English 100 at Ashland

Paper and pen/pencil This seems so basic, but many of my students arrive without any way to write anything. A spiral notebook for each class is a great idea, and you should bring more than one pen or pencil because pens run out of ink and pencil points break. When you arrive without paper and pen or pencil, we all know: You really are not serious about passing this course. You think that all you need to do is sit there—actually learning anything isn’t on your menu. You assume that everyone else will take care of your needs. You assume that you will never have to take a quiz in class—or that it is everyone else’s responsibility to give you paper and pencil so you can pass the course. Fortunately for the rest of us, people with this level of arrogance/ignorance will all be gone by the beginning of their sophomore year. Paperwork for the teacher If you have a form from your coach, a late paper, etc., don’t le...

Yesterday I learned that nobody ever showed you how to get into the Blackboard Learning Management System—and that’s an essential skill for both this class and for a lot of other courses you will take here. I went over this quickly on Monday, but it’s easy to forget something you only saw once. So here goes: Method 1 Because you are already in this blog, you can simply click the ☰ symbol in the upper right of this page. In the menu that opens, click BlackBoard log-in . Method 2 Go to the Ashland University home page: www.ashland.edu . Click current students in the upper right. In the next page, find Blackboard and click it. Bookmark this page You will be returning to this page at least five or six times a week, so you would be smart to bookmark the Blackboard sign-in page. Here are instructions for setting a bookmark in Google Chrome . Now that you’re at the start page ...

This blog will continue as a source for informal extra material. As a bonus, it also works as an alternative to the Blackboard learning management site. (Sometimes Blackboard has a bad day.) Just click the thing that looks like three little lines ☰ in the upper right corner, and you have access to our course syllabus (which includes the reading schedule and assignments) as well as the course readings and the “Resources for Writers” directory.

Blackboard has an ugly habit of quitting, often when you need it the most. If it won’t let you in (often because it forgot your password), you have two quick, easy ways to work around the problem: If you want to see the written assignments or do the reading for the next class, go to www.allenenglish.me/100 . The syllabus has all the reading assignments, but you will need to scroll way down to find them. If you want to submit a paper, send it as an email attachment to callen@ashland.edu . (Please send it in Microsoft Word format.) All of this information is available in the ☰ menu at the upper right of this page. By the way, if your problem is more than a temporary outage, the folks at the IT Department can help you get going again.

Don’t overdo it. I often see students laboring around campus with little suitcases on wheels. I assume they are carrying their computer, their notebooks, and every textbook they were asked to buy this semester. Maybe a few library books and their lunch. Here’s what you need to bring to class that first day: A copy of your class schedule, just to remind you where to go. (Sometimes campus computers make mistakes and send you to classes that don’t exist or put you in places where you don’t belong. A printout of your schedule will solve a lot of problems if you have to ask questions.) A campus map would not be a bad idea either. Pen or pencil. You do need to bring your own. Only annoying fools think everyone else should supply them with writing tools.  Spiral notebook. On that first day, someone is certain to say something you will need to remember. (It wouldn’t be a bad ide...

One week from today, we’ll be back in school, and I’m almost ready. (I need about one working day to get all the 101 assignments finished and posted to Blackboard.) I’ve been doing this for 27 years now, and I still get a case of butterflies on the first day. I know I’ll have trouble sleeping Sunday night, and when I do sleep, I’ll probably have nightmares about school disasters. First-day jitters are common stuff. So I’ll spend this last week making sure everything is in place. Do all the internet links work? Are all the assignments right? I’ll make an emergency flash drive for the first day just in case the university Internet connection is overloaded next Monday. I’ll make sure to visit my office, which I haven’t seen in months (mainly to make sure everything is still there, especially my coffee pot). And after that, I hope to take a couple of days off to decompress. One or two last bicycle trips. Coffee on the porch with a friend. Deep breat...

This policy has come down from the Administration, and it applies across the University. (You might well spread the word among your friends if you know anyone who might run afoul of this.) Attendance Reporting: Students are required to participate in a course-related activity within the first three days of the start date of the course. Students may be administratively withdrawn from the course and/or may lose financial aid benefits if a qualifying activity has not occurred between the student and the course work or faculty within the first three days of the course. Simply logging into a course online via the Learning Management System (Blackboard) is not considered qualifying activity. Student non-participation during the first 8 days of a course may initiate the administrative course withdrawal process. Student non-participation, mid-course, for 14 consecutive days may also initiate the administrative course withdrawal process. According to polici...

Right now you are signing a lot of documents—loan papers and such. Get one of those accordion file folders, and keep your copy of everything you sign. At tax time you will thank me. You will thank me again in five or ten years when you really need to know what those documents said. By the way, you will want to keep your textbook receipts so you can return the book if you bought the wrong one or your schedule changes.

A lot of fake news circulates concerning college life. I’m not sure where all of this comes from, but kids seem to tell each other these lies—and you need to ignore them. Spoiler Alert: Pretty much all of the legends below are quick routes to failing a course or flunking out entirely. Don’t believe them. College attendance doesn’t count Yes it does, in two ways. In our course (and in many courses) attendance is part of the grade, and unexcused absences count against you. And obviously, if you weren’t here and the teacher said something you need, that hurts too. Some teachers don’t appear to take attendance, but they really can—they just know who is supposed to be in their small classroom. (I’m not that good. I will usually call roll.) You only think that absences don’t count against you because we don’t have an assistant principal phoning your mother. You are an adult now, and you should know how much absences hurt your grade. Strolling i...

English 100 is pretty much figured out now. If you go to the ☰ menu on the upper right, you will find very complete information about the coming semester: assignments, readings, and so forth. I think it’s going to be a good semester. I’m looking forward to it.

The first rule is don’t panic! You don’t need to rush around and buy textbooks before you get to campus. The college book store has what you need, and many courses use online texts which are delivered automatically to your Internet Blackboard account. The world of college textbooks is tricky, so it is easy to order the wrong thing from Amazon (especially if you try to save money by getting an older edition at a discount). That’s one good reason to wait until you get here to buy your books. Another good reason is that each teacher has a unique textbook list: You cannot assume that the book list for one section of a course will work in another section. Pro tip: When you buy books at our bookstore, save your receipt and don’t mark in them until you are really sure you bought the right things. The bookstore will give you full credit for unmarked books you bought by mistake if you have a receipt. Books for our course The good news is that ...

Back when I was a student, everyone packed up their portable typewriter for the move to campus. Lots of people got a new typewriter as a graduation gift, but I didn’t. I ended up using one we bought when I was in high school. The story is probably the same for you, except that it’s a computer, not a mechanical typewriter. Whether you just bought a new one or kept your old faithful companion with all of its stickers, you need to do a few things to get the machine ready for college. Getting Old Faithful ready for college Is Old Faithful sick? If the machine crashes a lot, has trouble (and takes a long time) doing things, or pops up weird ads to play poker or look at porn, you probably have a virus. (You just had to download that fancy screensaver, didn’t you?) Take a deep breath—bite the bullet—pay the computer repair shop to clean it up for you. Now that Old Faithful is feeling better … Back u...

Here’s a quick rule: You probably don’t need to spend as much on a computer as you thought. And another rule: If you had a working computer in high school, it’s probably just fine for college. So maybe your high school computer is really dead or a rich uncle wants to give you a great gift for your college career. What to get? What to avoid Big, heavy, expensive gaming computers. You will want something you can reasonably slip into a backpack and carry to the library. Besides, you won’t have that much time for games—your college schedule is a lot more demanding than your high school schedule. Another point: I hate to say it, but theft is sometimes a problem on campus. If you have a $2500 Alienware, it’s more attractive to the dishonest than a $150 Chromebook. New just because it’s new. I’m typing this on an eight year old Mac Mini, which is my at-home desktop...

When you think about it, most of us have disabilities of some sort or another. I’ve worn glasses since I was eight years old, and a couple of years ago I had cataract surgery. (My pre-surgery view of the world looked like this Monet painting.) Like you, I’m no stranger to physical problems with a classroom. Dealing with your issues Nobody is going to chase you down and demand that you find help. They probably don’t know that you are having trouble reading or hearing, so you must take initiative to deal with your issues. What you can do First, you need to figure out what kind of problem you have and how severe it is. Did you have an IEP in high school? Have you always had trouble seeing things from a distance? Then you need to take some action. Here are some places to begin: Get an eye exam. There’s nothing shameful or nerdy about wearing glasses. (Harry Potter wore them, and he saved the world.) Get your hearing checked. ...