(The) Writer's Mind: Assignments
Unit 1: the Complaint Narrative
In this unit we will begin to inquire into and practice writing with the generic conventions of narrative, with the aim to open up new possibilities for being a writer.
After preparing an introductory essay, you will investigate and practice writing four core conventions of narrative in the Complaint Narrative, distinctions that you will continue to work with in each and every writing assignment:
Using your own writing, we will work to develop and deepen your understanding of the rhetorical nature of narrative; we will work to develop a language we will use together as a class to reflect on writing during the workshops.
Unit 2: The Memento ProjectIn this unit you will have one significant writing assignment that will permit some “on the court” practice with these core conventions of narrative: the Observation Assignment. Building from the Complaint Narrative, this assignment will require you to design, encounter, and reflect on a particular and “real” situation where what was previously “invisible” in its everydayness becomes visible in a way that opens up a new insight for you and your audience.
Then you will continue your inquiry into your identity as a writer by uncovering the origins of the narratives you perform within your various communities, which process will involve several steps that will require your continuous attention throughout the unit. The Memento Project provides a comprehensive description of all the stages of writing you will do for this unit, including the instructions for the Network of Conversations that you will put together in your Writer's Notebook.
The stages of the Memento Project will comprise the method of inquiry we are using to uncover and compose numerous narratives you tell about yourself, and you are invited to investigate the impact these narratives have on you as a writer. You will be writing three sets of narratives that will then become the material for Unit 4, the Lyric Essay: "recent," "success," and "cause" narratives. The aim of writing these narratives is for you to attempt to reveal the formation of identity in a narrative that selectively combines the recent, success, and cause narratives, so that identity may be the object of reflective inquiry in the Lyric Essay. Unit 3: The Lyric EssayIn this unit you will begin to take creative ownership of your identity as a writer through performing a significant revision of your combination narrative into a multi-genre lyric essay.
The method of revision we will explore begins with interrogating the nature of superstition and to what degree we are superstitious. This lyric revision will require both global and stylistic transformations, with the aim for you to bring out a new level of reflection distinct from mere exposition. Tools we will use to assist us in writing in the lyric genre include thinking about register, and intensive practice with increasing your repertoire of sentence types you can write with. The Cover MemoYou will write the cover memo after you’ve written the major writing assignments: this memo describes the contents of your portfolio, how you revised and composed the items within the portfolio (what challenges you grappled with, and how you worked through them), why you revised as you did, what impact performing this revision had on you. Ultimately, you will share who you are as a writer.
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