portfolios ENGL513 READING & WRITING THE MEMOIR
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com |
SUMMER 2014 Office Hours:
are by appointment. |
Overview: Portfolios work in different ways in different classes. Sometimes they are used to simply collect the work that a student has done over a period of time. Sometimes they are used to mark progress via revision. And sometimes they are used as a way to assess student work—not simply his writing work but his effort and progress in class.
The portfolios you will turn in will do a little bit of all three of those things. This is a chance for you to collect/reflect on your work, to think about what you’ve done well and what you still need to learn. I’ll ask you to write about this in a reflection letter that you include with the portfolios. Another way you will showcase your progress is through revision. You will revise some of your work from this summer. You’ll write about this in your reflection letter as well.
In this course, in particular, a portfolio is a very appropriate form of assessment and evaluation. The work you would produce in an MFA would be put together in a portfolio. You would collect that work to shape into the next thing it should become. The portfolio and evaluation system in this class models that practice as well. It is also an opportunity to consider what you are learning about memoir as a reader. But, additionally, in this class, it will also allow me to gauge the usefulness of our work together, to course correct if necessary, and to learn from you about what works best in class.
Finally, I will use the portfolios as a way of assessing your effort, progress as a writer and as a student, and the quality of your written work. I will assess the portfolios and include a lengthy letter to you when I return them. That letter will detail your entire career in this class up to that point. It will give you feedback on the quality of the portfolio itself, and I will give you a letter grade that marks your progress in a way that is valued by the college.
Details for the Midterm Check In
In a summer class of only five weeks, having a full blown portfolio in the middle of the five week semester is not possible. Thus, we will do a modified midterm check in. On the Thursday class that portfolios are due, you will need to have ready to turn in at class time the following:
1. Your collected Writer's Notebook, including the one you will turn in that night. You do not need to do anything to these other than turn them in, comments and all for those documents you've turned in and gotten feedback on. Please include a page, typed, single-spaced reflection that answers this: where are you at with your memoir right now? What are you thinking is the basic plot outline of your piece? What themes are you writing about? And, returning to Kephart, how do you want a reader to feel reading your memoir? What are you trying to do by writing this document? (feel free to answer these in a mish-mosh of writing or to write out each question and answer it).
2. Two pages of revision. This material should come from either your writer's notebook or work you did beyond the notebook, but it should be polished. It can be in medias res. It can be the beginning. I just want two pages of something more polished than what you wrote in a writer's notebook. By this time, you'll have written and gotten feedback on two writer's notebooks. You should have some material that you can work on to revise. If you are including material inspired by some of our in-class writing, please be sure to include it so I have something to reference. The focus here is on revision.
Please be ready to write and email to me the following. You will have time in class to do this work. So please bring a lap top or be prepared to locate and use a computer in the library:
A Reader's Notes Reflection. This document should be about one page, single-spaced. In this document, please reflect on the three memoirs we will have read by this time and the supplementary reading. Try to answer the following: what is memoir? What is powerful about it? What is problematic about it? And what aspects of the reading we've done in class has helped you to know this? Finally, what has it meant for your own memoir writing?
Details for the Final Portfolio
Final Grades are due very shortly after the end of our class, and, thus, to create to large of a portfolio does not make sense. Your final portfolio consists of fourparts:
Once again, I'll collect your materials in a manila envelope. I will email final comments and congratulations over the next week. Grades will be filed by the deadline.
The portfolios you will turn in will do a little bit of all three of those things. This is a chance for you to collect/reflect on your work, to think about what you’ve done well and what you still need to learn. I’ll ask you to write about this in a reflection letter that you include with the portfolios. Another way you will showcase your progress is through revision. You will revise some of your work from this summer. You’ll write about this in your reflection letter as well.
In this course, in particular, a portfolio is a very appropriate form of assessment and evaluation. The work you would produce in an MFA would be put together in a portfolio. You would collect that work to shape into the next thing it should become. The portfolio and evaluation system in this class models that practice as well. It is also an opportunity to consider what you are learning about memoir as a reader. But, additionally, in this class, it will also allow me to gauge the usefulness of our work together, to course correct if necessary, and to learn from you about what works best in class.
Finally, I will use the portfolios as a way of assessing your effort, progress as a writer and as a student, and the quality of your written work. I will assess the portfolios and include a lengthy letter to you when I return them. That letter will detail your entire career in this class up to that point. It will give you feedback on the quality of the portfolio itself, and I will give you a letter grade that marks your progress in a way that is valued by the college.
Details for the Midterm Check In
In a summer class of only five weeks, having a full blown portfolio in the middle of the five week semester is not possible. Thus, we will do a modified midterm check in. On the Thursday class that portfolios are due, you will need to have ready to turn in at class time the following:
1. Your collected Writer's Notebook, including the one you will turn in that night. You do not need to do anything to these other than turn them in, comments and all for those documents you've turned in and gotten feedback on. Please include a page, typed, single-spaced reflection that answers this: where are you at with your memoir right now? What are you thinking is the basic plot outline of your piece? What themes are you writing about? And, returning to Kephart, how do you want a reader to feel reading your memoir? What are you trying to do by writing this document? (feel free to answer these in a mish-mosh of writing or to write out each question and answer it).
2. Two pages of revision. This material should come from either your writer's notebook or work you did beyond the notebook, but it should be polished. It can be in medias res. It can be the beginning. I just want two pages of something more polished than what you wrote in a writer's notebook. By this time, you'll have written and gotten feedback on two writer's notebooks. You should have some material that you can work on to revise. If you are including material inspired by some of our in-class writing, please be sure to include it so I have something to reference. The focus here is on revision.
Please be ready to write and email to me the following. You will have time in class to do this work. So please bring a lap top or be prepared to locate and use a computer in the library:
A Reader's Notes Reflection. This document should be about one page, single-spaced. In this document, please reflect on the three memoirs we will have read by this time and the supplementary reading. Try to answer the following: what is memoir? What is powerful about it? What is problematic about it? And what aspects of the reading we've done in class has helped you to know this? Finally, what has it meant for your own memoir writing?
Details for the Final Portfolio
Final Grades are due very shortly after the end of our class, and, thus, to create to large of a portfolio does not make sense. Your final portfolio consists of fourparts:
- Your final draft of your memoir. More details are available elsewhere on this website. Include any materials and drafts that led to this final draft with your portfolio. Don't stress over that part, include it if you think it's relevant and don't if it's just not.
- Your write up of your Teaching Memoir lesson plan. See the complete information on the assignment page for Teaching Memoir, also on this site.
- Your revised "doing something" formula-driven 750 word essay that we started in class a la "The Fine Art of Sighing."
- A very brief in-class portfolio cover letter: You will have roughly a twenty minutes to write about one thing: how successful is your memoir?
Once again, I'll collect your materials in a manila envelope. I will email final comments and congratulations over the next week. Grades will be filed by the deadline.