English 103 Welcome Letter

Holland, Michigan.  Photo by me.

Dear English 103 students,

I hope you are excited about starting at (or returning to) Ball State this fall. Maybe you don’t feel excited to take a writing course, but there are a lot of reasons you should. 

Why should you get excited about English 103?

1.    This might be the smallest class you have this semester, so you will have an opportunity to know your classmates and to get individual feedback on your work. I will learn your name. You will learn the names of your classmates.

2.    This is not a lecture class. I will rarely, if ever, lecture for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time.  Instead, we will spend class time talking to each other, working in small groups, figuring things out, writing, and so on.

3.    You will have choices. Within certain parameters, you can choose your own writing topics or genres.

4.    The things you will learn apply matter in the world outside this class.  Rhetoric and writing are everywhere—understanding them better will still be relevant a year from now or ten years from now.

5.    Writing can help you learn—about subjects you are studying, about things you are curious about, and about yourself.

6.    Writing can help you think. Because writing and critical thinking are closely linked, wrestling with writing often means wrestling with your thoughts.

7.    Writing can be satisfying, even fun.

What is this class about?

This course is about rhetoric, or the art of persuasive communication.  You will not only learn key concepts related to rhetoric, you will practice using them to understand the world around you and to understand your power to influence it.  This course is also about writing and about your development as a writer. This course should help you become a more flexible, effective, and confident writer.

Who am I?

I am Matthew Hartman, Teaching Professor in the Department of English. I grew up in Jackson, Michigan, which is a Muncie-sized city “famous” for three things: Cascades Park, giant banana splits, and a state prison that was once the largest walled prison in the world.  I graduated from Western Michigan University in 1990 and then moved to Bakersfield, California, for a year, where my wife taught high school and I sold shoes and then worked as a substitute teacher. 

We later moved to Athens, Ohio, and then Buffalo, New York, where I graduated with a Ph.D. in English. After graduation, I worked for a couple years as a proposal writer for a staffing company in Buffalo.  In 2001, I began teaching at Ball State, where I have taught various courses in writing, literature, and film. I have taught composition regularly throughout my career. 

In my non-professor life, I play piano and guitar at a very amateur level; I run; and I like to play games of various sorts (cards, board games, role-playing games), watch movies, and read books. I have two daughters and three elderly, rather high-maintenance cats.

Fun fact about me: August 19, the first day of the semester, will be my 30^th wedding anniversary!

Do you need to buy a book for this class?

Yes.  We will be using Praxis: A Brief Rhetoric by Carol Lea Clark, 3^rd edition, which you should be able to find at the Ball State bookstore or online.  The book costs $49 for a new copy, but you should be able to find a used copy for less than $30 or rent it for less than $20.

What will class be like day to day?

I will run the course as a workshop.  While I will occasionally present mini-lessons on various topics, we will spend the majority of class time doing things—writing, revising, working in small groups, sharing and responding to drafts, participating in class discussions, and reflecting on your writing and learning. Throughout the semester, we will work on exercises and short papers that will lead to longer projects that bring together what you have learned.

What can you do to succeed in this class?

Every semester I ask students to give advice to future students.  Here is the advice they give most often:

1.    Attend class regularly.

2.    Keep up with the smaller assignments and drafts, because they build toward the larger projects.

3.    Use feedback to help you revise and improve your writing.  Take peer review seriously and don’t skip conferences.

Here is my advice:

1.    Start the semester with a positive attitude. Come to class every day prepared and committed to stay engaged for the full 50 minutes. I guarantee you will get more out of the class and enjoy it more if you prepare and participate actively.

2.    Take advantage of office hours (MWF 11-11:50).  This is a time when you can drop in without an appointment to get help, talk about a concern, or just say hello.  If you are not free during my office hour, feel free to schedule an appointment.

3.    Communicate. If you are struggling during the semester with a difficult assignment, a heavy workload, or a personal situation that is affecting your attendance or performance in the class, let me know (whether in person or via email).  I can probably help, or refer you to someone who can.  

What will I do to help you succeed?

I promise to come prepared every day to make the most of our time together. I promise to answer your questions and give you constructive feedback on your work so you can adjust your efforts to succeed in the class. I will do my best to make this class interesting, challenging, rewarding, intriguing, and generally worth your time and effort.

That said, the success of the class depends a great deal on your effort.  As the Nobel-prize winning economist Herbert Simon wrote, “Learning results from what the student does and thinks and only from what the student does and thinks.  The teacher can advance learning only by influencing what the student does and thinks.”

What if you want to find out more before class starts?

Feel free to email me with any questions you have, or to introduce yourself. Also look through the information on Canvas (https://bsu.instructure.com). The Canvas site is not yet complete, but there will be more and more material there as we get closer to the start of the semester.

Recommended reading

I recommend Cal Newport’s Study Hacks blog. Newport has a lot of specific advice about how to approach college, how to manage your schedule, and how to study. You may or may not agree with his philosophy, but you will find a lot of useful suggestions and a lot to think about on his blog.

See you soon

I’m looking forward to our semester together!  See you August 19!

Best wishes,

Dr. Hartman

Me and Brett

Being a Detroit Lions fan by birth (yeah, I know), I've never rooted for Brett Favre, who was both a Packer (boo!) and a Viking (hiss!).  And the annual melodrama that we've endured the last few years of "will he or won't he come back" was a little hard to take.

But Favre and I are nearly the same age.  He is a year younger than me. And watching a 41-year-old play quarterback in the NFL fills me almost with awe (even though he has frequently been awful this year).  Some may think that watching him hobble around on a broken foot is pathetic.  I agree.  But I also find it--I'm not sure what.  I wouldn't call it inspiring.  But it is interesting.  I guess I can identify with him for the first time. 

Watching him get pummeled by a 26-year-old defensive end, I can't help but imagine myself taking that hit (at which point I would be airlifted straight to the hospital, if not directly to the morgue). 

Injuries I can relate to, since I seem to hurt myself anytime I try to do anything athletic.

Halloweens Past

2009

2006

Back to blogging

O.K.  Grading papers has definitely kept me away from the blog over the last week.  Did anyone notice?  So I feel some sympathy now for my students who I require to do this every week.  Some weeks, life makes it difficult to get to the keyboard.  (That doesn't mean I'm changing the requirement!)

But now I'm all caught up. Grading is up to date. Soccer season ends this week.  I have my costume picked out for Saturday.  And I have some ideas of things I want to write about. (Stay tuned for my pics of costumes from Halloweens past.) 

Coaching soccer

So I coached my first soccer practices this week.  I volunteered to be the assistant coach for my 9-year-old's soccer team, meaning I would run practice one day a week.  It ended up being two days this week, because the coach was sick today.  I've managed to avoid coaching for about eight years, but finally decided to help out.

Keep in mind that I know nothing about soccer.  I played little league when I was a kid, but I have two soccer-playing girls and no baseball players.  It's at times like these when I am glad to be living in the age of the internet, where I was able to google some ideas to keep a group of 4th and 5th graders busy for an hour and a half.  I kept them busy; they were active; no one got hurt.  If they learned anything, I'll consider it a bonus.

How to fight procrastination

A recent article in the New Yorker about procrastination mentions the following strategies:

1) Write naked! Victor Hugo, the French novelist who wrote Les Miserables, used to have his valet hide his clothes while he wrote. That way, he figured, he would be far less likely to go outside when he should be inside writing.

2) Turn off the internet. Freedom software allows you to turn off and lock your computer's access to the internet for a period of time that you set. The idea is that you'll get a lot more work done if you aren't chatting on Facebook or downloading Katy Perry songs. If you change your mind, you can turn the internet back on, but you have to reboot.

Portrait of me as a college student