tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post78465541481142883..comments2023-07-11T08:11:25.508-07:00Comments on Coursera Fantasy: That's Why God Made BlogsLaura Gibbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-28600224983505132512012-07-31T14:30:13.937-07:002012-07-31T14:30:13.937-07:00Hi! I thought I'd let you know that I used you...Hi! I thought I'd let you know that I used your snakeskin metaphor in my most recent blog. Thanks! I'm going to post my blog on the forum thread, too, but I didn't know if you're still watching that thread...<br /><br />http://rachelreadingnthinking.blogspot.com/2012/07/alice-caterpillar-and-serpent.htmlAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01974988315420539840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-8760478536266520262012-07-31T09:44:24.889-07:002012-07-31T09:44:24.889-07:00Very true about how Grimm forced people to make ch...Very true about how Grimm forced people to make choices that won't be so complicated with the novels, where the choice to focus on a theme or character or scene won't make you feel you are just discarding the whole rest of the book, since it's all connected in a novel! :-)Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-49671891560681787572012-07-31T09:37:53.241-07:002012-07-31T09:37:53.241-07:00I found the 300 word limit somewhat difficult for ...I found the 300 word limit somewhat difficult for adding quotes and the like in, but in the end decided not to worry about it too much. I think my essay is a little superficial but decided to give myself space to improve :) Also, this was a nice one to get 'the kitchen sink approach' out of the way as opposed to the later ones which are mainly single stories.vickytnzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07638705658819183509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-14845615178827179792012-07-30T17:16:02.672-07:002012-07-30T17:16:02.672-07:00Whoops, I did my reply to you as a separate commen...Whoops, I did my reply to you as a separate comment (Blogger introduced these threaded comments a couple months ago and I still haven't gotten used to it). :-)Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-52576964763400438252012-07-30T17:15:17.744-07:002012-07-30T17:15:17.744-07:00Hi Rachel, I bet that is because of the javascript...Hi Rachel, I bet that is because of the javascript in it; it sometimes makes things act a little weird. The tool I use to build those rotating image things is something a student actually created for my class years and years ago - <a href="http://RotateContent.com" rel="nofollow">RotateContent.com</a>. It's not hard to use at all - I hired him to build it and the basic idea was that it had to be simple enough for ME to use, ha ha. I'm not a programmer by a long shot. <br /><br />The puberty idea fits in exactly with the identity theme I am looking at - and of course puberty is one a radical change-of-identity experience. That's definitely how I see the Alice books, as meditations on identity and reality. The root of the word "identity" is the Latin word <em>idem</em>, meaning "the same" (like in the word "identical") - and "identity" is the idea somehow you are always the same as yourself, that's what makes you you. But poor Alice is not the same as she was when she woke up that morning... total identity crisis, as nothing is staying the same about her, it's all changing! (And of course that happens to us grown-ups too - am I the same person I was a year ago? five years ago? ten years ago? or not...?) :-)Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-61543753649633627412012-07-30T16:58:25.878-07:002012-07-30T16:58:25.878-07:00I'm commenting on this thread because, apparen...I'm commenting on this thread because, apparently, my computer will not allow me to comment on your new post. Just wanted to say, that's really cool the way you're cycling through pictures like that! You certainly know a lot about how to use blogger! :)<br /><br />I've started my Alice analysis, now. So far I'm thinking about it in terms of an allegory for puberty. But I'll see if that changes as I move further into the story.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01974988315420539840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-82449535413851180372012-07-30T14:27:54.874-07:002012-07-30T14:27:54.874-07:00Hmmm, I'm not a professional essay writer. Are...Hmmm, I'm not a professional essay writer. Are you?Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-5224857958617288802012-07-30T13:47:23.183-07:002012-07-30T13:47:23.183-07:00If you are a Professional Essay Writer you should ...If you are a <a rel="nofollow">Professional Essay Writer</a> you should know how to provide a concise information with an appropriate clarity.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01001567149205983154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-31922903977174772462012-07-29T14:18:47.717-07:002012-07-29T14:18:47.717-07:00Agreed, Beth! Some people have said they wish we h...Agreed, Beth! Some people have said they wish we had had the big lecture (I guess that is coming on Tuesday? although I'm kind of confused about that, truth be told) before writing our essays, but personally I am glad that people felt inclined/compelled to follow their OWN interests, instead of letting the professor chart out the path. Even if he were to lecture for five hours straight, I don't think he would cover all the topics that people have raised in their own thinking-out-loud about these stories. :-)Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-3490189541069250962012-07-29T14:15:22.665-07:002012-07-29T14:15:22.665-07:00I agree that it would be interesting to see how he...I agree that it would be interesting to see how he came to the decision to use this type of assignment; I assumed that it's more of a time/convenience thing since we have to read/comment on each other's. Maybe he thought more in-depth assignments would be too daunting for peer review? But I think that shorter assignments are nice for other reasons, too. Like you said, they definitely force writers to be concise (whereas I'm always pulling teeth to get my students to develop their ideas more). I hope there was a deeper reason for wanting to keep assignments short than just time constraints. I always enjoy learning how other professors develop their assignments, so I'd love to have more info on the thought process behind these short assignments.<br /><br />I'm curious to see the essays, too! Just from skimming the discussion boards a little, everyone has such different interests in the tales, so I'm excited to see what sort of ideas come out in an assignment where people have had more time to really develop and refine ideas.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03497873574218444965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-86559935498306812472012-07-29T13:05:48.126-07:002012-07-29T13:05:48.126-07:00And skimming has its purposes... I do it all the t...And skimming has its purposes... I do it all the time when reading stuff online. But Alice in Wonderland I am listening to as an audiobook right now, enjoying EACH and EVERY word! :-)<br /><br />I should add that I love short form things - fables, proverbs, epigrams. I wrote a book this summer - <b><a href="http://distichalatina.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Brevissima: 1001 Tiny Latin Poems</a></b>. (I used to be a Latin teacher and I still love Latin.) The poems in the book are TWO-LINES LONG. Short is good! I'm excited because I should be releasing the book at Lulu and in a PDF at my blog next week!!!Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-13681844944401783542012-07-29T13:02:31.068-07:002012-07-29T13:02:31.068-07:00*blush* I admit that I skimmed this blog. ;)*blush* I admit that I skimmed this blog. ;)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01974988315420539840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-22636436311890417902012-07-29T12:55:53.212-07:002012-07-29T12:55:53.212-07:00EXACTLY, Rachel - in fact, I often see when studen...EXACTLY, Rachel - in fact, I often see when students are leaving comments for each other in my classes, that when someone has written something closer to 1000 words, rather than something that is 500 or 600 words or so, the person commenting clearly has not read the whole thing... so I think as readers, we may end up appreciating the purpose of the 300-word-limit in a new way. :-)Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-1642880667129013362012-07-29T12:51:03.045-07:002012-07-29T12:51:03.045-07:00I found it difficult to get my essay down to 320 w...I found it difficult to get my essay down to 320 words, of course, but I just cut out extra words and examples and didn't torture myself much about it. I write book reviews all the time, and I try to keep them as short as possible while still saying something. Because I never read a book review that's long. I just skim it for interesting sentences if I look at it at all. :) So I completely understand the need for short essays here. They're long enough that you can make a point, but short enough that the graders aren't as likely to skim.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01974988315420539840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-50514302064189546752012-07-29T12:14:16.946-07:002012-07-29T12:14:16.946-07:00Hi Beth! As one teacher to another (I teach colleg...Hi Beth! As one teacher to another (I teach college writing also), I am so curious if Prof. Rabkin uses this type of assignment in the face-to-face classes he teaches also, and what process led him to use this type of writing assignment. I know I have definitely changed my ideas and expectations about writing and writing assignments over the past 10 years, and I've also changed my own feelings about writing (I enjoy writing so much more now than I used to...). Anyway, I am curious to see what the random essays will be like! Congrats on doing your Masters! :-)Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-88842903979631937552012-07-29T12:05:25.909-07:002012-07-29T12:05:25.909-07:00I totally agree that essay is a strange label for ...I totally agree that essay is a strange label for the assignment. I started mine thinking of it as an essay and I had an intro that was 170 words . . . and it wasn't even the type of intro I would expect from my College Writing I and II students. Finally, I realized I should be considering it more as a reflection than an essay and that helped me restructure, so I could cut it down to a shorter assignment. I got it down to exactly 320 words and there is not a single word that I could cut out now. As someone whose last academic writing assignment was my 90+ page Masters thesis, though, I found the length for this assignment a huge challenge.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03497873574218444965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-56015144201828906302012-07-29T08:36:24.745-07:002012-07-29T08:36:24.745-07:00Ha ha, fantastic! I know I am going to want to rea...Ha ha, fantastic! I know I am going to want to read more than just the four random essays, so if people share them via their blogs, I will be really happy about that. Even if we want to read more than four essays at the class website, I don't think it will let us do that. I haven't looked at my Google Reader yet this morning, but I think I have subscribed to all the blogs people have shared, and hopefully there will be essays popping up there this weekend. Happy Sunday!!! :-)Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619974859742853534.post-36815436581797298912012-07-29T08:29:50.182-07:002012-07-29T08:29:50.182-07:00How funny that your newest post popped up in my ho...How funny that your newest post popped up in my home page, because I JUST managed to whittle down my assignment to 320. It was quite the struggle!<br /><br />Nevertheless, blogging about the process has definitely helped me get the assignment down pat. I am ready to hand it in, and also post it on my blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com