Writing: Theory and Teaching, Spring 2012

[ Policies ] [ Calendar ] [ Model Student Essays ] [ Links/ Readings ] [ Student Writing from This Semester ]

Calendar
last update: April 25, 2012

 

- BAM = Best American Magazine Writing 2011

- RWT = A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers

 

Week 1 (Weds Jan 18)

- Introductions; what makes good writing; writing process; invention writing (getting started); writing tools. 

- In class, we'll read portions of the following:

     - "The Healing Season."  By Selena Roberts.  Sports Illustrated , September 01, 2008.  sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1144559/index.htm.  Accessed January 2012. 

     - "Girl Meets Bluegill: How I (Nearly) Taught My Daughter to Love Fishing."  Bill Heavey. Field and Stream, August 2005.  www.fieldandstream.com/articles/bill-heavey/2005/08/girl-meets-bluegill.  Accessed January 2012.  (Click here for a cached version.)

 

Week 2 (Weds Jan 25)

Bring a 1,000 word draft of essay 1, narrative.  As always, on draft days, bring two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for a writing workshop. 

Browse "Handouts and Demos" page related to Writing Groups, posted by the Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill: writingcenter.unc.edu/resources/handouts-demos/writing-the-paper/writing-groups-1/writing-groups
Read "Responding to Other People's Writing" (writingcenter.unc.edu/resources/handouts-demos/writing-the-paper/writing-groups-1/responding-to-other-peoples-writing) and "Reacting to Other People's Responses to Your Writing" (writingcenter.unc.edu/resources/handouts-demos/writing-the-paper/writing-groups-1/reacting-to-other-peoples-responses-to-your-writing) at the UNC Writing Center website.  (Note that those links were outdated but I've fixed them today, Mon Jan 23.  Thanks, Robert, for the heads up. -- KOD)

 

Read the following, in BAM:  "A Boulevard Called Chagrin" by Posnaski, p235-43; "Water Is Life," by Kingsolver, p531-36. 

 

Browse the narrative student essays on the "Model Student Essays" page (click on link, above).  Also, read the following:

- From Valleys to Mountains: A Young Woman’s Tale of Transition.  By Sassafras.  3130 F11

- Into The Woods: Deer Hunting with My 5-Year Old Son in Southwest Virginia.  By Bryan Winegar.  3130 S11

- I Should Have Read the Baby Books: A Man's Personal Experience with Child Birth.  By Andrew Williamson. 

Week 3 (Weds Feb 1)

Revised essay 1, narrative, due. 

Bring your grammar handbook to class today. 

Read the following, in BAM:  "The Physics of Speed," by Giraldi, p297-313. 

Read the following, online:

- "36 Hours in Asheville, N. C."  By Shaila Dewan.  New York Times, Oct 21, 2010.  www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/travel/24hours.html
- "The Bacon Explosion" ["Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog."]  Food article and recipe, NY Times online, January 27, 2009.  www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html.  Accessed January 2012.
Browse the "Tech Writing" category on the "Model Student Essays" page (click on link, above).  Also, read the following:

- Baby Sign Language: The Secret Language of Success.  By Vanessa Mink.  3130 Summer 11

- Can’t Tan?: The How-To of Sunless Tanners, for Fair-Skinned Women, by Renee Osborne, 3130 S09

- Green Creamy Goodness: How to Make Guacamole Dip that is sure to be a Hit, by Kati Haj-Hussein, 3130 S08
- Holy Mothers of Sauce! An Introduction to the Fundamental Sauces of French and Continental Cuisine.  By T. P. Kaine.  3130 Summer 11

Week 4 (Weds Feb 8)

Bring a 1,000-wd draft of essay 2, tech writing.  As always, on draft days, bring two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for a writing workshop. 

Read H. Melville, from Moby Dick, Chapter lxvii CUTTING IN; Chapter lxviii THE BLANKET

 

Week 5 (Weds Feb 15)

Revised essay 2, tech writing, due. 

Also due today:  a xerox copy of the table of contents and a sample entry from the first 30 pages of your notebook. 

Bring your grammar handbook to class today. 

Read, in RWT, chapter 4, "What do Teachers Need to Know about Rhetoric?" 

Read the following:

- "Like Boiling a Frog" [review of The Wikipedia Revolution, by Andrew Lih]."  By David Runciman.  London Review of Books, May 28, 2009 (Vol. 31 No. 10), pages 14-16.  5011 words.  www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n10/david-runciman/like-boiling-a-frog.  (Click here for a cached, ms word version.) 

 

Week 6 (Weds Feb 22)

Wikipedia writing exercise due:  Edit a wikipedia article, or write and post a new one.  Then write me a concise memo, providing me the exact information I need to see what changes you made. 

 

Also due today, write me a memo in which you propose a topic for essay 3 (the academic essay).  Tell me why you're interested in that topic; tell me about the research and/ or writing you've done that's related to that topic in the past; and tell me about the sources you have in mind.   

 

Also for today, read handout sections of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. The handout, which I will give to you in class on Weds Feb 15, includes "Contents;" a short chapter entitled "Acquiring Minnie" (p198-201); and selected bibliographical essays from the "Notes and Sources" section.  Assignment: Browse, on Amazon.com, at least two of the sources used for that chapter.  Be prepared to discuss.  (This assignment added to calendar on Feb 15--KOD.)

 

Also, read the following: 

- "Down with Research Papers!"  By Thomas Bertonneau.  August 10, 2011.  The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, Raleigh NC.  www.popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2561

- "The Answer Man: An ancient poem was rediscovered—and the world swerved" [Department: "Annals of Culture"].  By Stephen Greenblatt. 

The New Yorker, August 8, 2011.  www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_greenblatt.  Click here for a cached ms-word version, 5,200 wds, 10pt type, 8 pages. 

- "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read: How American High School Students Learn to Loathe Literature."  By Francine Prose.  Harper's Magazine, September 1999.  www.heritagecollegeready.org/ourpages/auto/2010/9/27/63079238/CagedBirdCannotRead.pdf

- "The Charms of Wikipedia," by Nicholson Baker.  New York Review of Books 55, 4 (March 20, 2008).  www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/mar/20/the-charms-of-wikipedia/.  Accessed January 2010.  (Click here for a cached version.) 

- "Usury Country: Welcome to the Birthplace of Payday Lending,"  by Daniel Brook.  Harper's Magazine, April 2009.  harpers.org/archive/2009/04/0082451.  Accessed January 2012.  (Clicked here for a cached version in ms word format.)

 

Week 7 (Weds Feb 29)

Class visit today by Dr. Tess Lloyd, Professor in the Dept. of Lit and Language, who will discuss how she is using "turnitin.com" in her composition class this semeseter. 

Bring a 1,000-wd draft of essay 3, academic writing. 

Reading response due:  Review the following three blogs and evaluate the credibility of each.  That is, assess how each uses its sources.  Write a paragraph or two for each blog, in which you describe how you evaluate its credibility:

     - climatedepot.com - A blog that "aims to redefine global warming reporting." 

     - climateprogress.org - "A liberal blog on the science, solutions, and politics of climate change." 

     - ihr.org - The Institute for Historical Review, "an independent educational research and publishing center that works to promote peace, understanding and justice." 

Read ''Rachel Carson, Mass Murderer?: The creation of an anti-environmental myth.'' Aaron Swartz, ''Extra!'' [F.A.I.R.--Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting; a New York-based, non-profit, media watch group], September/October, 2007.  www.fair.org/index.php?page=3186.  Accessed January, 2012. 

 

Browse the academic writing on the "Model Student Essays" page (click on link, above).  Also, read the following:

- From Woolton to EMI: The Rise of The Beatles (1957-1962).  By Aaron Cates.  3130 F11 

- Kiss Me, I’m a Capricorn: The Astrology Epidemic.  By Lindsey Farris.  3130 F10  

Horoscopes are fun and flirty, but the pseudo-scientific beliefs they engender dally more with egotism and neurosis than with good, hearty knowledge.

- The Real Temperance Brennan: Kathy Reichs and the Rise of Forensic Anthropology In North America Through Her Fictional Counterpart.  By Cheryl Lee.  3130 F11

 

*** Spring Break: Mon March 5-Fri March 9 ***

Week 8 (Weds March 14)

Revised essay 3, academic writing, due. 

Proposal due:  Write me a short memo, to me and your classmates, in which you propose the assignment you want to use for essay 4.  Explain where you got the assignment idea, and why you're interested in trying it out. 

 

Read, in BAM:  "Kanye West Has a Goblet" by Weiner, p215-22; commentary by Stephen Marche, p225-33; two yoga essays by Paige Williams, p171-93.

Read Lindemann Chapter 13, "Developing Writing Assignments" (p213-21). 

 

Week 9 (Weds March 21)

Bring a 1,000-wd draft of essay 4, "Writing in Response to the Assignment of Your Choice."

Read, in BAM:  "Lines from the Reports of the Investigative Committees" by Brouwer, p463-65; "The Runaway General" by Hastings, p31-54.

 

Week 10 (Weds March 28)

Revised essay 4 due.  Bring two copies of the final version.  Label them "copy 1, for Dr. O'Donnell" and "copy 2, for my classmate to grade."  Yes, you will indeed mark and grade a classmate's essay; and a different classmate will also mark and grade yours.  It'll be a good exercise.  I'll explain all the logistics in class. 

 

Also due today:  a xerox copy of the table of contents and a sample entry from pages 30-60 of your notebook. 

 

Read Lindemann, Chapter 14, "Responding to Student Writing" (p222-51). 

 

Week 11 (Weds April 4)

Class visit by Dr. Katherine Weiss, Associate Professor of English, Assistant Chair for Undergraduate Studies; and Dr. Michael Briggs, Lecturer of English, Composition/RODP Coordinator.  Drs. Weiss and Briggs will present for discussion various course plans and assignments for Engl 1010 Critical Reading and Expository Writing. 

 

Read Lindemann, Chapter 15, "Designing Writing Courses" (p252-79) 

 

Week 12 (Weds April 11)

Draft due for teaching philosophy, and/or course materials for a particular class that you plan to teach. 

Read Mike Rose, Lives on the Boundary, through Chapter 5. 

 

Week 13 (Weds April 18) 

Revised Teaching philosophy, and/or course materials due. 

Also due:  Revision proposal.  In a memo to me and your classmates, describe which essay you plan to revise, for 20% of your final grade; and describe how you plan to revise it.  Be as specific and clear as you can, in this memo. 

 

Week 14 (Weds April 25)

Revised, best essay for the semester -- due.  Bring a hard copy to class (no cover memos, please).  Also, before the beginning of class, email me an electronic version, as an attachment.  MS Word format is best, but I can do business with most any format.  Please be sure to include the entire essay as ONE file.  If you do not want your name on the essay, include a pseudonymn.  Also, put an email address near the name or pseudonymn. 

 

    Final exam period:  Weds May 2, 5:30-6:30pm.  In-class writing:  Approx. 1/2 hour, impromptu essay.  The prompt will ask you to reflect on what you learned this semester about your own writing, and about teaching writing. 

    Also due today:  a xerox copy of the table of contents and a sample entry from pages 60-90 of your notebook.