Assignments

Assignments

Assignment 1: Post or hand out a short noncanonical work or excerpt that exemplifies good writing to you, and write a brief (2-3 pg) paper explaining what qualities in the text exemplify good writing. I'm interested in your judgment of what you like to read and admire, rather than received wisdom regarding what is good literature. DUE FEBRUARY 4.

HOW TO POST ON CONTRIBUTE:

LOGGING IN

Log in with username and password. Your username is your e-mail address up to the "@" sign. Your password is the last 4 digits of your UMB number. If you used Contribute before, either last semester in CW603 or in any other class, your password is the first 4 digits of your UMB number.

§Ex: forsyth@hotmail.com, username is “forsyth”

§Ex: john.doe001@umb.edu, username is “john.doe001”

§Ex: Student ID is UMS 123456789

password is “6789” if you HAVEN'T used Contribute in another class

password is "1234" if you HAVE used Contribute in another class

POSTING WORK

To post an assignment on the site, click the icon for “Writing Room.” This will
prompt you to enter your personal username and password (see above). From there you have the option to do several things. Click the link which says “Post assignment.” You will have to enter an assignment number, and a title. You can type right in the “content” box but here are a few suggestions:

·SPELLCHECK: This site does not have a spell check function. I find it best to type in WORD and copy and paste the work into the content box.

·WATCH FOR FORMATTING: Some of the formatting can be lost when you copy and paste from WORD, so if formatting is crucial to your piece, you’ll want to go back and adjust that. There are no underline or bold functions.

·WATCH THE TIME: If you are composing in the content box, keep an eye on the time. If you do not click “post” within 30 minutes, your session will time out and you will have to start over.

·NUMBERING ASSIGNMENTS: All assignments must be tagged with a whole number. (ex. 1, 2, 3, etc. Tags such as “1.1” or “1a” will NOT work). A number cannot be repeated. The example of exemplary writing you post is Assignment 1.

·REVISING/UPDATING ASSIGNMENTS: Once an assignment is posted, you may not edit or revise it. If you make changes to your original piece and whish to post your updates you will need to do so with a brand new posting/assignment number.

·A NOTE ABOUT ANONYMITY: There isn’t any. Everything you post will be flagged with your name, as well as the date and time you posted. Please bear this in mind when posting responses to the work of others, as well as assignments on deadline.

VIEWING THE WORK

There are two ways you can view the work your classmates have posted. Both of

these links are in the top right of your course homepage.

·CLASS PORTFOLIO: This will show you all of the assignments everyone in the class has posted. It will organize them by number, so you will see everyone’s posting for assignment #1, followed by everyone’s posting for assignment #2, etc. The titles for the assignments will show up as links, and you can view a posting by clicking on its title.

·STUDENT PROFILES: If you click on this link you will see a list of all of your classmates’ names. If you would like to see a particular person’s work, click on the “View Detail” link in the field all the way to the right. This will show you links to all of the assignments that student has posted. The “Student Profiles” page will also allow you to view everyone’s e-mail address.

RESPONDING TO WORK
Once you have opened an assignment someone has posted, you can then respond
to the work. At the top of the assignment page you will see a link which says,
“Post your comment.” This will open a new window and you will be prompted
to give your personal name and password. You will then enter your comment in
that window. Click “Post” when you are finished. Posted comments will appear
below the original assignment and the name of the respondent will appear with
them. Everyone has access to view others’ assignments and responses.

PROVIDING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

You’ll notice that when you log in to the writing room, you also have the option to “Provide some additional information about yourself.” If you choose to do this, this information will appear at the top of your “Student Profile” page, along with your picture. Everything you post will be visible to your classmates and your professor

Assignment 2: Two short papers (3-5 pgs) in response to an aspect of pedagogy or theory discussed in an article from Writer's Chronicle, on electronic reserve, or in an assigned chapter from Leahy or Ritter/Vanderslice.

DUE MAY 13 but may be handed in at any time; your best strategy might be to write your response after the article has been discussed in class.

Definition of response: your paper should outline the argument made by the author, and respond to the author's reasoning. You may extend the author's argument, using other texts and/or your own experience, or you may rebut the author's argument using the same resources. Several points of discussion include the role of the teacher in the classroom; the role of texts; the goals of a creative witing class; the role and structure of the creative writing workshop; censorship.

Assignment 3: Attendance at one poetry or fiction reading during the semester, with a brief 1-2 pg. written response.

DUE MAY 13 but may be handed in at any time.

Think of this paper as a review of the performance, or an exploration of what you learned from hearing poetry or fiction read aloud. What does live performance add to the written text, or did the reading detract from it?

Assignment 4: 2 one-page, single spaced pedagogy papers modeled on samples from the AWP Pedagogy forum (posted in Resources) to be posted on the class website.

DUE APRIL 29

Pedagogy papers average 500-1000 words and propose methods of addressing student development through concrete, specific classroom exercises. They can be used for students at all levels, though the papers I’ve collected as models favor multi-age or undergraduate groups. The papers share a similar structure; they

A. Present a specific issue in student writing to be addressed

B. Discuss a procedure to follow involving

the selection of an activity or text for discussion
guidelines for class discussion of text or activity
a writing exercise based on (1)
a method for sharing students’ response

C. Explain how the exercise can be evaluated as successfully promoting learning

For examples of pedagogy papers written by students last year, go to the LitandWriting home page, Spring 2008 archive, click on E614, and go to Student Portfolios. You'll find three examples written by each member of the class.

Assignment 5: Final Portfolio including:

A. Your own revised pedagogy papers, one in poetry and one in ficiton.

B. Creative writing written in response to 2 pedagogy papers, one in poetry and one in fiction. These may be your own or by other class members. Please identify whose exercises you're doing.

C. A process paper for each completed exercise addressing the following questions:

1. Why did you choose the exercise?

2. How easy/difficult was the exercise to complete?

3. What did the exercise reveal about your own writing or creative process?

4. What, if any, suggestions would you make for change?

DUE MAY 20 at 7:00 pm, a week AFTER our last class