BLOG ASSIGNMENTS: ENGLISH COMPOSITION II
Please visit this page to read the writing prompts for your weekly blog assignments. These assignments are subject to change. Your blog posts should be at least 500 words. Feel free to explore multiple literacies, genres, and media: video, audio, photos, etc. Also, please link to appropriate sites within the post. For example, if you mention a class reading, link to the reading from my website. Finally, please write an introduction that contextualizes your post for your readers (and yourself). Unless otherwise noted, blog assignments are due at 11:59 pm on the Monday before our Tuesday class. *Blog assignments are subject to change.
Need help creating a Weebly blog post? Please review these links:
Need help creating a Weebly blog post? Please review these links:
Week 1
1) The Proust Questionnaire [Category: Identity]: Please complete the following in a Word or Google Doc so you can copy and paste the content into your first blog post at the end of Week 2:
1) The Proust Questionnaire [Category: Identity]: Please complete the following in a Word or Google Doc so you can copy and paste the content into your first blog post at the end of Week 2:
- Please read The Proust Questionnaire.
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides a link to the reading.
- Copy and paste the questionnaire questions into your blog post.
- Answer the questions. Feel free to skip any questions you consider too personal to share with the public.
Week 2
2) Writing Process Roundtable [Category: Writing Process]: Please complete the following in a Word or Google Doc so you can copy and paste the content into your first blog post at the end of Week 2:
2) Writing Process Roundtable [Category: Writing Process]: Please complete the following in a Word or Google Doc so you can copy and paste the content into your first blog post at the end of Week 2:
- Print out, read, and annotate:
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides links to the three readings.
- Use description to set a scene for a writers' roundtable discussion about the writing process.
- Provide 3 quotes about the writing process from each reading. A total of 9 quotes. Remember to attribute the writer by inserting his/her name in the dialogue.
- Provide your own three quotes about your writing process.
- Your blog post should provide 12 total quotes (9 from the sources and 3 from you). Here is a student sample of this assignment: https://arthurgandy.weebly.com/blog/my-writers-round-table-category-writing-process
Week 3
3) Composing a Present Scene [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
3) Composing a Present Scene [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
- Print out, read, and annotate: What is Creative Nonfiction? (Lee Gutkind) | Making Scenes in Memoir (Lee Martin)
- Write a 50-word introduction that provides the focus of the blog post.
- Write a 450-word scene that shows the reader a moment in your present life.
- The scene must be written in first person and present tense.
- Focus on description. Appeal to the five senses.
- Remember: Description + Action = Scene.
- Please include at least one photo that shows your written scene to the reader.
Week 4
4) Composing Action into Scenes [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
4) Composing Action into Scenes [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
- Print out, read, and annotate: Bullet in the Brain (Tobias Wolff)
- Review these resources: Tobias Wolff Biography (Website) | Bullet in the Brian (Audio Text) | Bullet in the Brain (Video/Re-Genre)
- Write a 50-word introduction that provides the focus of the blog post.
- Write a 250-word scene that rewrites the action in Bullet in the Brain (Tobias Wolff).
- Write a 250-word scene that shows the reader action in your current life.
- The scene must be written in first person and present tense.
- Please include dialogue. Use this article as a resource: How to Format Dialogue
- Please include at least one symbolic detail. Use this article as a resource: Symbolism
- Please include at least one photo that shows your written scene (or symbolic detail) to the reader.
Week 5
5) Composing a Past Scene [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
5) Composing a Past Scene [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
- Print out, read, and annotate: The Yellow Wall-Paper (Charlotte Perkins Stetson)
- Review these resources:
- Write a 50-word introduction that provides the focus of the blog post.
- Write a 250-word scene that rewrites the action in The Yellow Wall-Paper (Charlotte Perkins Stetson).
- Write a 250-word scene that shows the reader a moment when a you or someone close to you made a decision that had a negative impact on your life.
- The scene must be written in first person and past tense.
- You must be a "main character" in the scene.
- The scene must provide description and action.
- The scene should have a beginning, middle, and end.
Week 6
6) Composing a Past Scene: Part Two [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
6) Composing a Past Scene: Part Two [Category: Scene]: Please complete the following:
- Print out, read, and annotate: My Mother Gives me a Writing Lesson (Martin Lee)
- Write a 50-word introduction that provides the focus of the blog post and a link to blog post #5 (Composing a Past Scene).
- Revise the 250-word scene you composed in blog post #5:
- The scene must be 450 words
- The scene must be in first person and past tense.
- You must be a "main character" in the scene.
- The scene must provide description and action.
- The scene should have a beginning, middle, and end.
- Compose a "telling section" after the scene to provide the reader with context.
Week 7
7) Found Poem of my Narrative Project [Category: Revision, Reflection]: Please complete the following:
7) Found Poem of my Narrative Project [Category: Revision, Reflection]: Please complete the following:
- For context, read and annotate:
- Write a 50-word introduction that provides the focus of the blog post (two-sentence summary of your scene and transition to the prompt) and a link to your narrative project web page.
- This blog post should be arranged into two sections:
- Section I: Found Poem
- Use the genre of found poetry to re-genre the first draft of your narrative project.
- Please use at least 100 words of material you "find" in the narrative.
- Create a title for the found poem. Create your own or excerpt language from the scene
- Identify the type (sub-genre) of found poem you are composing:
- Cut-up: Poets physically cut or tear up a text into words and phrases, then create a poem by rearranging those strips. Arrangement may be intentional or haphazard. Read more about the cut-up method of composition.
- Cento: Poets unite lines from other authors’ writings into a new poem. The original lines remain intact; the main intervention comes in arrangement and form. Read more about centos.
- Free-form excerpting and remixing: Poets excerpt words and phrases from their source text(s) and rearrange them in any manner they choose
- Erasure: Poets take an existing source (usually limited to one or a few pages) and erase the majority of the text, leaving behind select words and phrases that, when read in order, compose the poem. Examples include Tom Phillips’ A Humument, Jen Bervin’s Nets and Austin Kleon’s newspaper blackouts, just to name a few.
- Use the genre of found poetry to re-genre the first draft of your narrative project.
- Section II: Reflection (I encourage you to vlog this part of the post.)
- Please respond to these questions (you can copy and paste these questions into your blog post):
- Do you think the narrative provides enough descriptive language to create a compelling found poem?
- If not, how do you plan to revise the descriptive language in the narrative?
- Do you think the descriptive language more so creates a setting or delivers the subtext of a theme?
- In revision, will you focus on using description to develop more of the setting or more of a theme?
- Section I: Found Poem
Week 8
8) Midterm Reflection Vlog [Category: Reflection]: Please complete the following:
8) Midterm Reflection Vlog [Category: Reflection]: Please complete the following:
- Interpret these texts:
- Write an introduction that provides the focus of the blog post.
- Compose a five-to-ten minute video reflection about your experiences in this class. Consider specific assignments, specific readings/films, specific conversations, and/or specific processes that helped you learn and grow.
- Please do not write about the merits of the course or your course grade. Rather, focus on your writerly identity, your growth, your blogging, etc. Also, you might consider writing this reflection in third person to prepare your content for the video.
- Please conclude the reflection by answering this question:
- What are my three primary intrinsic English Composition II goals for the rest of this semester?
Week 9
Blog Assignment #9
Blog Assignment #9
- Blog Title: Narrative Project Rewrite: Exploring Counterfactuals
- Blog Categories: Scene, Revision
- Blog Prompt:
- Write an introduction that provides the focus of the blog post, a link to What is Fan Fiction -- and why is it making people nervous? (Stephen Downes), Rewinding and Rewriting: The Alternate Universes in Our Head (Hidden Brain Podcast), and a link to your narrative project web page.
- Respond to the following questions in a vlog (please use specific details to support "yes and no" responses):
- How did revising this draft impact the way you critiqued the product? Did the process lead to a closer reading?
- When you revised the story's point-of-view, tense, and choice, did you make other revisions that weren't required?
- How did rewriting the story in third person impact your interpretation of the real-life event?
- How did rewriting the story in present tense impact your interpretation of the real-life event?
- How did rewriting the decision impact your interpretation of the real-life event?
- How did it feel to revise this story "during, after, and since."
- For draft #3, will you return to the original story or continue with the counterfactual story? Why?
Week 10
Blog Assignment #10
Blog Assignment #10
- Blog Title: A Week of Three Good Things
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt:
- Write an introduction that provides the focus of the blog post, and links to these three sources: What is Positive Pyschology & Why Is it Important? (Positive Psychology Program), Greater Good in Action: Science-Based Practices for a Meaningful Life (UC Berkeley's Project Home Page), and Three Good Things (Greater Good in Action)
- Provide a dated journal entry for each of the seven days (October 30 - November 5) you "wrote down three things that went well for you that day, and provide an explanation for why they went well." Your blog post will provide seven entries with three different gratitude moments for each (21 total moments). Here is a sample entry:
- Tuesday, October 30
- Talked with dad: we haven't spoken for a few days, and I made an effort to meet with him before dinner...
- Went to the gym: Mike offered to drive me to the workout because he's a good friend...
- Revised my English Composition I narrative project: I have a productive writing process and this class rocks...
- Tuesday, October 30
Week 11
Blog Assignment #11
Blog Assignment #11
- Blog Title: Research Project: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt: Write about your research project. Consider posting sections of the project, updates on research, annotating sources, questions you are struggling/succeeding in answering, comparisons to other research writing you have completed, impact on your life, overall reflections, writing goals, intrinsic goals, etc.
Week 12
Blog Assignment #12
Blog Assignment #12
- Blog Title: Research Project: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt: Write about your research project. Consider posting sections of the project, updates on research, annotating sources, questions you are struggling/succeeding in answering, comparisons to other research writing you have completed, impact on your life, overall reflections, writing goals, intrinsic goals, etc.
Week 13
Blog Assignment #13
Blog Assignment #13
- Blog Title: Research Project: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt: Write about your research project. Consider posting sections of the project, updates on research, annotating sources, questions you are struggling/succeeding in answering, comparisons to other research writing you have completed, impact on your life, overall reflections, writing goals, intrinsic goals, etc.
Week 14
Blog Assignment #14
Blog Assignment #14
- Blog Title: Research Project: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt: Write about your research project. Consider posting sections of the project, updates on research, annotating sources, questions you are struggling/succeeding in answering, comparisons to other research writing you have completed, impact on your life, overall reflections, writing goals, intrinsic goals, etc.
Week 15
Blog Assignment #15
Blog Assignment #15
- Blog Title: Final Reflection: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Reflection
- Blog Prompt: Compose a reflection about your experiences in this class. Please do not write about the merits of the course or your course grade. Consider specific assignments, specific readings/films, specific conversations, and/or specific processes that helped you learn and grow.