Comp 102: Introductions, Overview

I think the first class of our comp 102 course went swimmingly, though I miscalculated a bit on the time and we went over by a few minutes. We did the typical first day dance, going over the syllabus, but we also began thinking about the first project–which I hope the students will find enjoyable, or at least not painful. Students were a little shaky on what makes a verb strong and what verb voice is, but they did recognize the key formal features of a screenplay action description; several students volunteered to share their freewrites transformed into action descriptions, with generally good results. I asked students to browse the del.icio.us links I’ve made available, tagged 102.Film, find the Buster Keaton film One Week, and watch it at home; then, browse the web and find some interesting, reliable background sites on anything 1920s. By posting a response on Blackboard, students should give me a pretty good sense of their writing skills thus far.