Weekly Agendas
Week Ten
Week Nine
Week Eight
Week Seven
Week Six
Week Five
Week Four
Week Three
Week Two
Week One
Week Ten
Before You Meet
- OPTIONALLY, sign up for a meeting with me this week
- Read Barnes, “Shipwreck”
- Questions to consider: Barnes skirts the line between creative nonfiction, fiction, and art analysis. How does this piece’s structure help to make those elements clear? How does he incorporate symbolism in this piece? What does Barnes have to say about the purpose of art, and how does his essay fit into that argument?
- Read Green, “Plague”
- How does Green rely on the words of other authors to crystallize his points? How might you also do this kind of liberal quoting of others? (In other words, how might you demonstrate how your thoughts and writing are interconnected to others’?)
- Read Green, “Humanity’s Temporal Range”
- While much of this piece is pretty dour, Green ends on a note of hope. How does the structure of the essay work to lead up to that final note?
Write a Draft of the Thing Essay (keep in mind that by “draft” I mean as much as you can write that will get you to a place where you can get good feedback from your group members)
- Each group member should place a copy of your draft in your group folder (with your name on the document).
When You Meet
- (Briefly) discuss this week’s readings. Feel free to use the questions to consider, above, as a way to start those conversations, but don’t feel like you need to stick to them if you have other things you want to talk about. Keep in mind that you want to have time to do peer review, so your discussion might be a little shorter this week than it sometimes is.
- Do peer review on each others’ drafts:
- Pick one person to go first. That person should offer a brief explanation of their essay, where they’re at with it, and what concerns they have.
- Read a peer’s essay and comment in the margins. Ideally, everyone should be reading the same paper at the same time.
- The author should try to read their paper aloud while their peers follow along (super awkward, I know… but also super helpful)
- Feel free to stop and ask questions or make comments… the process should be dynamic and should really emphasize getting feedback.
- Focusing on content, structure, and clarity – NOT grammar – write questions as the audience:
- “What do you mean here?”
- “Who is your audience here?”
- “Have you considered… ?”
- “Do you have a specific example?”
- Point out what is successful and why
- Comment on one another’s comments
- Offer suggestions for improvement at the end
- Take some time to write out some overall thoughts at the end of the paper (or in a comment at the end)
- Talk about it – offer help, ask questions, clarify – Be the immediate audience for your peers!
- Wash, rinse, and repeat for each peer’s essay
- When done with the session, go back and read the comments and comment on the comments – agree, disagree, why? Ask for clarification, etc.
After You Meet
- As your Participation Notebook this week, respond to the following instead of the normal questions (by Friday 11:59pm):
- What feedback did you receive during peer response? Was it helpful? Why/why not? What was the most helpful suggestion someone else offered?
- What do you think was the best suggestion you offered to someone else? Why do you think it was a helpful suggestion?
- What did you learn/gain by reading your peers’ essays? Do you think it will help you with your own project? How/why?
- What is the next step that you plan to take with your draft?
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm). You might use the space of the Commonplace Book to write more about the peer review or about the essays we read this week – there’s no specific activity this week!
- Submit your Thing Essay to your individual Google Drive folder by 11:59pm Wednesday 3/16.
- Remember to include the genre analysis along with your essay!
- If you’re doing extra work toward earning an A, remember that extra work is due at the same time as the essay!
Week Nine
Before You Meet
- Read Alfonso, “Long Before Internet Porn, This Pervy Pixelated Playground Prevailed”
- Questions to consider: This is a journalistic piece that uses software as a way to detail a specific history and personal profile. What are we supposed to feel as readers about the software author? What are we supposed to feel about the software? Is the tone of this piece unified and coherent?
- Read Micciche, “Writers Have Always Loved Mobile Devices”
- Micciche is writing about a specific kind of technology used to facilitate writing, but much of this piece is about the attitude that writers have toward writing itself. What elements of this piece do you see as most clearly gesturing toward what it is “about?”
- Read Green, “The QWERTY Keyboard”
- This essay is also about writing technology, although in this case Green discusses the technology more than the writing itself. What do you think he intends readers to feel about the evolution of the QWERTY keyboard (and of writing technologies in general)?
Thing Essay Brainstorming (Also Do This Before You Meet)
In your Commonplace Book, spend some time brainstorming for the Thing Essay. Choose one or more of the prompts below to write at least 500 words of brainstorming. Feel free to do your own brainstorming in addition to these prompts!
Describe a piece of art (painting, film, video game, book, etc.) you are intrigued by or have a connection to (in vivid, active detail). Try to parallel your interpretation of that piece of art with events going on in the world around you or with events unfolding in your own life.
- Choose something that’s right in front of you: a computer, a coffee mug, a pill bottle, etc., or look at something outside your window. Start by describing your object, then allow that description to lead you into a meditation on larger ideas.
- Write down an abstract question you would like to explore. Then freewrite a list of things you associate with that question – a childhood toy, a book, specific words, tools, etc. Meditate on the question, alternating between it and the things you listed.
- If you’re stuck with the other prompts here, continue to work on one of the brainstorming activities from class on Monday.
When You Meet
- Discuss this week’s readings. Feel free to use the questions to consider, above, as a way to start those conversations, but don’t feel like you need to stick to them if you have other things you want to talk about.
- Discuss and share your brainstorming for the Thing Essay. Read through and comment on others’ writing (and maybe read yours aloud as others read it). What ideas are most interesting to you? What directions should people go in? What needs more development? Respond as a reader and fellow writer.
After You Meet
- Write your Participation Notebook (by Friday 11:59pm)
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm)
- OPTIONALLY, sign up for conferences for Week Ten
Week Eight
Before You Meet
- Read Zhang, “The Rise (and Stall) of the Boba Generation”
- Questions to consider: How does research get incorporated into this piece? How much of this essay is “about” bubble tea? How does the author use bubble tea to stand in for other things?
- Watch Innuendo Studios, “Tomatoes, or How Not to Define ‘Art’”
- This video essay uses tomatoes as a metaphor. Are there any similar moves you’ve made in your own writing (or any you might make in the final essay)? How do you see the writing of this video essay as fundamentally different than a written essay?
- Read Joy, “Candy Land Was Invented for Polio Wards”
- This piece is more journalistic, putting together a largely forgotten history of the board game Candy Land. What sort of research do you see here? How much is this “about” Candy Land? What else is it “about?”
Thing Essay Initial Thoughts Activity (also before you meet)
In your Commonplace Book in your folder in our shared Google Drive, write your initial thoughts on the Thing Essay:
- Read through the prompt.
Make notes, highlight, annotate… do what you need to do in order to understand the prompt and what it is asking of you. - Rewrite the prompt in your own words. (This can be a very short summary of what the prompt is asking you to do or how you might explain it to someone who doesn’t have the prompt.)
- Spend about 10 minutes writing down your initial thoughts. How do you feel about it? What are your concerns? What questions do you have?
When You Meet
- Discuss the readings with your group. What stuck out to you? What lessons from these pieces might you apply to your essay?
- Discuss your initial thoughts on the Thing Essay. What ideas do you have? What things in your life have been important to you? What things have you left behind? What things do you miss? What things are representative of more meaningful connections in your life?
After You Meet
- Don’t forget that your Place Essay is due by midnight on Wednesday!
- Complete this week’s Participation Notebook by Friday
- Complete this week’s Commonplace Book entry by Friday
Week Seven
Before You Meet
- OPTIONALLY, sign up for a meeting with me this week
- Read Saramandi, “Death Takes the Lagoon”
- This essay edges somewhat into academic territory, with its copious footnoted sources. However, it is clearly written from a personal perspective. What ideas does this give you about how you might approach your own essay?
- Read Hubbell, “There Has Been Blood”
- How do the visual elements and links contribute to this essay?
- This is a great example of longform journalistic creative nonfiction. What sorts of research do you see in it?
- Read Hoy, “The Epic Landscape Art of Tiny Inakadate, Japan”
- This is a shorter piece, so it may be easier to see how its structure works. What are the major moves it makes? (How does the introduction work? The conclusion?)
- Apart from being informational, what tone or mood does this piece intend to evoke? How do you know?
Write a Draft of the Place Essay (keep in mind that by “draft” I mean as much as you can write that will get you to a place where you can get good feedback from your group members)
- Each group member should place a copy of your draft in your group folder (with your name on the document).
When You Meet
- (Briefly) discuss this week’s readings. Feel free to use the questions to consider, above, as a way to start those conversations, but don’t feel like you need to stick to them if you have other things you want to talk about. Keep in mind that you want to have time to do peer review, so your discussion might be a little shorter this week than it sometimes is.
- Do peer review on each others’ drafts:
- Pick one person to go first. That person should offer a brief explanation of their essay, where they’re at with it, and what concerns they have.
- Read a peer’s essay and comment in the margins. Ideally, everyone should be reading the same paper at the same time.
- The author should try to read their paper aloud while their peers follow along (super awkward, I know… but also super helpful)
- Feel free to stop and ask questions or make comments… the process should be dynamic and should really emphasize getting feedback.
- Focusing on content, structure, and clarity – NOT grammar – write questions as the audience:
- “What do you mean here?”
- “Who is your audience here?”
- “Have you considered… ?”
- “Do you have a specific example?”
- Point out what is successful and why
- Comment on one another’s comments
- Offer suggestions for improvement at the end
- Take some time to write out some overall thoughts at the end of the paper (or in a comment at the end)
- Talk about it – offer help, ask questions, clarify – Be the immediate audience for your peers!
- Wash, rinse, and repeat for each peer’s essay
- When done with the session, go back and read the comments and comment on the comments – agree, disagree, why? Ask for clarification, etc.
After You Meet
- As your Participation Notebook this week, respond to the following instead of the normal questions (by Friday 11:59pm):
- What feedback did you receive during peer response? Was it helpful? Why/why not? What was the most helpful suggestion someone else offered?
- What do you think was the best suggestion you offered to someone else? Why do you think it was a helpful suggestion?
- What did you learn/gain by reading your peers’ essays? Do you think it will help you with your own project? How/why?
- What is the next step that you plan to take with your draft?
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm). You might use the space of the Commonplace Book to write more about the peer review or about the essays we read this week – there’s no specific activity this week!
- Submit your Place Essay to your individual Google Drive folder by 11:59pm
SundayWednesday 2/23. - Remember to include the genre analysis along with your Place Essay!
- If you’re doing extra work toward earning an A, remember that (except for revisions of an essay) extra work is due at the same time as the essay!
Week Six
Before You Meet
- Read Gutkind, “The 5 Rs of Creative Nonfiction”
- Questions to consider: How does Gutkind’s advice resonate with you? Have you been paying attention to his “5 Rs” in your writing for this class so far?
- Read Thielen, “How I Learned to Cook in a Kitchen With No Electricity or Running Water”
- Questions to consider: Do you see any evidence of the “5 Rs” from Gutkind in this essay? For instance, how much research is apparent in this essay? How much “real life?”
- Watch Jenny Nicholson: “Star Wars Land: An Excruciatingly In-Depth Prequel”
- Questions to consider: What kinds of research went into creating this video essay? How does Nicholson weave that research into the overall theme? How does she incorporate her personal experiences? How does this work as a video in ways that it wouldn’t work as text?
- Read Levin, “When the Techies Took Over Tahoe”
- Questions to consider: What sense of place do you get from this essay (and which places)? What do you think is the overall theme of the essay?
Place Essay Brainstorming (Also Do This Before You Meet)
In your Commonplace Book, spend some time brainstorming for the Person Essay. Choose one or more of the prompts below to write at least 500 words of brainstorming. Feel free to do your own brainstorming in addition to these prompts!
- Think about your favorite place. What is unique or noteworthy about it? What memories, experiences, and personal connections do you have to it? What makes it worth writing about? Undoubtedly, that place has a “character” to you. Write a profile, a “character study,” of that environment.
- Think about the digital world as part of your environment. Our time with screens increasingly layers over our time in physical space. Can we consider the life on our screens as a “place” that is parallel to our physical surroundings? Can you capture the sense of living in these twin places at once? Write for a few minutes as you describe the places you inhabit in “real life” alongside those you inhabit online.
- What does “home” mean to you (or your siblings, your parents, your grandparents, etc.)? Write about whether there’s a single physical location your family defines as “home,” or what you do as you move around to bring the sense of home with you.
- Go to a place that you would never, under normal circumstances, go to willingly. For example, if you hate shopping, go to a crowded mall; if children annoy you, go to a busy park and sit with the parents; etc. Write through that experience. Do you still hate that place? Can you persuade your reader as to why (or why not)?
- Find some postcards of a place you have visited (or find the official government website for the place, like this one for the town my grad school is in). How does this presentation of the place differ from and/or align with your experiences? Write something starting with a sentence like “The official city of Oxford website describes ‘scenic natural areas,’ but my experience of the town was…”
When You Meet
- Discuss this week’s readings and videos. Feel free to use the questions to consider, above, as a way to start those conversations, but don’t feel like you need to stick to them if you have other things you want to talk about.
- Discuss and share your brainstorming for the Place Essay. Read through and comment on others’ writing (and maybe read yours aloud as others read it). What ideas are most interesting to you? What directions should people go in? What needs more development? Respond as a reader and fellow writer.
After You Meet
- Write your Participation Notebook (by Friday 11:59pm)
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm)
Week Five
So we’re back in person this week, which means that you have the option (although you are by no means required) to meet in person with your groups. It also means that this will be a slightly less detailed agenda, since we’ll also have 75 minutes together on Monday to address some things I might otherwise need to write here.
Before You Meet
- Read Green, “The Hall of Presidents”
- Read Green, “Indianapolis”
- Read Green, “Bonneville Salt Flats”
- Questions to consider: What differences do you notice between these pieces? Does Green adopt a different voice or tone when writing about different places, and if so, in what ways? How does the content play a role in how each piece is written? What elements of style and structure stand out to you, and why? What elements of his writing might you attempt to incorporate into your own essays?
- Make sure you’ve done the Initial Thoughts activity for the Place Essay and are prepared to discuss any starting ideas.
When You Meet
- Discuss the readings, your responses to them, and your thoughts about how they might apply to the essay you’re beginning to think about/work on now.
- You may want to also talk about ideas you had for the Person Essay but didn’t pursue – could they be adapted to discuss place instead?
- Thinking about initial ideas for the Place Essay, look through some of the examples on the Place Essay page and the readings for weeks 4, 5, 6, and 7. Do any of them seem like something you might be interested in writing (from the perspective of approach, style, or structure)?
After You Meet
- In your Commonplace Book this week, try one of the following exercises:
- For ten minutes, write down every detail of the surroundings you can remember from your Monday morning commute. (Whether you drive, walk, bike, etc.) What are the concrete sensory details that come to mind? Now, write a paragraph that begins with the line: “I’ve done this walk/drive/bike ride/whatever so many times and every time I notice…” Then write a paragraph that begins with: “Years from now, when I no longer have to do this walk/drive/bike ride/whatever, I’ll miss…”
- Recollect a place that was an essential part of your childhood (whether inside or outdoors). Write down every element of the place you can remember with as much detail as possible. Which odd details do you remember ? Now fill in an emotional tone for each detail. Did certain things make you feel afraid? Safe? What were your favorite things? Least favorite? Why? What felt like it belonged to you and what didn’t?
- Take an hour or two to travel somewhere familiar (IV, a specific restaurant, a building on campus, etc.) as a tourist. Pretend you’ve never seen this place before. Take something with you to write down your impressions. How can you make the familiar new again?
- Remember to write your Participation Notebook (by Friday 11:59pm)
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm)
Week Four
Before You Meet
- Read Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts”
- Questions to Consider: Feel free to use the questions at the end of the essay to guide your conversation!
- Read Murdock, “Orange is the New Peach”
- Questions to Consider: What’s the overall structure of this piece? Where does it start, what topics does it cover, and where does it end? Why do you think it is structured that way?
- What kinds of outside sources does it rely on, and how does it use them?
- How does it make use of multimedia elements (images, links, etc.)?
- Read Kinney, “Lessons from a ‘Local Food’ Scam Artist”
- Questions to Consider: How is this piece about “place”? What sense of the environment do you get from it? How does that sense get constructed?
- What emotional arc does this piece follow? How do we feel about the various characters in it (the speaker as well as others)? How are those impressions built?
- Read Diamond, “Snowed in with a Ghost”
- Questions to Consider: How is this piece about “place”? What sense of the environment do you get, and how is that sense constructed?
- This is something of a ghost story and something of a mental health story. How do those elements work with one another to establish an emotional experience?
- Write a Draft of the Person Essay (keep in mind that by “draft” I mean as much as you can write that will get you to a place where you can get good feedback from your group members)
- Create a folder in our shared drive and put your names on it (or if you already have a group folder, use that one).
- Each group member should place a copy of your draft in that folder (with your name on the document).
When You Meet
- (Briefly?) discuss this week’s readings. Feel free to use the questions to consider, above, as a way to start those conversations, but don’t feel like you need to stick to them if you have other things you want to talk about. Keep in mind that you want to have time to do peer review, so your discussion might be a little shorter this week than it sometimes is.
- Do peer review on each others’ drafts:
- Pick one person to go first. That person should offer a brief explanation of their essay, where they’re at with it, and what concerns they have.
- Read a peer’s essay and comment in the margins. Ideally, everyone should be reading the same paper at the same time.
- The author should try to read their paper aloud while their peers follow along (super awkward, I know… but also super helpful)
- Feel free to stop and ask questions or make comments… the process should be dynamic and should really emphasize getting feedback.
- Focusing on content, structure, and clarity – NOT grammar – write questions as the audience:
- “What do you mean here?”
- “Who is your audience here?”
- “Have you considered… ?”
- “Do you have a specific example?”
- Point out what is successful and why
- Comment on one another’s comments
- Offer suggestions for improvement at the end
- Take some time to write out some overall thoughts at the end of the paper (or in a comment at the end)
- Talk about it – offer help, ask questions, clarify – Be the immediate audience for your peers!
- Wash, rinse, and repeat for each peer’s essay
- When done with the session, go back and read the comments and comment on the comments – agree, disagree, why? Ask for clarification, etc.
After You Meet
- As your Participation Notebook this week, respond to the following instead of the normal questions (by Friday 11:59pm):
- What feedback did you receive during peer response? Was it helpful? Why/why not? What was the most helpful suggestion someone else offered?
- What do you think was the best suggestion you offered to someone else? Why do you think it was a helpful suggestion?
- What did you learn/gain by reading your peers’ essays? Do you think it will help you with your own project? How/why?
- What is the next step that you plan to take with your draft?
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm). You might use the space of the Commonplace Book to write more about the peer review or about the essays we read this week – there’s no specific activity this week!
- Submit your Person Essay to your individual Google Drive folder by 11:59pm Sunday.
- Remember to include the genre analysis along with your Person Essay!
- If you’re doing extra work toward earning an A, remember that (except for revisions of an essay) extra work is due at the same time as the essay!
Week Three
Before You Meet
- If you want to meet and haven’t yet, sign up for a meeting with Kevin for this week
- Remember to make it to your meeting if you have one scheduled!
- Read Smiley, “The Porch Pirate of Potrero Hill Can’t Believe it Came to This”
- Questions to Consider: What’s the overall structure of this piece? Where does it start, what topics does it cover, and where does it end? Why do you think it is structured that way?
- What kinds of outside sources does it rely on, and how does it use them?
- Are there any sentences that jump out at you as particularly well written? Why or why not?
- Read Didion, “Why I Write”
- Questions to Consider: Didion is particularly interested in the structure of sentences and specific word choice. What evidence of that can you see in this piece?
- She discusses the difference between intellectual memory (e.g., Milton) versus experiential memory (e.g., the smells and sounds of her bus ride). What relevance do you see to that discussion in what you’re working on for this class?
- How does Didion discuss her fiction in comparison to her nonfiction (in the interview for this week)?
- Read Als & Didion, “The Art of Nonfiction”
- Questions to Consider: Didion’s book The Year of Magical Thinking isn’t about anything unique or noteworthy – losing a loved one is a kind of grief everyone feels eventually – but it resonates with readers. Do you have similarly “mundane” stories that might resonate with readers?
- What do you take from Didion’s emphasis on “the personal” in writing?
“Pictures of You” Writing Exercise (Also Do This Before You Meet)
In your Commonplace Book, respond to this prompt:
- Using a picture of yourself, describe every detail of the scene. Then, try to focus on one object or detail that seems unexpected to you in some way. How does this detail trigger specific memories? Then, imagine what occurred just before and just after this picture was taken. What is left outside the frame? For instance, write something with a title like “Before and After I am Photographed in Front of Yosemite Falls.” (Of course, you should insert whichever subject is appropriate, not necessarily waterfalls.)
When You Meet
- Discuss this week’s readings and videos. Feel free to use the questions to consider, above, as a way to start those conversations, but don’t feel like you need to stick to them if you have other things you want to talk about.
Repeat the writing exercise with the picture from before, but trade pictures with someone else in the group. Which details strike you? How does any part of the scene remind you of scenes from your own life? Perform at least two of these trades to see which details leap up from other people’s photographs.
Now talk about those pieces of writing. How did you approach them? What did you get out of them, if anything? What influence could they have on your Person Essay?
After You Meet
- Write your Participation Notebook (by Friday 11:59pm)
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm)
Week Two
As I did last week, I’m asking you to do a few things before you meet with your group and then a few specific things in your group meeting as well. Note that the brainstorming should be done before you meet with your group!
Before You Meet
- Read Hall, “Instagram Intimacy”
- Questions to consider: What does this essay tell you about the speaker as a person? What larger truths does it gesture toward? What emotions does it evoke? How does the writing style contribute to those things?
- Read Landon, “The Women in My Family Had to Be Good With Money”
- Questions to consider: What does this essay tell you about the speaker? How does she relate to her family members? Does it suggest anything about larger structures of power and control? How does the writing style contribute to those things?
- Watch PhilosophyTube, “Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story”
- Questions to consider: This video is about the presentation of truth and fiction as much as it is about identity. What relevance might these ideas have for writing creative nonfiction? What sources does Thorne draw on to support and contextualize her story? How might you accomplish similar reliance on sources even in memoir?
Person Essay Brainstorming (Also Do This Before You Meet)
In your Commonplace Book, spend some time brainstorming for the Person Essay. Use the prompts below to write at least 500 words of brainstorming. Feel free to do your own brainstorming in addition to these prompts!
If you’re planning on writing about yourself:
- Write a scene of an early memory. What calls out for further examination? What in this scene seems to matter to you? What are you leaving out? If you get stuck, keep repeating the phrase “I remember” to start off your sentences; allow this rhythm to take you further. What did this memory look like? (details of colors, clothing, objects, people, etc.) What did this memory sound like? (What might you have heard in the background? Music, nature sounds, city sounds, conversations, sounds of the household, etc.) What did this memory smell like? (smells that might have been present, such as odors of cooking, nature, city, perfume, laundry, etc.) What did this memory taste like? (taste in your mouth from food or emotion, eating food, taste of the air, etc.) What did this memory feel like? (tactile sensations on the skin, textures of objects or nature or people, etc.) What kind of intuition did/do you experience? (a new understanding, a sense of what is really going on with the people around you, a prediction of what will happen in the future, etc.)
- Why did you remember what you remembered? Why did that moment arise? What kind of theme or idea is suggested by the details in this memory?
- Once you have a theme or idea or emotion in mind, what other memories and/or scenes might also relate to this theme?
- In the preface to his anthology The Business of Memory, Charles Baxter writes, “What we talk about when we talk about memory is—often—what we have forgotten and what has been lost. The passion and torment and significance seem to lie in that direction.” What have you forgotten in your life? What are the moments that keep sliding out of reach? Write for twenty minutes, using the phrase “I can’t remember” to start off each sentence. Where does such an examination lead you?
- After you’ve identified some events or times you can’t fully articulate, do a little research. Ask others about their memories of that time. Find documents or photographs that may shed some light on the issue. After you’ve gathered enough evidence, write some ideas on the way your memory and the “reality” either differ or coincide. Why have you forgotten the things you did?
If you’re planning on writing about a family member or someone else you know:
- Describe members of your family in terms of a part of the body. For instance, describe the hands of your mother, father, siblings, grandparents, and yourself. How are they alike? How are they different? If necessary, imagine the details. For instance, imagine your grandmother’s hands as they were before she was a grandmother. Which traits emerge in your own physical makeup? Which ones do you hate? Which ones do you love?
- Imagine the life of someone close to you – a family member, friend, mentor – before you knew them. Use your imagination coupled with your experience of this person. Use any clues that may exist: objects from the past, documents, photographs, and so forth to form a portrait of this person before you were in the picture. Then contrast this portrait with the person you know today. How are they different or similar?
- The writer and philosopher John Berger has said: “I have always thought that household gods were animals. Sometimes visible and sometimes invisible, but always present.” Write about the animals in the life of your family. What role did/does a particular animal play in the family dynamics?
When You Meet
- Discuss this week’s readings and videos. Feel free to use the questions to consider, above, as a way to start those conversations, but don’t feel like you need to stick to them if you have other things you want to talk about.
- Discuss and share your brainstorming for the Person Essay. Read through and comment on others’ writing (and maybe read yours aloud as others read it). What ideas are most interesting to you? What directions should people go in? What needs more development? Respond as a reader and fellow writer.
After You Meet
- Write your Participation Notebook (by Friday 11:59pm)
- Finish your Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm)
- Sign up for a meeting with Kevin for Week Three
Week One
Welcome! While we’re online, these agendas will be fairly detailed. When we move back in person, I won’t need to provide nearly this level of detail. I know this seems like a lot of stuff to do, but it’s only because it’s really two days’ worth of class combined and spelled out explicitly.
This week, I’m asking you to do a few things before you meet with your group and then a few specific things in your group meeting as well.
Before You Meet
- Read the Course Website: Not everything on the site is complete (the prompts for the later assignments still need to be written, for instance), but make sure you read the syllabus and the contract grading outline, and if you’re committed to earning an A in the class, pay special attention to the extra work options (which you can read more about here).
- Do the Initial Survey: This gives me a sense of who you are and also lets me know you’re actually enrolled in the class.
- Set up your folder in our shared Google Drive. (See the Participation Notebook page if you’re confused.)
- Read Bunn “How to Read Like a Writer”
- Read Lynch, “The Undertaking”
- Read Green, “Introduction”
- Each of the above readings should give you some sense of what this class is about.
- In your Commonplace Book in your folder in our shared Google Drive, take ten or fifteen minutes to write an extended metaphor beginning with “Writing is…” So, for instance, I might say “Writing is going to the dentist. I’m anxious beforehand, and the process is painful, but I feel refreshed afterward.” (Your metaphors will be both longer and more creative, I’m sure.)
- In your Commonplace Book in your folder in our shared Google Drive, write your initial thoughts on the Person Essay:
- Read through the prompt.
- Make notes, highlight, annotate… do what you need to do in order to understand the prompt and what it is asking of you.
- Rewrite the prompt in your own words. (This can be a very short summary of what the prompt is asking you to do or how you might explain it to someone who doesn’t have the prompt.)
- Spend about 10 minutes writing down your initial thoughts. How do you feel about it? What are your concerns? What questions do you have?
When You Meet
- Do the Icebreaker:
- Introduce yourselves and get to know one another. Your ultimate goal will be to find 3 things you all have in common and 1 thing that is unique to each of you. Keep in mind, the things you have in common should not be “We’re all students at UCSB” or “We hate online instruction” (that’s pretty low-hanging fruit). Instead, really try to find out what you have in common, and don’t forget about figuring out what is unique to each of you in the group. You should discuss this icebreaker in your Participation Notebook this week.
- Discuss Person Essay Initial Thoughts
- Discuss this week’s readings and videos
After You Meet
- Write your first Participation Notebook (by Friday 11:59pm)
- Write your first Commonplace Book entry (by Friday 11:59pm)
