Final Blog Assignment

A. What are your last words? What would you write if you knew your time was up (in life, in a relationship, in a place, etc.)? What would you notice in the world around you? What is important for others to hear?

B. What is literacy? Expand your definition. Write on why you are thankful for literacy and how it impacts your life.

C. Write the obituary of our class. Personify what you learned. Praise it, excuse it, justify it. Tell its story and bid it a loving or condoling farewell.

Final Class Evaluation Blog (But not the final blog)

As part of your final portfolio grade (and as a blog post), thoroughly and thoughtfully answer each question. You can number your answers or respond in paragraphs, do what works best for you as long as you answer everything.

1. What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?
2. What can you do to continue/improve this development?
3. What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?
4. Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved?
5. How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why?
6. What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why?
7. What was your favorite part of class? Why?
8. How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it?
9. Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial?
10. If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep?
11. What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How?
12. What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing?
13. Anything else you need to get out about the class.

Week 12 Prompts

A. Go to http://www.upu.int/letter_writing/en/index.shtml and read two prize letters of the Universal Postal Services. Then look at the themes given since 1972. Choose one and write your own response.

B. “Of Thumbs” Dice Response: Skim the writing in Fourth Genre. Reread “Of Thumbs.” Roll two dice and follow the instructions of Dinty Moore to write your own.

C. Write a recipe to describe a favorite pet, a friend, or yourself. What makes you you? Why? This must be 500 words; allow yourself to be detailed and expansive.

Week 11: Revision Exercises

A. Make an appointment with the grammar tutor at the writing center. Work on your ruminative essay together. After your session, write a reflection summarizing what you learned and how that knowledge will help you in class and beyond English 150.

B. In 15 minutes write a new conclusion to your ruminative essay. Do not read your original conclusion first. Think about the essence of your essay and write. Then return to your original conclusion. If they can build on each other, combine them. If one is better, follow it further. Play around with sentence and paragraph structure and order. Reconsider word choice. How can it be more engaging? Poetic? Do you end on the note you want? Why/why not?

C. Revise your ruminative essay down to 500 words. What is lost by this? What new directions do you see in your essay now? What is at the core of your thoughts? What should be deleted from the longer version? Follow one of your new insights for 300 words. Post it with your 500 word rumination essay. Would this fit into your larger piece?

Week 10 Prompts

A. Word Avoidance: continue/expand your ruminative essay for 500 words without using the name of your subject. For example, if you’re writing about poverty—write on it without using the word poverty or poor or any synonyms. Force yourself to write concrete descriptions so that a reader can grasp the essence of your subject without the actual word or its cognates.

B. 1. Visit the Internet Anagram Server at http://wordsmith.org/anagram/. Type in your name (using any variation you prefer) and find some of its anagrams. Use the words on the list to write an essay about yourself; focus on language, connections, and making meaning. Focus on the linguistic connections that create art.
2. OR: use the anagrams of your ruminative essay subject to delve more into your essay.

C. Consider your ruminative essay subject and tone. Rewrite a 500 word selection of your essay in the form of a letter. As you write think about how the letter form might change your essay, how you can personalize your research more, or incorporate research more fluidly—the way you might in a written conversation (not notes, or texts, but an actual to-be-mailed letter).

Week 8 Prompts

1. Go to Quotidiana.org and find an essay that could apply to your issues paper topic. How does it connect? Why? What insights or questions does it bring up? What further research needs to be done?

2. After taking library test 2, evaluate the tutorials and tests. How could they be more helpful? What was confusing? What was the most helpful? How did they prepare you for your library days? Analyze how the tutorials and tests were beneficial to your overall education (i.e. how will you be able to use this in the future?) and how they could be improved.

3. Go to the periodicals section of the library. Find a hard copy of a journal that might apply to your topic. Skim through the journal; find an article that might apply to your argument. Cite the article in MLA style. Write down notes and quotes you might use in your essay. Reflect on how this process was useful and where/how you could insert your new information in your essay.

Week 6 Prompts

Tweaked from Tell it Slant by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola (McGrawHill 2004).

Remember: If you are immensely pleased with one of your journals, consider expanding it into your ruminative essay.

A. Freewrite on what you have forgotten. What are the moments that keep sliding out of reach? Use the phrase “I can’t remember” to start. Where does this lead you? Do some research, find documents to help your memory. Examine why you have forgotten these things—or why you remember others.

B. Describe your favorite meal in detail; make yourself hungry. Or, if you were to write a life history through food, what would be the meals that represented turning points for you? What meals have you loved? Hated? Marked transitions in your life? Research your chosen specific food (how it is used, how it grows, how to make it, or the name of that food) and incorporate that into your journal.

C. Freewrite a list of things you deal with on a daily basis and don’t think about very much. Don’t be choosy; jot down whatever pops into your head: paper, fluorescent lighting, mosquitoes, slugs, flush toilets. Choose one item from your list and examine it thoroughly. What are the connotations of the item? What are its implications? Don’t censor yourself—go with your impulses. Then research a few facts about your item, and freewrite again.

Week 5

A. Go to the Museum of Art and choose a piece to analyze. What argument does it seem to be making? How does it form and support that claim? Look at your analysis. How is it like a piece of art? Revise a page to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

B. Select a journal or other publication venue that you might submit a paper to. Research the editor: find out if he or she has any submission preferences and take notes. Read at least three essays from it and respond to them in your journal. Cite the journal (with MLA format).

C. Further analysis practice: Go to the Poetry Foundation website and read five poems. Why is word choice essential? Respond to your favorite poem: how does it use punctuation, why is it your favorite, how is it different and similar to the work you have done, and/or what did it make you think about?

Week 4 Prompts

A. 1. Think about a piece of music, art, a movie, television show, or commercial that shaped you (in terms of relationships, status, routine, or just one that you obsess about, seems to represent the larger culture, or your family in some way, etc.). Analyze it. Write down why it means so much to you, where and when you heard/saw it. Write the lyrics, quotes, title, etc. Choose a word that indicates its significance and essay on it further.
2.Or, what is one of your favorite pieces of music, art, advertisements, etc. Analyze it. Why is it your favorite? What did the creator do to make it succeed? When did you first see it? Why is it worth remembering? Choose an important word from the piece and essay on it further.

B. What is one of your favorite words? If you don’t have a favorite word, choose a word that is new and interesting to you. Analyze it. In what context(s) have you seen it used well? Why is this word striking? What does it remind you of? If the word had a smell, what would it be? Taste? Texture? Why? What experiences do you connect with this word?

C. Where did a specific punctuation mark come from? Do some research on a punctuation mark (Google and Wikipedia are fine for this assignment—also try some of the library website dictionaries and encyclopedias). What is it? Where did it come from? Has its use changed over time? How is it used today? Write 300 words on your findings then rewrite three of your short essay sentences using that punctuation mark correctly.

Week 3 Prompts

A. Read your short essay out loud to a person not in our class. Give that person a copy of your essay so that he or she can follow along and mark what seems awkward or needs improvement. Make the necessary changes and note them in your journal. Write 300 words on how this activity helped you, what you learned, and how it could help others.

B. Choose two or three grammatical errors that you struggle with from the PH or punctuation packet. Edit your short essay looking specifically for those errors. Write the original sentence; then rewrite the corrected sentence. You must have at least six corrected sentences. On the blog, include both the original and the corrected sentence. Then, reflect on what you learned, how this revising strategy helped you, and how it might help others.

C. Attend the English Department Reading Series at noon Friday (or watch a recorded reading on the English Reading Series website). Write a summary of the reading and reflect on how listening to others’ work could help you improve your own writing.

Welcome to Rumination, Research, and Writing!

I look forward to having you in class and writing together.

The purpose of our class blog is to enable us to improve by writing a lot, reading a lot, and building a discussion around our own and others' work.

You will post your blog/journal response by Friday and comment on two other students' posts by Monday at 2 p.m. (feel free to post earlier!) Check the blog often so that our class discussion can move forward and grow out of our online learning.

Most of all, remember that writing can be fun. Your journal assignments are intended to challenge you, help you progress, and show you that we can all become successful writers through practice and revision. No one wants to be bored with what they are writing about (or reading); write about what interests you and share your knowledge, opinions, and questions with the class.

Even if you are hesitant or nervous about writing (or previous writing experience) we're going to have a blast. If you lack desire, just decide that you will enjoy writing, and by the end you will. I'm determined to do all I can to open the world of writing in a positive way. Please feel free to contact me about your concerns, questions, etc.

And so we begin!

Levi looks forward to class, too.