Hello, my names Isaac Haseltine. I’ll be heading into my junior year at SU this Fall hopefully on campus. I’ve spent my time there at the warehouse where I major in fashion design. Art and design play a very significant role in my life, I spend more time working in my studio than I do on anything else. My writing skills, on the other hand, haven’t had as much attention. I’ve only written a handful of essays in the two years I’ve been here, but its always been a skill I find to be crucial for an artist to appropriately convey their perspective, so I figured taking a summer writing class would let me focus on my writing more.
Week of 5/18–let’s get started
We’ve got a mix of assignments this week as we gear up for the course and get familiar with the platforms. Please see below for a quick rundown of the week’s work.
- by Wednesday, post a brief introduction to yourself on the blog
- by Saturday, respond to 2 of the discussion prompts below (on the blog)
- by Sunday, submit your analysis of the introduction to They Say/I Say (in the Blackboard Dropbox)
Discussions on the blog will serve as class discussion work throughout the summer. For this week, please respond to Question #1 and to either #2 or #3.
Create a new post for your responses. Categorize it as “Discussions,” and tag it with “unit1,” “week of 5/18,” and [your first name]. Each of your responses should be >150 words. Once you have posted, please review your classmates’ posts and comment on at least 2 of them (>75 words each). You should complete this work by the end of the day on Saturday, 5/23.
- What are some of the researchable questions that this week’s readings raise for you? In other words, what issues do these readings make you wonder about? What questions would you be interested in exploring further?
- Anytime we learn about something new, we start from where we are. Use your own experiences to respond to one of these articles–draw some connections between your experiences of work and/or school and the claims/ideas that these authors raise.
- Select one of the definitions from “What is organizational culture and why should we care” OR one statistic from “Why diversity matters,” and discuss what questions this sparks for you? What do you think is interesting or significant about this idea? In other words, how does your look at this article open up questions about what organizational culture is and why it matters?
A quick note on protocol: In order to keep our blog organized, it will be important for us to use categories and tags appropriately:
- categories will sort posts into different locations (pages) on the blog
- tags will make posts easily searchable.
When you click the “+” button to create a new post, your text editor window will have boxes for Tags and Categories in the right menu.
Intro
Hello everyone! My name is Dominique Van Gilst and I am a rising sophomore from Moorestown, New Jersey. My major is inclusive elementary and special education. I am taking this class because it is required for my major, and I think that it would be very helpful to learn more about writing. This summer, I was supposed to be working at a summer camp, but I am not sure if that will happen now. I am starting to get used to having all online classes but it was definitely a challenge at first! I thought that it would be a good idea to take some summer courses so that I will not have to take too many credits in the fall.
Jackie Pimentel Intro
My name is Jackie Pimentel and I am a rising junior from Rhode Island majoring in a BS in Psychology with a minor in Human Family Science. This summer is uncertain for me, as the virus has lead me to not quite knowing if I’m going to have a job or not. I normally work as a lifeguard at a country club and at Syracuse as well, however I might have to find a new one, or even go without one this summer. I chose to do this class online for the summer to get ahead of my credits and to complete it for my major. First semester I had to unfortunately take a leave of absence and I had to withdraw from 16 credits, so I’m playing a big game of catchup! With the uncertainty of a job and quarantine still in effect, I figured taking an online course this summer would be perfect, especially with the transition we just had with having our courses be fully online for the rest of the semester.
Introduction
Hello,
My name is Keebah Garnett. I am a dual major in Accounting and Information Management and Technology, with hopes of working as a Risk Advisory Consultant after graduation. This summer I will be spending time at home completing my internship virtually with EY because of COVID. I never fully took a course online and this will be my first experience (aside from the ending of our Spring semester). I’m excited about this class and I hope to improve my writing.
A little casual information about me is that I am a huge Nicki Minaj fan and I love listening to music. Unfortunately, I cannot sing or rap but I love to do it so I do it anyways. I’m looking forward to connecting with you all.
Aaron Stukey Introduction
Hello,
My name is Aaron Stukey and I am a History major here at Syracuse. I was born and raised in the city of Syracuse and plan to go to graduate school after I complete my BA (to try and become a high school Social Studies teacher). I really enjoy reading, watching television and just about every sport.
My favorite subject of study is European history with an emphasis on sectarian violence, mostly the period known as “The Troubles” between England and Northern Ireland. I am very glad to take this course as there are many areas in my writing that I need to work on and am also very interested in the areas of inclusion. I have taken a couple of online classes before but this is the first that uses Expressions so this will be good to get used to doing blogging assignments. I took WRT 105 last summer and would like to build on my writing quite a bit- i’m always caught somewhere between writing too academically and way too conversationally. I look forward to experiencing this course!
-Aaron
Welcome to WRT 205 online
Welcome to WRT 205 online for Summer 2020. I hope this finds you well and ready to get started with our critical research and writing course. We’ll be looking at issues relating to organizational culture, specifically at diversity and inclusion.
My name is Karen Oakes, and I’ll be your instructor the course. I’m looking forward to working with all of you this summer. A few thoughts as we gear up:
Let’s acknowledge that we’re all coming into this course from a really challenging semester. The transition to remote learning in March was far from smooth, and I recognize that that experience may have affected your perception of online courses. I hope to show you that online teaching and learning can be really productive, especially when a class is designed that way from the start, as this one was. We’re not shifting course midway through and trying to make up a plan as we go. We’ve got things all plotted out here right from the start.
Secondly, let’s acknowledge that there is still a lot of uncertainty swirling around us at the moment. That might be something you’re feeling in your own life. And we’re all feeling degrees of it in our communities and institutions–not knowing what to expect for the fall semester, keeping an eye on the ever-changing news, and worrying about economic prospects. All of those concerns will invariably shape our work this summer, likely in both theoretical and practical ways.
That’s the context we’re working in, and we’re going to roll with it. This course will give us opportunity to meaningfully explore and reflect upon the issues around us, as we’ll be researching organizational cultures and can really delve into how those cultures work in moments of crisis. Furthermore, as a studio course (albeit a virtual studio space), we’ll work to build a supportive learning community in which you can share and test ideas, give and receive feedback, and make connections.
And, finally, as to the practical stuff, part of the value of a fully online course like this is the inherent flexibility. We’ll generally have 2 sets of deadlines each week, but within those parameters, you can decide when you complete your work. We’re fully asynchronous, so there are no scheduled meetings–you can fit this course in around your other commitments. I’d like you translate any deadlines to your local date/timezone. And if your individual circumstances change, and that interferes with your ability to meet those deadlines, just let me know, and we’ll adjust as needed.
Let’s get started.