For Monday...

Hello all,

My office mate, George Meese, is conducting interviews today in the office, so I will not be in from 10:30 to 1:30. However, I will be in the office on Weds from 1- 5 pm and Friday from 1-5 pm. You can still turn in your hard copies with Laura, and she will place them in my box.

You may also turn in your texts via email.

I will email comments to you, if submitted electronically, or I will keep the hard copies and return them to you via campus mail.

Please keep in contact if you are concerned about completing the portfolio.

Take care, and keep in touch,

Kat

For the Last Day of Class...

Hello all,

Today was our last official day of class, as I have had to cancel tomorrow due to a meeting. Today, I spent time with everyone reviewing your drafts and providing feedback and commentary on your work. For the most part, everyone is heading in the right direction. Excellent work.

As we conclude the course, I do wish to reflect on the amazing observations, salient viewpoints, and critical investigations that you all undertook in the class. I was and continue to be blown away by the power of your thoughts. I think that you all have contributed greatly to making the winter term experience truly enlightening for me and for yourselves. You have through your reflections, blog postings, and research really created a sense of understanding, and for that accomplishment, you should be proud. I am hoping that you keep in touch with me as you progress on your academic journeys as I know that you all bring refreshment and hope to the academic community. Who would have thought that a course on trauma actually would showcase the hope that we all have?

As we finish the course, here are the timelines:

I will be in my office tomorrow (Friday) from 10 am to 11:30 am and then from 1:30 to 4:00 pm. You can stop by to drop off your final version of your paper or to show another draft of your paper for more feedback. The drafts, in their final polished state, are due on Monday by 1 pm. I will be in my office on Monday from 10 am to 1:30, so that you may drop a hard copy with me. You can also submit additional drafts or final versions via email.

As for the last blog posting (To be emailed to me), which is due by Monday at 1:00 pm, I would like you to think back on the course readings, discussions, field trips, research, and writings. Reflect on what points stood out to you, what areas you wished we would have covered, and how you contributed to developing your scholarly knowledge. Also speak to me about the your performance in the course i.e. what grade do you expect for your contributions.

I will be reviewing the moodle work today, tomorrow, and over the weekend, so if you are augmenting any of those submissions, please let me know.

Overall, I appreciate the opportunity to share ideas and thoughts with you all. Remember, "one repays a teacher badly, if one remains nothing but a pupil," so go out and share your knowledge.

Take care, keep in touch, and good luck,

Kat

For Thursday...

Hello all,

Today we discussed writing and the writing portfolio. We really focused on aspects of academic discourse that is important when crafting successful academic texts. Please refer to the handout as you begin to craft your first drafts of the texts. Please make sure that you refer to MLA requirements (Please use the Online Writing Lab at Purdue for online help, refer to the Hacker section on MLA, or I have handouts which can help).

Remember the important aspect of writing is to guide your reader to understand your perspective and your inquiry. Clear and specific guidance and focus is important for allowing your audience insight into your perspective.

We also had a lively, engaging, and salient discussion and debate about American Identity as it is constructed in reference to moments and events of trauma. I think that the discussion and investigation that we had truly captured the purpose of this course (just to remember from the course description--The course focuses on exploring how the American culture constructs subjectivity and identity in relation to various traumas. As such, the course investigates collective and personal traumas and how the interactions with the traumas create a unique opportunity for creating texts that address the traumas from a variety of perspectives. The spectatorship of destruction is part of making meaning of the modern world. In journals, magazines, television, YouTube, or on the Internet, traumatic events are rhetorically packaged and sold to the hungry audience, an audience who repeatedly "looks back" in order to construct themselves. The course focuses on exploring how trauma affects identity in personal narratives and social structures. Students explore trauma in relation to rhetoric, examine various cultural traumas and their effects on the construction of self, and position themselves as subjects in the creation of rhetoric on trauma.

Have we accomplished this? What have we accomplished? What have you accomplished?

For Thursday-

Read-No readings

Write-Complete your draft of your research

Do-Bring your draft to the writing workshop tomorrow starting at 10 am.

Take care,

Kat

For Weds...

Hello all,

Today we discussed the hope and the excitement offered by the new President.

We watched the Inauguration, and then we discussed the "historicity" of the event.



For Weds...

Read-Schivelbusch and Butler

Write-Reflection and blog posting

Do-Work on draft for Thursday.

Take care,

Kat

Cool Link about Class Discussion

For Tuesday... Holiday on Monday

Hello all,

Today we began our discussion in regards to our visit to the Holocaust Museum. We focused on the prompts that I issued prior to going to the collection. Mike and Julien's observations about the "backward" tour which we took really captured the sense of the first question. Our construction of subjectivity is really intertwined with history. The discussion about our trip also captured some of the sense of the readings and of our class discussions. I think that the focus on the collective vs. the individual also relates well to our constructions of subjectivity and objectivity.

We also spent a good bit of time discussing writing and academic discourse, since you are all writing a research-based inquiry text for the course. I am attaching the handouts to the email, and I will also post them on moodle. Remember, essay means "to try" and that is what you are doing in your exploration, trying to examine a topic for your reader and yourself. You need to complete an outline or observation prior to creating a fleshed-out draft. The handout is attached to the email. Please submit this as early as possible; however, it is formally due by Tuesday at 10 am.

Remember, to tell your reader what you think i.e. make an observation and then show your reader why they should believe you i.e. use evidence and reason in your outline or observation.

We also spoke about research, and if you need help, please let me know, and I can usually locate information for you or point you in the right direction.

For Class on Tuesday:

Read-Caruth, Mccarthy, Yeager

Write-Reflection posting

Do-Create an outline or an observation using the handout.

Take care,

Kat