You’ve probably all heard your instructors say, “It’s on the syllabus…” In this case, it’s all on the course site! (Syllabus, too!)

Each class week has a module due by noon on Sunday. The modules include readings, videos, and activities. The pages of the module are designed to be gone through in order, and you’ll find that they stretch across a number of linked pages to take you step by step through the materials in a specific order. The last step of each module will take you to a vocal exercise for that week and to give any assigned feedback to your classmates’ videos. Be mindful of instructions that tell you if something is optional, will be done in class, etc. as you progress.

Presentation and research assignments have varying due dates that will be listed under the Course Schedule.  Instructions for all assignments will always be available under Assignments in the main menu. You will find reminders in each module overview and links to the instructions for these projects.

Sometimes things change – I regularly update materials across the site and post announcements, but don’t be afraid to email me if something is missing or isn’t working.

Watch: Course Site Overview

Note that this video is from a previous semester’s course but the navigation is the same.

Why are we using the Commons?

The CUNY Academic Commons is a web-based platform available to all members of the CUNY community.

This course site allows for all kinds of different course materials and media to be kept in one central location. It’s also a publicly available web page that can be used as an Open Educational Resource (see below). This differs from keeping all the course material in Blackboard (or soon Brightspace), where everything happens behind a login, and it is harder for students to share materials with one another. On the Commons, most of the materials and content are meant to be publicly available. Your individual presentations will be behind a password-protected portion of the site, but your comments throughout the pages of material have you participating in building a community of knowledge exchange.

The Commons is built on a WordPress system. You may have heard of WordPress before. It’s an open-source platform that powers almost half of the overall internet.

Learning the basics of using WordPress gives you a skill you can take with you anywhere. You can make your own web presence, practice website design, and someday have an extra helpful job skill.

Learning new technology takes some time. It’s ok if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Illustration by Ernest Howard Shepherd for Winnie-the-Pooh, 1926. Public Domain

Why not just have everything on BlackBoard?

As an open-source tool, Commons (and WordPress generally) encourages the creation of new content and makes it accessible. The goal of the Commons is to build communities and networks of research and learning. Just as you are learning skills in oral communication, you are also learning skills in communication more broadly. The setup of this course site and the technologies we are using together aim to build a more strongly connected learning environment.

Blackboard is a “learning management system.” Its strengths are in communication and tracking between professor and student, less student-to-student, or collaborative working. I will be using Blackboard to track your completion of assignments and modules. When I offer feedback on your speeches, it will often be directly where you post them on this site, just as your fellow students will be doing. Some assignment links may take you back to Blackboard to submit a written piece.

Brooklyn College will join the rest of CUNY in transitioning to Brightspace, a new learning management system that will start in the spring or fall, and Blackboard will be phased out.

I will track your completion of assignments in Blackboard, but you should expect to receive feedback and responses primarily publicly, as this will help everyone grow and learn. Between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night’s class, I expect you to look over your classmates’ and my comments.

Wait. What about privacy?

The majority of this site is an open educational resource. That means that the materials on the site are in the public domain or licensed under a variety of different open licenses. (You’ll learn more about this as we go on!) Sometimes, there will be links to materials that are only available to you as a Brooklyn College student (via the library, for example), and you will need to log in to that portion of the site with a password that I will provide on the first day of class (you’ll be able to refer back to it in Blackboard at any time).

As an open-source tool, the Commons (and WordPress generally) encourages the creation of new content and makes it accessible. The goal of the Commons is to build communities and networks of research and learning.

Throughout the materials, you will be asked to add comments, discuss, and ask questions on the modules’ pages to contribute to our class learning community.

As a participant in this class, you will be creating content and responding to each other on an open platform that is available to anyone with a link (though not searchable through Google.)

In general, the Academic Commons is committed to data transparency and privacy. You can learn about the Commons general privacy protections by clicking here. If you have concerns please talk to me.

If you want anything removed from the course website after the class is over, I will be happy to do so.

you don’t already have a Commons account you will need to register for one.

You must use your Brooklyn College (or another CUNY Campus) email. If you do not yet have access to this, make sure you’ve followed the steps here. If that doesn’t work, contact the Help Desk. The number/email is at the bottom of that linked page. You can still continue through most of each course module without being logged in as a site user, but you will need to get this solved as soon as possible.

Step One: Signing Up for the Academic Commons

Via Email Invitation to the Course

You should have received an email to join this course. Check your spam if you haven’t.

The first link in the email that you received will have a link to register for an account

or

sign up directly:

You can go to: https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/ to set up an account.

You will be asked to complete a registration that will ask you for the kind of details you would expect, including choosing a username and password.

While you must confirm your registration through your .cuny.edu email, you can change this later.

The Commons also asks that you include your (main) College affiliation.

Once you’ve confirmed your account, you will be able to log in to the Commons either from the main Commons page or across any site on the Commons using the top black header toolbars in the right-hand corner.

If you are logged into the Commons, you can access a drop-down menu on the upper black toolbar where you logged in.

When you do so, you will see that you now have access to a drop-down menu from your login.

Take a moment to go to “My Profile” and add some details, such as a profile picture, if you wish.

Once you complete the next step and become a user of this site, you will be able to find it under “My Sites.” Or just return to the course site directly and log in from the top black toolbar: https://1707casdf24.commons.gc.cuny.edu

Step 2: Accept the Course Invite

Go back to the initial email invitation. There should be a second link to claim the invitation you were sent for the course. Click on it.

or

Look for the invite on the dropdown from the black tool bar (that you saw above) under “My Invites.”

Help! I don’t have the invite email and I don’t see it under “My invites.”

Solution: Email me the username you set up when you registered and I will send you a new invitation to the course.

Video walkthrough of registering for the Commons

Ok. I think I’m set up. How do I know?

Fantastic! If you’re all set up on the Commons, you should see a black header bar that will show that you are logged in.

AND

There should now be a “+New” link in the center of the black header. (Don’t click it yet, but if you see that option, you are ready to go on.)

What do I do if I really don’t have access to my CUNY email?

Make sure you’ve followed the steps here. If that doesn’t work, contact the IT Help Desk. The number/email is on the bottom of the linked page.

I think I’m all set

If you have set up an account and accepted the class invitation (remember, that takes a second click on the invite email) then you should see a black toolbar on the very top of the course site page. It will show if you are logged in on the right-hand corner. Remember: If you are set up in the class, there will be a “+New” link. Don’t click it yet, but if you see that option, you are ready to go on. 

I’m not set up yet

That’s ok. Come back to this.

You don’t have to be logged in most of the time you are on the site, though you may find it easier to stay logged in when leaving comments. Many of the modules will ask you to leave a comment or answer a poll, which you can do even without your Commons account set up for the time being.

Some assignments, including video performances, require you to create a post. That’s what that “+New” link is for. You’ll learn how to add content to that new post on the next page. If you haven’t yet gotten into the class, just click through the next page and go on to the rest of the module.

Preparing the text:

• What is the overall tone of the piece? How might this affect your presentation? How will you deliver that tone?
• What kind of language is the author using? Is there a certain kind of phrasing? Allusions? Rhythm? Verse?
• Are there words that you aren’t sure about meaning or pronunciation? Take time to look them up.  If you do mispronounce something, don’t worry about it! English is weird and we often read a word much more than we hear it.
• Is the passage particularly descriptive? Can you really imagine it in front of you? The more you do, the more your listeners will as well.
• Mark up a text ahead of time.  Identify those breaks, phrases, and even physical movements you might use.
• What isn’t in the text? What’s “between the lines” that you can use your body to convey more clearly. (Example: It doesn’t SAY the character is nervous, but you can tell they are/would be.)

Introductory Context

• Make sure to state the title and author of your piece and when it was written.  If there is an illustrator, make sure to include them too.
• Tell us what the author is trying to do with the piece: Is there a theme that underlies the story? What is the author saying about that theme? (For example, the theme ‘Revenge,’ but the author is more specifically saying that “the need for revenge can make a person lose themselves”) 
• Give us some plot summary, but think about the plot in terms of setting up the excerpt you are reading, what do we need to know to understand the moment?
• How does your book work with the presentation topic? (Note: This will usually be part of the assignment instructions. For example, why is the book a favorite? How is the author making use of a fairy tale? Why might a book have been considered a classic?)
• Address the style and tone of the piece. What marks the text as special?
• How do you make the beginning and the ending of your excerpt clear on their own, rather than adding an unnecessary “Here’s the excerpt,” “I’ll start,” or “And that’s it,” or somehow trailing off?  Think about taking a breath before you start.  Think about tone as you end a last sentence to feel final.  Take a breath to let that excerpt sit with us before you rush away/turn the camera off.

Telling a story physically and vocally

• Try not to rush,it takes a listener longer to process than it takes you to read at what might feel a natural speed. 
• Silence is useful, and pauses help create phrasing. These are moments to look more directly at the camera, to use your facial expressions and physical body.
• Use a marked-up text to rehearse and even present from.
• Characters are not just different vocally; they are different in body language. What can you bring in to indicate that?  On camera, think about your shoulders in addition to your face.
• Your face and body are a tool for conveying emotion.
• Your eyes convey emotion, but they are also a way that you connect directly to the listening audience and they to you.
• Experiment with exaggeration.  It may feel strange to be alone at home recording, but viewers generally enjoy a ‘bigger’ presentation.
• Make deliberate choices about physical movements and vocal choices.  Commit to those choices rather than being afraid of them.
• Breath!

Selecting an excerpt:

Work on a concise summary to give us enough plot and context to understand your excerpt.

Why choose this piece? What about it captures the sense of the book?

Does your choice stand alone in some way? Even with an excerpt we expect a beginning, middle, and ending point – although that may be a cliffhanger.

Does your excerpt fit in the time allowed?

Do you feel comfortable presenting this piece? In terms of language? Character? Action?

Do you need to make any cuts to the piece? For example, removing a paragraph, combining two scenes?  You want to make sure the piece feels whole and like you are telling a story.  You shouldn’t add text, but you can always remove some.  (For example, do you need all the ‘she said’s, or are you doing it vocally?)

Use a marked up text to rehearse and even present from.

The Commons (and WordPress) allows you to create web pages that can accommodate all kinds of content and design elements. Primarily, you will be using it to embed a video or other assignment for your classmates to see and comment on. However, I highly encourage you to experiment with the platform and see what you can learn to do.

On this course site, you will be making a “post.” A Commons/Wordpress site has both “posts” and “pages.” Posts are assigned to a specific author and have a time and date. A page is a generic static web page. Both of them are created and edited almost identically, so if you can learn to make and edit a post, you can also now make an edit a website.

Anyone associated with CUNY can create a website on the Academic Commons. This could be a portfolio, a project site, or a site to play around with and learn more. Go to the main Commons page to do so.

Illustration by Ernest Howard Shepherd for Winnie-the-Pooh, 1926. Public Domain

Creating a Post

(Note: some of the screenshots and videos are from another of my courses, but the method is the same.)

If you are logged into the Commons and on our site, you can add a post in two ways. The first is via the black toolbar, where you would have logged in at the top of the screen. You will see a “+New” option. A drop-down menu will allow you a quick way to add a post (as well as some other options; note: you will have fewer options than this screenshot.)

This is the quickest way to create a new post straight from the front end of the website.

However, you may sometimes want to start a post and return to it. You can do that by going to the Dashboard.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the “back-end” of a Commons/WordPress site. As a user of the site, you don’t have a lot of options, but with your own site, you’d have many more things available to help you change and craft a full website.

The Dashboard allows you to easily access and edit your posts. You can also create a new post from here. If you click on the “Posts” part of the black Dashboard left-hand menu, you will see all of the posts you’ve made and their status. A post can be published (available for everyone to view) or a draft you are returning to.

Use the Block Editor to make a Post

You will be taken to the WordPress Block Editor when you click to make a new post. Note: There is a video walkthrough at the bottom of the page if you find it easier to follow.

Content for posts is built using individual ‘blocks’ of content. The WordPress Block Editor allows you to add blocks that can contain text, media, and design elements to customize the way material on the post is presented.

Blocks are self-contained elements that you can use to give your content design and function. They offer you the flexibility to easily add and move material around.

When you open a page or post in the Block Editor, the first Block will automatically be the post or page title. For a speech assignment, I recommend making your title the name of the book you’ve chosen, or some thing to entice us to learn more about what you’ve put together.

Below that, you will see: “Type/to choose a block” and a plus sign to the right.

Typing will automatically cause the block to become a text (or paragraph) block. This text can be manipulated via a mouseover menu that appears above the block.

Each block has an additional menu with more options that can be accessed via the settings panel found by clicking the gear on the upper right.

You can open and close the settings menu in the upper right by clicking on this double rectangle icon.

This settings menu has options for the Post or the Block.

Each block and will include different options depending on the type of content it contains.

Options in the paragraph block settings, for example, include typography, spacing, and color.

Note that you will get a warning if you try to set your colors so they don’t have enough contrast.

Add other kinds of blocks

Create a new block by hitting the Return/Enter key on your keyboard. Clicking on the plus sign to the right of a new empty block will open a menu with a search option and a few basic and recently used block options, allowing you to select one of the many kinds of blocks available, including adding an image, a heading, a list, etc. (You can also access this from the top of the screen toolbar from the blue plus sign.)

You can also add blocks from the very top of the page, left-hand corner blue plus sign, which will open a complete list of blocks.

This will show you all available blocks grouped into sections: Text, Media, Design, Widgets, and more. Using blocks from these various menus will allow you to add different kinds of content and many options for customizing the look of your materials.

When you have more than one block, you can change the order of the blocks on your page or post by using the up/down arrows in the mouseover pop-up for each block.

Useful Beginning Blocks

Text blocks

• Paragraph: For basic text (Each time you hit return you will get a new paragraph block. If you want to have another text line in the same block you can hit Shift+Enter.)
• Headings: These not only visually create sections within a page or post, but also provide greater site accessibility.
• Lists – allow for lists and outlines
  • Like this one!
    • You can even indent further

Quote types: Allow you to visually separate out a quote and give it a citation.

“To Be or Not to Be…”Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1

Media Blocks

Image: Allows you to add an image by either uploading it or selecting from your media library. Images will ask you to include “Alt text” which is a brief description of what the image is for someone who is accessing the site through a screen reader.

Video: allows you to embed some kinds of video files but is very limited in size. YouTube files (and some other sources) can be automatically embedded in your page or post by pasting the address directly. It’s advisable to run video content through another service, such as YouTube because the Commons isn’t really designed to process video and has a file size limit.

Media & Text: allows you to place material side by side. You can also do this with Columns, available in the Design Blocks.

File: allows you to upload a downloadable file. Some file types can be embedded as well.

Once you have the link on YouTube, you should be able to paste it directly into a new block and it will automatically embed. Alternatively, you can find the YouTube block (under the media blocks) and copy the address there.

If your video doesn’t automatically embed either by pasting the link into a paragraph block or by using the YouTube block, go back and check that you’ve set the privacy settings on the YouTube video to “unlisted” and not “private”

Illustration for Two Bad Mice, by Beatrix Potter. 1902. Public Domain.

Choose a Category for your Post

When you started you might have noticed the big pinkish-red bar at the top of your screen that says “Please select a category before publishing this post.”

Open the menu for the post (rather than the block) and scroll down to “Categories.” Please select “Introductory Speech” for this first post. Once you add the category, that warning bar will go away and you will be ready to publish. (Note: for some speeches you will be selecting two categories: the assignment, and the group you will be assigned to later on.)

Publish your Post

For your first post make sure that you’ve:

• given it a title
• embedded your introductory speech assignment
• experimented with two (or more) block types to tell us some more about you

You’ll find the Publish button at the upper right-hand corner of your screen in blue. If you are editing a pre-existing post it will say “Update” instead. Next to it you will see that you can ‘preview’ what the page will look like on a mobile or tablet as well.

When you hit publish, you will be asked to double-check the post settings. Please leave this as public. Your speeches are already behind a password-protected portion of the site. You can view your post immediately or access it from the Submissions page once it is ready. Go ahead and check out the Submissions and see if anyone else has one up that you can watch and comment on!

Video Walkthrough

The best way to learn how to use the Commons and develop WordPress skills is to try things out. So go for it!

• Consider the lighting in the room that you are recording. Do a quick test to make sure we can see your face!
• If you are recording with a phone, turn it horizontally rather than vertically.
• Check where your camera lens is – try to make eye contact there rather than with the video of yourself. In fact, you may find it useful to block being able to see yourself being recorded. I sometimes stick a small post-it note next to the camera lens to help me focus.
• Try to use a stand for your camera, or ask a friend to record you.
• If you have kids, family, or friends, feel free to use them as an audience.
• Take a breath and pause before you start and after you stop to leave space if you are going to edit out turning on and off the camera (you don’t have to though!)

For older textual versions, the best places to turn are:

Ashliman, D.L., ed. Folklore and Mythology: Electronic Texts. The University of Pittsburg. Last modified Sept. 5, 2021. https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html

This database is divided by story type so you may have to do a bit of searching to find your story. If the category isn’t immediately obvious or under the letter you expect, you may want to try Googling your story title and the title of the website.

“Books in Children’s Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.” Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/216

There are a lot of different public domain books here (pre-1925) many of which include illustrations that you could potentially use as a visual version as well. You may have to do some creative searching but there’s a wealth of material here.

For visual variations

Museum websites

Picryl.com

WikiMedia Commons

For Performed variations

For post 1970-YA/Adult or Middle Grade Variations

One of the best places to turn is going to be the Brooklyn or New York Public Library. They have an enormous amount of ebooks that fit this part of the assignment.

The Brooklyn College Library has most of Ellen Datlow’s edited collections of modern fairy tale short stories available as ebooks which are a great resource.

If you want to purchase something you can of course!

To help you find something, below is a large list of adaptations that I maintain, some of which I may have available for lending. You are by no means required to stick to this list.

Academic Article or Chapter

You are looking for something that is peer-reviewed so you will be best served using the Brooklyn College Library where you can sort by peer-reviewed material for articles. If you are looking at a book chapter, you want to pay attention to the publisher – Is it an academic press? Sometimes you won’t necessarily find an article or chapter clearly based on the title of your story. Remember: Story titles change over time. Especially for less well-known and studied stories, you may end up finding a chapter or article that deals with the type of story that it is a part of. For example, The Gingerbread man is a type of “Runaway food” story that exists in a number of places.

Some of the most prolific scholars of folk and fairy tales, both old and new, and who have published extensively and/or recently published books: Jack Zipes, Maria Tatar, Marina Warner, Ruth Bottigheimer, Anne Duggan, Donald Haase, Don Ben-Amos, Cristina Bacchilega, Sue Short, Mayako Murai, Nancy Canepa, Ann Schmiesing, Rebecca-Ann C. Do Rozario, and many more.

One thing to be wary of as you search is that sometimes the name of a fairy tale may have been attached to a medical, psychological, or business concept which isn’t really going to help you in your understanding of the tale.

Archive.org

Brooklyn College Library

Project Gutenberg

Brooklyn Public Library/New York Public Library

Peer Review Assignment or Tips for you to think about when you edit your annotations

• Explain to your partner what story you are working on and 3 things that you found interesting about comparing variations.
• Choose any three annotations that you would like your partner to look at.  Read through each other’s annotations.
• As you read, ask does the annotation do the following:
  • Describe what the version is including who created it and when?
  • Identify what is unique about this version?
  • Acknowledge the changes for the form of storytelling – i.e. – if it is a picture book, does it describe the illustration choices? If it is a musical, does it talk about the songs?  And does it then connect this to the analysis?
  • Connect to another version in the bibliography or reflect on how this version speaks to the story type as a whole? 
  • Offer an analysis of the variation beyond a plot summary for example does it do a minimum of one of the following (remember no annotation can do them all):
    • Comment on the implications of this variation for the intended reader?
    • A deeper discussion of elements or themes of the story.
    • Connects the story or its themes/elements to the time and place in which it is being told.
    • Offer thoughts that the researcher (i.e. the writer) has about the story.
    • Consider elements of the variation that change the perception of the story or story type
    • Identify elements that may be troubling in how the story was told in the past or now
    • Take a critical lens – for example, looks at gender roles, symbolism, storytelling structure, economic or class analysis, values of the society in which the tale is being told
• Discuss with each other where and how this annotations could be expanded.  Consider: If you were to write a research paper about your fairy tale, what question would you want to ask? What question would you be in a position to answer?