| Dear New Student: So you've decided to join the Online Writing Class. Great! And Welcome! First, I want to make sure you are registered. Did you register at the Smart Center or print out the registration form from the school website and mail or bring it in? Good! If you didn't and you want more information on how to register, go to How to Register on the class website. Now we can get down to business. Start by going to the class website at www.oocities.org/zimzamjamz/index.html and bookmarking it! You'll be using this site a lot. Look it over. There are lots of things there to help you. You might want to start with FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about this class. I also recommend that you read Some Advice On Writing. In the Helpful Sites area you will find many sites with grammar and other information. At times I may tell you to use these sites. An on-line class is different from an in-person class. I cannot stand at the front of the class and explain things. Instead I direct you to web sites listed on the class website. Try going there now and clicking on self-quizes to get a sense of what these sites are like. At the top you will information about the class, including the Writing Gallery. The Writing Gallery has samples of student work. The Reading Room is a collection of books recommended by myself or your fellow students. Any books you've enjoyed reading or which have helped you in your study of English can be posted here. These books can be anything from novels to "how-to" books. Send me your suggestions! Make sure to include the title, author and a description of the book. You will also notice there is a section with advice. Right now there is advice about writing, reading and punctuation. More sections will come as I have the time to add them! At the bottom you will find sites for jobs and other concerns many students have. If you have suggestions for other websites to add to this section (or any other section) please send their addresses to me. The Message Board is a public message board where you can post messages to your fellow students. Most importantly, LESSON 1 in on the site. Click on lesson 1 and follow the instructions. If anything in there confuses you, ask me to explain. Send me your work from lesson 1 in an email or Microsoft Word attachment when you have finished. As time goes on, I will add more and more things to this site... so keep clicking on it! A few more things: Make sure you clearly title everything you send. For example, if you send me your journal, title it as Journal." Title part 1 as "Part 1," etc. Otherwise it's not always clear what you are sending me. I receive lots of email from lots of students who are all doing different things. The more clearly you label your work the more time I can spend giving you feedback instead of trying to understand what it is you sent me. Remember, writing is a form of communication. Good writing is good communication. This class will be a good test of that for both you and me because we can't depend on anything else BUT writing for communication with each other. So we have to be very clear and very specific with each other. If something confuses either one of us, we have to ask each other to explain! I will provide all feedback to you in CAPITAL LETTERS. I will not explain grammar terms (such as present perfect progressive, noun, etc.) to you unless you ask me to. But if you need these explained, I will be happy to do so! So ask, ask, ask! (Are you getting the picture here? This class is all about communication, understanding each other, and learning how to "speak up" when we don't!) Click on Page 2 to read the rest of this information. |
| Page 2 of How To Get Started |
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