Week 12:

  • Dates: Wednesday, 11/20, and Monday, 11/25
  • Wednesday, 11/27–no classes
  • Meeting Info: Each week, I will post an agenda that will outline the week’s work. It will include instructions for you and links to readings, discussion questions, and other work.  We will work on developing community both in our classroom and in our online written community.  

Objectives

  • To finish and publish Project 2 by Wednesday, 11/20.
  • To submit a reflective cover letter for Project 2 by Wednesday, 11/20.
  • To continue working on Project 3: Writing in a New Genre
  • To find and read mentor texts for Project 3 listicles
  • To catch up on any missing or late work, especially with the Final Portfolio in mind.
  • To schedule a time to talk with me to discuss your revision of Project 1.
  • To share drafts of Project 3

To Do Before Week 12

Just in case you haven’t already, please:

  • Catch up on any readings or discussions you’ve missed–you can review the Weekly Class Agendas to see what we covered.
  • Submit Project 2 by writing a post, adding your annotated bibliography to the post (you can copy and paste it from wherever you’ve been writing it), and use the category Project 2 Work. If you need help, please ask me or consult this Help page on Writing a Post.

To-Do This Week

Wednesday, 11/20

Texts:

Writing:

  • Drafting your new composition (Part 1)
  • Begin note-taking for Part 2 based on your draft of Part 1

In Class:

  • Reflective Cover Letters for Project 2
  • Review the instructions for Project 3.
  • What are listicles? Let’s look at the samples we have on our agenda above. In groups, generate a list of the features of the listicle genre.
    • topic expressed in the title, which might include the number of items in the list, what you’ll get out of reading the listicle
    • relatively short overall length–but what if it’s “100 things you need to know about this topic”? try to balance how many items in the list with how much you write about each.
    • used for giving out information–done clearly
    • different sections: title, images, introduction, list, conclusion
    • visual elements especially at the top, maybe throughout
    • list: might have bullet point, numbers, might just have subheadings, followed by text that explains that point
    • you-address vs 3rd person he/she/they
    • flexible for different audiences and levels of formality
    • is positivity a feature of the genre?
  • What lists could you make based on your research? Brainstorm as many as you can.
    • “5 things NYCHA Management needs to do better”
    • “Ways NYCHA can better meet residents’ needs”
    • “3 reasons why restaurants should buy local and 2 reasons they shouldn’t”
  • Which audiences do you think would be interested in which of these lists?
  • Find a mentor text that helps inspire your listicle, whether it’s on your topic or not.
  • Workshop time: on your own, spend some time drafting your new text.
  • Some advice about creating your text:
  • Zines are often low-tech paper creations, originally circulated by photocopying a piece of paper and folding it into a booklet. The name is short for magazines, since these are like little magazines. A quick search for zines will give you a sense of what they look like, why you might want to create one, and how to make one.
  • If you’re interested in creating a more stylized Listicle, you might want to use Canva.com. Look at some Canva templates, and see how the listicles in the templates look. Another useful option (suggested by students last year): Postermywall.com
  • If you are creating a text that includes images (a photo essay, a multimedia blog post, a multimedia interview, etc), use images that you have created, or that are in the Public Domain or have a Creative Commons license. This means that you are not violating copyright by posting your work with these images in them–as long as you follow the rules the creator established when they posted it, meaning if they say you have to give them credit, you have to give them credit! For now, just save the link, and we’ll work on creating citations for attribution together the next time we meet. You can learn more about following copyright rules for images. Also, here are some sites where you can find images you can use :
  • Remembering genre awareness: “Understanding Genre Awareness”

Monday, 11/25

Texts:

  • Your drafts of parts 1 and 2
  • Your mentor texts

Writing:

  • Continue drafting and revising your new text (part 1)
  • Draft your genre analysis and reflection (part 2)

In Class:

  • Reviewing drafts of Project 3
  • Make a checklist of what you have to do. Freewrite about how you plan to approach your checklist.
  • Present your draft to the class
  • Consider sharing your draft of Project 3 to help your classmates see examples (so make it public, or visible to OpenLab members, or visible to members of our site)
  • Presentation of drafts: in class, share your ideas in response to these questions:
    • What is your plan for Project 3 (topic, approach to the listicle, audience, title, subheadings)?
    • What are 3-5 features of the genre that you’ll use as you create your new text?
    • What advice do you need to make your new text?

Photo credit: “1/2” by Salina via Flickr under the license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.