MANDATORY FOR ATTENDANCE
Every day in class you’ll use the Reply function to take Class Notes on the Agenda page for the daily lesson. Physical attendance in class PLUS effective Class Notes on the blog TOGETHER will determine whether you attended class. Notes will be graded daily, and the resulting Participation Grade will comprise 5% of your overall semester grade.
What are Good Notes?
What you write in your daily Class Notes (recorded as Replies to the daily Agenda) is a report about What I Learned as contrasted with What Happened.
The difference between “What Happened” and “What I Learned”:
- What Happened: We got into groups to discuss the Island of Stone Money topic.
- What I Learned: Realized the importance of studying the source materials when they’re assigned, before coming to class. Found out some of my classmates are well prepared.
- What Happened: We went into detail about how the class will use certain features on the blog.
- What I Learned: Discovered that when I publish, I need to put my posts into categories (my Username, the name of the assignment).
- What Happened: Had class discussion on the topic of money.
- What I Learned: Instructor expects us to interact with the source material, not just summarize or cite it. “As much a thinking course as a writing course.”
Why Class Notes Matter
Later in the course, we’ll make a similar distinction between What the Author Talked About, and What the Author Claimed.
- What the Author talked about: The Author made several observations about the effect on the environment of burning huge amounts of fossil fuel.
(This summary wastes 18 words telling us nothing.)
- What the Author claimed: The Author blamed the continuing irresponsible burning of fossil fuel for the catastrophic rise in the temperature of the globe.
(This summary tells us in 20 words what argument the Author made.)
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
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