workshop

Class, Fri, 11/15

Workshop Groups

Amanda C, Anthony, Winston
Ashley, Bridget, John
Kate, Jennifer, Sara
Kyle, Michael, Sam

Workshop Questions

Please begin by reading silently through your group members’ essays (or through the sections they have marked). As you do, highlight the places in the text where the writer addresses these four issues:

Project: Where does the writer articulate their project, what they’re trying to accomplish in their piece? (This usually, although not always, takes the form of a couple of sentences that begin with something like: “In this essay, I look at . . .”)
Map: Where does the writer offer you a sense of how their essay will unfold? What do they tell you about how they will move from one section to the next of their piece? How do they describe the materials they will be working with? How do they describe their own method or approach?
Engaging With Others: Tara Westover argues that engaging with others who are different from us is the central task of education. Where in their piece does the writer do this work? How generously and accurately do they represent other views or experiences?
So What? Where does the writer answer this question? What do they add to the conversation about their subject?

After you’ve read and annotated your drafts, have a conversation about them. What advice can you offer each other about how to add to or clarify these four aspects of their writing?

To Do

Mon, 11/18, class: Bring one print copy of the revised version of your project. I will give this version of your project a “pencil grade”. I will also ask you to annotate it in preparation for your conference with me, and we will also talk about “digitizing” written texts.
Wed, 11/20, and Thurs, 11/21: Conferences.
Mon, 12/02, class: Post the digitized version of your final project to Medium.com. I will give this version a letter grade. Be ready to talk about what changed in your piece as you shifted modalities.
Wed, 12/04, class: Closing thoughts and evaluations.
Mon, 12/09, 5:00 pm: Email me the revised version of your final project (optional).

Class, Fri, 11/01

Workshops (Cont.)

Post-Workshop Memo

Please email me another memo, this one reporting on where you now stand with your piece after having received responses to it from your group. Use Post-Workshop Memo as your subject line. Tell me about:

What were the most important or useful responses you got to your draft?
What do you now plan to add, change, or cut? (Be as specific as you can.)
What questions do you have for me? (Be as specific as you can.)

I will reply to this memo next week. That will be how I respond to your first draft. (PS, and NB: Make sure you leave me with a print copy of your first draft!)

Revised Schedule for November

To Do

Mon, 11/04, class: Favorites: Published and from this class. Please post two very brief passages—no more than 100 words each—that you’d like to put forward as among your favorites so far this semester. Be ready to talk about them in class.
Wed, 11/06, Fri, 11/08, and Mon, 11/11: No class meetings! (I will be at a conference.) Spend this time developing your good first draft into an amazing second draft.
Tues, 11/12, 5:30 pm, Mitchell Hall: Please join me in listening to Tara Westover speak.
Wed, 11/13, class: Discuss Westover and your work on your projects.
Fri, 11/15, class: Bring your all-but-final draft of your project to class. We will work on it.

Class, Wed, 10/30

Grades: Some Questions to Have in Mind when working on Your Project

Project

How well does the writer articulate what they are trying to do or accomplish in this piece?
How well do they develop their line of thought?

Materials

Is this piece well-informed by archival research?
How well and fully does the writer represent their own experiences or those of others?

Voice

Is this piece fun or interesting to read? What could the writer do to make it more so?

Writers

Given the responses you’ve received to your work so far, what questions do you have? Select a 750-1,000 word passage from your piece that you’d like to read aloud and get more feedback on. Tell your readers what sorts of feedback you’d like to get to this section.

You might also want to think about: Almost by definition, this draft is shorter than your final piece. How are you going to make it longer, develop it?

Readers

Try to add to what you’ve already said in response to the Writer’s Memo—and to what the other readers have said. What more advice can you offer the writer about their piece?

To Do

Friday, 11/01, class: We’ll continue the workshop. I’ll also ask you to send me a post-workshop email in which you: (a) summarize the responses you’ve received so far, (b) describe what you now know you want to do with your piece, and (c) ask me any questions you still have. I will reply to this email. That will be my response to your first draft.

Class, Mon, 10/28

Preparing for Your workshop

For Wednesday, I am going to ask each of you to read the drafts by the other members of your workshop, and to write a note to each of them in which you say:

Which sections of their current drafts you feel work well;
What you’d like to hear more about;
What you’d encourage the writer to rework or rethink; and
Your responses to the questions and concerns raised by the writer.

In class today I’d like you to write a note to the members of your group in which you raise those questions and concerns. What sorts of questions do you have right now about your piece? Which sections most worry you? (These might be sections that you have written, or that you have not yet written.) What kind of feedback do you hope to get?

Address these questions in an email to your writing group that runs at least 200 words. Copy me. Use “WRITER’S MEMO” as your Subject Line. I’ll assume that writing this note will take about half of our class time.

367-emails Download

In the rest of the class period, begin the work of responding to the other members of your group. Start reading their drafts, and write the sort of reader-response to each that I describe above. Hit REPLY All when you respond, so that the other members of your group and I can read your thoughts. (Doing so will count as part of your grade for Draft 1.) Please finish responding to all the members of your group by tomorrow evening.

Please try to read the responses to your own draft by the start of class on Wednesday. Bring your print copies with you. We will read, discuss, and work with them in class.

I do not plan to write responses directly to your draft. I will instead ask you to email me a post-workshop memo on Friday, and I will reply to that. This means that it is very important that you use the next few days both to offer helpful advice to your classmates, and to make sure that you get useful responses to your own work-in-progress.

To Do

Tues, 10/29, 11:00 pm: Email responses to the drafts of each of the members of your writing group. Do so by hitting REPLY All to their Writer’s Memo so that the other members of your group and I can read your comments.
Wed, 10/30, class: Read the responses to your draft. Be ready to ask questions about them. Come to class with your print copies of all your group members’ drafts.