Hi class,
Welcome to your first essay-writing week! With 12 blog posts under your belt, each of you certainly have a lot of great material to choose from! As you can see on your Week 6 checklist, the only requirements for this essay are 1) you will develop one of your blog posts rather than starting something new, 2) you will develop the post to 5-6 pages double-spaced in Times New Roman 12 font, 3) you will keep your information non-fiction (true to life), and 4) you will cite any borrowed information in correct MLA format if you include research.
Since you have gotten feedback from classmates on all your writing, you already know which posts may have the most potential for this essay project. Some of you have written far beyond the 3 paragraph minimum, which means you might be quite near the finish point of 5-6 pages already. You can revise, re-organize, or rephrase your post writing for the purposes of this essay - just make sure you stick to the same subject matter. Also, you may combine more than one post if you feel you'd like to collage some of your writing together.
You'll be posting rough drafts of your essay to BLACKBOARD (Discussion Board) by tonight. The minimum length for rough drafts is 3-4 pages. On Thursday, you'll leave feedback for your group members on Blackboard. To offer feedback, simply reply to the thread of the essay you are responding to. That way, each writer will have a collection of feedback directly attached to their own writing. Also note that requirements for peer review given for major essays are different than guidelines for blog reviews. Review your syllabus for specific instructions.
For this major essay, you will receive feedback from me during the rough draft phase. I will send an email notifying the class when I've finished posting comments for everyone - this might not be until the end of the weekend.
Finally, I'd like to point out some Greatest Hits from last week... read these great posts for inspiration before you write your essays. :-)
Greatest Hits
Nynn's post, "Epileptic Seizures"
http://lafraser.blogspot.com/2011/02/prompt-15-epileptic-seizures.html
In this post, Nynn's simply-stated, direct, descriptive writing does wonders to set a tone of seriousness about the scene she describes. Her writing is plot-driven, propelled forward by action and story... a reader feels they are right in the scene, standing in Nynn's shoes. For that reason, I also admire the perspective from which Nynn speaks. She avoids describing her own reactions, rather, she trusts the reader to have similar reactions to her own, if only they saw what she saw. I especially appreciate her second paragraph for setting up sufficient context... we learn just enough about why she's there, how she's supposed to act, and how she wonders about her ability to handle ER scenarios, to "get into" the story. Later, her details about an epileptic patient are so thorough, so precise, that a reader can visualize the scene and feel incredibly interested. Wonderful work, Nynn!
John's post, "Cultural Tastes"
http://jasmit8.blogspot.com/2011/02/prompt-14-cultural-tastes.html
GO. READ. THIS. POST.
Leena's post, "Hemophobia"
http://leenawalker.blogspot.com/2011/02/hemophobia-prompt-15.html
Much of what I enjoyed about Leena's post is described above, in response to Nynn's post. Both writers excel in their ability to tell a story with precise, vivid detail - to the point of convincing readers that we are "watching", as though faced with a movie. I especially like Leena's use of voice in this post, since it's important for her audience to get to "know" her as a central character of her story. This is an amazing story about the horrors of witnessing an accident, especially since it's the kind that led to fatalities. Notice, especially, Leena's accurately described conclusion... rather than moving into a reflective or summary mode, she reports, "My friend and I watched as each (person) was checked once more for a pulse then put in a bag and onto a stretcher. I felt sick. I ran to the opposite side of the road and vomited. My friend came to hold my hair as I sobbed and puked. There was so much blood..." Writers: there's nothing wrong with writing about puking. Thank you, Leena, for your honesty, and for your excellent storytelling!
Kayla's, "The 'Grabber' Grabber"
http://kbailey-danceintherain.blogspot.com/2011/02/grabber-grabber-prompt-15.html
This is one of Kayla's best posts yet. In it, she tells a complete and enjoyable childhood story about a classroom snitch. Her writing is precise, detailed, and beautifully edited. I love learning about Grabbers, the justice-minded actions of 5th graders, and a Grabber funeral. Kayla's sense of style plays a major role in making this story interesting... childhood stories can easily become "cutesy", "sentimental", or otherwise lesser in literary value. Kayla's use of description, voice, and characterization, however, makes this much more than merely a childhood memory. I could actually see this story being part of a wonderfully entertaining young adult or children's novel, such is the pleasure of the text and the authenticity of the telling. Great work, Kayla!
Thanks to John, Kayla, Nynn, and Taliena for writing some fantastic posts last week!
We'll get back to more blog writing once we finish work on the midterm essays.
Writing Tip of the Week
Rough Drafts Can Be Fun and Easy
When writing rough drafts, you might find yourself thinking about what you ought to do. Stop thinking so hard! Choose what you love and go with your instincts. Practicing writing, reading published writing, and peer reviewing the work of your classmates are tasks that have prepared you well to jump right into this midterm assignment. There's nothing wrong with trying to develop three different posts... see which one starts to feel easiest to work with and choose later!
There's nothing wrong with taking a perfectly written/edited post from your blog, and adding little else if it already meets length requirements. That's the advantage of writing more thoroughly for your homework assignments! On the other hand, if you have more rough material from your posts than finished material, there's nothing wrong with cleaning up the phrasing, writing, organization, etc, in order to complete the strongest version of your essay. Do you see where I'm going with this? :-)
Only you can make this stressful, and only you can make it fun. I suggest you choose "fun". And if you have any questions along the way, I'm happy to assist you.
I'm looking forward to reading your rough drafts! Good luck!
-AP
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