Course Banner: English 102 OSC. Dr. Halbert. Summer 2020.

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PERSONAL INTRODUCTIONS

Ideally, attending college does more than just introduce facts, concepts, and skills to students: it also models a kind of community that most of us will need to participate in as members of the professional workforce.  Getting to know your classmates and professors enough to move beyond, "Hey, You!" mirrors the kind of personal connection that you will need with co-workers and supervisors. Nobody has to be friends, but it is helpful to know something about the people we are working with during this course. Towards that end, I want each of you to introduce yourself to the class.

Instructions:

  1. Type your responses in MS Word. It's easier to edit in MS Word than directly into discussion board. You can also save it so that if a problem occurs while uploading your response, you don't have to retype it. Finally, you have a copy that you can point to or use again if needed. Make sure to save the file.
  2. Write a "professional," paragraph-long biography. Your first paragraph should introduce yourself by your preferred version of your legal name (I go for the whole "Dr. Harold William Halbert," but I could also be "H.W. Halbert, Ph.D." or "Harold Halbert"). Follow that by what you prefer to be called (as long as it is not vulgar or otherwise offensive) so that people will know what you actually want to be called. Do not simply say, "Whatever": it's your name, so tell us how to address you. Then give professional background information: education history (schools graduated from, degrees if applicable), notable employment experiences (mechanic, military veteran, daycare worker, etc.), and some neutral personal information: where you live, family (are you married, living with folks, caring for someone, etc.), and perhaps hobbies.
  3. Tell us about the monster that disturbed you when you were young. Since the course uses monsters as the primary topic we will write about, tell us about the monster that you recall scaring you as a kid (or now). The monster can be fictional (a local legend, a movie or story character, something mythic, and so on) or it can be something or someone real who scared you. What was scary about it? How did you become aware of it? Does it still scare you now? If so, why is it still scary to your adult self? If not, what changed?
  4. Post your personal introduction. Log into Blackboard, go to our class, click on Discussion Board, and then click into the "Personal Introductions" forum. Click on "Create Thread," and then put your name in the subject line.  Copy and paste the response from MS Word to the message box. Also attach an MS Word file to the post so you create a cloud backup of your file. When you have done all that, click on "Submit."

This assignment is worth 5 points, primarily based on completing it fully.

Extra Credit Options for the Personal Introduction:

If you include a recent photograph of yourself, you will receive an additional 2.5 points. If you post a video of yourself reading your personal introduction, you will receive an additional 2.5 points. You can do both for a total of 5 extra credit points, but it must be included with the original post by the due date.