Donna mentions the beginning of her women's literature summer class and Derek has posted some screenshots representing audio feedback he has been doing in summer school. I thought I'd chime in with two cents about my summer session so far. Right now we are in week three of a five week session, and the summer rhythm has resulted in at least one idea epiphany. Out of sheer necessity, I have limited the number of print essays to one, the second assignment for the course. My initial plan was to look these over, and then if I found lots of problems with prose and print, turn one of the latter assignments into a paper. The essays were mostly fine, so instead of assigning a second print project, I've asked for revisions of them at the mid-term and then at the end of the semester in the final portfolio.

My take is that, while it's possible to balk at a single print essay in a composition or literature course, an assignment that takes that essay and works it and reworks it over the course of a semester might mitigate against concerns about abandoning print (which I share). The realization, though, wouldn't have happened without the compressed schedule of summer. In four weeks, it makes sense to work steadily on an essay, but I wouldn't have seen that in the middle of a fifteen week semester. I don't see why the strategy couldn't translate to a larger session. Zooming out, I see what I'm trying to do is take the spread across genres from a typical compostion class--profile essay, research essay, persuasive essay, etc.--and translate it using media--print essay, audio essay, collage, video essay. Keeping the prose composition going the whole time somehow makes sense in this context.

Let me also share a couple of projects from the classes.

The first is the podcast, The N-Word, by Josh Wallace. I don't think this piece should be heard as offensive, though it does take up offensive language. I do like the way it weaves in music, television, and student voices to explore the topic.

Next, let me point to a collage by Crystal Borne, who also did the Poke Hemingway profile. I like how Crystal has created a first, a second, and a third version of her character analysis collage. She mentioned to me her questions about how the different versions might be read, based on the subtle changes in the lower-right corner. For instance, the splash of color in the green flatline vs. the subdued tones in the same spot in the other two versions might add a contemporary feel and resonate with the drug connotations in the red needle.

Today we should be collecting some mid-term portfolios so hopefully I can learn more through some of the reflections and responses.