Welcome...
... to Geneseo
... and to INTD 105 (Secrets and Secret Codes)
I’m Doug Baldwin.
Introductions
All of us...
Why are you “here,” i.e., in college generally and Geneseo particularly?
- Future success, jobs
- College as normal trajectory
- To be more educated
Jobs or careers figure prominently in this, but not exclusively, which is good — keep in mind that you’ll be doing lots of things besides a career/job in the future, and being well-educated is helpful for all of them.
Which brings up the idea of a “liberal arts” education or “liberal education,” i.e., education for the broad range of things you might choose to apply it to, not for any one predefined application. Geneseo very much follows this philosophy.
Syllabus
All materials for this course are available through Canvas (Geneseo’s learning management system)
My office hours are wide open, but likely to get busy. I’ll demonstrate how to use Google calendar to reserve a time to see me as the first due date gets close.
INTD 106 provides a lot of information about writing that I will expect you to use but generally won’t cover here. Think of it as a writing manual with the added bonus that you get credit for using it. Also, some of what we do will be coordinated with it, e.g., I may ask you to complete certain INTD 106 modules before we do certain things, and some of our writing exercises will be potentially usable as parts of INTD 106 exercises. Feel free to ask me questions from INTD 106 if you want; I will answer them if I can or put you in touch with the right people.
Numeric grades will be scarily low, but they also translate into letter grades more generously than you’re probably used to.
The Writing Learning Center is a student-staffed place for writing help and advice -- essentially, free consultants who want to help you write well.
Diagnostic Writing
A short sample of unprepared writing that can help me point you to individually important sections of INTD 106, ESoL classes, etc.
Write about 1 page describing something that has surprised you about Geneseo since you got here, and why it was surprising. Use any piece of paper you have handy, or do it electronically and email to baldwin@geneseo.edu.
Next
Writing as conversation, and a conversation about secret codes.
Read the introduction to They Say, I Say (pages 1 through 16).