Welcome to my blog. As an English lecturer at Memorial University, my primary goal in starting this blog is to keep students informed and maybe even a little entertained at the same time. I just happen to be writing this on a snow day when the campus has been shut down for the morning. I'm thinking it's gonna be the whole day. But the idea for this blog came to me a few nights ago when it occurred to me that there should be some way I can keep my students up to date about when things happen or, especially, when they change suddenly. There were other options (a newsgroup, individual e-mails, a website, and that kind of thing), but this was the best one, I figured. Very easy to do, very quick, and user-friendly. Visitors can even comment on specific posts, so bonus!
I expect to do a bunch of things here. First, if there's a snow day or cancellation of any kind, this is a great place to check if you're wondering, "What happens now?" I'll try to keep this as up-to-date as possible, although sometimes that might not be possible, with power-outages and what-not.
Besides letting you know about exams and quizzes being postponed, I'll be letting you know the specifics about things like when and where exams are to be held. I'll be offering advice about how to prepare for exams, essays, and assorted other projects. Sometimes in class I'll just announce "New Topic on my blog--check it out!" I might even have a few things to say about something said in class that day or something I thought about during or after class related to a certain novel or whatever. This will be primarily a place for saying things that didn't get said in class because there was no time or I just didn't think about it, or it wasn't appropriate.
I'll also be blogging in a very understandable, down-to-earth way about writing and grammar skills, about how to eliminate the dreaded comma splice and sentence fragments from your writing (though you'll notice a much more relaxed style on my blog, but it's an informal writing, so I figure it's what's needed and expected for the forum). I'll be talking about writer's blocks, writer's headaches, and anything to do with writing in general.
As well, I'm a writer of fiction too, and I know a lot of people reading this blog also want to be writers, so I think this is a great venue for me talking about writing and getting feedback, even taking specific questions from you. Once in a while, I'll be posting some inspirational quotes regarding writing, literature, culture, and whatever is of interest. If there's still interest in this site when the semester is over, I might keep it up for a while or for good. That' ll depend on a few things.
Other than that, I might have an occasional rant or just a musing about something interesting or bizarre that's on my mind, but mostly I'll keep it focused on writing-related topics.
That's it for now. If there's anything YOU want to see on this blog, please leave a comment or tell me about it in person or in e-mail.
Happy Snow Day, everyone!
I'll be grading papers for most of day, but I'll definitely be putting my feet up for a couple of hours and watching the all-star game later. Not many Bruins in the game this year unless Chara counts as two, and at his height (6'8" I think) I'd say he does.
Ciao for now.
GC
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