assignments ENGL344 Young Adult Literature: Flash Memoir: YA Edit
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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. You only get 500. 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 or "Take Me Home" by Ray Bradbury. The Scibona is more appropriate for length, but Bradbury really gets at what it feels like to read a text that changes you forever. You can also read my own flash memoir about reading Little Women available in one of our ENGL344 CLASS UPDATE page.
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 500 words with your reading journal/book club group mates, 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. You only get 500. 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 or "Take Me Home" by Ray Bradbury. The Scibona is more appropriate for length, but Bradbury really gets at what it feels like to read a text that changes you forever. You can also read my own flash memoir about reading Little Women available in one of our ENGL344 CLASS UPDATE page.
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 500 words with your reading journal/book club group mates, 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 500 words
- You should have a title.
- Participate in the drafting/workshopping/revising of your draft. For the workshop: Post your draft of your 500 words to your book club google.doc. Read and respond to the drafts of our classmates. Post and respond by 11:59 PM on 4 October 2022
- Email me your completed draft (not as a .PDF) by the deadline on the syllabus (11 October 2022).
- 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:
- Post a draft of your short essay that is, seriously, 500 words or less during class time to your book club group mates in your reading journal/book club google.doc.
- Respond to your group mates, also in the google.doc, during class 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 500 words to me by the deadline (11 October 2022).
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 your colleagues flash memoirs: identify your top five favorites and why in 200-300 words.
In order to earn a C grade for that 10% you need to:
- Turn in your finished 500 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.