assignments ENGL 226 Writing About Writing: PARTNER INTERVIEW
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com On Zoom: https://bridgew.zoom.us/j/3806648927 |
Fall 2021 Open Hours for students (office hours):
MW (in-person or Zoom) 1:30 to 2:30 T (Zoom only) 10:00 to 11:00 R 1:45 to 2:45 (in-person or Zoom) And by appointment Make an appointment, either face to face or on zoom, during office hours or at another time: Let me know you want to meet by adding yourself to my google.doc appointment calendar here: https://goo.gl/3CqLf. If you are meeting me on zoom, I will send you a zoom link for the time you sign up for. |
Overview
Every class needs an icebreaker, even though everyone absolutely hates them. So just to try to make it a little more awful--no, kidding, really, to to try to make it more useful, our icebreaker is meant to help you help you to see the process for how most of the assignments in our class will go (it also will show you what you'll need to do for the paper you will write in the second half of the semester). And, of course, it will help you to make a connection with at least one other person in our class and, also, to just generally know the people you will spend the next 15 weeks with--because we all have a story, and those stories affect who we are and how we react and participate in any given situation including a class.
Once you've completed this assignment, I will post your partner introduction to our class website on a "class profile page." I'll ask each of you for a picture of yourself--or some image that you want to represent you. This is a way for all of us to know who the other person is a little bit better. It's a way to bridge the virtual gap that our online class creates.
Details
In order to write this short introduction of your partner you have to gather two kinds of information then you've got to put it together into a mini-essay.
You'll have time in class to work on this with your partner. You'll be randomly assigned. You'll have a chance to do a little workshopping on your paper. And, as I said above, I'll post it to our class website, and ask you for an image to accompany the profile that your partner writes about you.
Additionally, you'll use this bio on your own evolving portfolio website that you are working in this class. It will be the first thing you post.
Format Rules
How this will impact your grade
The short answer is very little. More details: The partner profile is worth 5% of your final grade. If you turn one in, regardless of quality, you get an A for that 5%. If you don't turn it in, you get 5% of an F towards your final grade.
Every class needs an icebreaker, even though everyone absolutely hates them. So just to try to make it a little more awful--no, kidding, really, to to try to make it more useful, our icebreaker is meant to help you help you to see the process for how most of the assignments in our class will go (it also will show you what you'll need to do for the paper you will write in the second half of the semester). And, of course, it will help you to make a connection with at least one other person in our class and, also, to just generally know the people you will spend the next 15 weeks with--because we all have a story, and those stories affect who we are and how we react and participate in any given situation including a class.
Once you've completed this assignment, I will post your partner introduction to our class website on a "class profile page." I'll ask each of you for a picture of yourself--or some image that you want to represent you. This is a way for all of us to know who the other person is a little bit better. It's a way to bridge the virtual gap that our online class creates.
Details
In order to write this short introduction of your partner you have to gather two kinds of information then you've got to put it together into a mini-essay.
- Basic Facts. These are the easiest things to get out of a person. Things like when you were born and where. If you have siblings. Where you went to high school. Favorites: food, movie, TV show, book, whatever. Hobbies. Dumb interesting facts. Major. Thing they can't stand the smell of. This isn't a complete list, but, you know what I mean. You want to know just the kinds of things that identify a person.
- A story or two that really tells you something about who this person is. This is much harder. People are often super bad about telling stories about themselves. You might ask your partner to tell you a story that their family or friends always tells about themselves. That can be a good place to start. Proudest moment story? Most embarrassing moment story? Best school story? Worst? Story that involves adventure? Story that is about summer time stuff? Stories about you and your family?
Here's the thing: at first, this part is going to be hard, but once you get started you'll get some good stories and that will form the basis of your introduction. Because that is the key to this assignment: you want to tell a story about your partner that tells the class something about who they are, what they care about, what matters to them, etc. - Once you've gathered enough stuff about your partner, write a 250 word introduction of your partner. That's not very long at all. It can't really be longer because the introduction should be interesting to a reader who is reading this on the web. It should focus on one or maybe two stories about this person and it should revolve around a thesis--a main idea or main point--about what you've learned about this person and how this story proves this main point.
You'll have time in class to work on this with your partner. You'll be randomly assigned. You'll have a chance to do a little workshopping on your paper. And, as I said above, I'll post it to our class website, and ask you for an image to accompany the profile that your partner writes about you.
Additionally, you'll use this bio on your own evolving portfolio website that you are working in this class. It will be the first thing you post.
Format Rules
- For the purposes of the workshop, double-space your writing and bring a hard copy to class.
- When it is time to turn in your final draft: Be ready, to turn in to me, the workshop draft--the one with the comments you and your workshop partner made on it in hard copy. EMAIL TO ME: your revised version of your partner introduction AND your picture (pic needs to be a .jpeg file that I can post to the class profile page for our class).
How this will impact your grade
The short answer is very little. More details: The partner profile is worth 5% of your final grade. If you turn one in, regardless of quality, you get an A for that 5%. If you don't turn it in, you get 5% of an F towards your final grade.