Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Hi! My name is Jeff Jaeckle, and I will be your instructor this term for WR 122. This is my 18th year at PCC, where I’ve taught classes on writing and film while publishing books on movies, mostly on film dialogue and under-appreciated filmmakers. If you’re curious, you can take a look HERE and HERE and HERE.

The core of my writing is research, which is exactly what this class is all about. Together, we’ll practice locating, assessing, analyzing, and incorporating research into four essays. By the end of this class, you will be more skilled and confident when it comes to using credible sources to support thesis-driven projects on any topic.

The focus for this class is popular music, with all topics centering on some aspect of how you experience, share, and are changed by your encounters with music. We will focus on personal experiences and cultural relevance more than technical details; you do not need to be a musician, know how to read music, or be familiar with any musical terminology to succeed in this class. This is a fully online course with no required meetings, but I will hold weekly Zoom office hours and request two progress reports from you during the term.

You will research/draft/revise four essays this term: a personal narrative, about the first song that you recall falling in love with; a song review, about how/why a single song has been pivotal to a musician’s or band’s career; an album review, about how/why a specific album has been central to the evolution of a musical genre; and a final project that will combine the writing/research skills you've been developing all term in a music-related project of your choosing. 

To be successful in this class, you will need to participate in regular discussions, complete weekly readings and videos, submit essay drafts and revisions on time, and be a thoughtful and considerate classmate, especially during peer reviews. Most assignments will be due on Sundays, with discussions and peer reviews typically due on Thursdays. Along the way, I will support you as your research assistant, copyeditor, and coach.

We’ll start slowly this term, with the first week focusing on informal introductions and a brief draft of your narrative essay.

If you have any questions before our class begins, please don’t hesitate to to reach out: jeff.jaeckle@pcc.edu.

I look forward to working with you!