Thinking Aloud

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An album's success tells us more about genres and expectations than it says about musical quality

Enacting Genres, Grammy-Style(s)

Looking at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards through the lens of genres helps explain why Beyoncé amazed but didn’t win Best Album.
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A pile of various colorful stamps, mostly canceled and weathered. What discourse communities do they represent?

Discourse Communities: Building Identities, Sharing Expectations

John Swales listed the six characteristics that qualify groups as discourse communities. Here's why they matter and how to understand them.
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Stylized lettering adding visual distinctiveness to an outdoor wall

The Visual Literacies of Writing

Writing requires visual literacies, which too often go unacknowledged. Students need to learn about readability and effective document design.
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What happens when a robot needs personal space? This one appears cold and isolated.

Personal(ized) Writing

Writing is a human invention that allows humans to connect and shape ideas. Removing the personal element (esp. with ChatGPT) ruins writing.
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Every literacy we acquire grants us access to things previously unknown, like a bridge leading into clouds so dense we cannot see through them to the other side.

Complicating Literacy

Children develop their primary literacy at home and secondary literacies at school. Here’s how technology complicates that process.
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What are the functions of a hammer? Does that depend on the nails?

The Authorial Functions of Writing

Beyond merely conveying information, writing has many functions, many of which benefit the author, not just the audience. See how it works.
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What agency does a dummy have? The ventriloquist has all the control, making the dummy's, uhh, life(?) simpler.

Agency: Personalized Privacy

When we allow our platforms and devices to make decisions for us, we give up our agency and lose control of our lives. How can we resist?
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What obstacles stand between students and success on their assignments? What can faculty do to alleviate those obstacles?

Navigating Writing Assignments

Assignments challenge students to find creative solutions to complex problems. Here's why that's good and how to embrace the challenge.
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A water lily exudes peace in isolation, yet its participation in the ecosystem is vital.

Participation, Introvert Style

Participation often terrifies introverted students. But they actually offer three unique contributions to class. Learn how here.
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