English 111 Spring 2000                                                         
Instructor: Dr. Julie Barak
Office: 435 Lowell Heiny Hall                                                 
Phone: 248-1072
Office Hours: 1:00-2:00 M-Th
E-Mail: [email protected]                                               
Home Page: http://www.mesastate.edu/~jbarak

Click here to go to the in-class exercises.

Course Goals: 1) To develop a writing habit. 2) To practice several skills and techniques that are helpful in various stages of the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing. 3) To develop the ability to respond helpfully, analytically, and critically to the writing of others -- both peers and professionals. 4) To learn to accept and to respond in writing and through re-writing to others' comments about your work.

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Course Methods/Description: The course is designed as a writing/reading workshop. We will spend most of our days in class writing, reading our writing out loud, and discussing that writing. We will also read and discuss the work of several published writers. In order to be a successful member of this class, you must be prepared to write daily in and out of class, to read your work out loud to small groups of your classmates and to the class as a whole, to comment thoughtfully on the writing of others, and to accept and respond to others' comments about your own work. Participation in all of these activities is required from all members of the course. If you opt not to participate in the writing, sharing, or responding, you will fail the class.

Writing is a craft we can learn. It is also a means of exploring ourselves, our relationships with others, and with our world. Writing is a mind-expanding, exciting, risky business. Let's all take up the challenge of living a writer's life this semester. It will be worth the effort!

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 Texts and other Expenses:

Fiffer and Fiffer. Family: American Writers Remember Their Own.
Rorbach. Writing Life Stories.
Copies, occasionally
Loose leaf notebook paper for Journal

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 Requirments:

• Portfolio -- 15-20 pages of polished writing. In those 15-20 pages you must include the following: 1) a character sketch, including interview material, 2) summary of and response to another piece of writing, 3) a chunk of exposition and 4) a chunk of narrative -- action, scene, dialogue, dream, movement. Do a lot of journaling, collecting of pieces and parts, a lot of thinking and writing before you begin this drafting for this portfolio. I'd suggest waiting until at least the 8^th week of class before you started putting any drafts together. For the first several weeks, just write! 20% of your grade. Top of page.
• Ten Journals -- About five hours of writing each week using the exercises in Roorbach's text. These exercises will be the stuff, the guts, of your polished drafts. If you work on them seriously, you'll have tons of material to develop for the polished work of your portfolio. Beware the end of the semester if you don't do this five hours of writing each week. 50% of your grade -- 5 % each.  Top of page.
• Book report. -- Here are some possibilities for this report. Work with combinations of the suggestions. Each report must include some original writing. 1) Summarize the text you read. 2) Discuss the writer's voice and style. 3) Read a passage to us. Then, read a piece of your own writing which imitates that passage. 4) List 10 new words you learned from your reading. Define them for us and use them in a sentence in your own writing 5) Tell us what you learned about writing from reading this book. 6) List two or three beautiful sentences in the book. Discuss why they're so beautiful. 7) Find examples of exposition, scene, character development that you think are cool. Share them with the class. 8) Discuss how the writer uses outside sources in the book. Choose two or three of these options and develop a report on the book based on this thinking. 10% of your grade.  Top of page.
• Participation in class discussions. Share your reactions, your writing, your feelings, your knowledge, your questions. Volunteer to be first. Be the first person to respond to another reader. Wonder, explain, explore, discover, discuss. Talk about writing and reading with enthusiasm. Show through your comments and questions that you're dedicating yourself to the project of making yourself a writer this semester. Part of this grade depends upon attendance, of course. 20% of your grade. Top of page.
• See catalogue for College policies on Academic Honesty (page 34) and Disability Provisions (page 26).

Week One -- Jan 19^th - 24^th

Introductions
Chapter 1 of Roorbach

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Week Two -- Jan 24-28

Journal 1 Due:

1.. Where will you write?
2. Choose one book from his list at the end. Check it out of the library, order it from ILL, buy it from the bookstore. Read it and prepare a report on it by the end of the semester. In your Journal tell me what book you're going to be working with, why you chose it, and how you'll get a hold of it.
3. find 10-20 first lines. What's good about them?
4. Post your writing schedule in the journal. .

Chapter 2 of Roorbach

Introduction by Fiffer and Afterward by Smiley, as well as Staples and Chang-rae Lee

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 Week Three -- Jan 31 - Feb. 04

Journal 2 Due:

1. A map
2. Map Stories. Tell a few.
3. Your own Generic Disclaimer
4. A comment on your paragraphs and sentences
5. Time Lines
6. Time Line stories

Chapter 3 of Roorbach

Danticat and Phillips

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Week Four -- Feb 7-11

Conferences.

Journal 3 Due:

1. Pieces of exposition converted to scene
2. Search for voice over
3. Crack open a scene
4. Explore a film -- report on what you observe about scenes. Build or revise one of your own scenes to fit.
5. Sit and observe. Revise using your senses.

Chapter 4 of Roorback

Bernardo and Dybek

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 Week Five -- Feb. 14-18

Journal 4 Due:

1. Automatic Writing
2. Through the eyes of a friend
3. On ______________
4. On _________________+ high exposition
5. Left-Brain Workout
6. On ___________ Again
7. List of what you know
8. What you learned loafing

Chapter 5 of Roorbach

Donofrio, Tannen and hooks

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 Week 6 -- Feb. 21 - 25

Journal 5 Due:

1. Your life -- The Cast
2. Character Traits
3. Relationships and Drama
4. Make them Talk
5. Monologue
6. Add the Stage Business
7. Put your character in action -- (un/non)description