Week 5 (CHC)

This week is all about getting the "Who Are You?" essay together and ready for delivery next week.  We will be sharing drafts the first part of the week and also putting together a writing rubric that will take into account what we believe makes for a great paper.

Please read through the different questions that were posed on Facebook and which form the basis for a powerful conversation about writing.  Remember that whatever you read or see calls you to respond in your notebooks.

Later in the week, we will have a more focused conversation about how we can connect to CHC. We hope we can identify interesting ways to apply the writing and thinking skills we're developing to serve the organization. Here is a possibility we'd like to offer, a fundraising page for the fashion show CHC is currently planning. As you can see, we have been given one student, Sarides, to represent through our page. Even though it may not be possible to fundraise too much leading up to the Fashion Show this Saturday, we can do some follow-up fundraising. We can also help the community get to know CHC and the marginalized population there.  How can we put out effective appeals through our social media networks to support CHC, through the Fashion Show and in other ways? The real question is, how can we use a skill, communications, to create a tangible difference in the world?

Here is a little something, a video, that CHC put together for the Fashion Show. What works about this piece of communication? Does it provide a model we can work from?


I'm introducing a couple of new elements to the class. Both involve working outside of class and taking a step toward actively paying attention to sharing and polishing your writing.  Both are extra credit.  Both demand extra work.  Both can make a huge difference in the quality of your work.

1. Make an appointment for the writing center and spend at least 45 minutes; focus on editing. Have the tutor sign the copy of the essay you worked on.  Staple it to your final copy.  This bit of effort will earn you 15 extra credit points.  
2. This one is a bit more complicated.  You will need to have at least two other people from your class to work with you.  It involves the ultimately scariest thing any writing student can do, visit his/her professor in his office to look for feedback.  This process is called a writing conference.  I normally have everyone do three a semester, but this term I want to see what happens if instead of making it mandatory, I offer extra credit instead.  If you participate in this activity, you will earn 35 extra points.  (Expect to spend about 30 minutes as well.)  To sign up for the writing conference, you must form a group of three or four students and sign up.
3. Here are some additional slots if you prefer to meet on Mon. or Wed.

Almost forgot, read "You Are not the Poem" (32-33) in Writing Down the Bones.  Substitute essay for poem in the reading.  You are not your essay! Lastly, make sure to listen to the second half of the "Special Ed" show of This American Life.