ENGL 511 Special Topics in Writing: Young Adult Literature
MENTOR TEXT MEMOIR
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Need to be in touch with me?
Lee Torda, PhD Interim Dean of Undergraduate Studies 200 Clement C. Maxwell Library 508.531.1790 Teaching Website: www.leetorda.com |
OFFICE HOURS: By appointment. Email me at [email protected] with times/days you'd like to meet, and I will respond within 24 hours.
“Let’s save pessimism for better times” --Eduardo Galeano |
ZOOM link to attend class: https://bridgew.zoom.us/j/91202035302?pwd=akVFQ4cdIaHX77ttkfZFFM10iTdtmW.1
Overview
1) In his book, The Art of Slow Reading, the Compositionist Tom Newkirk uses the term Mentor Texts to refer to those important books that make a mark on a reader, a text that shapes them as a thinker, as a writer, as a person.
2) "Flash" is a thing. Flash fiction. Flash non-fiction. Generally, these are pieces of writing that are 750 words or under. And that's all you get. The trick of this kind of writing is to create a vivid scene that doesn't require a lot of explanation for a reader to get the main idea. So you don't have a lot of space for exposition. It's all scene and character.
If you want to read a sample of what I'm talking about, read "Where I Learned to Read" by Salvatore Scibona. We will read a piece by Ray Bradbury for homework next week. The Bradbury really gets at what it feels like to read a text that changes you forever.
For this very brief assignment, I am asking you to write a short, personal essay--flash nonfiction--about the books that have meant something to you as a young person and to identify the ways they've shaped you as a reader, writer, thinker, student, human, etc. The point is to zero in on a memory of reading a specific text that you can point to and say, this, this is the moment where I "got" why reading really can change the world in general and how it changed me very specifically.
You will have the chance to draft, get feedback, and revise your 750 words , and you will email me a copy the following week. I will post all of our flash memoirs to our class website.
Details
Assessment
This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade.
In order to earn a B grade for that 10% you need to do the following:
In order to earn an A grade for that 10% you need to:
In order to earn a C grade for that 10% you need to:
If you do not meet the requirements to earn a C grade, you will fail this 10% of your final grade.
1) In his book, The Art of Slow Reading, the Compositionist Tom Newkirk uses the term Mentor Texts to refer to those important books that make a mark on a reader, a text that shapes them as a thinker, as a writer, as a person.
2) "Flash" is a thing. Flash fiction. Flash non-fiction. Generally, these are pieces of writing that are 750 words or under. And that's all you get. The trick of this kind of writing is to create a vivid scene that doesn't require a lot of explanation for a reader to get the main idea. So you don't have a lot of space for exposition. It's all scene and character.
If you want to read a sample of what I'm talking about, read "Where I Learned to Read" by Salvatore Scibona. We will read a piece by Ray Bradbury for homework next week. The Bradbury really gets at what it feels like to read a text that changes you forever.
For this very brief assignment, I am asking you to write a short, personal essay--flash nonfiction--about the books that have meant something to you as a young person and to identify the ways they've shaped you as a reader, writer, thinker, student, human, etc. The point is to zero in on a memory of reading a specific text that you can point to and say, this, this is the moment where I "got" why reading really can change the world in general and how it changed me very specifically.
You will have the chance to draft, get feedback, and revise your 750 words , and you will email me a copy the following week. I will post all of our flash memoirs to our class website.
Details
- Document should be turned in typed and double space and, yes, ONLY 750 words
- You should have a title--a good one that is not my mentor text memoir.
- Participate in the drafting/workshopping/revising of your draft in class during the second week of class. This means that you have to compose in a program that allows you to share (like google.docs).
- Email me your completed draft (not as a .PDF) by the deadline on the syllabus, the third week of class
- Include an image (.jpeg) either of the cover of the book, you reading the book, or some other image that resonates with you and will evoke the right sentiment with a viewer. I will post this image with your flash memoir to our class website.
Assessment
This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade.
In order to earn a B grade for that 10% you need to do the following:
- Be ready to share a draft of your short essay that is, seriously, 750 words or less during class time.
- Respond to your classmate or classmates during the class workshop with useful suggestions for how they might revise/and or complete the assignment and/or questions meant to help them flesh out their ideas or clarify places where a reader (you) are confused.
- Turn in your finished 750 words to me by the deadline on the syllabus.
In order to earn an A grade for that 10% you need to:
- Do all of the thing that is required of a B grade
- Make a clear effort to both tell your reading story with focus and care as well as attend to the second half of the assignment--explain to me what that story has taught you, made you think about, helped you to understand, about reading as a young person.
- Read at least 8 of your colleagues flash memoirs: identify your top three favorites and why in 200-300 words.
In order to earn a C grade for that 10% you need to:
- Turn in your finished 750 words to me by the deadline.
If you do not meet the requirements to earn a C grade, you will fail this 10% of your final grade.