Week of 6/3
6/6: (#5) Complete your Overall Assessment (Final Exam Self-Evaluation). Follow the Scoring Guidelines. Bring your journals and anything else you may need to the final exam period on Friday, June 6 at 10:00 in E102.
6/5: (#4) Assess your journal (Journal #6). Refer to the Journal Grading Criteria and follow the scoring guidelines. (Final Exam Self-Evaluation) Remember to be specific. Number Your Journal Entries! All early exams must be shared by 2:07 today.
6/3: (#3) Complete the Course Evaluation section of your Self-Evaluation. (Final Exam Self-Evaluation) This section has two parts: the Intensive Freewriting (Note this section is different than the midterm) and the course itself. Follow the guidelines. All early senior exams must be shared by 2:07 today. (Early undergraduate exams due Wednesday, 6/5.)
Week of 5/27
5/30: (#2) Prepare a final copy of your short story. Put one copy in your journal and share a copy with me tonight. (Early exams due Wednesday, 6/5. Early Senior Exams due Monday, 6/3)
5/29: (#1) Assess your goals using the terms significant, satisfactory, fair or very poor (Final Exam Self-Evaluation). Select a paper for each goal that illustrates your progress. Follow the Scoring Guidelines. Mention that you have five example papers! (Counts as two entries). Print four copies for tomorrow’s proofreading groups.
5/28: (#9) Complete your Class Participation section of the Final Exam Self-Evaluation. Follow the scoring guidelines. Be specific. Prepare Journal Collection #5 to hand in tomorrow, 5/29. Bring four copies of your short story to share in revision groups.
Week of 5/20
5/22: (#8) Prepare a complete draft of your short story and share it with me. Staple or paste a copy in your journal.
5/21: (#7) Choose one of your story ideas and write a new 20-minute draft. Or spend 20 minutes improving the mix of description, action, dialogue and inner monologue in your story.
5/20: (#6) Spend 20 minutes beginning a new story or free choice.
Week of 5/13
5/16: (#5) Spend 20 minutes beginning a new story or free choice.
5/14: (#4) Revise your feature article or finish the story you started in class.
5/13: (#3) Read “What Dialogue Can Do For Your Story” (WhatDialogueCanDo). Write a scene of one typed page of dialogue.
Week of 5/6
5/9: (#2) Spend 20 Minutes on the story you started in class or begin a new story.
5/8: (#1) Assess your performance so far for the quarter in two or three paragraphs. Look at your class participation, your journal and your progress toward your goals. Give yourself a grade for each area and an overall grade. Justify each grade and provide examples (CWMidQSEvalEx). Share it with me. Prepare Journal Collection #4 (Journal #4) to hand in tomorrow.
5/7: (#12) Revise and proofread your feature article and share your google doc tonight.
Extra Journal Idea: Read “The Last Word” (LastWord). Write an alternate ending for your feature article.
Week of 4/29
5/2: (#11) Read “PReviewed with the Feature Article” (PRvwdwFA) and revise your feature article. Bring in four copies to share in proofreading groups on Monday. Share journals?
5/1: (#10) Complete your feature article draft, staple or paste a copy in your journal and share a copy with me at jpowers [at] er9 [dot] org.
4/30: (#9) Conduct your interview. Leave evidence in your journal (notes, summary, etc.)
Week of 4/22
4/25: (#8) Read “Ten Tips for a Better Interview.” Leave some evidence in your journal. Generate a list of interview questions and set up your interview.
4/24: (#7) Revise your poem, paste or staple a copy of the revision in your journal and consider submitting it to The Wayfarer (jbhslitmag [at] er9 [dot] org). (A submission counts as an extra journal entry.) Or free choice.
4/22: (#6) Practice Descriptions by going to commons or the mall and choosing someone engaged in conversation or a task and writing a detailed description of him or her. Include coloring, clothing, mannerisms, postures, etc. Try to find something distinctive about his or her look (checklist-for-interview-descriptions).
Week of 4/28
4/11: (#5) Make a list of ten possible topics/questions for your feature article.
4/10: (#4) Revise your poem one more time cutting 10% (three “the’s, two “and”s, three adjectives, all but one adverb, all but one “to be” verb, etc). Share a copy of your poem with me and staple or paste a copy in your journal. Write “Ruthless” on the top of the page if you’re up for more radical revision ideas for the poem.
4/9: (#3) Revise your poem using today’s feedback. Put a copy in your journal and bring a copy to Poetry Day tomorrow and consider reading it.
4/8: (#2) Look at lineation (Lineation.doc) and try at least five different ways to break the lines and vary the layout in your poems. Bring five copies of your poem in the shape you think works best to share in class tomorrow.
Week of 4/1
4/3: (#1) Set five writing goals for quarter 4. They may be new, old or revised. Email a copy to me and paste or staple a copy in your journal.
4/2: (#9) Complete the Journal section (Journal #3) of your Self-Evaluation (Quarter 3 Self-Assessment) for the full quarter. Remember to count and number your entries (28 assigned entries this quarter) and point to specific examples. Bring your journal, example papers (and anything you will need to finish the final) to class on Monday.
4/1: (#8) Complete the Course Evaluation section of your Self-Evaluation (Quarter 3 Self-Assessment). This section has two parts: the feedback on your writing and the course itself. Follow the guidelines. Staple or paste a best copy in your journal.
Week of 3/25
3/28: (#7) Assess your goals using the terms significant, satisfactory, fair or very poor. Select a paper for each goal that illustrates your progress. Follow the Scoring Guidelines. (Quarter 3 Self-Assessment). Counts as two entries.
3/25: (#6) Complete your position paper and share it with me. Staple or paste a copy in your journal.
Week of 3/18
3/21: (#5) Spend 20 minutes adding to the research base of your position paper Make it a chorus of voices rather than just your opinion. Bring four copies of your 1.5 spaced, best position paper draft to class tomorrow for proofreading groups.
3/20: (#4) Complete your Class Participation self-assessment. (CWMidterm)) Follow the scoring guidelines. Be specific. Bring in four copies to share in revision groups tomorrow.
3/19: (#3) Choose one off your position paper ideas or drafts and develop a complete draft. Share it with me at jpowers [at] er9 [dot] org.
Week of 3/11
3/13: (#2) Start a new draft on a new subject or spend 20 minutes on research of your position paper topic with the most potential.
3/12: (#1) Write a new position paper instant draft or spend 20 more minutes on the draft you wrote today.
3/11: (#10) Choose one of your position paper ideas and write a 20-minute instant draft. Or choose one of your position paper ideas and write a 20-minute draft supporting the opposite argument. Number your out-of-class entries and staple the assignment sheet (Journal #2) into your journal with completed assignments checked off. Journal #2 Due: 3/12
Week of 3/4
3/7: (9) Revise your personal essay and put the revised draft in your journal. If you never want to see the essay again, write a free-choice entry on a topic of your choice.
3/6: (#8) Make a list of ten possible fresh topics for your position paper. Next to each item, list examples, arguments, reasons, etc. you might use in each essay.
3/5: (#7) Read the first half (to the bottom of p. 266) of “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words.” Write a five-minute summary and then write about a paper you wrote that said nothing in 500 words.
Week of 2/25
2/28: (#6) Assess your performance so far for the quarter in two or three paragraphs. Look at your class participation, your journal and your progress toward your goals. Give yourself a grade for each area and an overall grade. Justify each grade and provide examples (CWMidQSEvalEx). Email me your self-assessment tonight.
2/27: (#5) Read “Between a Comma and a Period” (Between a Comma). Note the two most frequent uses of semicolons. Revise your essay adding at least one semi-colon. Incorporate the proofreading feedback and re-share your final personal essay with me at jpowers [at] er9 [dot] org. Re-sharing it tells me you’ve finished revising.
2/26: (#4) Read “How Not To Write a Sentence” (HowNotToWriteSentence), choose three sentence sins you often make and revise your personal essay to atone and correct them. Revise your personal essay incorporating today’s feedback. Bring in four copies for proofreading groups in class tomorrow.
2/25: (#3) Revise your personal essay incorporating my comments and ideas from the lateral and linear revision activities. Make you sure have at least one one-sentence paragraph (at a hinge in the essay) and one metaphor (specific, extended or central). Bring four copies to class tomorrow to share in revision groups..
Week of 2/18
2/19: (#2) Write about your essay’s theme or topic in a different form. Use this list of forms (Forms4Writing) to generate possibilities, but feel free to combine them or come up with your own forms. Spend 20 minutes writing a few short forms or beginning a longer form.
2/18: (#1) Prepare a complete typed draft of your personal essay (PEAssign) to share in class on Friday. Share (or re-share) it with me as a google doc. (Unless your first draft has gone through a major revision, submit a different essay draft so I’m not just giving you the same feedback. You can still choose the first draft as your draft to revise.)
Week of 2/11
2/13: (#10) Choose one of your essay starts and continue it for 20-minutes. Or start an essay on a new topic. Number your out-of-class entries and asterisk one entry you want me to read. Staple the assignment sheet (Journal#1) in your journal and check off completed assignments. I will also read your goals and one other entry. Due Thursday, 2/14.
Week of 2/4
2/7: (#9) Use the process of completing the writing sample to reflect on your strengths, challenges, and best practices as a writer. What was difficult? What worked? What didn’t? Use this experience as a starting place to write about the conditions in which you do your best writing and your worst.
2/6: (#8) Reread and revise your personal essay draft. Build on the surprises and trim the dead ends. (But don’t cut the shifters or signs of a brain at work.) Substitute, Take out, Add or Rearrange (STAR) as needed. If you are satisfied with what you wrote in class, pick a random word and freewrite for 20 minutes.
2/5: (#7) Revise your five goals for variety (skill, product, process, mechanical or attitude goals) Or choose one of your essay starts and continue it for 20-minutes. Or start an essay on a new topic. Send me an email with your five goals.
2/4: (#6) Write five writing goals for yourself for the quarter. Write down two or three things you will do to achieve each goal. We will share the goals tomorrow.
Week of 1/28
1/31: (#5) Write five detailed descriptions starting with “I see…” or “I saw….” (Sensory Desc). Use the other senses (sounds, smells, textures, tastes), but do not use metaphor or interpretation.
1/29: (#4) Write a poem using reusable poem ideas, form ideas and techniques from “My Physics Teacher” and/or “This is just to say.“
1/28: (#3) Write five detailed descriptions starting with “I see…” or “I saw….” (Sensory Desc). Use only visual descriptions and do not use metaphor or interpretation.
Week of 1/23
1/24: (#2) Start a new freewrite with the surprising line(s) you shared in class today. Write for 12-15 minutes. Buy a journal and three-ring binder. Send me an email at JPowers [at] region9ps [dot] org and say hello.
1/23: (#1) Intensive Freewrite: Write for ten minutes about “Sharing a room.” Keep the pen moving. Accept every detail. When you get bored, move to a new subject.