(tentative) syllabus ENGL489 Advanced Portfolio Workshop
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Need to be in touch with me?
LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 [email protected] www.leetorda.com NOTE: All classes, student meetings, and open student hours (office hours) this semester will be held virtually via Zoom. Need to make an during a time that is not an open student hour? appointment? Let me know you want to meet by adding yourself to my google.doc appointment calendar here: https://goo.gl/3CqLf and I will send you a zoom link for the time you sign up for. |
Spring 2021 Open Hours for students (office hours):
T&R 11:00-12:30 W 11:00-12:00 F 3:00-4:00 and by appointment. Click here to attend ANY of the Open Hour for Students Zoom sessions listen above. HOW TO ATTEND ZOOM CLASS Click here to attend ENGL 301 Writing & the Teaching of Writing Click here to attend ENGL 344 Young Adult Literature Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop. |
NOTE: ALL LINKS IN LIGHT BLUE ARE LIVE.
29 JANUARY 2021 WEEK ONE
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
Introduction to the Course. Overview of course materials and class website. Partner interviews for Author Bio ice-breaker. Read Sample Author Interviews here.
5 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK TWO
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
IN-CLASS: overview and practice with ICRNs, Writer's Notebook and mentor text memoir. In class work on mentor text memoir. Discussion of Rethink/Revise project. Please read all of the relevant assignment pages (available by clicking on the blue links in this syllabus or from the drop down menu above) before coming to class. Overview of class workshopping policy. DUE: Draft of your partner bio for workshopping in-class. Make sure your draft is in a google.doc set to "anyone with this link can edit." For use in class: "sample" mentor text memoirs by Salavatore Scibona, Jonathan Lethem, and Ray Bradbury.
Due by the end of the week (12 February 2021):
ONCE YOU’VE ACTUALLY READ the policies and syllabus for this course. You have the opportunity to earn one "A" for Acceptable for a either an ICRN or a week's Writer's Notebook simply by completing the following assignment by 12 February 2021.
1. Send me an email at [email protected] , CC me at [email protected]
2. In the subject line, write "Syllabus Check-in Email". Write it exactly as I've written it here.
3. In the body of the email, include a greeting: "Hello LT," "Hi Professor Torda," "Hey Dr. Torda." Whatever. But have a greeting.
4. Cut and paste this sentence into the email: "I've read through the policies and syllabus for the course, and I understand how to use the website to find out information about assignments, course policies, due dates, and classroom expectations, and to post my own writing to the class website in fulfillment of written assignments."
5. Sign off on your email, "best, so & so" "see you in class, your name here" "sincerely, John Doe." Again, whatever. But sign off on your email.
NOTE: Keep in mind, that when you send me this email, I’m going to assume you’ve actually done your due diligence about reading the syllabus and policies for the course, and I will hold you to those policies going forward during the semester.
6. POST ON THE ENGL 489 CLASS DISCUSSION BOARD (that link is live). Ask me a question about any thing on my website for our class: policies, due dates, classroom expectations, assignments. You can't tell me you have no questions. BUT, they shouldn’t be questions that could be answered if you read the syllabus and policies for the class.
7. Send me a meme to my BSU email. Include in your syllabus check-in email a meme of your choosing or design that sums up how you are feeling about your semester so far.
Make sure I get this email by 12 February 2021. If you don't send it to me, you lose the freebie “A” for acceptable for a reading journal post.
12 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK THREE
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
READ: About style in professional writing here, about the idea of "kairos" in writing here, about usability here, and this article about visual design here. And watch this video about design here. IN-CLASS: ICRN on professional/technical writing. Mentor Text Memoir workshop. DUE: Partner author bio emailed to me--please do not PDF the document--along with an image/photo of YOU that you are willing to share (because the class profile page will be public). Mentor Text Memoir for workshopping in class. Make sure you have your draft in a google.doc set to "anyone with this link can edit". Writer's Notebook. Finally, a copy of what you are doing for your rethink/revise project to turn in to me, along with your 500-word reflection on the state of the revision right now. You will need to be able to talk briefly about your project in class for the purpose of getting the rethink/revise workshop groups in order. Be ready to distribute your draft electronically to your group mates by Monday, 16 February 2021.
THINKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSION BOARD ICRN: In what ways is "professional" or "technical" writing different from what I would call "student writing"--or writing for school? In what ways do you see it as similar? Finally, what can you take with you from "school writing" to "professional" settings?
19 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK FOUR
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
READ/LISTEN: 2020 Pulitzer Prize winning audio reporting, breaking news, investigative reporting, and commentary. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on reporting/journalism. Finally, discussion of Author Interview. Please read that assignment before coming to class. DUE: Writer’s Notebook. Due also, draft of Mentor Text Memoir emailed to me. Make sure your google.doc is set to"anybody with this link can edit." Include the reflections questions and last week's workshop draft are included in the google.doc. Also, in-class, First workshop for Rethink/Revise.
THINKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSION BOARD ICRN: What are the characteristics of this kind of writing? What differences do you see between the various kinds of reporting (sub-genres if you will)? What sort of surprises you about journalism--so what is NOT the movie version of being a reporter.
Anyone interested in a viewing party for the academy award winning movie Spotlight? I think I can make that happen.
26 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK FIVE
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
READ: Interior Chinatown (Yu). Read Also, this NYT review of Yu's National Book Award winner. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on Literary Fiction. Second workshop for Rethink/Revise. Also, discussion of midterm portfolio and final project proposal (due in midterm portfolio). DUE: Writer’s Notebook. Second workshop for Rethink/Revise. This would be a good time to sign up for your first of two required one-on-one conferences with me. To do so, sign up here. In-class discussion of midterm portfolio requirements/final project.
THINKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSION BOARD ICRN: This novel is the winner of the National Book Award. That is one of the ways this novel distinguishes itself as "literary fiction." Later in the semester, we will read a novel that is seen as "genre fiction." Now, that's sort of slippery notion--that some novels are literary and some aren't. But, in the world of publishing, that distinction is real and it matters. I know that most students don't think that way about novels. So, for this week's ICRN, I'm going to ask you to tell me what makes this novel "literary" and not "genre." And, as always, I will want to see that you actually read the novel so make sure you can address this question with specifics from the text.
5 MARCH 2021 WEEK SIX
READ/WATCH: Poetry selections from Pushcart Prize: "Milk" (pg 48), "The Rules" (pg 138), "Post-NICU Villanelle" (pg 140), "A Season in Hell with Rimbaud" (pg 189), "Alive" (pg 241), "The Out & Proud Boy Passes the Baseball Boy" (pg 254), "Hoeing Beets, 1964, Skagit Valley" (pg 269), "Qassida to the Statue of Sappho in Mytilini" (pg 311), "On the Overnight Train" (pg 337), "Letters" (pg 387), "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Gunfire, of Three Men in Brooklyn" (pg 468). Also, read this New York Times article on Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's inauguration poem. Watch her read at the inauguration here. And one poetry selection of your choosing that is not one of the ones listed here. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on Poetry. Third and final workshop for Rethink/Revise. This would be a good time to sign up for your first of two required one-on-one conferences with me. To do so, sign up here. DUE: Writer’s Notebook.
12 MARCH 2021 WEEK SEVEN
CAMPUS "WELLNESS" DAY. ALL CLASSES ARE CANCELED. This would be a good time to sign up for your first of two required one-on-one conferences with me. To do so, sign up here. We can talk about your Rethink/Revise we can talk about what your are thinking about for your final project. I can answer any remaining questions you have about the Midterm portfolio.
19 MARCH 2021 WEEK EIGHT
DUE: Midterm portfolio. Time in class to complete midterm portfolio cover-letter. Be ready to present your final project. No Writer’s Notebook due this week. Explanation of Professionalization Presentations: and sign up. You can sign up here. By the way, where are you with your Author Interview assignment? Six Weeks and Counting. Sign up for Whole Class Workshop dates here (note: link may not be active until 19 March 2021).
26 MARCH 2021 WEEK NINE
READ: Short non-fiction selections from Pushcart: "The Lonely Ruralist" pg 190, "Marceline Wanted a Bigger Adventure" pg 271, and "We at Old Birds Welcome Messages From God, Even if Unverifiable" pg 232. Also, this 2019 piece by BSU Grad & Writer John Tormey: "Known Assailants." Read also, this selection from Time Magazine and this selection from Mother Jones by visiting author Terese Mailhot (see below for her author bio and details on her upcoming campus visit. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on nonfiction/memoir/personal essay. DUE: Writer’s Notebook. Sign up for Whole Class Workshop dates here (note: link may not be active until 19 March 2021). The schedule will be fixed after this date. No changes can be made.
Also by Terese Mailhot, this excerpt from her memoir Heart Berries: A Memoir
29 JANUARY 2021 WEEK ONE
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
Introduction to the Course. Overview of course materials and class website. Partner interviews for Author Bio ice-breaker. Read Sample Author Interviews here.
5 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK TWO
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
IN-CLASS: overview and practice with ICRNs, Writer's Notebook and mentor text memoir. In class work on mentor text memoir. Discussion of Rethink/Revise project. Please read all of the relevant assignment pages (available by clicking on the blue links in this syllabus or from the drop down menu above) before coming to class. Overview of class workshopping policy. DUE: Draft of your partner bio for workshopping in-class. Make sure your draft is in a google.doc set to "anyone with this link can edit." For use in class: "sample" mentor text memoirs by Salavatore Scibona, Jonathan Lethem, and Ray Bradbury.
Due by the end of the week (12 February 2021):
ONCE YOU’VE ACTUALLY READ the policies and syllabus for this course. You have the opportunity to earn one "A" for Acceptable for a either an ICRN or a week's Writer's Notebook simply by completing the following assignment by 12 February 2021.
1. Send me an email at [email protected] , CC me at [email protected]
2. In the subject line, write "Syllabus Check-in Email". Write it exactly as I've written it here.
3. In the body of the email, include a greeting: "Hello LT," "Hi Professor Torda," "Hey Dr. Torda." Whatever. But have a greeting.
4. Cut and paste this sentence into the email: "I've read through the policies and syllabus for the course, and I understand how to use the website to find out information about assignments, course policies, due dates, and classroom expectations, and to post my own writing to the class website in fulfillment of written assignments."
5. Sign off on your email, "best, so & so" "see you in class, your name here" "sincerely, John Doe." Again, whatever. But sign off on your email.
NOTE: Keep in mind, that when you send me this email, I’m going to assume you’ve actually done your due diligence about reading the syllabus and policies for the course, and I will hold you to those policies going forward during the semester.
6. POST ON THE ENGL 489 CLASS DISCUSSION BOARD (that link is live). Ask me a question about any thing on my website for our class: policies, due dates, classroom expectations, assignments. You can't tell me you have no questions. BUT, they shouldn’t be questions that could be answered if you read the syllabus and policies for the class.
7. Send me a meme to my BSU email. Include in your syllabus check-in email a meme of your choosing or design that sums up how you are feeling about your semester so far.
Make sure I get this email by 12 February 2021. If you don't send it to me, you lose the freebie “A” for acceptable for a reading journal post.
12 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK THREE
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
READ: About style in professional writing here, about the idea of "kairos" in writing here, about usability here, and this article about visual design here. And watch this video about design here. IN-CLASS: ICRN on professional/technical writing. Mentor Text Memoir workshop. DUE: Partner author bio emailed to me--please do not PDF the document--along with an image/photo of YOU that you are willing to share (because the class profile page will be public). Mentor Text Memoir for workshopping in class. Make sure you have your draft in a google.doc set to "anyone with this link can edit". Writer's Notebook. Finally, a copy of what you are doing for your rethink/revise project to turn in to me, along with your 500-word reflection on the state of the revision right now. You will need to be able to talk briefly about your project in class for the purpose of getting the rethink/revise workshop groups in order. Be ready to distribute your draft electronically to your group mates by Monday, 16 February 2021.
THINKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSION BOARD ICRN: In what ways is "professional" or "technical" writing different from what I would call "student writing"--or writing for school? In what ways do you see it as similar? Finally, what can you take with you from "school writing" to "professional" settings?
19 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK FOUR
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
READ/LISTEN: 2020 Pulitzer Prize winning audio reporting, breaking news, investigative reporting, and commentary. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on reporting/journalism. Finally, discussion of Author Interview. Please read that assignment before coming to class. DUE: Writer’s Notebook. Due also, draft of Mentor Text Memoir emailed to me. Make sure your google.doc is set to"anybody with this link can edit." Include the reflections questions and last week's workshop draft are included in the google.doc. Also, in-class, First workshop for Rethink/Revise.
THINKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSION BOARD ICRN: What are the characteristics of this kind of writing? What differences do you see between the various kinds of reporting (sub-genres if you will)? What sort of surprises you about journalism--so what is NOT the movie version of being a reporter.
Anyone interested in a viewing party for the academy award winning movie Spotlight? I think I can make that happen.
26 FEBRUARY 2021 WEEK FIVE
Click here to attend ENGL 489 Advanced Portfolio workshop.
READ: Interior Chinatown (Yu). Read Also, this NYT review of Yu's National Book Award winner. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on Literary Fiction. Second workshop for Rethink/Revise. Also, discussion of midterm portfolio and final project proposal (due in midterm portfolio). DUE: Writer’s Notebook. Second workshop for Rethink/Revise. This would be a good time to sign up for your first of two required one-on-one conferences with me. To do so, sign up here. In-class discussion of midterm portfolio requirements/final project.
THINKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSION BOARD ICRN: This novel is the winner of the National Book Award. That is one of the ways this novel distinguishes itself as "literary fiction." Later in the semester, we will read a novel that is seen as "genre fiction." Now, that's sort of slippery notion--that some novels are literary and some aren't. But, in the world of publishing, that distinction is real and it matters. I know that most students don't think that way about novels. So, for this week's ICRN, I'm going to ask you to tell me what makes this novel "literary" and not "genre." And, as always, I will want to see that you actually read the novel so make sure you can address this question with specifics from the text.
5 MARCH 2021 WEEK SIX
READ/WATCH: Poetry selections from Pushcart Prize: "Milk" (pg 48), "The Rules" (pg 138), "Post-NICU Villanelle" (pg 140), "A Season in Hell with Rimbaud" (pg 189), "Alive" (pg 241), "The Out & Proud Boy Passes the Baseball Boy" (pg 254), "Hoeing Beets, 1964, Skagit Valley" (pg 269), "Qassida to the Statue of Sappho in Mytilini" (pg 311), "On the Overnight Train" (pg 337), "Letters" (pg 387), "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Gunfire, of Three Men in Brooklyn" (pg 468). Also, read this New York Times article on Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's inauguration poem. Watch her read at the inauguration here. And one poetry selection of your choosing that is not one of the ones listed here. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on Poetry. Third and final workshop for Rethink/Revise. This would be a good time to sign up for your first of two required one-on-one conferences with me. To do so, sign up here. DUE: Writer’s Notebook.
12 MARCH 2021 WEEK SEVEN
CAMPUS "WELLNESS" DAY. ALL CLASSES ARE CANCELED. This would be a good time to sign up for your first of two required one-on-one conferences with me. To do so, sign up here. We can talk about your Rethink/Revise we can talk about what your are thinking about for your final project. I can answer any remaining questions you have about the Midterm portfolio.
19 MARCH 2021 WEEK EIGHT
DUE: Midterm portfolio. Time in class to complete midterm portfolio cover-letter. Be ready to present your final project. No Writer’s Notebook due this week. Explanation of Professionalization Presentations: and sign up. You can sign up here. By the way, where are you with your Author Interview assignment? Six Weeks and Counting. Sign up for Whole Class Workshop dates here (note: link may not be active until 19 March 2021).
26 MARCH 2021 WEEK NINE
READ: Short non-fiction selections from Pushcart: "The Lonely Ruralist" pg 190, "Marceline Wanted a Bigger Adventure" pg 271, and "We at Old Birds Welcome Messages From God, Even if Unverifiable" pg 232. Also, this 2019 piece by BSU Grad & Writer John Tormey: "Known Assailants." Read also, this selection from Time Magazine and this selection from Mother Jones by visiting author Terese Mailhot (see below for her author bio and details on her upcoming campus visit. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on nonfiction/memoir/personal essay. DUE: Writer’s Notebook. Sign up for Whole Class Workshop dates here (note: link may not be active until 19 March 2021). The schedule will be fixed after this date. No changes can be made.
Also by Terese Mailhot, this excerpt from her memoir Heart Berries: A Memoir
| terese_marie_mailhot_-_heart_berries_excerpt.pdf |
About the author:
Terese Marie Mailhot is from Seabird Island Band. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Medium, Al Jazeera, the Los Angeles Times, and Best American Essays. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Heart Berries: A Memoir. Her book was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for English-Language Nonfiction and was selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for March/April 2018. Her book was also the January 2020 pick for Now Read This, a book club from PBS Newshour and The New York Times. Heart Berries was also listed as an NPR Best Book of the Year, a Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, a Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year, and was one of Harper's Bazaar's Best Books of 2018. She is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award, and she is also the recipient of the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature. She teaches creative writing at Purdue University and VCFA.
BSU’s Visiting Authors Series and Native American and Indigenous Studies will host writer Terese Marie Mailhot on Wednesday, March 31 at 5 p.m. via Zoom for a reading and Q&A. Preregistration for the event is required through the link below:
https://bridgew.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYof-qvrj0sGtahjZYyhXZWKvdFXIE8q2bc
2 APRIL 2021 WEEK TEN
READ: Solitary. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on long-form nonfiction. DUE: Last Writer’s Notebook. If you are being workshopped the week of 9 April 2021, you need to have your materials to us by this class date.
9 APRIL 2021 WEEK ELEVEN
READ: Paying the Land. Read also, this NYT article on afrofuturism in comics. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on graphic novels/comics. First Final Project workshops. If you are being workshopped next week: have your material for your classmates. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me.
16 APRIL 2021 WEEK TWELVE
READ: Riot Baby. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on genre fiction. Second Final Project workshops. If you are being workshopped next week: have your material for your classmates. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me.
23 APRIL 2021 WEEK THIRTEEN
READ: Pepper's Rules for Secret Sleuthing. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on YA fiction. Third Final Project workshops. If you are being workshopped next week: have your material for your classmates. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me.
30 APRIL 2021 WEEK FOURTEEN
READ (OPTIONAL): Heroes of the Fourth Turning. Check out, if you are interested, 2019's Best Adapted Screenplay, Spike Lee's BlaKkkclansman. Check out, if you are intersested, the 2019 Emmy for best writing for drama screenplay for an episode of the HBO series Succession or the Emmy for best writing in a comedy for the series finale of Schitt's Creek. IN-CLASS: OPTIONAL (last) ICRNs on writing for stage and screen (big and small). FOURTH & FINAL Final Project workshops. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me. IN-CLASS: Be prepared to present for about 5 minutes on what you learned from your author interview. You don't have to turn in your written version of the interview; you can turn that in with your portfolio. But be prepared to talk about what you learned.
This is like a transcript to this short video (CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO) outlining a few things as we wrap up our semester. Some of this is stuff I said in class on Friday, but I just want to repeat it. And then some of it is stuff I meant to say in class on Friday and forgot. In addition to this email, you can read this and watch the video on the syllabus for our class.
This Friday in class is our last class meeting.
We will not meet on the day of the final.
THIS IS A CHANGE: Portfolios are due on the last day of finals by 4:00 PM on Tuesday 11, May 2021. You can turn them in early if you want, but you have until then to get me your material.
What we will do during Friday’s class:
If folks were wondering if they could still meet with me for a conference: the short answer is yes. After this Friday (Monday is reading day), I won’t hold my regular office hours in order to accommodate final conferences with another class, but I will have times available to meet one-on-one. I will update my usual google.doc calendar over the weekend as per usual with times.
What goes into the final portfolio: That information for the final portfolio is detailed on the portfolio page for our class. But, in a nutshell, it is 15 -20 pages of your best work from the semester and a cover letter explaining to me why it is your best work and how you got it into that shape.
YOUR FINAL PORTFOLIO, DELIVERED IN WHATEVER ELECTRONIC FORMAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU, IS DUE TO ME BY THE END OF FINAL EXAMS TUESDAY, 11 MAY 2021, @ 4:00 PM. WE WILL NOT MEET FOR OUR SCHEDULED THE FINAL EXAM.
Terese Marie Mailhot is from Seabird Island Band. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Medium, Al Jazeera, the Los Angeles Times, and Best American Essays. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Heart Berries: A Memoir. Her book was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for English-Language Nonfiction and was selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for March/April 2018. Her book was also the January 2020 pick for Now Read This, a book club from PBS Newshour and The New York Times. Heart Berries was also listed as an NPR Best Book of the Year, a Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, a Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year, and was one of Harper's Bazaar's Best Books of 2018. She is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award, and she is also the recipient of the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature. She teaches creative writing at Purdue University and VCFA.
BSU’s Visiting Authors Series and Native American and Indigenous Studies will host writer Terese Marie Mailhot on Wednesday, March 31 at 5 p.m. via Zoom for a reading and Q&A. Preregistration for the event is required through the link below:
https://bridgew.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYof-qvrj0sGtahjZYyhXZWKvdFXIE8q2bc
2 APRIL 2021 WEEK TEN
READ: Solitary. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on long-form nonfiction. DUE: Last Writer’s Notebook. If you are being workshopped the week of 9 April 2021, you need to have your materials to us by this class date.
9 APRIL 2021 WEEK ELEVEN
READ: Paying the Land. Read also, this NYT article on afrofuturism in comics. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on graphic novels/comics. First Final Project workshops. If you are being workshopped next week: have your material for your classmates. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me.
16 APRIL 2021 WEEK TWELVE
READ: Riot Baby. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on genre fiction. Second Final Project workshops. If you are being workshopped next week: have your material for your classmates. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me.
23 APRIL 2021 WEEK THIRTEEN
READ: Pepper's Rules for Secret Sleuthing. IN-CLASS: ICRNs on YA fiction. Third Final Project workshops. If you are being workshopped next week: have your material for your classmates. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me.
30 APRIL 2021 WEEK FOURTEEN
READ (OPTIONAL): Heroes of the Fourth Turning. Check out, if you are interested, 2019's Best Adapted Screenplay, Spike Lee's BlaKkkclansman. Check out, if you are intersested, the 2019 Emmy for best writing for drama screenplay for an episode of the HBO series Succession or the Emmy for best writing in a comedy for the series finale of Schitt's Creek. IN-CLASS: OPTIONAL (last) ICRNs on writing for stage and screen (big and small). FOURTH & FINAL Final Project workshops. If you are a responder to someone's writing this week: have your comments ready to be emailed to your writers and to me. IN-CLASS: Be prepared to present for about 5 minutes on what you learned from your author interview. You don't have to turn in your written version of the interview; you can turn that in with your portfolio. But be prepared to talk about what you learned.
This is like a transcript to this short video (CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO) outlining a few things as we wrap up our semester. Some of this is stuff I said in class on Friday, but I just want to repeat it. And then some of it is stuff I meant to say in class on Friday and forgot. In addition to this email, you can read this and watch the video on the syllabus for our class.
This Friday in class is our last class meeting.
We will not meet on the day of the final.
THIS IS A CHANGE: Portfolios are due on the last day of finals by 4:00 PM on Tuesday 11, May 2021. You can turn them in early if you want, but you have until then to get me your material.
What we will do during Friday’s class:
- We’ll have our last five workshops. That’s the four students who originally signed up and Amanda.
- You’ll give a five-minute report out on what you learned from doing your author interview. You can turn in the hard copy of your 2 page reflection in your final portfolio, but you should be prepared to talk about what your author/writer had to say.
If folks were wondering if they could still meet with me for a conference: the short answer is yes. After this Friday (Monday is reading day), I won’t hold my regular office hours in order to accommodate final conferences with another class, but I will have times available to meet one-on-one. I will update my usual google.doc calendar over the weekend as per usual with times.
What goes into the final portfolio: That information for the final portfolio is detailed on the portfolio page for our class. But, in a nutshell, it is 15 -20 pages of your best work from the semester and a cover letter explaining to me why it is your best work and how you got it into that shape.
YOUR FINAL PORTFOLIO, DELIVERED IN WHATEVER ELECTRONIC FORMAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU, IS DUE TO ME BY THE END OF FINAL EXAMS TUESDAY, 11 MAY 2021, @ 4:00 PM. WE WILL NOT MEET FOR OUR SCHEDULED THE FINAL EXAM.