First Class

Tonight we preformed the usual rituals for first meetings of college classes - with a CNF twist. I handed out the syllabus and the calendar (which are also posted here on the blog), and gave you a very brief overview of the text book and what we will be doing for the course. I am hoping you will give the syl + cal a careful read over the weekend and if you have questions we can talk about them on Monday. As you read - take a look at due dates for your writing assignments, notice that you receive extensive feedback (but not grades) for drafts - and that you will be asked to participate (read some of your writing) at the National Day of Writing on October 20 at Kean Hall (across Morris Ave).

As a way to get to know each other, you first did some reflective writing about an experience with writing that changed the way you think or who you are. And then we shared. Your stories were great! Thanks to each of you - both for sharing and for being a receptive audience.

Finally - we spent some time talking about what CNF is - through naming some works that you have read that you think might be CNF - and identifying the features. As you glance through the table of contents of your textbook - you will get an even better idea.

Great class!

For Monday, September 13:

Read: Grealy, 23; Danticat, 89; and Koesterbaum, 184 in your text book.

Write: Send an email to ENG4017@gmail.com from the account that you want to use for this course.

AND bring a writing journal to class - a dedicated notebook to gather your ideas for work for the course (and beyond).

In class on Monday, you will do some journaling, you will set up your blog (you do not need to be tech savvy to do this - we will walk you through this) - and we will talk about what CNF is.