Details about daily assignments will be posted here and announced at class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Check the website as you prepare for each upcoming class period. See the schedule posted in the syllabus for the tentative course outline.

Assigned September 2
By noon on Friday, September 3, send your project proposal to me by e-mail.  (See step 2 in the Genre Challenge instructions.)

 For Tuesday, September 7: 

1.      Read the next two selections from the coursepack (pp. 22-31):  Romano, “Musts for Writing Teachers” and Perl, “Understanding Composing.” Perl’s piece was originally intended for writing professors, so allow time to work through it carefully.  Make notes in your margins:  comments, questions, and definitions (e.g., for key words like “recursive” in the Perl article).  For each article, write one paragraph that answers this question:  What are the author’s main points about what writing teachers must know, and what can his/her ideas teach you about your own writing processes? 

2.      Keep moving ahead with the next steps of your Genre Challenge project.  Remember to add another 5-minute entry to your Genre Challenge reflective journal each time that you work on the project.

Assigned August 31
For Thursday, September 2: 

1.      Finish and print your “Where I’m From” poem.

2.      Review the instructions for the Genre Challenge project.  Then, for a better understanding of this type of project, read Andrew-Vaughan & Fleischer, “Researching Writing: The Unfamiliar-Genre Research Project” (coursepack pp. 14-20).  Consider:  how does this kind of project work, and how does it meet writers’ needs?

3.      You are in the “worrying” stage of working on your genre challenge project.  Start your reflective journal with a 5-minute entry. Check step 1 in the project instructions for guidance.  (Feel free, too, to look at my reflective journal on our Courses@Dordt site.

Looking ahead:  We’ll take some time at class on Thursday to consider genre possibilities for the project.  You’ll need to send your project proposal email to me by noon on Friday, September 3.  (See step 2 in the project instructions.)

Assigned August 26
For Tuesday, August 31:

1. Read the first two coursepack selections (pp. 1-13) to prepare for in-class discussion about how the writing workshop concept will fit with our course and with your future teaching: (1) Atwell, “Getting Started” and (2) Taylor, “Nancie Atwell’s In the Middle and the Ongoing Transformation of the Writing Workshop.” Look for connections and contradictions across the readings, and also consider how these texts relate to your own experiences. As always, read actively. In the margins, note the ideas that you find especially interesting, insightful, debatable, or questionable—as well as notes about the connections and questions that come to mind as you read.

2. Bring the draft of your “Where I’m From” poem to class, and be prepared to share. Feel free to look back at George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” poem, at templates, and at models that you find online.