-
- Week 3 Assignments
- GA DUE by MIDNIGHT, Thursday, September 18
- LJ and RWA DUE by 10 am Tuesday, September 30
- Week 3 Assignments
- LEARNING JOURNAL 3
-
-
-
-
Please spend 10 to 15 minutes free writing about your strengths as a communicator.
- People often talk about (and sometimes seem to like to talk about) the fact that they “are not very good writers,” or “don’t know how to write,” or “sure could use some help with writing.” And yet, people seem almost never to talk about needing help with talking. Why is that? Please write a paragraph reflecting on this phenomenon of how critical people are of their writing and yet how confident they appear to be in their talking. Then, please write one paragraph in response to each of the following questions:
1/ Do you believe people are more confident in speaking than in writing, why or why not? 2/ Are you more comfortable and confident expressing yourself in writing or in speech? Why do you think this is the case? 3/ What factors are involved in your feeling more comfortable with one as opposed to another mode of communication? 4/ What are your strengths as a communicator specifically? How would you describe them? 5/ Do you have these strengths in both written and spoken communication, or one or the other? If the latter, how might a strength in one mode be transferred or translated to the other? -
With structured free writing, the only rule is that you are NOT ALLOWED TO STOP WRITING. This means that if you do not have something to say/write, you just write, “I have nothing to say at the moment,” or “My mind is blank,” etc. Please time yourself for this structured free writing assignment. If you know where to start, just go ahead and start. If you don’t know where to start, consider using this prompt: “My strengths as a communicator are…”
-
-
-
GA3: Brainstorming a Personal Narrative Essay: Please print out and read the Personal “Literacies” Narrative Essay Guidelines. Then, do some brainstorming! (See the HANDOUTS section of our Course Open Lab site if you want to learn more about approaches to Brainstorming) Afterward, post a reply to the BRAINSTORMING A PERSONAL NARRATIVE ESSAY blog post in which you write one paragraph describing HOW you brainstormed for this assignment and a second paragraph describing YOUR SPECIFIC APPROACH/FOCUS for this essay. Regarding HOW you brainstorm: Did you write a letter? Do some reading and free writing? Draw a concept map? Record yourself talking? Take a walk? Some combination of all of the above? There are many different ways of brainstorming, and I and your classmates are interested in knowing what your process consists of.
Your second paragraph will describe the RESULTS of your brainstorming. Do you now have a sense of what will be the FOCUS of your personal narrative essay? If so, please write a paragraph describing what you plan to write about. If not, that is also fine. Just describe the outstanding questions that you have as a result of the brainstorming process. You may be a writer who needs to start writing a draft before you know what the focus of your essay will be. In that case, drafting is part of your brainstorming process, so please make a note of this in one of your paragraphs about brainstorming!
RWA3: Drafting a Personal Narrative Essay
Please print out, read over, and follow the Personal “Literacies” Narrative Essay Guidelines, which you will find here: Personal “Literacies” Narrative Essay Guidelines
If you have questions about this assignment, please post them to the Open Lab under the heading Questions About RWA3/Brainstorming and Drafting the Personal Literacy Narrative Essay. If you are interested in reading some additional literacy narratives, please feel free to read one or all of the following, all of which are in your College Writing Course Reader:
Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue”
Gloria Anzaldua, “How To Tame a Wild Tongue”
Zadie Smith, “Speaking in Tongues”
You can also find additional examples of literacy narrative essays here:
http://www.digitalcomposition.org/essays-and-articles
PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO PRINT OUT A HARD COPY OF THE FIRST DRAFT OF YOUR ESSAY AND BRING IT TO OUR NEXT CLASS MEETING.
The way in which I brainstormed for this assignment was I read aloud the Narrative Essay Guidelines first. The second time reading wrote marginal notes to myself. Also followed by the notes came questions that I necessarily didn’t have to answer just basic questions to have. I also brainstormed by reviewing her concept map in our “What Is Writing?” A brief introduction to writing as an act of communication by Professor Rodgers packet for some ideas. And followed by briefly drawing up a concept map.
My specific focus and approaches towards this essay is to inform the reader of what I am trying to get across. Allowing the reader to grasp a full understanding of what I am trying to get across as far as my message. To also address the task at hands and be as detailed as possible. I also feel for the type of writer I am I would need to draft first before I know what I what to particularly focus on. Most times the thoughts and ideas come to at hand depending on what the topic is but on the other hand it takes time for me to process.
Epiphany Walcott Harrison
EWHarrison5@gmail.com
Epiphany,
I’m intrigued by the fact that you read the Narrative Essay Guidelines aloud. Do you do that for all assignments? Would you recommend it as a strategy that others might use? I’m also curious to know what questions you wrote. Were these in response to the assignment, or questions for yourself? Finally, could you give me a sense of what is in your concept map? I’d like to know. Thanks!