Author: Sarah Schmerler (Page 6 of 7)

For Mar 4: Make a list of at least 10 different forms of writing you encounter in your life. Print out three examples. Bring them to class. Be sure to read the handouts from the Bedford Book of Genres previously distributed in class on rhetorical analysis (there is a sample template provided there). Bring highlighting and other pens and be prepared to rhetorically analyze your printed writings during class time and discuss them.

Please respond in the COMMENTS section of this post to say that you saw this. Thanks.

Your typed Reflections on Unit 1 are due Mar 9. See previous posts for details.
The Readings you received were photocopied from The Bedford Book of Genres. Some students may already be familiar with strategies for active, analytical reading — or “reading rhetorically” — and some students may not. These readings are intended to help you and introduce you to the style and vocabulary of rhetorical reading. I won’t ask you to perform a specific response to these readings in your notebooks — I have your notebooks!  However, I strongly advise you to annotate them as you read and pay attention to any terms you don’t know. I started to highlight them myself, as you can see.

I chose this page, in particular, because it provides a helpful template to which we will refer in future.

Good work on John Cage! We will continue to discuss this as we move ahead.

I will update you on when you can pick up your Journals soon.

Hi Class. What are your reactions, thoughts, feelings to the John Cage musical composition you viewed — 4’33” — and were there any insights or lessons learned from it? Did it anger you, stimulate you into thinking deeply, challenge you, bore you, insult you, make you laugh? Read these aloud on Wednesday or be prepared to share them with me.

Also, I want to remind you that Wednesday is our first Journal Check Day. Please have them ready to submit. I may grant a time extension on this, but I still expect you to be ready.

If you would like to watch 4’33” again, here is the link:

Performance of 4’33”. 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4

Just a reminder that my Office Hour is in Pearl 313 now.

Hi Students. We are going to continue talking one-on-one about your Writer’s Journey narratives. Soon we will be at the end of UNIT 1 — Language and Literacy, and will be moving along to our second unit: Genre. Start now to review all your notes and your thoughts about what we have done and read so far, and begin writing a REFLECTION. Here are some talking points…

Reflection on UNIT 1:  What were your struggles? Successes? Did you have fun? How was this work different (or similar) to the way you learned and wrote in high school?  What would you have liked to have done more of? What do you think you learned? What surprised you about this Unit? Be specific about this. Mention the Readings you’ve been assigned and what you thought of them.

Once you get back your papers, do some…Reflection on your Literacy Narrative: How might you be able to make your Literacy Narrative Better – what revisions or edits could you do to improve it? What did you learn from listening to other people’s narratives in the class?

Give yourself a grade for the work you did in UNIT 1.  Be specific – your reading work, your short writing assignment work, your final paper, your ability to work and be heard in the class community as a whole? What do you feel is a fair grade given your history and ability.

You should start working on this, and, if there is time, you can work on it during class on Feb 26. I will expect you to have a draft of this to read from on Mar 2. (No, you don’t have to read aloud the grade part.) And P.S. Finish your Donald Murray Internal Revision reading and put your notes in your notebook.

Looking ahead, I will expect you to have your Unit 1 Reflection handed in to me on Mar 9. Double-spaced, typed. Be sure that all your personal course info appears at the top, upper left. Label it “UNIT 1 Reflections and Grade.” Be sure to edit your language so that it is clear and understandable. Length: 500 words, minimum.

Here is your reading assignment for over the week-end — a chapter written by Donald Murray called “Internal Revision.” You can find it on our READINGS page, but I will also include the link here. I will expect you to have read it from pages 74- the top of page 82 by Monday before class. During class, you can read the rest of it and annotate it. It prints in very small font. I apologize for that.

In your notebook, start a heading called “Reading: Donald Murray” and the date and “Written Reflection” and then please respond with your comments and thoughts on what you just read. I would like you to also answer the following: Do you agree with Murray that revision is the best part of writing? What did Elie Wiesel say? What is “uncalculated discovery”? What is the difference between “internal” and “external” revision as Murray sees them? Do you think, after reading so far, that you are willing to do re-writes?

I will post soon again with info on our one-on-one conferences and other issues. Good work, class!

As we discussed last class, your papers narrating your personal relationship with writing are due on Feb. 19. Length: 700 words (you may write less, but no less than 500 words).  Format: double-spaced, typed and printed. Your name, your class and section number, my name, and the date are all on the upper left. (Yes, that’s MLA. ) Your title is centered below them. Please give your paper an interesting title and not just “Writing Narrative.” If you really can’t think of one, call it “My Writing Journey.”

See the previous post for writing points. I am also very interested in hearing about your experiences writing in 1101 last semester.  You can begin or end with that, as you wish, and don’t be shy about telling about some of your earliest experiences. Go ahead and name people who helped you or hindered you or influenced you.

A note: you can find my policy on late paper extension requests in the Syllabus. Just because you have a paper due does not mean you can miss class! I check attendance assiduously on these days.

Our next readings will give you some insight into the act of writing as a PROCESS. I hope you enjoy them. Go to our READINGS page and you will find a free pdf of Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird. The chapters on which we will be focusing  are “Perfectionism” and “Shitty First Drafts.” Read both of them for next class and write short reflections on them in your notebook. What did you think of what she had to say? Do you agree? What has been your own experience in these areas? No length limit or minimum. Reading the entire book is of course better than just a couple of chapters, should you so desire, but be prepared to discuss the above in class at some length. Due Feb 10.

Looking ahead: You should already be taking some extensive notes and thinking at length about Your Relationship to Writing. I want you to describe for me (in detail!) where you generally write, what you write with, how you write, when you write…in the past….in the present. Your Habits. Your areas of difficulty. Your struggles. The stuff you like. The stuff you hate. This is like a dossier on you and your relationship with the writing process. The notes you take now will be developed into a larger paper which you will hand in to me on Feb 19. If you are really  having trouble getting started, I will suggest a few “prompts” for you — do don’t have to use them, but here are a few:

“My Journey as a writer has been….”

“My journey as a writer started back when I ….”

“I notice that I…”

“I like to use…”

Again, write what you want to say. The truth is all.

btw, another suggestion: Another work that might inspire you is Stephen King’s memoir on writing. He gives a lot of good insight. It’s also on our readings page if you want to take a look!

Professor doesn’t feel well and needs to rest up.

See you as per usual on Wednesday in class.

Thank you for your understanding.

So, you suggest some music you like that we can listen to … any food you like.

You also write, as per usual/last time: on your way to class, before you get there.

(all writing goes in your Journal/notebook)

Really enjoyed hearing your writing so far!!!