The assessments for the course are the work of the course. We learn to write by doing it, not by answering questions about it, listening to a lecture about it, reading about it, or even watching someone else do it (all though all of these can have a place in learning what makes good writing work). So, each assignment is an assessment, though most are formative assessments used to help students gauge what are they are able to do well in certain contexts and what they need to work on. The final portfolio of selected works and the metacognitive writing to accompany it will be considered summative assessments. The assignment/assessments fall into the following categories:
Informal Writing Assignments
Informal Writing assignments are meant to help students generate writing and thinking which comes out of the personal experiences but doesn’t stop there—I want students, through writing, to connect their experiences with the broader social and cultural worlds they live in.
IWA 1. Tell the story of a time you had a great experience with writing. It does not have to be an experience from school--it may have been writing a letter to someone special, a letter to an editor, a blog, or Facebook entry. Or, tell the story of a time you had a bad experience with writing; again, this does not have to be school based or to do with receiving a bad grade but may have to do with feeling you were or were not understood in some way.
It may help to make a short list of possibilities to choose from before you plunge in to your writing.
In either case, please remember you are telling a story for an audience unfamiliar with the circumstances of your life or who you are as a person, so you need to set up a context for the story which includes the who, the what, the where, the when, and the how of the situation.
IWA 2. After reading Dick Lourie's poem, "What it is Like Living in Ithaca New York" and the Anwar Accawi's essay "The Telephone" in your textbook (38-45), and after writing in your reading blog, begin to think about what it is like to live where you live. What is special or unusual about your hometown? about your neighborhood? your street? What has changed since you moved here? Using the first part of the title of the poem What it is like living in as a starting point, begin to write a description of what it is like living where you live--think about a typical day: where do you go? whom do you see? what places do you see? how do you feel about living where you live? Your description should be full and detailed (see the rubric for more information about what is expected in this piece of writing). Post your description to the Discussion Board. Read Two other peers work and respond as you did to the first informal writing: with pointing, bracketing, and questions.
IWA 3a. Write out a list of the Dos and Don'ts you grew up with--and are still living with. Try to group them in a way that seems to make sense in terms of what they are prohibiting or promoting in behavior. Post you list to the discussion board.
3b. You have read "Girl" and discussed it on the Discussion Board; you have made your own list of the Dos and Don'ts you grew up with (still live with) and have read those of your peers. I'd like you now to write the story of a time you did a don't or didn't do a do. Remember these are public, so choose something you are comfortable writing about and sharing with your peers. As with the first two informal pieces of writing, remember to be specific about the context in which the story takes place: the when, the who, the where, the how, and the why. Post this informal writing to the full discussion board and provide written response (pointing, bracketing, & questions) to at least three peers' narratives. If you read someone's post which already has three responses, move on to someone's who does not yet have three.
3c. You now have a collection of writing & thinking about transgression: 1) you have written a list of dos and don’ts from your won life; 2) you have read & written about Kincaid's piece about one girl's rules for living as a woman in a particular place and time; 3) you have written your own story of transgression: when you either did something you weren't suppose to do or didn't do something you were suppose to do; and 4) you have received written response form your peers on this story.
Your next informal writing task is to write about rules and transgression: Where do you think the rules or dos/don'ts of your childhood/adulthood come from? If you had to categorize the dos & don'ts in your and your peers' lists, what might the broad categories look like? Who enforces which rules & why? What are the coasts of breaking the dos & don'ts?
Reading & Responding to Others' Stories & Ideas
Another form of assignment, intimately connected with the informal writing, are the assignments that asks students read and write thoughtful responses to someone else’s ideas & thinking, whether that person is a published writer or a peer. The reading of and responding to others’ work is an essential part of the academic enterprise and needs practice just as any other skill—so I ask students to respond to each others’ informal writing assignments:
WR. After you have posted your story, please read and respond to two other classmates' stories. If you read a story which already has two responses, please move on to another story or wait until a few more stories are posted; in this way, I hope everyone receives at least two readers' responses. The kinds of response I am asking you to give are quite specific: pointing, bracketing, and asking questions. Please click on the Menu Link (Response Guidelines) to read a full description of these responses and how to use them.
As well as their readings:
What is an Essay?
1a. Spend some time thinking and writing about essays as you have experienced them. Include the following: 1) What are the first things to come to mind when you hear someone use the word essay? 2) What are your experiences with writing essays for school/classes--what have these essays looked like? what have they been for? who has read them? 3) In a two sentences, craft a brief definition of what the word essay has meant in your experience. Please read each other's postings; you do not have to respond to these immediately, but you will be drawing on them for the next discussion post.
1b. Read the Introduction "Encountering the Essay" and the Prologue "Essayists on the Essay" in your textbook. As you read, annotate your text or take notes on what you are thinking as you read these sections. Notice, I said what you are thinking about what you read, which is not necessarily the same thing as notes about the content of the reading (for some guidance about how and why to annotate what you read, see "Eight Things Good Readers Do" and "How to Mark a Book" under Readings in the menu).
In your discussion post: 1) Write about what surprises you or what conflicts with what you and your peers described essays are from your first posts--draw from (quote or paraphrase) two of your peers' posts in this writing as a way of discussing these differences. 2) Describe what you find difficult or challenging to understand in what you have read--be specific draw from the texts. 3) Of the all essayists in this section, choose one whose take on essay writing intrigues you and describe what most attracts you to what s/he has to say; then end your post by posing a question to the essayist.
2. Read Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" (the link to the piece is under "Readings" on the Course Menu). Then, in the discussion board, post your first thoughts about this piece of writing: what is happening in this narrative? what does it make you think of in your own life? where do you feel invited in to the text? pushed out of the text? what questions do you have?
Rough Drafts
Drafting is more than generating ideas & writing; it is the work of pulling together our ideas, our thinking, our reading, and what we have heard others say in to something which is cohesive and communicates to other readers. It is sticking with and developing an idea, a narrative, or an argument beyond the first flush of excitement or inviting surface attraction; it is holding on to the tail of an idea and following where it leads.
RD1. You have written about and received peer responses on two personal experiences: about a writing experience and about where you are from. Choose one of these to extend into a longer draft of an essay (750-1000 words). Take time to think about the response you received on which ever you choose to work on: what did your readers enjoy? have trouble with? what did they want to know more about? Think about what readers will need to know about the experience/place to fully understand what was happening, and think about what you want readers to know and understand about why this experience/place is important to you. Remember to include the who, what, where, how, when, and why of your descriptions of place and experience. (40 points)
If you have trouble getting started, or continuing your piece, read "A Few Things to Do If You Are Stuck While Writing" under Essential Writing Information on our menu.
After you have put together your rough draft, but before you post it for others to read, re-read it; then, identify one area of the draft which is still problematical for some reason: try to describe what you think might be the problem--even if you are unsure about what it is. Next, identify an area of your draft that you are proud of or like and think is working well--describe why you think/feel this way. Then pose two questions to your readers: what do you want to know about your draft (these questions must be grounded in the writing--please do not ask if it is "good"--while this may make you feel great for awhile, it will not help specific things that are working well in your draft). (10 points)
Revision
One of the most difficult things to learn as a writer, is how and when to revise—this means making changes beyond those a copy editor or proof reader might make. In order to help students understand the possibilities of revision, they need to learn how to let go of their preconceived ideas about their work. In order to help them do this, I pose certain actions or choices for their drafts, which allow them to experiment with their writing. I have not gotten these assignments posted to Unit One yet.
Metacognitive/Process Writing
Perhaps the most difficult and yet most rewarding form of writing I ask students to do is metacognitive/ process writing. It is difficult for students to pull out of the close proximity to what they want to say (write) in order to look at how they are saying (writing) it or why they are saying (writing) it; and then, to compare it with their other writing, with the writing of others, and to assess their strengths in particular situations as well as over all. The metacognitive assignments have not yet been posted to Unit One.
Informal Writing Assignments
Informal Writing assignments are meant to help students generate writing and thinking which comes out of the personal experiences but doesn’t stop there—I want students, through writing, to connect their experiences with the broader social and cultural worlds they live in.
IWA 1. Tell the story of a time you had a great experience with writing. It does not have to be an experience from school--it may have been writing a letter to someone special, a letter to an editor, a blog, or Facebook entry. Or, tell the story of a time you had a bad experience with writing; again, this does not have to be school based or to do with receiving a bad grade but may have to do with feeling you were or were not understood in some way.
It may help to make a short list of possibilities to choose from before you plunge in to your writing.
In either case, please remember you are telling a story for an audience unfamiliar with the circumstances of your life or who you are as a person, so you need to set up a context for the story which includes the who, the what, the where, the when, and the how of the situation.
IWA 2. After reading Dick Lourie's poem, "What it is Like Living in Ithaca New York" and the Anwar Accawi's essay "The Telephone" in your textbook (38-45), and after writing in your reading blog, begin to think about what it is like to live where you live. What is special or unusual about your hometown? about your neighborhood? your street? What has changed since you moved here? Using the first part of the title of the poem What it is like living in as a starting point, begin to write a description of what it is like living where you live--think about a typical day: where do you go? whom do you see? what places do you see? how do you feel about living where you live? Your description should be full and detailed (see the rubric for more information about what is expected in this piece of writing). Post your description to the Discussion Board. Read Two other peers work and respond as you did to the first informal writing: with pointing, bracketing, and questions.
IWA 3a. Write out a list of the Dos and Don'ts you grew up with--and are still living with. Try to group them in a way that seems to make sense in terms of what they are prohibiting or promoting in behavior. Post you list to the discussion board.
3b. You have read "Girl" and discussed it on the Discussion Board; you have made your own list of the Dos and Don'ts you grew up with (still live with) and have read those of your peers. I'd like you now to write the story of a time you did a don't or didn't do a do. Remember these are public, so choose something you are comfortable writing about and sharing with your peers. As with the first two informal pieces of writing, remember to be specific about the context in which the story takes place: the when, the who, the where, the how, and the why. Post this informal writing to the full discussion board and provide written response (pointing, bracketing, & questions) to at least three peers' narratives. If you read someone's post which already has three responses, move on to someone's who does not yet have three.
3c. You now have a collection of writing & thinking about transgression: 1) you have written a list of dos and don’ts from your won life; 2) you have read & written about Kincaid's piece about one girl's rules for living as a woman in a particular place and time; 3) you have written your own story of transgression: when you either did something you weren't suppose to do or didn't do something you were suppose to do; and 4) you have received written response form your peers on this story.
Your next informal writing task is to write about rules and transgression: Where do you think the rules or dos/don'ts of your childhood/adulthood come from? If you had to categorize the dos & don'ts in your and your peers' lists, what might the broad categories look like? Who enforces which rules & why? What are the coasts of breaking the dos & don'ts?
Reading & Responding to Others' Stories & Ideas
Another form of assignment, intimately connected with the informal writing, are the assignments that asks students read and write thoughtful responses to someone else’s ideas & thinking, whether that person is a published writer or a peer. The reading of and responding to others’ work is an essential part of the academic enterprise and needs practice just as any other skill—so I ask students to respond to each others’ informal writing assignments:
WR. After you have posted your story, please read and respond to two other classmates' stories. If you read a story which already has two responses, please move on to another story or wait until a few more stories are posted; in this way, I hope everyone receives at least two readers' responses. The kinds of response I am asking you to give are quite specific: pointing, bracketing, and asking questions. Please click on the Menu Link (Response Guidelines) to read a full description of these responses and how to use them.
As well as their readings:
What is an Essay?
1a. Spend some time thinking and writing about essays as you have experienced them. Include the following: 1) What are the first things to come to mind when you hear someone use the word essay? 2) What are your experiences with writing essays for school/classes--what have these essays looked like? what have they been for? who has read them? 3) In a two sentences, craft a brief definition of what the word essay has meant in your experience. Please read each other's postings; you do not have to respond to these immediately, but you will be drawing on them for the next discussion post.
1b. Read the Introduction "Encountering the Essay" and the Prologue "Essayists on the Essay" in your textbook. As you read, annotate your text or take notes on what you are thinking as you read these sections. Notice, I said what you are thinking about what you read, which is not necessarily the same thing as notes about the content of the reading (for some guidance about how and why to annotate what you read, see "Eight Things Good Readers Do" and "How to Mark a Book" under Readings in the menu).
In your discussion post: 1) Write about what surprises you or what conflicts with what you and your peers described essays are from your first posts--draw from (quote or paraphrase) two of your peers' posts in this writing as a way of discussing these differences. 2) Describe what you find difficult or challenging to understand in what you have read--be specific draw from the texts. 3) Of the all essayists in this section, choose one whose take on essay writing intrigues you and describe what most attracts you to what s/he has to say; then end your post by posing a question to the essayist.
2. Read Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" (the link to the piece is under "Readings" on the Course Menu). Then, in the discussion board, post your first thoughts about this piece of writing: what is happening in this narrative? what does it make you think of in your own life? where do you feel invited in to the text? pushed out of the text? what questions do you have?
Rough Drafts
Drafting is more than generating ideas & writing; it is the work of pulling together our ideas, our thinking, our reading, and what we have heard others say in to something which is cohesive and communicates to other readers. It is sticking with and developing an idea, a narrative, or an argument beyond the first flush of excitement or inviting surface attraction; it is holding on to the tail of an idea and following where it leads.
RD1. You have written about and received peer responses on two personal experiences: about a writing experience and about where you are from. Choose one of these to extend into a longer draft of an essay (750-1000 words). Take time to think about the response you received on which ever you choose to work on: what did your readers enjoy? have trouble with? what did they want to know more about? Think about what readers will need to know about the experience/place to fully understand what was happening, and think about what you want readers to know and understand about why this experience/place is important to you. Remember to include the who, what, where, how, when, and why of your descriptions of place and experience. (40 points)
If you have trouble getting started, or continuing your piece, read "A Few Things to Do If You Are Stuck While Writing" under Essential Writing Information on our menu.
After you have put together your rough draft, but before you post it for others to read, re-read it; then, identify one area of the draft which is still problematical for some reason: try to describe what you think might be the problem--even if you are unsure about what it is. Next, identify an area of your draft that you are proud of or like and think is working well--describe why you think/feel this way. Then pose two questions to your readers: what do you want to know about your draft (these questions must be grounded in the writing--please do not ask if it is "good"--while this may make you feel great for awhile, it will not help specific things that are working well in your draft). (10 points)
Revision
One of the most difficult things to learn as a writer, is how and when to revise—this means making changes beyond those a copy editor or proof reader might make. In order to help students understand the possibilities of revision, they need to learn how to let go of their preconceived ideas about their work. In order to help them do this, I pose certain actions or choices for their drafts, which allow them to experiment with their writing. I have not gotten these assignments posted to Unit One yet.
Metacognitive/Process Writing
Perhaps the most difficult and yet most rewarding form of writing I ask students to do is metacognitive/ process writing. It is difficult for students to pull out of the close proximity to what they want to say (write) in order to look at how they are saying (writing) it or why they are saying (writing) it; and then, to compare it with their other writing, with the writing of others, and to assess their strengths in particular situations as well as over all. The metacognitive assignments have not yet been posted to Unit One.