Final Book Club Blog 4/14

At this point you should be finished with your book. What are your final thoughts? What do you think about the writing style? The way the book ended?

Feature Samples

The links below connect to some feature stories written by previous students of this class.

Succeed With Weed- Brian McAvoy


Double Detox- Chelsea Derochea

Journey to the End of the Pole- Jessica Pascucci

Blog post due 4/2

For this weeks book club blog post I want you to think about what kinds of outside research might help you understand the content of the book better and/or supplement your reading. Make a list of topics. 

Blog Post for 3/26 Book Club #4

At this point in your book club book what do you think the theme is. Please support this with evidence from the text. Do not forget to respond to at least one classmate.

Blog Post for 3/19

Based on the reading we have done this week, what differences and similarities are there between newspaper and magazine features? Be sure to respond to at least two classmates. Try to use examples from our reading or other sources you are aware of.

Blog Post for 3/5

What is your Talk of the Town example about (include a link to it if you can) and why is it considered a Talk of the Town essay? What do you notice about the writers style? What kind of research does the writer do?

Don't forget to respond to at least one classmate.

Blog Post Online Class 2/26

Based on your reading in Telling True Stories for today, answer the following:

1. How does a writer find a good topic? What are you thinking of writing about for your Talk of the Campus/Town?

2. Of the 10 narrative writing tips Kramer gives, which do you think is the most important and why?

Please respond to at least 2 of your classmates posts. Your initial post is due by Sunday, and your responses by classtime Tuesday.

Blog for 2/26

What do you notice about the author's writing style in your book club book so far? Think about the topics we have discuss in class: voice, character, simplicity, words, unity, etc.

Please respond to at least one of your book club group member's responses.

Blog for 2/19 due by 2/20

What expectations or assumptions do you have for your book club book? What do you think will happen in the text?

Please respond to at least one peer who is in your book club group.

Blog due 2/12

By this point you should have started your profile essay and, hopefully, already did an interview. Regardless of what stage you are at with your essay, I am sure you are thinking about how you will organize your narrative, build your characters, create unity, build scene, and, most importantly, kee your readers interested. I would like you to draft one paragraph of your essay here. It can be any part: intro, body, conclusion. The goal is to begin thinking about the way this will be written and get some feedback before the draft is due in a week from myself and your peers.

Blog Due 2/5: Profile

Using the list of possible profile subjects you created in class on Tuesday, please select the one you have decided to write your first paper about. Write a paragraph introducing your subject, including the things you already know about this person, why you selected this person, and what you want to learn about this person.

Remember to post by classtime Thursday and respond to at least one classmate.

Bits and Pieces

Zinsser's chapter on "Bits and Pieces" covers a lot. And I mean a lot. I am sure you all noticed it was the longest chapter you read. I really think of it as the place where the writer shoved all the other things he wanted to cover that didn't fit into a chapter of its own. What I want to point out are, what I think, the most important parts of that chapter.

1. Active Verbs- When you use a verb make sure its active. This means one word is showing all the action. For example: The students are taught by the professor. This is a passive verb. Instead write The professor taught the students.

2. Adverbs are useless. If you have a good active verb you do not need adverbs.

3. Zinnser finds adjectives equally as useless as adverbs. If you are using adjectives make sure they are concrete and useful. For example pretty means nothing to your reader because everyones idea of what is pretty is different.

4. No exclamation points. I myself am a stickler for this. Exclamation points are the most useless piece of punctuation ever. Allow your word choices to convey the emotion you need.

Feel free to respond with any other thoughts or parts of the chapter you think were important.

Online Class Blog Assignment

I have placed each student into a group according to a chapter title (I will cover the Bits and Pieces section):

ch. 1 Transaction
Dylan
Jared
Laurel
Danny


ch. 2 Simplicity
Liz
Heather
Michelle
Pat


ch. 6 Words
Carla
NIck
Carly
Katya


ch. 8 Unity
Richard
Evan
Kevin Ward


Ch. 9 Lead and Ending
Niko
Zach
Jordan
Kevin Wery

Based on your assigned group you must write a short paragraph response about what one thing from the chapter you found most important and why. Think about what you thought was the most important tip Zinnser gave about your assigned topic. Please title your post with the chapter topic. Again, this must be completed by Friday night.

 You then must respond to at least one post from each group (including your own) by Sunday night. 

Blog writing prompt due 2/3

This week we have been reading in Zinnser's On Writing Well about methods, principles, and attitudes in writing non-fiction. Please choose one of the chapter topics: transaction, simplicity, words, unity, or lead and ending. Then find a sample paragraph from an essay online that does a good or bad job using the advice Zinnser gave. Please post the sample and discuss what was done well or poorly based on the topic you choose. Comment on this post with your response. Do not forget to comment on a classmates response. 

We will use blogs to reflect on the reading, writing, and discussion we do in class this semester. Details of blog requirements can be found on the course website under assignments then blogs.  Blogs should create a conversation outside of the walls of our classroom. In addition, be sure to take advantage of the affordances blogs have to offer. Use hyper links to link to material on other places of the web and put images, video, and any thing else available to you in your blog posts. Most importantly, have fun blogging!