Week 4 Assignments / September 14-16

Week 4: Sept 14-17 

Sept 18-20 No Classes. Sept 15 withdrawal deadline. 

Goals for the week:

1. Concrete, Significant Detail: Learning what it is, and starting to write it.
2. Write a rough (maybe very rough) draft of Unit One.

Due:  Wednesday, September 16^th by 11:59 p.m.  PLEASE POST YOUR ASSIGNMENT UNDER DISCUSSIONS/UNIT 1 (I’m upper-casing these instructions because some students are still not posting in the proper place).  

READ: “Tardy” by Lynda Barry.  https://jackshalom.net/2018/10/17/tardy/

THINK: Think of one specific incident that changed your views on education. Picture the scene (for example, when Marlys walks into the office and gets her tardy slip.)

WATCH and WRITE: Please watch and do the activity outlined in the following video by Lynda Barry (she’s the person who drew the comic “Tardy!”).  You will need:

• Two pieces of paper
• Something to write with
• A few words (“When Miss Speck told me I was going nowhere in life”) describing a scene from your life that changed your views on education.  Write this description at the top of one piece of paper. This will be the “X” page (meaning, you draw an X right through the page.
• Ignore the screen that says “pause play.”

You will do the following exercise– just follow along. To clarify: you answer the questions Lynda Barry asks anywhere on the X page. Answer in note form. The “X” is to remind you that the rules of the paper are off– you don’t have to write in the lines.

After you’ve answered these questions, you’ll write the scene out in paragraph form, like you’re writing an essay or a story.  Post your paragraph under Discussions/Unit 1.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjmwJX4KobY&feature=youtu.be

Keep in mind that this, like every exercise we do, is meant to help you toward your essay writing.  I hope that you find a scene you’ll be able to use in your essay– and if not, I hope you learn something about writing scenes.

Due:  Sunday, September 20^th by 11:59 p.m. 

READ: Shitty First Drafts, Anne Lamott : https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx3YXJyZW5zY2xhc3Nyb29tb25saW5lfGd4OjYzZmM1ZTBjNjhiNmE4NjU

Complete and post a DEJ (Double-Entry Journal) UNDER DISCUSSIONS/UNIT 1.  At least 4 entries.  Each row is an entry.  (One quote and one response.)

WRITE: A Shitty First Draft of UNIT ONE plus a short Reviewer’s Memo that you add at the end of the Draft.  POST IT IN GOOGLE DOCS.  YOU WERE PREVIOUSLY INSTRUCTED TO GO TO YOUTUBE AND WATCH A GOOGLE DOCS TUTORIAL.  YOU WILL NEED TO CREATE A GOOGLE DOCS ACCOUNT.  THERE ARE PLENTY OF TUTORIALS TO CHOOSE FROM.  

• The Draft should be at least 800 words.
• The short Reviewer’s Memo that you add at the end of your draft is simply a message (100-200 words) you write to your peer reviewers that addresses these three things:

1. This is what I intended to do: Here’s why I wrote it. What I hoped it would do. What I want people to take away from the piece.
2. This is how I feel about the project so far: how I think it’s going, what problems I’m having, what I think is working, and what I think I need help with, what I’m proud of, etc.
3. Here are other questions/issues I would like the reviewers to look at such as: what do you think is working? What is confusing? Does each paragraph address a single idea, or does it wander all over the place? Have I mentioned or used something from the readings? If this were your essay, what would you do next?