professionalization presentations 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 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com |
Spring 2019 Office Hours:
W 3:30-4:30 R 11:00-12:00 F 11:00-12:00 And by appointment. Want to make an appointment? Click here. |
OVERVIEW
I used to ask students to work in groups and present on writing in and publishing in different genres. I realized, though, that most students needed a different sort of information. They needed help envisioning a career or tackling specific and mysterious parts of what it could mean to write for a living. One thing I learned in my career is that there are jobs out there that in a million years iI didn’t know existed and didn’t know I could do—and didn’t know involved writing. I learned how to write in college reasonably well, but the real leap was when I entered the professional world. The same will be true for all of you, whether you think that’s possible or not. And so I have put together a list of specific presentation topics that are meant to help, as is everything in the class, move you from a student writer to a professional writer. They are:
NOTE: This is a tentative list. If the class as a whole is filled with students who want to go into marketing and PR and not pursue MFAs and the like, than we'll alter the presentation choices. Also, on the day of the presentation sign up, if there is a subject that you’d really like to see covered in a presentation and it’s not included, I’m willing to swap some of my ideas out for you. But you’ve got to be specific and have a plan to lead a small group.
I will touch base with each small group, probably via email, to talk about things I either want you to definitely include in your presentation (and therefore want you to learn about) and/or resources I think can help you (including faculty and staff on campus I think it would be useful for you to talk to). When possible, I will also put each group in touch with a working writer who can give you first hand information about your subject.
Presentations begin shortly after midterm and continue until we are done with them. You will sign up for your presentation before midterm, giving the first group of presenters roughly three weeks to put their presentation together—which I believe is more than enough time. Hopefully, folks will gravitate towards a particular presentation topic over another, but, if it turns out otherwise, some students may end up having to present on a second or third choice. Every presentation topic needs to have coverage of at least two presenters. You can sign up here.
DETAILS:
How You Will Be Evaluated
This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade. Similar to your author interview, there are only two grades to be earned for this assignment: an A or a C. The grade is assigned to the group not to the individual, meaning whatever grade the presentation earns is the grade each member earns (with one exception, see “one final evaluation note” below).
To earn an “A” grade for 10% of your final grade you must:
To earn a “C” grade for 10% of your final grade you must:
One final evaluation note: While it’s my hope that all of you earn an “A” for this assignment, and past experience tells me that it’s highly likely you all will earn and “A,” if a group member fails to meet bullet number one (Be a good group member to your colleagues in your group and hold up your end of the presentation), that one person (not the whole group) will fail this 10% of the final grade.
I used to ask students to work in groups and present on writing in and publishing in different genres. I realized, though, that most students needed a different sort of information. They needed help envisioning a career or tackling specific and mysterious parts of what it could mean to write for a living. One thing I learned in my career is that there are jobs out there that in a million years iI didn’t know existed and didn’t know I could do—and didn’t know involved writing. I learned how to write in college reasonably well, but the real leap was when I entered the professional world. The same will be true for all of you, whether you think that’s possible or not. And so I have put together a list of specific presentation topics that are meant to help, as is everything in the class, move you from a student writer to a professional writer. They are:
- Publishing in Small Presses & getting an agent (so, what is a small press to begin with—how do I find them even, etc). I’ve talked a little bit why knowing how and why to do this is important long term.
- Writing in the Professions (marketing, public relations, social media for industry and not-for-profit, technical writing, journalism, etc—careers that are not novelists and poets),
- Self-publication & ebooks
- Graduate School for Writers (MA, MFA, PhD)
- Freelancing
- Publishing and Editorial Careers
NOTE: This is a tentative list. If the class as a whole is filled with students who want to go into marketing and PR and not pursue MFAs and the like, than we'll alter the presentation choices. Also, on the day of the presentation sign up, if there is a subject that you’d really like to see covered in a presentation and it’s not included, I’m willing to swap some of my ideas out for you. But you’ve got to be specific and have a plan to lead a small group.
I will touch base with each small group, probably via email, to talk about things I either want you to definitely include in your presentation (and therefore want you to learn about) and/or resources I think can help you (including faculty and staff on campus I think it would be useful for you to talk to). When possible, I will also put each group in touch with a working writer who can give you first hand information about your subject.
Presentations begin shortly after midterm and continue until we are done with them. You will sign up for your presentation before midterm, giving the first group of presenters roughly three weeks to put their presentation together—which I believe is more than enough time. Hopefully, folks will gravitate towards a particular presentation topic over another, but, if it turns out otherwise, some students may end up having to present on a second or third choice. Every presentation topic needs to have coverage of at least two presenters. You can sign up here.
DETAILS:
- Presentations should be ten minutes long.
- You should give your classmates a handout of relevant and useful information (like websites, the names of journals, of people, resources, schools, etc).
- If it’s possible to talk about how much a person can earn doing a particular kind of work, include it.
- It it’s possible to name specific titles of jobs include it.
- If there is a kind of education or degree or certificate or kind of experience that you need to be successful in a particular field, include it.
- If there are entry-level jobs or internships or places to publish that could help you prepare for a job in a field, talk about that.
How You Will Be Evaluated
This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade. Similar to your author interview, there are only two grades to be earned for this assignment: an A or a C. The grade is assigned to the group not to the individual, meaning whatever grade the presentation earns is the grade each member earns (with one exception, see “one final evaluation note” below).
To earn an “A” grade for 10% of your final grade you must:
- Be a good group member to your colleagues in your group and hold up your end of the presentation
- Come prepared on the day of your presentation
- Have a thoughtful, good-looking, useful handout for your classmates
- Cover as much of the bulleted list of things to include as is possible to do
- Keep your presentation to 10 minutes.
- Not be boring.
To earn a “C” grade for 10% of your final grade you must:
- Be a good group member to your colleagues in your group and hold up your end of the presentation
- Come prepared on the day of your presentation
- Have a handout
- Allow your presentation to run two or three minutes under or two or three (or 8) minutes over ten minutes
- Be boring.
One final evaluation note: While it’s my hope that all of you earn an “A” for this assignment, and past experience tells me that it’s highly likely you all will earn and “A,” if a group member fails to meet bullet number one (Be a good group member to your colleagues in your group and hold up your end of the presentation), that one person (not the whole group) will fail this 10% of the final grade.