My web site is slowly being moved to a new server. I'll now be housed on http://staff.jccc.net/jmcward.

The first two weeks of school have now passed and things are moving along smoothly. Must get my late-start comp 1 ready to go. British Writers class is going well with the hybrid model. The goal with this class is to cut back on the papers and replace them with different writing projects. We'll still have one formal essay that only I will see as instructor. Each week we have bulletin board postings that everyone in class reads. At the end of the semester we'll have group web pages so the focus will be on collaborative writing with classmates. Finally, I'm having each student maintain a blog for some public writing. The blog will also allow students to really study the history of one period of literature throughout the semester. Often, the historical part of the course is overlooked somewhat because of time pressure, and I'm hoping that the blog will help solve this problem. The library now has an excellent literary resource - look for Literature Resource Center on the Library database homepage. Sorry it's only for JCCC students and faculty. Later.

It's been a REALLY long time since I've written anything. I want to use blogs in my British Writers class in the fall. Here's my idea: Each student will take a particular author or period of literature and keep a weekly blog on that subject for the entire semester. Each week, students should post something on their person or period of literature. Present some facts about the subject matter and offer a link for where to find more information on the person. For example, I might write about Daniel Defoe and mention that he wrote one of the first novels Robinson Crusoe. I could then link to an online version of the text. My hope would be that students would also evaluate sites that the visit as well.

It's been a long time since I've written anything. Summer school has started, and I'm busy keeping up with the grading. Don't know if I'll have anymore time to keep this bog updated regularly or not. I do want to post my favorite grammar and writing site. Don't have time to write more now. Will try to come back later this week and discuss the online class more.

It's getting toward the end of the semester. The research papers in my on-campus class are now complete. We begin literary analysis now. We will focus on literary essays over poems, short stories, and plays, however. The first two authors that we're tackling are Annie Dillard and George Orwell.

Next week begins the research project for my on-campus compostion 2 course. My central goal this semester is to make sure that students really understand how to use good sources. I'm thinking of developing an entire course module or something like that in WebCT devoted to the research process. I want to be sure to tell them about the advanced search features of Google and AlltheWeb.com. Another great resource source is Refdesk. However, mainly I'll want them to use the electonic databases at the JCCC Library.

Well, let's see if this will work. My goal is to keep a regular record of my teaching and research. By next fall I hope to have my students doing the same thing. I want to see how easy it is to keep this up. I went to CCCC in New York this year and was inspired by Steven Johnson's talk and Joe Moxley's session. I'm interested in the community writing aspect of blogs and wikis. Here goes! Let's see if this thing will load.