top of page

Monday, August 26

What Are We Doing Today?

  • What the Heck is Seminar?

  • Course Information​

    • Syllabus & Class Webpage

    • Online Folders

    • Calendar Updates

  • Getting to Know Each Other!

  • A Bit About Me...

  • Introductory Activity...

  • Reminders

Course information

What the heck is Seminar?​​

  • Daily Class Plan ​

​

Syllabus & Class Webpage

  • Look in Blackboard>Syllabus and Class Webpage

  • Review the Syllabus and be sure you underline/highlight any areas you are have questions about.

  • The syllabus has a lot of information, much of which is on our class webpage. Be sure to read through this since its a contract you and I have for this semester!

​

Online Folder

  • To keep track of all your work for this class, you will create an Online Folder and organize all your work in there. For the work you will be doing in this class, we will be using an electronic platform. (No Word docs., Pages, etc.)

  • You will be using GoogleDrive for this. Follow the screencast posted in Blackboard's Announcement to see how to create and submit! Do by Wednesday's class!

​

Calendar Updates

  • In this class, we will also be working on time management, but more importantly, how to manage ourselves! We will be working towards learning skills, practices, and tools on how to manage our time. Between school, work, personal life, etc. we can get overwhelmed real quick! Therefore, I am going to help you figure out what works for you and what doesn't. Although time management is a life long pursuit, given the different demands we face, we can still try out different tools and strategies to manage our time. We will have various calendar updates throughout the semester and this will go towards your participation grade. 

​

Screen Casts

I will be posting screen casts throughout the semester to help you with certain ideas, practices, thoughts, etc. based on where we are throughout the semester. I will let you know when I post. This is meant to help you...I have already posted a screen cast on how to create your Online Folder and submit to Blackboard. In that screen cast, I have also posted how to submit your "This I Believe" statement when you are ready!

​

Getting to Know You!

Let's play a game!

​

A) Name

B) Major

C) Where are you from?

D) Answer a question on the beach ball!

​

A Bit About Me...

  • I started here, at TAMUCC, as a First-Year, back in 2008. I changed my major about 3x. I graduated in 2014 with a double major in English and Spanish. I then entered the English graduated program in Fall 2014. 

  • I started tutoring in Fall 2015 at our CASA Writing Center before becoming a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in Fall 2016. I graduated with my M.A. in Summer 2017 and I became an adjunct. I now teach as a PAP!

    • My focus in graduate school was primarily in gender studies, trauma literature, and writing.​

​

Other things...​

  • I love writing and researching! I am also very passionate about my teaching and helping my students learn.

  • I love to read and I am doing pretty good on my Goodreads challenge. 

  • I have a slight obsession with gold, anything that glitters, sharks, and my two wonderful dogs!

​

Introductory Assignment: "This I Believe" Statement

For our first assignment, you will need to compose a response to the prompts below in order to complete your "This I Believe" Statement. The purpose of this assignment is so that you may share a little about yourself and so that I may learn a little more about you as an individual, learner and student. Please feel free to share whatever you think important, significant, and appropriate with me. FYI: I will be your statement's only reader.

​

Part 1

Writing your own statement of personal belief can be a powerful tool for self-reflection. Before you begin composing your statement, list words or ideas that you think about when you think of YOUR LIFE. (This list can be feelings, symbols, names, events, etc.)

​

Part 2

Begin responding to the following...

1.) Select personal beliefs that you hold and ground them in the events that have shaped your core values as a person. Then, tell a story about you- Be specific. Consider moments when your belief(s) was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. (Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of who you are as a person and the shaping of your beliefs.

​

2.) Be brief: Your statement should be 500-600 words in length.(That’s about three minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.) Come up with a unique title for your statement that reflects the content of your statement.

​

3.) Be positive: Write about what you do believe, not what you don’t believe. Avoid statements of religious dogma, political themes, or editorializing. Focus on the core beliefs that have shaped you into the person you are today.

​

4.) Be personal: Make your essay about you; speak in the first person. Avoid speaking in the editorial “we.” Tell a story from your own life; this is not an opinion piece about social ideals. Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to speak. (I recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone, and story that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.)

​

5.) You will need to type your response up in your Online folder under the subfolder "Attendance & Participation". Post the link in the Blackboard Discussion Forum: "This I Believe" Statement. Be sure to look at the screencast I posted on how to do this. Make certain to type your response in 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced, 1 inch margins and that you do not exceed 500-600 words.

Your response will be due at the beginning of Seminar on Wednesday, August 28th

Reminders

  1. Start reading! You DO NOT want to get behind in reading for History. Be sure to refer to your syllabus to see when Chapter readings are due.

    • For History: Read the primary document "John Rolfe Explains His Marriage to Pocahontas" ​

      • this is located in your History Blackboard! ​​

  2. Be sure to create your online folders and upload to Blackboard!

  3. Pick a planner/calendar you want to use this semester. We will have out first Calendar Update on Wednesday...

  4. Read the class syllabus & class web page! Familiarize yourself with these things...

​

​

  • Take notes - next week, we'll talk about some best practices in note-taking for reading and lectures. 

​

  • If you have any questions/concerns, please email me or come by and see me! All that information can be found right here, on this website, on our home page! Just scroll down a bit and all the information will be there...

bottom of page