Journals
Your American Studies journals will be one of your major grades this year. The guidelines for this assignment are below.
Important Links:
1. Link to samples of Show, Don't Tell
2. link to examples of how to introduce a writer/work in your own writing
3. Strunk & White, link to on-line version.
4. verbs - fix 'em .... to be / to have etc ...
KAP American Studies Journal Guidelines
What to do:
1. Write at least 3 times a week - while everything is fresh.
2. For any “artifact” and course “text” you should always be thinking and writing about:
- whose story is this? - who created it? how does that change how we should “read” it? - who is the audience?
- why was it created in the way it was created at that particular time? - what did words/symbols mean back then?
- consider the “Rutkoff Paradigm”: - is it a window? - is it a mirror? - is it an instruction book?
- if you are the type of person who likes to write to a prompt, use the above questions as prompts.
3. Show your thinking not just your attendance in class: a. observe closely what’s there b. build explanations and/or interpretations c. reason with evidence d. make connections, consider various perspectives e. capture the heart of a text f. wonder and ask questions g. uncover complexity below the surface, find contradictions h. find patterns i. generate alternative possibilities j. evaluate evidence, arguments, and actions k. clarify priorities, conditions and what is known (Ritchhart, 2011 pp. 10-14)
4. This is your version of the course. Your journals should always show that you have re-examined the central artifact for each unit based on the latest information, insights, and questions you have been thinking about.
How to do it:
1. A new journal will be due every Thursday by 10 pm. Check the first semester plan for the exceptions.
2. There are four (4) online tools we will use this year for journals. Please familiarize yourself with them:
Schoology & Turn It In.com
- weekly journals must be turned in to PowerSchool by the deadline
- the school uses a tool in PowerSchool called Turn-It-In (T.i.I.)
- T.i.I. flags plagiarism and can be used by students for automated grammar feedback
- download your Google Doc as a pdf and upload it to the correct Schoology assignment
- the Chrome browser seems to work best with Schoology’s T.i.I. tool
- T.i.I. will generate similarity and other reports for students and teachers
Google Classroom
- weekly journals must be turned in to Google Classroom by the deadline
- Google Classroom will be the primary way we see your writing
- please submit Google Docs so that we can “view document history”
Kaizena
- Kaizena is a Chrome browser “add-on” (not an “extension”)
- teachers will record audio feedback using Kaizena
- to hear the audio feedback, students must have Kaizena added to Chrome
- to add Kaizena: open Google Docs, click on “Add-ons” menu, select “Get add-ons,” search for Kaizena, click “+Free.”
- to use Kaizena: open returned weekly journal Google Doc, click on “Add-ons,” select “Kaizena”
- controls for listening / replying will appear within the Google Doc screen
Writing Do's and Don't's
- bookmark the link to this doc
- read it often, study it
- consult it before submitting every journal
- we will have quizzes to test your knowledge and understanding D&Ds
3. Share your entries with other students. Have a team of trusted editors to help you.
4. If you have sloppy mistakes we will not read your work - this is a college class.
5. When quoting from course texts, be sure you have told the reader info about who the author is and when they wrote.
Required: Quote from multiple texts within each journal entry.
6. Check the D&D list every time you write. Edit for one item on the list at a time.
7. Don’t re-tell what we told you. Don’t summarize/regurgitate class discussion. We were there. Move beyond the obvious. Work Small and Think Big: use small/vivid details/examples from the text. Do not re-tell plot. Let your reader know there is a living, thinking, feeling, funny, witty person-ality behind the words. Don’t bore your reader. Take a risk. Raise your voice.