BLOG ASSIGNMENTS: ENGLISH COMPOSITION I (Adapted for Online Course)
***Adapted for Online Course: Your final portfolio should provide 7 blog posts: 1-7. For our online course, I eliminated our original blog assignments 7- 13, and I changed blog assignment #14 to blog assignmnet #7. This renumbering should make it easier for us to keep track of the blog assignments required in the final portfolio you submit by 11:59 pm on Monday, May 11.
Need help creating a Weebly blog post? Please review these links:
Need help creating a Weebly blog post? Please review these links:
Week 1
Blog Assignment #1
Blog Assignment #1
- Blog Title: The Proust Questionnaire
- Blog Category: Identity
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your first blog post when the deadline is provided.
- Please read The Proust Questionnaire and Marcel Proust Biography
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides a link to The Proust Questionnaire.
- Copy and paste the questionnaire into your blog post.
- Answer each question in a few sentences. Feel free to skip any questions you consider too personal to share with the public.
- Here is a student sample of this assignment:
Week 2
Blog Assignment #2
Blog Assignment #2
- Blog Title: Creating my Multimodal Website
- Blog Category: Multimodal
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your second blog post when the deadline is provided.
- Print out, read, and annotate these texts:
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides links to the four readings.
- Write a 450-word response to these questions:
- Why are we creating a website for our English Composition I course?
- How do Ball and Charlton define "multimodal" writing?
- Do you agree with Ball and Charlton when they claim "all writing is multimodal"?
- As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the five modes on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each mode ranking.
- What does the C.R.A.P. acronym stand for?
- As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the four C.R.A.P. principles of design on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each design principle ranking.
- What are the seven sample criteria Borton and Huot suggest writers use to assess a multimodal composition?
- Do the Borton-and-Huot criteria seem similar or different from the criteria we would use to assess a traditional print essay? Why or why not?
Week 3
Blog Assignment #3
Blog Assignment #3
- Blog Title: A Letter to my Author-Self
- Blog Category: Identity
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your third blog post at the end of week 3:
- Print out, read, and annotate this text:
- Please read these texts as needed -- so you can build your genre awareness of letters-to-self:
- 5 Reasons to Write a Letter to Yourself (and How to Do It)
- 3 Ways to Master the Power of Empathy in your Writing (Karen Hertzberg)
- How to Write a Victim Empathy Letter (Jayne Thompson)
- 3 Perfect Examples of How to Write an Apology Letter (Karen Hertzberg)
- A Motivational Letter to Myself (Jenna Terek)
- My Breakthrough Moment: Writing a Letter to My Younger Self (Kayla Matthews)
- Write a 50-word introduction that connects the theme from A Fable for the Living to your own letter.
- Write a 450-word letter that includes the following:
- A greeting to author-self: Dear [insert your author-self name]
- A metaphor that shows the relationship shared between you and your author-self. Use this passage as a model:
- "Do you know what it feels like? Shall I describe it for you? It feels like the two of us got on a boat together, and the deck tossed me into the water, and you went sailing away without me. Thrown overboard--that's how it feels."
- An apology, empathy statement, or motivational language to connect with your author-self
- Three-step plan to interact with your author-self on a consistent basis for the rest of the semester.
- A closing: Sincerely [insert your name].
- Click here for a video explanation of this blog assignment.
Week 4
Blog Assignment #4
Blog Assignment #4
- Blog Title: Writing Process Roundtable
- Blog Category: Writing Process
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your second blog post at the end of Week 4.
- Print out, read, and annotate these texts:
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides links to the three readings.
- Use description to set a scene for a writers' roundtable discussion about the writing process.
- Provide 3 quotes about the writing process from each reading. A total of 9 quotes. Remember to attribute the writer by inserting his/her name in the dialogue.
- Provide your own three quotes about your writing process.
- Your blog post should provide 12 total quotes (9 from the sources and 3 from you).
- Here are student samples of this assignment:
- Click here for a video explanation of this assignment.
Week 5
Blog Assignment #5
Blog Assignment #5
- Blog Title: Composing an Emotional Scene with Dialogue and Symbolism
- Blog Category: Narrative
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your blog post at the end of week 5:
- Print out, read, and annotate:
- Use this document to help you explore the readings: Narrative Writing, Creative Nonfiction, and Memoir. You are not required to submit this document to your instructor.
- Write a 50-word introduction that connects an emotional theme or themes from My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou) and Hills Like White Elephants to a theme in your narrative scene.
- Compose a 450-word scene that shows the reader an emotional moment you shared with someone in your life.
- Please include dialogue. Use this article as a resource: How to Format Dialogue
- Please include at least one symbolic detail. Use this article as a resource: Symbolism
- Appeal to the five senses to animate the moment.
- Remember: Description + Action + Theme = Scene.
- Please include at least one photo that shows a concrete or symbolic aspect of your written scene.
- Here are student samples of the assignment:
- Click here for video explanation of the assignment.
Week 6
Blog Assignment #6
Blog Assignment #6
- Blog Title: Telling Myself a Different Story: A Memoir Counterfactual
- Blog Category: Narrative
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your blog post at the end of week 6:
- Interpret these texts:
- Compose a 50-word introduction that provides the 1) focus of the blog post and 2) links to the texts and your narrative project web page.
- Compose a 450-word counterfactual to your blog #5 scene -- or -- to your memoir's main scene. In this counterfactual, I ask you to "imagine how things could have turned out differently" in your chosen scene. The counterfactual could emerge as a narrative scene that shows us the alternate experience, a reflection that tells us about the alternate experience, or a hybrid of both showing and telling (scene and reflection) of the alternate experience. To generate material for this assignment, consider the following:
- Explore the "what ifs" of your story (likely focusing on the action in your memoir). What if I hadn't done [finish thought]? What if I had acted this way instead? What if I had made this choice?
- What are the possible alternative endings to your story?
- How might you rewrite the dialogue or lack of dialogue in your story?
Week 15
Blog Assignment #7: You can write a reflection OR post a video. You choose what works best for you.
Blog Assignment #7: You can write a reflection OR post a video. You choose what works best for you.
- Blog Title: Final Reflection: Composing GRITT
- Blog Category: Reflection
- Blog Text: Please compose written text for your blog or vlog discussion in a Google document and complete the following:
- Interpret these texts:
- Write an introduction that provides the focus of the blog post and links to Reflective Writing and Genres in Academic Writing: Reflection.
- Please reference and spell out the GRITT acronym. Feel free to discuss how we enact GRITT to transform our relationship with writing.
- Compose a five-to-ten minute video reflection about your experiences in this class. Consider specific assignments, specific readings/films, specific conversations, and/or specific processes that helped you learn and grow. You could begin or end this conversation by answering this question: What do you consider to be your signature growth experience as a writer in this course?
- Please do not write about the merits of the course or your course grade. Rather, focus on these five components:
- Your Genre awareness. What is genre awareness? How has it changed in this course? Please discuss the genres of your memoir and either your MLA research paper or your op-ed.
- Your Rhetorical awareness: What is rhetorical awareness? How has it changed in this course? How did you apply rhetorical awareness in your research project writing? Here are helpful resources: What is Rhetoric? / Exigence in Rhetoric (ThoughtCo.) / Rhetorical Purpose / Rhetorical Modes
- Your Identity as an author: How are your past academic writing experiences different from your present experiences with writing in this course? How are the past and present experiences the same? How has it changed in this course? Include a conversation about naming and establishing a relationship with your author-self. Also discuss some or all of the following: being a blogger/vlogger, web site author, memoirist, research author, reflective author, found poet, counter-narrative writer, etc.
- Your Theory of writing. How has this course impacted the way you define and value writing? Which composition concepts/terms do you most value? Include a one-sentence thesis or tag line that represents your theory.
- Your Transfer of writing to future writing situations. How do you plan to use your growing writing knowledge to compose texts in future academic and non-academic contexts? Include a discussion about your writing processes, writing mindset/author identity, genre awareness, and rhetorical awareness. Conclude the conversation with a future scene of writing to illustrate how you might enact writing transfer in a different context.
- Click here for a video explanation of this assignment.
Blog Assignment #8 (OPTIONAL): You can write a reflection OR post a video. You choose what works best for you.
- Blog Title: My Experiences during the Coronavirus Crisis
- Blog Category: Reflection
- Blog Text: Please compose written text for your blog or vlog discussion in a Google document and complete the following:
- If you want, please complete a blog post (written text or video recording) that responds to this prompt: The coronavirus pandemic has affected me this way....
- Suggestions for content: In the post, you can talk about how this pandemic impacted your personal emotions, your personal life, your learning and ability to complete work for school, etc. You could write poetry or perform a song or post photos/drawings, etc. There is no wrong for this assignment. I think it would be powerful now and in the future (when you look back on this five years from now) to have a record of your experiences in this unprecedented time.
- If you want, please complete a blog post (written text or video recording) that responds to this prompt: The coronavirus pandemic has affected me this way....