English 100 at Ashland

 In no particular order: Fall 2026 100 and 101 have a LOT in common, so much of the "orienting a new student" material can duplicate. Aside from the truly outdated, a lot of this 100 blog would be great for Fall 2026. Maybe start the whole thing in mid-July. Blackboard, Outlook, and MS Copilot have reliability problems and are not terribly user-friendly, so blogger can be an alternative. Guide them toward GoDaddy syllabus and writing assignments. Stress downloading LibreOffice and (perhaps) Thunderbird. The little "Revert to Draft" thingy should probably apply to 99% of the old posts; then, when it is time, do some revision and post them so they show up with the right date. On this 100 (and 101?) blog the "Course Essentials" and such go in the left sidebar. Apparently the only way to get an older item to update and change its publish date (so it lands on the opening page) is to copy the file to my computer, delete the original from Blogger, then start a ne...

Every semester, I have one or two students who stop attending and stop submitting papers, BUT they are still on the books as students. Because they are missing major papers, they end up failing the course. This is not good for their GPA. It takes a lot of work to overcome an “F.” What to do if you are sinking Your first step should always be to discuss your problem with your course instructor. You may have some options to save your grade. If the issue is that you simply weren’t prepared for the course, working with our tutoring center might be your best choice. Before you make any major changes, discuss things with your academic advisor. Perhaps it would be wise to withdraw from the course. A “W” on your transcript doesn’t kill your GPA, and you are always free to try the course again at a later date. While you are in your academic advisor’s office, ask the question whether you are in the r...

Just a reminder—I’m requiring four visits to the Writing and Communication Center (Writing Lab) this semester. If you space them out over the 15-week semester, that means you should be scheduling your second visit very soon because this is the end of the fifth week. We’re really getting into winter now, and weather, sickness, and car problems are starting to cause trouble, but fortunately you can do a Writing Lab visit from home. Here’s how: Set up your account with the Writing Lab if you haven’t done it yet. (You only need to do this before the first visit.) Go to the schedule page to set up your appointment. One of the possible options is to do the appointment through the Internet (very useful if you are under quarantine, but you don’t really need a special excuse). Keep the appointment. The Lab people inform me by email when you have completed a visit, and I will give you credi...

Students sometimes complain that because paper grades are “Just your opinion,” they shouldn’t count. All opinions are equal, right? My doctor has taken several blood tests and a biopsy, and his opinion is that I don’t have cancer. But that’s just his opinion, so why should I listen to him? My stock broker, with an advanced business degree and years of experience, tells me that I should sell a particular stock. But that’s just her opinion. Why should I listen to her? My mechanic measures the tread depth on my tires and compares it with industry standard charts. His opinion is that my tires are unsafe and I should buy new ones. But that’s just his opinion. Why should I listen to him? If you find yourself reading these and saying, “Duh! These people know what they are talking about! Of course you should listen to them!” then you are getting my point. My doctor knows what cancer symptom...

Hard skills tend to be the things you can write in an instruction sheet: how to change spark plugs, give an injection, or enter items on a spreadsheet. Formal education, both in high school and college, tends to focus on hard skills because they are easy to grade (I can quickly tell whether you have correctly named the bones in the human hand) and because so many schools are obsessed with propelling you as quickly as possible into a job where you can accomplish a specific task. Soft skills are more difficult to teach: showing up for work on time, cooperating with coworkers, treating your boss with proper respect. Few high school or college courses focus on soft skills, yet, oddly, you are more likely to get fired for lacking soft skills than for lacking hard skills. Coworkers and bosses see those who lack soft skills as irritating and disrespectful. Applying this to the classroom For the next few years, your main job description is “student.” Tr...

I often get questions phrased like this: “I have to be absent Friday. Are we going to do anything?” “I was sick yesterday. Did anything happen in class?” Teachers do not react well to questions like these. We’re tempted to say, “Nothing happened at all. We sat there counting our fingers as usual.” But that wouldn’t be helpful. Where the question comes from I have to assume that the student asking the question is genuinely interested in keeping up with the work. That’s good. I suspect that some high school teachers don’t have enough material planned, so they simply tell you to do your homework in class (so nothing really did happen—it was just an empty hour). I also suspect that some high school teachers do not publish lesson plans or assignment schedules, so every day is a surprise to the students (and possibly to the teacher as well). If a high school kid misses a day of class,...