The following schedule for the Kindred Project

Dear students,

Please have your writing handouts ready for our class meeting on 0326. In addition to the writing exercises, we’ll work on the kindred project. Those who have finished the interview can start to organize your materials. Those who need to work harder on the blog will be given time to do so. We’ll talk more about interview skills too.

I want to remind you that the deadline for the draft of the family histoy story is April 2. We’ll do editing before the mid-terms. Then, we’ll upload the stories to IEARN and your blogs on April 9. Please make a plan beforehand accordingly.

between “homework” and “tests”

Jami’s post on March 19 shares her struggling between homework and tests. I don’t think it a good idea that students only focus on homework that are directly related to the tests. You learn things through different activities and tasks. However, grades count everywhere. If you want to share with us about how to strike a balance between not-so-related-to-test homework and test preparation, I invite you to visit Jami’s blog and have a discussion over there.

The course files

Dear students,

I created a website for the course files we need during this semester. This site lists the projects in my course. Click “The Kindred Project,” and then you’ll see the schedule and handouts or worksheets used in this project. I hope you find it useful.

The Interview Plan for the Kindred Project (assignment for this week)

 Dear students,

This Monday we talked about what to prepare for the interview. In order to organize your plan, here’s a list of questions that can help you to organize your plan. Please answer the questions before our next meeting in your blog so that I can follow your progress. 

1. Whom I’m going to interview:
2. Why I want to interview him/her:
3. Where and when the interview is going to take place:
4. What I should prepare for the interview:
5. What (questions) I would ask my interviewee:

Please make sure to bring your first draft on March 26, when we’ll have peer revision to get feedback about your writing. The final product should be finished by April, the day we are to upload the stories to IEARN.

Remember to do more research about the person or the story you are going to share. Photos from the past will have added value to your writing. Please feel free to share your thoughts, talk about your difficulties or gains in your blog.

About the Kindred Project

After our class meeting on 0305, some of you came to me or wrote to me, asking questions about the family tree chart that you were asked to bring next week. Well, if you key in “family tree” on Google and look for the “Image,” then you can have a better idea. Drawing your family tree is the first step to start our “Kindred Project.” You can keep it simple but clear. Or you can elaborate on it if time permits. The main purpose is for you to go through your family groups and think about what you would choose as your topic of writing for this project.

What follows is more important: interviewing your relative and sharing your story in a written form. Besides the articles I handed out from the kindred website, here are two links that you can refer to when you go further: How to interview a relative and 50 questions for family history interviews.

Next week, we’ll start from the kindred stories. Then you have to draft a plan for your interview. In addition, we’ll go to I*EARN kindred interactive forum and meet some new friends.

There’s work, but don’t forget to have fun!! 

About your first assignment

 In the mail I wrote to you on Feb. 27, I attached the list of blogs and assigned some work for you:

1. set the theme of your blog,
2. arrange the sidebar widgets,
3. make links to all your classmates’ blogs,
4. write a new page about yourself, and
5. upload a photo of yours.

It’s Sunday morning now. I just finished checking your blogs. Mmmmm…. Your first assignment doesn’t seem to be very successful. I assume you still have difficulty navigating the blog host system that we are using; therefore, you need more guidance and practice. That’s what I plan to do tomorrow. We’ll spend one hour on your blog project; hopefully, you’ll become more skillful when it comes to managing your blog.

AND….

I keep my finger crossed. I hope that tonight, you will have meet the deadline and finish your work. Good luck.