A weblog for Pete Ellertsen's mass communications students at Benedictine University Springfield.
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2010
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March
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- COMM 209: No class Wednesday, April 7; assignment ...
- COMM 209: In-class assignment
- COMM 150: Wednesday, March 31
- COMM 209: Define difference between news and features
- 'Yes We Can' / 'Hell no, you can't'
- COMM 150: Assignment over the weekend
- COMM 209: Link to well-constructed feature story
- COMM 209: Notes and story, in-class press conferen...
- COMM 150: Assignment for Wednesday
- COMM 209: Friday - in-class press conference
- David Brooks cites 'Red Tory' communitarian, think...
- COMM 209: Today's assignment - Tunes at Noon
- COMM 150: In class ... mission statements
- COMM 150 and COMM 209: Assignments for Wednesday
- COMM 150: In-class quiz, 30,000 extra credit point...
- COMM 209: In-class quiz, 30,000 extra credit point...
- COMM 150: Assignment, first paper on brand management
- COMM 150: Live dead(tree) blogging a class discussion
- COMM 150: Where do Americans get their news?
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March
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About Me
- Pete
- Springfield (Ill.), United States
- I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.
14 comments:
SAMPLE COMMENT: Things I'd bring out - difference between critics and reviewers, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (a pro's pro, what he says is worth knowing). "Don't be cruel." (Didn't Elvis say that?) "Eschew pomposity." Don't get all English major-y on your poor reader.
Remember to stay objective. Know who you are talking to.Be respective to who you are talking about. Don't get too wordy.
i wish i would have been less of a critic and more review. i compared and looked at what the bands did right and wrong instead of reviewing the performance.
I wish the school could have given the students more of notice of when these performers were coming. I hardly knew Andrew Belle or the Truman brothers before they came. I wish I could have more background on these performers because I was more of a critic than writing a review. Reviews due require more information on people or things to get the readers attention because ''readers are impatient.'' The writer only has certain amount of space to write a review, but the writer wants to grab the reader's attention as soon as possible.
I wish I would have known to leave out phrases such as "in my opinion" or "I think" because the entire piece is in my opinion. I also needed to know that I should keep my personal biases out of the review and be objective.
I felt like i should be more respective of the artists because they put in a lot of time an effort into their sets. I should have been reviewing more than criticizing.
concentrate on getting the details that you came to get. dont let your own personal opinions shine threw your writing. Come to an event with an idea of what your questions your going to ask to avoid confusion.
-On rewriting: most reviews come out first draft. Then what you should do is tweak.
-Obviously, take notes. But then say it was awhile before it was due, write the specific review not far in advance, but do it during the week before it is due.
-Structure your reviews. Don't just sit there and rant about things, but organize and outline the ideas you have before you write it.
-Lead, Story line. What's good. What's bad. Summary.
-Balance reporting and opinion. There are different times where you give the report on things that you took notes on, while other things you talk about are going to be your own personal opinion. A successful review consists of facts and reactions. Solid Information and insightful opinions. Trick = finding the right balance.
-Know your stuff. don't try to fake things. Know things. You have to demonstrate an acceptable level of expertise, because you want to sound smart for your audience.
-Don't be cruel. Be tough, yet be fair.
-Don't EVER reveal surprise plot twists/story endings. Don't spoil it.
-You don't have to add phrases such as "I think" or "In my opinion", because the readers already know that this is about your opinion in the first place.
-Give a lot of detailed phrases, instead of boring ones such as fantastic or awful.
-Never write a negative review, even if you thought it was plain horrible. Don't be mean about it.
-Never get personal. You are allowed to critize whatever it is you saw, but don't critize the personal life of the person(s).
Being able to stay away from being a critc and focusing more on the story at hand. always show respect to the person being talked to. be shor and to the point.
When writing a review, it is important to know what you are reviewing, thoroughly. A good critic will report both fact and opinion about what they are reviewing, and balance the two equally. In the book, I found the "Don'ts" section helpful. Don't use terms like "I think" or "in my opinion". I found that I did that a lot in critiquing Toons at Noon. Don't ever "spoil" a movie, book, etc. Avoid words that are too vague such as boring, awful, fantastic. Also, don't get personal with the performers. Their performance is important, not their personal lives. Be sure to inform your readers well, not preach to them or make yourself sound superior.
Be passionate and knowledgable on your story. If you're not interested in the topic, the readers are not going to be, either. Avoid personal attacks and biases on what you are writing about.
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