The Virgin Blogger: Wanderers in the Land of Vagueness

I suppose this is long overdue for several reasons. The most literal is that I should have started this blog about a week ago after I met with my thesis advisor Kevin Mahoney. In a broader sense, however, I really should have tried to get in on the ground floor on these things. That is, I have had an interest in the future of literacy and technology for a few years now, and yet I have never actually set foot in the realm of technology and literacy. I suppose I talked big, but I had no show to back it up. That said, this is my first post in a series designed to do several things. First and foremost, it is a blog that will help me grow accustomed to the blog medium. Second, it will provide the good Dr. M. a way to keep tabs on me and my thought process. Third, it may generate some discussion on the subjects of Composition at the University and Multiliteracies, as well as the thesis process, among any foolish enough to set foot in this dark corner of the Internet.
Let me sum up my attitudes and ideas as they stand prior to the bulk of my research being completed. I have been interested in teaching Composition at the University since I started back to school for my M.A. in English at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 2005. There I took a course entitled "Teaching Writing." This, coupled with my experience working at the University Writing Center (UWC), generated an interest in the power and potential of awakening literacy skills in students. What came out of these studies and my time spent at the UWC working with individual writers was an understanding that adaptability was the key element to successful teaching moments. As an individual tutor at the UWC, this adaptability is fairly easy: I have one student, with one assignment, in one class. Looking ahead to the prospect of managing several Freshman's Comp. classrooms, I realize that a more organized course of theory and practice is necessary to my teaching methods and curriculum. All that said, I am focusing my attention on an area where the most revolutionary changes are taking place in media practices--the area that is affecting what it means to be literate in the information age. I am examining digital media and rhetoric and its relationship with the student writer and his or her future as a critical thinker.
As I do not know from experience who does read these kind of things (blogs), I fear I may have already created what makes for some very dry, generalized, and uninteresting reading for the average wanderer amidst the land of blogs, especially because I do not yet have the research and fully-formed ideas at this point to write something so stunningly articulate as to attract the professional crowd. That said, here is a mediocre, right-wing, language-themed joke to round out this preliminary post and make your careful reading worthwhile:


"An officer in the U.S. Naval reserve was attending a conference that included admirals from both the U.S. Navy and the French Navy. At a cocktail reception, he found himself in a small group that included personnel from both navies.
The French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned many languages, Americans learned only English. He then asked: 'Why is it that we have to speak English in these conferences rather than you speak French?'
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied: 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you would not have to speak German.'
The group became silent."

Wow, what a lousy joke! Nothing is better than a joke that ends in silence on both the characters' and audience's part. Thank you basicjokes.com!