Grades + picking up writing journals

I sent grades to your email accounts and if I don't hear from you by Monday - to correct my math or contest my assessment - I will post your final grades to Keanwise on December 22. I have placed your writing journals in my mailbox in CAS 301E. That room is generally unlocked so you should be able to pick up your work any time the building is open.

As a class, you were truly outstanding, and I am expecting that a significant number of you will have some luck with publishing one or more of your essays. If you are accepted => let me know! Even if you are not going for the "published essay = A grade option" and even if your publication is much later, I'd like to keep up with your writing and see how you are doing.

Working with you this term was a great pleasure. I looked forward to our class, and I came away from our classes and conferences with much to think about. Thank you for letting me be an incident along the way in your writing life. I wish you each the best, and keep in touch! I will answer every email you send me.

Last class and turning in portfolios

In class on Wednesday you wrote some reflections on the course. To those of you who answered all those questions and sent them to me - thank you for your feedback. I have lots to think about and you gave me some sound ideas for "tweaking" the presentation of this course. Really though, I think what made this course so successful was in a large part due to the openness and interest you brought into the room. I will always remember this course as a remarkable experience - I wept over your papers, came close to tears in our conferences - and was awed by how well you used your writing to move through the material that prompted all those emotions in me. Thank you. And who knows - maybe I will write an essay about it!

Turning in your work
I will be reading through the last blogs this weekend and on Monday I will be in my office from 9:30 - 3:30 to work with you to burn your portfolio CDs or anything else you want to work on. Unless you have made a different arrangement with me, your portfolio is due by 3:30 on Monday.

Grades
The points for writing were listed on the syllabus as:
Writing projects
Drafts + revised personal essay = 150 points
Drafts + revised essay on place/object or person = 150 points
Drafts for reflective essay on writing = 100 points
Portfolio (includes finished writing for two essays + reflective piece)=200 points

As you know, you did not write the reflective essay, so I am revising the scoring as follows:
Drafts + revised personal essay = 150 points
Drafts + revised essay on place/object or person = 150 points
Final revised essay + publication venue selection = 150 points
Portfolio (overall assessment of presentation of materials, quality of writing, completeness + organization for portfolio contents)= 150 points

The process for giving credit for the blog and participation will remain the same.

As soon as I finish looking through your portfolios, I will send you a grade sheet. Anyone whose CD was blank or who was missing a major assignment will then have the opportunity to re-submit. I will submit your grades (as listed on the gradesheets) on Keanwise 48-hours after I send you the grade sheets. That way, if I hear from individuals with missing material - or if I added something up wrong or left something out - I can re-calculate the grade before submitting it on Keanwise. After grades are submitted on Keanwise - that's the grade you get unless you choose to appeal.

You did some wonderful writing this term, and I am looking forward to reading your final revisions.

Wednesday, December 10

Reflective prompts

1. What are your plans as a writer (how do you expect to use writing in your future)?


2. Describe any changes in your writing style


3. Describe any changes in your writing process


4. Describe any changes in your attitude toward/interest in/understanding of writing in general, and CNF in particular.



5. What have you learned about yourself as a writer?


6. What features of your writing do you feel are most important for you to work on?

Monday, December 8

You finished your presentations and we went over the protocol for turning in your portfolio. I passed around a CD for the template; this template will be available on Wednesday for anyone who needs it. You spent the rest of the class working on the essay of your choice.

I am still working on reading your essays and writing back to you with feedback for your presentations. I hope to have everything finished before class on Wednesday.

In class Wednesday, I will return your revised essay 3/4 and you will do some reflective writing on the course. After you receive the graded copy for Essay 3/4, you will have all the work you need to finish your portfolio.

All that is scheduled for class Monday is for you to turn in your portfolio. You may turn in your portfolio any time before Monday by leaving the CD in my mailbox (in CAS 301E).

I will send your grades for the portfolio, its contents and the course by email. Check your email on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to make sure I received your work and everything was included (sometimes the CD was blank or broken, and you may need to re-submit your work). If you don't hear from my by Wednesday - everything on your CD was OK and you will be receiving your grade by the end of the week.

If you have any questions/concerns - be in touch.

Wednesday, December 3

You gave your presentations on publication venues today. Those of you who did not get to present today will go through your talks on Monday. Thanks for your good work. It looks to me like you have done an excellent job of finding the right place for your work. All of you who gave your presentations should have a grade with some short comments in your email.

On Monday, after we finish up the presentations, we will have an open workshop. You can work on your putting your portfolio together (I will give a brief demonstration) of what it will look like on a CD) or you can finish up your revisions to Essay 3/4, which will be due at the end of the class.

I forgot to pass around the sign up sheet for conferences on Essay 4/ revising for Essay 3/4 (sorry). I have talked to many of you in class already but if you did not get a chance to talk - and you want to - there should be some time for some quick conferencing in class. ALso I will be in my office from 11:30 until 2 - so you can drop by (Angel is stopping by at 11:30). For those of you who would like to conference on revising your final essay -REMIND ME TO PASS AROUND A SIGN UP SHEET.

The Blog is to post your revised essay; you can post Monday after class rather than before - since the essay won't be due until class is over. Also - you are not required to do the "reflective essay" post - since we cancelled that.

Have a good weekend.

Monday, December 1

You worked on your presentations on publication venues. We reviewed the assignment sheet and outlined what you would need to include in your presentation.

Name of the publication venue (link to web site / address etc)

Bullet-point brief overview of the features of the publication venue to include:
- audience
- purpose
- subject matter
- political / cultural orientation
- patterns in style, voice, form, modes of writing for the pieces they publish

You also need to provide an overview of the publishing requirements including:
- submission dates
- length
- manuscript form
Although it is not on the assignment sheet - you might also mention whether or not the publication is open to "emerging" writers.

In your discussion you should: show your classmates the publications site, describe several essays representative of the kinds of work this journal accepts, point out how your essay is similar and different and discuss why you think it fits with this venue.

At this point you can open the discussion up to questions - so that your classmates can consider whether or not they might want to send their work to this journal. We will get through as many presentations as we can; there may be some spill-over to Monday.


We will discuss "Zion" and "Writing Zion" next Wednesday, when we take up reflective writing.