Writer's Notebook ENGL489 Advanced Portfolio Workshop
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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. |
Overview. Informal writing leads to formal writing. Informal writing leads to revised, polished work. Writers write all the time. Never a day without a word. You never know what bit of thing that you write one day is going to become the next big thing you write. The writer's notebook is meant to help you develop a lot of little bits of things that might become some big thing. In order to do that, you've got to actually write often and with energy--not always with purpose, but with energy. One of the hardest parts of being a writer is actually writing. Sitting yourself in a chair and producing text. When writing is a job--or a part of your job--you have to do it. Student life is not really conducive to understanding this habit of writing--too many other things crowd your life. So this notebook is designed to give you practice in work of writing. It is an assignment that asks you to act like a real writer and to write often.
Details. You will be required to keep a writer’s notebook for this class. The Writer's Notebook requires you to commit to writing frequently—ideally daily—in an effort to help you develop the discipline of writing. The WN should be a useful space for you to begin to develop and draft what might become more formal pieces of writing. The Writer's Notebook will look different ways for different writers at different times in the semester. You should write about three times a week. You can write more, but you aren't required too. I would suggest actually setting a timer. Sit down. Set a time for twenty minutes or a half hour and start writing. Don't worry too much about what you are writing, but just commit to the time. You will be amazed what comes of it.
Students seem to stress over this assignment. They want a specific thing to write about. Here are some ideas:
Further, I'm not looking for a particular length or quality or type of writing. I'm looking to see that you are putting in the time and that it is proving useful to you. If it isn't I'll tell you that, but, mostly, I will simply make comments on parts of your notebook that seem to me to have potential to go someplace. Conversely, if I think something you are working on might not be working I'll tell you that too. It's informal commentary. Like a conversation about your writing. I can't give you some perfect explanation of what to do in the writer's notebook. You just have to write and figure it out.
How to keep your "notebook". We are meeting online. keeping a notebook is not literal. I know that many of you might prefer to handwrite in a precious notebook--probably with a quill pen--but, for the purposes of being online this semester, please create a google.doc and title it YOUR LAST NAME.WRITERS NOTEBOOK. So, for instance, mine would be called "TORDA.WRITERS NOTEBOOK". Set the document to "everyone with this link can edit" by clicking on the "share" button in the upper right corner of the page. A dialogue box will appear. Follow the directions for setting the document to "anyone with this link can edit" and then, in that same dialogue box, click on "copy link". Finally send me that link in an email. You only have to do this once.
How to keep your "notebook" part two. Each week, please put the date as a header for that week's writing. This will automatically organize the page so that you I can easily locate new material. Secondly, always put the new material AT THE TOP of the google.doc. As the semester proceeds, you will accumulate a great deal of material and it is easier for both of us if you start with new material at the top (and not the bottom) of the document.
HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED ON YOUR WRITER'S NOTEBOOK
Your Writer's Notebook is worth 15% of your final grade.
What does "sufficient material" mean?
I assume that whatever you produce in a week is the result of an hour and a half of your time. If your notebook seems thin to me, I will directly address that in my weekly comments on your writer's notebook. Unless I'm saying to you that what you are turning in is not sufficient, then you are fine. If I express concern over your commitment to the writer's notebook, you should explain to me 1) why that week is not what you hoped it would be or 2) how I am misreading the notebook and not seeing how your work is sufficient. Not every week will be as productive as we hope, and either a 1 or 2 response will suffice. However, if, week after week I question what you turn in as "sufficient" it could result in the loss of a mark of "sufficient material".
Details. You will be required to keep a writer’s notebook for this class. The Writer's Notebook requires you to commit to writing frequently—ideally daily—in an effort to help you develop the discipline of writing. The WN should be a useful space for you to begin to develop and draft what might become more formal pieces of writing. The Writer's Notebook will look different ways for different writers at different times in the semester. You should write about three times a week. You can write more, but you aren't required too. I would suggest actually setting a timer. Sit down. Set a time for twenty minutes or a half hour and start writing. Don't worry too much about what you are writing, but just commit to the time. You will be amazed what comes of it.
Students seem to stress over this assignment. They want a specific thing to write about. Here are some ideas:
- You can revise pieces of writing in your notebook.
- You can write new pieces of things you like to write and have had experience in.
- You can write in new genres that intrigue you.
- What you shouldn't do is keep a diary. I'm not looking for that.
Further, I'm not looking for a particular length or quality or type of writing. I'm looking to see that you are putting in the time and that it is proving useful to you. If it isn't I'll tell you that, but, mostly, I will simply make comments on parts of your notebook that seem to me to have potential to go someplace. Conversely, if I think something you are working on might not be working I'll tell you that too. It's informal commentary. Like a conversation about your writing. I can't give you some perfect explanation of what to do in the writer's notebook. You just have to write and figure it out.
How to keep your "notebook". We are meeting online. keeping a notebook is not literal. I know that many of you might prefer to handwrite in a precious notebook--probably with a quill pen--but, for the purposes of being online this semester, please create a google.doc and title it YOUR LAST NAME.WRITERS NOTEBOOK. So, for instance, mine would be called "TORDA.WRITERS NOTEBOOK". Set the document to "everyone with this link can edit" by clicking on the "share" button in the upper right corner of the page. A dialogue box will appear. Follow the directions for setting the document to "anyone with this link can edit" and then, in that same dialogue box, click on "copy link". Finally send me that link in an email. You only have to do this once.
How to keep your "notebook" part two. Each week, please put the date as a header for that week's writing. This will automatically organize the page so that you I can easily locate new material. Secondly, always put the new material AT THE TOP of the google.doc. As the semester proceeds, you will accumulate a great deal of material and it is easier for both of us if you start with new material at the top (and not the bottom) of the document.
HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED ON YOUR WRITER'S NOTEBOOK
Your Writer's Notebook is worth 15% of your final grade.
- In order to earn a "B" grade for that 15% you must turn in sufficient material for 10 of the fourteen weeks of the semester.
- In order to earn an "A" grade for that 15% you must turn in sufficient material for 12 of the fourteen weeks of the semester.
- In order to earn a "C" grade for that 15% you must turn in sufficient material for 8 of the fourteen weeks of the semester.
What does "sufficient material" mean?
I assume that whatever you produce in a week is the result of an hour and a half of your time. If your notebook seems thin to me, I will directly address that in my weekly comments on your writer's notebook. Unless I'm saying to you that what you are turning in is not sufficient, then you are fine. If I express concern over your commitment to the writer's notebook, you should explain to me 1) why that week is not what you hoped it would be or 2) how I am misreading the notebook and not seeing how your work is sufficient. Not every week will be as productive as we hope, and either a 1 or 2 response will suffice. However, if, week after week I question what you turn in as "sufficient" it could result in the loss of a mark of "sufficient material".