NAME REDACTED: “Babylon Revisited” by Fitzgerald
• NAME REDACTED: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman
• NAME REDACTED: “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway
• NAME REDACTED: “The Blue Hotel” by Crane
• NAME REDACTED: “Head and Shoulders” by Fitzgerald
• NAME REDACTED: “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Oates

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(Remember that topic selection/preliminary research is a crucial step in the writing process! Your topic scope and/or research question/thesis may change a bit as you research and compose!) 

• NAME REDACTED: “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Poe
• NAME REDACTED: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Irving
• NAME REDACTED: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman
• NAME REDACTED: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman
• NAME REDACTED: “How to Tell a True War Story” by O’Brien
• NAME REDACTED: “The Lottery” by Jackson
• NAME REDACTED: “Christmas” by Nabokov
• NAME REDACTED: “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway
• NAME REDACTED: “Death of a Traveling Salesman” by Welty
• NAME REDACTED: “Cathedral” by Carver

Unit 3 Project Expectations

Revisit the Unit 3 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 3); Questions?

• See the example post for UP3 on our course website.
• Any media that appears in your video essay should be cited in your Works Cited; you don’t have to cite it within the video or within the transcript.
• When exporting your video project, you want an .mp4 video file. (Choose H264 in the drop-down menu.)
• When you finish your video essay and post it to YouTube, it’s probably best to upload it as “Unlisted,” which means no one can find your video unless they have a link taking them directly to your video.
• Reminder: Video must be a minimum of 4 minutes, but it can be longer than 7 minutes. Be creative! Make it engaging!
• Questions? Logistical, technical, etc.?
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Optional Mini Workshop for UP3

Student Poll - I would benefit from a very brief mini-workshop on UP3 today (put an X next to your vote):

• Yes: x
• No: xxxxXxxxxxxxxxXX

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Optional: Mini “workshop” or group discussion about UP3:

• Talk to your group members about your UP3. Where are you at? What are you struggling with? Share problems, advice, solutions. What are you excited about? How can I help?

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Lingering Questions

Questions on UP3, writing, research, college, me, etc.:

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Polls for Future Classes

Polls about each unit (In the future, if I teach similar classes or units, what should I do? Put a single X next to your preference for each unit):

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Question 1: Unit 2 (Social Sciences): Choose one option:

• Ethnographic study (what we did this semester): xXxXxXxxxx
• Policy brief (an analysis of a local social/public problem with suggestions for potential solutions): XXxXxx

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Question 2: (Social Sciences vs. Business): Choose one option:

• Unit 2 should still be some kind of unit on writing in the social sciences: xxXxXxxxxxxxx
• Unit 2 should be some kind of unit on writing in business (which means we would never cover the social sciences): xxx

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Question 3: Unit 3 (Humanities): Choose one option:

• Literary analysis video essay (what we did this semester): xxxxxx
• Visual analysis (artworks) as a digital museum exhibit (which means the students never learn video editing skills): xxxxxxxxxx

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Question 4: Unit Assignment Prompts: Choose one option:

• Each unit assignment prompt should be one big document (like it was this semester): xxx
• Paul should break each unit assignment prompt into smaller, separate documents (one for each feeder, etc.): xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Question 5: Working Groups: Choose one option:

• Make different working groups for each unit (like we did this semester): xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Keep the same working groups throughout the entire semester:

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Reflection on Unit 3 and the End of the Class

Canvas>Discussions>Reflection on Unit 3 and the End of the Class - Tues. Dec. 3

• 8 questions, 20-25 minutes
• In the discussion board, answer all of the following questions honestly. For each question, write at least a few sentences. (You might want to compose all of your answers offline, and when you’re done, copy and paste them into your discussion board post.)
• NOTE: Even though this reflection provides you a chance to give me direct feedback on the course, I still sincerely ask all of you to complete the University’s official course evaluations at the end of this term (due by 11:59pm TOMORROW NIGHT). (The link to those evaluations has been emailed to you directly.)
• The questions are listed in the discussion board on Canvas, but I’m also listing them here for your convenience. Do not post your answers here; post them in the appropriate Canvas discussion board:

1. How do you feel about your UP3? What aspects of your literary analysis video essay are you especially pleased with? What aspects of your work could be improved?
2. Think about your writing process on this project over the past few weeks. What did you do that worked well? What could you have done differently to have made your UP3 better?
3. If you could revisit any of your unit projects this semester to improve/revise them, what would you do? How would you change it? Or how would you go about adjusting your process to gain more from the process of creating it and/or to create a more effective final product?
4. What was your favorite overall unit and briefly explain why.
5. I asked you to publish your unit projects to a public-facing course website this semester. How do you feel about it? Was it gratifying to see your work immediately published (and potentially shareable)? Was it productive to consider the tactics and conventions of online/digital publication? Or did you feel that it was frustrating and pointless (a bunch of extra steps)? Would you rather just submit your work directly to me? Or would you rather be tasked to create your own individual online portfolio/website? Or did you like how we did it? I'm curious for your thoughts about using a centralized course website vs. other options.
6. What have you gained and/or learned from our work in this class this semester? (How have you improved or changed as someone who reads, discusses, and writes?)
7. How do you see yourself using (or not) what you’ve learned/practiced in this class as you move forward in academia and/or in life? Do you feel you've achieved the goals you had set for yourself in this course?
8. Do you have any other comments/suggestions/feedback to offer me? (Seriously, we're all trying to improve, and that includes me. I value your feedback, so I can be a better instructor.)

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Course Goals and Concerns

I wanted to remind you about your original concerns and goals for this class (from 08-20-2024).

• Hopefully, you feel that you overcame your concerns and achieved your goals.
• Did we achieve these?
• Which were the hardest to learn?
• The easiest?
• The most fun?
• Consider also my compilation of all individual learning objectives (taken from our lesson plans from across the semester). Look at everything you have all achieved!

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Discussion: Course Takeaways

• What do you think are the big “takeaways” from this course, things you learned that will continue to be useful?
• Chat with your group for a few minutes. Then, add a few phrases, ideas, or insights in the slides below (slides 14-17).
• Your response can repeat some of what you answered in your reflection on Unit 3 and the course overall, or it can be something new.

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Group 1: Chinchillas

• Video editing skills
• Research methods and using campus resources
• Writing methods
• Citing correctly and using different citation formats
• presentation/public speaking skills

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Group 2: The Batpeople

• The improved ability to peer-edit work
• Writing for different audiences
• Learning all of the different citation styles
• Looking at Journal Studies/Published work

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Group 3: Peanut Butter and Nutella Time

• Write more drafts and revising work multiple times
• How to cite things and use sources correctly
• Confident in research skills
• Writing in different mediums; creating primary sources
• Digital skills (video editing, posting on website, navigating internet for scholarly sources, etc.)
• Different formats for the same information (know your audience)

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Group 4: Brainwave Collective

• Time management skills
• Full-effort drafts are important
• How to build on feeders and turn them into refined work
• How to use feedback to make revisions

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From Paul: Final Course Takeaways

• When reading or writing, always first be mindful of your specific rhetorical context (role, genre, audience, purpose) or the rhetorical context of the author of the text you’re consuming.
• Composition is a process that involves multiple rounds of research, drafting, and revision (revise, edit, proofread) and collaboration. It is a recursive process. Break it (or any project) into manageable “chunks” or stages.
• In the future, you won’t have “feeder” assignments. But you can take our approach and apply it to your own large projects in the future. Break a large project into your own “feeders” or benchmarks to stay on track.
• The final step of the writing process is to look at your grade/feedback, reflect on it, and use it moving forward.
• Everything is an argument (either implicit or explicit).
• Start by choosing some potential topics and narrow down to one topic. Do some preliminary research. Think of a research question, hypothesis, or thesis and focus everything on that hypothesis/RQ/thesis, backing it up with specific, reliable evidence. (That initial RQ/hypothesis/thesis might change.)
• When trying to compose, throw it all down on the page. Then go back and worry about making it sound “right” or “pretty.” (Remember “Shitty First Drafts.”)
• You could present the same info/content in different genres, styles, media, etc. Be mindful of your discipline, field, genre, and conventions as well as your audience, role, and purpose or goal (your rhetorical situation).
• Consider also all of the various communities invested in your composition and the values/expectations surrounding your work in this genre, field, discourse, etc.
• Use critical thinking in reading and constructing texts. (Remember that everything is a text, including the world around you.)
• Be skeptical and curious about any media you consume. Consider the author, the source, the publication. (Consider that text’s own rhetorical context, and think critically about whether or not you accept its content as reliable.)

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From Paul: Final Course Takeaways cont.

• Everyone will have different writing processes; your writing process might vary depending on the field, discipline, or genre in which you’re working.
• Be mindful of different tactics/methods/(dis)advantages when working in different media such as traditional composition, oral communication, and multimedia or multimodal composition as well as digital/online compositions.
• Every attempt at communication is inherently limited and incomplete; we all have to make choices (conscious or unconscious) about what we include, omit, or emphasize. We approximate truth (and admit our limitations) in our attempt to be honest and transparent.
• No one is perfect. Nothing any person creates will be perfect. This means we always have room to grow, improve, learn, revise…to do better.
• You don’t have to memorize conventions, but you need to know how to navigate them. (Conventions arise organically from the field or discipline’s values, priorities, and goals.)
• What you’ve learned here will transfer to your future coursework, future jobs and careers, and personal/interpersonal experiences. This should help you throughout college and beyond.
• It’s important to write across disciplines. All too often, we focus on writing and research from only one discipline; in any class or career, no matter what field or genre we are currently working in, we need to be mindful of all of the various ways to approach the answer to our RQ, to find and communicate the truth.
• Everything is political; everything we say involves implications regarding our unique subject-position or perspective and our unique position of power or privilege. Words matter and have immense implications. Use them carefully, wisely, and with compassion.
• Most problems can be solved with better communication; this means reading/listening/observing critically and then speaking/writing critically as well. This can truly improve the quality of your lives and improve the world at large.

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Lingering Questions

• The title of a short story (or an individual video clip) should be in “quotation marks,” NOT italics.
• The title of a larger work like a book, a collection of short stories, a newspaper, a magazine, or a website should be in italics.
• Need to use something to download clips other than 4K Video Downloader? Try ClipGrab (https://clipgrab.org/).
• In college, you will learn content, and you will learn and practice various skills. But the true goal of a college education is not just to obtain a series of credentials so you can get a job. Over the next few years, you will all learn HOW to think critically. Your coursework and your other experiences (outside of class, based on new freedoms you face as adults in this new context) will teach you HOW to become free, independent, critical thinkers. Better readers and writers. Better scholars and professionals. Better and more well-informed citizens. Better people.

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Homework

Next class: N/A

• Remember, today was our final class session, and there is no final exam for this course.
• I WILL hold regular office hours today (Greenlaw 509, 12:30pm-2:00pm).
• After today, I will no longer hold regular office hours this semester. Email me to meet with me via Zoom; I’m happy to meet, talk, and help!

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Homework due by 11:59pm Wed. Dec. 4:

• Next blog post: STUDENT NAME REDACTED (reflection on week 16, due Mon. Dec. 9 by 12:00pm)
• Note: Because I must report final course grades on Dec. 9 by 5:00pm, your post deadline is a little different from everyone else’s.
• Almost all blogs (weekly reflections) have now been posted. Go back and read through our collective narrative of our semester together!
• Catch up on reading/submitting any documents/chapters/assignments you missed.
• Look above in this lesson plan at what you should have done already (“Everyone should have already…”) and ensure you’re all caught up. You might want to also consult past lesson plans and/or the “Course Schedule” in our course syllabus (Canvas>Files).
• Revise, finish, and polish your UP3 video essay. It is due as a post on the course website. See also the UP3 example post and, as always, the specifics in the Unit 3 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 3).
• Homework continues on the next slide.

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Homework continued

Next class: N/A

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Homework due by 11:59pm Wed. Dec. 4:

• Revise, finish, and polish your UP3 video essay. It is due as a post on the course website. See also the UP3 example post and, as always, the specifics in the Unit 3 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 3).
• UP3 48-hour extension: The final draft is now due by 11:59pm est on Wed. Dec. 4.
• You’ll have to complete your video essay, export it into a playable video (.mp4) file, upload it to YouTube or Vimeo, and then embed it into a new post on the course website for UP3. Below your embedded video, insert your transcript of your video essay (and that transcript should contain appropriate in-text citations). Remember to set a Featured Image and categorize and tag your post appropriately. Your post should conclude with a separate citation for your Featured Image. All of this MUST be complete by the deadline.
• Your post should have an engaging, descriptive title, a featured image, your embedded video of your video essay, a full transcript (including in-text citations), a Works Cited (providing bibliographic citations for any sources cited in your essay as well as all media incorporated into your video), and then–separately–a citation for your featured image. Your post should be tagged and categorized appropriately.
• Technical instructions for all of those steps are in the document “Instructions for Posting to the Course Website” on Canvas at Files>Course Website.
• As always refer to the Unit 3 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 3).
• Look for my email when all course grades are finalized and be ready to contact me with any issues, etc. Even though our course is concluding, be sure to read through my written feedback on UP3 and use it to guide your work in the future beyond this class.
• If you completed any extra credit assignments, look out for my feedback on those assignments.
• Homework continues on the next slide.
• Double-check your Canvas gradebook for this course to make sure there are no errors, no missing grades, etc. Contact me ASAP to discuss missing/incorrect grades in your gradebook. (I have to submit final course grades to the University on Mon. Dec. 9 by 5:00pm.)
• Course evaluations opened on Thurs. Nov. 21 and will close at 11:59pm on Wed. Dec. 4 (TOMORROW NIGHT!). Please be specific, honest, and compassionate. (Consider doing it right now or right after class while you’re thinking about it!)
• RateMyProfessors is great, but these official university course evals are more important.
• No instructor gets a teaching award without being nominated. No instructor gets nominated without asking to be nominated. In the future, when those emails soliciting nominations go out, please keep me in mind. :-)
• Do me a favor and double-check that ALL of your posts on the course website:
• Have a few relevant tags
• Are categorized correctly (Remember to uncheck to box for the category “Uncategorized.”)
• Have a Featured Image
• End with a citation for your Featured Image
• FYI: Your UP3 video essays on YouTube are not “made for kids,” so consider adjusting those permission settings on YouTube (don’t indicate that they are “made for kids.”) (This enhances how “shareable” your video essays are.)
• Homework continues on the next slide.

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Homework continued

Next class: N/A

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Homework due by 11:59pm Wed. Dec. 4:

• Double-check your Canvas gradebook for this course to make sure there are no errors, no missing grades, etc. Contact me ASAP to discuss missing/incorrect grades in your gradebook. (I have to submit final course grades to the University on Mon. Dec. 9 by 5:00pm.)
• Course evaluations opened on Thurs. Nov. 21 and will close at 11:59pm on Wed. Dec. 4 (TOMORROW NIGHT!). Please be specific, honest, and compassionate. (Consider doing it right now or right after class while you’re thinking about it!)
• RateMyProfessors is great, but these official university course evals are more important.
• No instructor gets a teaching award without being nominated. No instructor gets nominated without asking to be nominated. In the future, when those emails soliciting nominations go out, please keep me in mind. :-)
• Do me a favor and double-check that ALL of your posts on the course website:
• Have a few relevant tags
• Are categorized correctly (Remember to uncheck to box for the category “Uncategorized.”)
• Have a Featured Image
• End with a citation for your Featured Image
• FYI: Your UP3 video essays on YouTube are not “made for kids,” so consider adjusting those permission settings on YouTube (don’t indicate that they are “made for kids.”) (This enhances how “shareable” your video essays are.)

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Looking Ahead

• Tues. Dec. 3: ENGL 105 final class session.
• Wed. Dec. 4: UP3 (embedded video essay, followed by complete transcript and Works Cited), due as a post to the course website by 11:59pm on Wed. Dec. 4. As always, see the Unit 3 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 3) and the sample Unit 3 post on the course website.
• Wed. Dec. 4: UNC LDOC (last day of classes)
• UNC course evaluations close at 11:59pm. Course evaluations are voluntary and anonymous; please complete them!
• No final exam in this course.
• Look for my email when final grades are posted to Canvas; this is your last chance to discuss your grade with me prior to Dec. 9.
• Mon. Dec. 9: Final course grades to be reported to the University by 5:00pm

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Other Final Notes

• Double-check your Canvas gradebook for this course to make sure there are no errors, no missing grades, etc. Contact me ASAP to discuss missing/incorrect grades in your gradebook. (Final course grades are due on Mon. Dec. 9 by 5:00pm est.)
• I have to submit final course grades to the University by 5:00pm est on Mon. Dec. 9, so you have to contact me before then to dispute a grade.
• Course evaluations close TOMORROW NIGHT at 11:59pm (Wed. Dec. 4). Please complete them. (Consider doing it right now while you’re thinking about it!)
• RateMyProfessors is great, but these official university course evals are more important.
• No instructor gets a teaching award without being nominated. No instructor gets nominated without asking to be nominated. In the future, when those emails soliciting nominations go out, please keep me in mind. :-)
• UP3 due tomorrow night (Wed. Dec. 4) by 11:59pm. Post the final draft of your UP3 to the course website. As always, refer to the specific instructions in the Unit 3 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 3).
• Even though our course is concluding, be sure to read through my written feedback on UP3 and use it to guide your work in the future.
• If you submitted an extra credit work, look out for my feedback.
• Remember also “Suggested Readings or Other Content” (Canvas>Modules>In-Class Activities); add to it/see what’s there.
• Pull resources from Canvas if you want them (Zoom videos deleted after 30 days); take a look at each other’s unit projects on the course website! Stay in touch with each other! Use Canvas to respond to each other’s posts, lend support, trade contact info, etc. Continue to support and collaborate with each other!
• Spring 2025: I’m teaching ENGL 148: Intro to Horror!

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Other Final Notes continued

• Interested in opportunities to publish or present your work from this class or other classes? Visit UNC’s Office for Undergraduate Research, especially their page on getting published or their page on chances to present your research.
• If you’re interested in any kind of potential for submitting any of your unit projects to UNC’s PIT Journal, email me asap. Look out for info this spring about the UNC undergraduate writing contest and chances to publish your work in UNC’s PIT Journal.
• If you’re traveling at the end of the semester, then travel safe; enjoy your Winter Break! Show your family and friends back home the work you’ve been doing! Show them the course website!
• Consider also my compilation of all individual learning objectives (taken from our lesson plans from across the semester). Look at everything you have all achieved!
• Want to see that United Way video I made with Priah Ferguson from Stranger Things (referenced in my “Two Truths and a Lie” on our first day of class)? Here it is.
• Feel free to reach out to me in the future. My office hours may be different next semester, but they’ll be posted on a board on the ground floor of Greenlaw Hall. You can also email me (paulblom@live.unc.edu) to set up a time to meet in person (my office in Greenlaw 509) or virtually. [ZOOM LINK REDACTED]. I’m happy to be a resource for you in the future.
• I’ve really enjoyed teaching all of you, and I hope you got some useful information or tools/practice from this class. Use what you’ve learned as you move forward in your careers.
• Thank you all for a great semester together!
• Enjoy your Winter Break! Good luck with wrapping up this semester and final exams, and good luck with the rest of your college career. I’ll see you around campus, and I’ll email you all when final grades are posted. I wish all of you the best of luck.

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GOOD LUCK WITH THE REST OF YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL CAREERS!

IT’S BEEN A PLEASURE TEACHING ALL OF YOU,

AND I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST OF LUCK!

PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH!

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Best wishes,

Paul

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After Class

• If you have other questions or concerns that arise after class, please feel free to email me (paulblom@live.unc.edu), visit me (in Greenlaw 509) during my office hours (Tues, Thurs, 12:30pm-2:00pm est), or schedule a time to meet with me virtually [ZOOM LINK REDACTED FOR PUBLIC SHARING] outside of office hours. (Download Zoom at https://unc.zoom.us/.)
• A few hours after this class session has ended, I will post the recording of this class session to Canvas at Modules>Class Recordings. You may want to revisit the recording, especially if you missed the class. Each recording will be accompanied by a real-time automatically-generated transcript as well as automatically-generated closed captions. You can stream these online or download these to your own devices.
• These recordings are captured through Zoom and are only available to watch/download for 30 days after the recording date.
• These recordings are solely for the purpose of reviewing class material and should not be shared with people outside of our class. (See also our course syllabus: Course Policies>Technology>Recordings of Class Sessions.)
• See also “Using Lecture Recordings: A Guide for Students” (Canvas>Modules>Class Recordings).

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