Course Objective
The major objectives of English 218 are to teach the student, through directed
readings and writing, to continue to appreciate the literary components, complexity,
and craft of writing the family memoir or personal essay, to successfully explicate
creative nonfiction essays in meaningful discussions, and to create finished
essays of publishable quality.
Introduction
The objective above sounds terribly drab and sterile--a catalog description.
Consider, then, our exploration of writing in light of what others have said
about reading and writing:
- [Writing] is a pleasure, like making love. --a contemporary poet
- compared to philosophical discourse, writing is] more simple, sensuous
and passionate. --Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- [Writing] is simply the most beautiful, impressive and wisely effective
mode of saying things. --Matthew Arnold
- [Writing is] the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. --W. Wordsworth
(Quotations excerpted from Donald Hall's To Read a Poem.)
This course's business entails the writing (outside of class) of original creative
nonfiction essays that are geared toward telling the stories of oneself and
one's family. There will be several readings and critical/analytical discussions
to assist us in establishing the foundation for our own work. Class members
will critique each other's work toward revision of those works. During the
semester there will be weekly writing assignments, exercises, and longer projects,
as well as a minimum of two major nonfiction essays to be turned into the
workshop from each of you. I will NOT accept your essays all in the last week
or two of the semester. It’s best to simply make it a practice of turning in
some work every other week. Re-writes are highly encouraged. You may turn in
re-writes to me on an individual basis or even submit them to your peers for
their perspective. If you are "blocked" you should meet with me and I will suggest
some strategies and subjects to get the flow of memory and the imagination going
again. By the way, true writer's block is nothing less than THINKING, but at
some point thereafter, your instructor and peers expect something more tangible:
a hard (printed) copy of some writing.
Attendance and Class Participation
This class is asynchronous, which means that there will not be a specific
required meeting time online. However, you will be expected to login to the
class a minimum of 2 times each week during the course. Students who do not
login to the course for more than 5 consecutive days will be dropped from the
course with an "AW" (adminstrative withdraw).
This course is a convenient resource for the HCC community, but the mode of
delivery necessitates student enrollees who are self-motivated. From week to
week, you will want to make it a practice of turning in your writing and your
comments for other writers in the class. You are expected to prepare responses
thoroughly to any other student’s work that you’ve read for the upcoming "virtual"
class meeting so that you may participate in the discussion and offer suggestions
for revision. This class is ideal for those who are interested in being family
historians of sorts and who want to have feedback on some of their early work.
It’s my hope that you will be more interested in improving your writing rather
than getting an "A."
Honest Effort and Good Will
We will try to improve our critical thinking and understanding of creative
works, how they work and are best written, so that we may improve the writing
and revision of our own creative works. Please offer your comments and responses
without worrying whether you are 100% "correct"; as long as you are sincere
and your responses have been well considered (and of good will) you will learn
something for yourself in an exchange of comments, and you will be a good audience
for the writing under discussion.
Mechanics
Not every comment will be helpful or right, but the writer will use some
of your suggestions for the next draft of his/her writing. I will also return
a hard copy of your essays with my suggestions. Put your name on every copy
of your work, have a title (even if it's lousy or just a holding place). Remember,
titles are reader cues; they give us direction. Punctuation, spelling,
and word choice DO matter. Not long ago I taught another creative writing
workshop in which there was a reasonably talented writer who, much to the frustration
of other workshop participants, never edited his work for mechanical errors.
Eventually, his peers did not take him seriously and literally refused to read
his work because his sloppiness made them angry! They felt that he did
not care enough to present them with good quality, carefully crafted work.
Grades
It’s not really possible nor ethical for a professor to grade student work
based upon "creativity." Who is to say what is creative and what is not? Yet,
it is possible and appropriate for me to evaluate the effort and craft involved
in your writing. Last-minute, late-night submissions will exhibit writing analogous
to Swiss cheese. Mind you, I like Swiss cheese, but would appreciate it more
if there were fewer pockets of air and more substance. All work must
be completed in a timely manner in order for you to receive a passing grade
in the course.
Other Events
I may have a guest writer in to share his/her material. No doubt, there
will be a few readings offered this semester in our community. Those of us who
are able should attend, if not for the sheer pleasure, then to show support
for our extended community of writers.
