Schedule of Work for Spring 2014
Week One: "I'm a Writing Arts major, now what?"
January 27
Preparation (to-do before class)Monday, Jan. 27:
Nothing for the first day-- just show up. :) |
In class this weekMonday, Jan. 27: Introductions... your goals & ambitions. Why are you here; what do you want to gain? Thinking about the future-- next 5 weeks and beyond. About the course. Goals for the semester. Sign up for discussion leading.
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WEEK TWO: "Grad School? Which one? Why? Where? Wait..."
Monday, 2/10 & Wednesday 2/12
Preparation (to-do before class)Readings due for Monday, 2/10
blog entry due by class time today
Blog post due by class time today: Have you considered grad school? Why or why not? What factors drive you to pursue a higher education? What prevents you from wanting to pursue? What would/are you looking for in a graduate program? What do you still want to know about it? Discuss anything from the articles that stood out to you. Readings due for Wednesday, 2/12: (blog entry on readings due today)
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In Class this weekMonday, 2/10
Catch up day!
Nuts & bolts: have you set up your Weebly yet? Have you sent me the correct published link to your page? Trouble-shooting. Discuss terminology handout in groups. Your professional/scholarly self. What do you have? What do you need? Familiarizing yourself with terminology: MA, MFA, PhD, stipends, CV, cover letter, purpose/goal/personal statements, recommendations, writing samples, query letters, agents, web presence, and more. In class, we'll see what we know and what we need to cover. We will discuss your blog entries you wrote for today as well as the readings. Wednesday, 2/12 Discussion leaders: none Also... Let's consider: "College writing courses, as they are presently designed and taught, have nothing to do with the real world. The students who emerge from them think writing is all about self-expression and unfettered creativity and "pushing the envelope of the genre." Now, if you are intent on becoming the next great experimental novelist, and you don't want people corrupting your artistic vision with their crass commercialism, and you don't care what anyone has to say about writing … that's fine. On the other hand, if you don't care what anyone has to say, you wouldn't be reading this magazine. Would you? And you wouldn't necessarily be expecting to profit from writing." Look at Rowan's page with FAQs |
WEEK THREE "Publish or....?"
February 17-19
To prepare for class this weekReadings due for Monday, 2/17
& your choice of any (or all if you're feeling ambitious) of the following based on your writing area interests:
Wednesday, 2/19: Bring 2 copies of your current CV/resume to class. Blog entry on readings due by class time today Readings due
Additional Resources: Sample CV (very detailed sample) Sample Professions student sample (thanks, Jason) Another student sample Some sample query letters with feedback Sample MFA Statement of Purpose A few more clever personal statement samples Browse samples for inspiration: Anyone think they would submit a CV that looked like any of these? For a super creative job, a CV such as this could be an option... CV/résumé Query Letter Design Inspiration Forget Your Resume |
In class this weekIn-class 2/17:
Discussion leader(s) today: Rebecca & Laurie We will discuss the readings and your blog entries for today. Discussion topics including but not limited to online & print publication, freelance, agents, submission & rejection. Time permitting- take a look at CreateSpace. Wednesday, 2/19: Discussion leader(s) today: Sarah & Mat Bring a draft of your CV/resume to class today to discuss. Does your CV have what it takes right now to land a job/interview? In-class activity: Answer the following to aid you in recalling helpful information for your cover letter, personal statements, query letters, and more: Ask yourself some hard questions: a. Intellectual influences: Who were your favorite professors (and why)? Identify the best paper you ever wrote, the most influential book you have read, and the single most important concept you have learned. b. Encouragement: Recall and write out the actual words of a professor, teacher, or someone else in your life who encouraged you to go in this direction. c. Turning points: Where were you and what were you doing when you first thought of going in this particular direction? How have your interests evolved? d. Experiences: List volunteer, travel, family, and life experiences that have inspired you to go in this career direction. e. Academics: How have you prepared yourself to succeed? f. Skills: What skills have you honed through the experiential and educational choices you have made? g. Personal attributes: What personal attributes make you particularly likely to succeed? |
Week Four: Marketing yourself/your writing
February 24-26
To prepare for class this weekMonday, 2/24
blog post on readings due by class time today Readings due:
& your choice of any (or all if you're feeling ambitious) of the following:
Wednesday, 2/26: blog post due by class time today Readings due:
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In class this weekMonday, 2/24
Discussion leader(s) today: Allison & Maggie In-class activity to prepare for writing personal statements. In class we will discuss readings, your blog entries, and graduate school options and questions. What do you need to apply? Why apply? Wednesday 2/26: Discussion leader(s) today: Adriana & April Take a look at open internships In class, we will discuss the final portfolio/page as well as your reflective statements. For the final grade, I will be looking to see that your webpage contains tabs with the following:
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By the end of week 4, you should.......
Set up social networks & link to classmates. Let's start with everyone creating a Twitter account (even if only for the purposes of sharing your social networks). Once you have joined some of the networks below, you may tweet to the class #PWA with details.
Possibilities:
Possibilities:
- Writing Ever After
- Twitter-- a writerly identity separate from your personal identity
- Academia.edu
- Writer's Network
- Writer's Bloq: they are after the following three things:
- Editing and serious feedback on their work.
- Marketing.
- Validation.
- Suite101-- place for online journalists, freelancers and experts on various topics. Writers can get paid for posting original content, and the site offers a vast peer network.
- Book-in-a-week
- Writer's Cafe
- DeviantArt: "Their Literature section is host to user-written prose, poetry, scripts, and more. And just like other social sites, you can connect to others and share your work between friends and fans."
- Writertopia
- Scribd: "the best place on the web to share your work with others, and it’s incredibly simple to use, allowing you to upload PDFs, Word docs, or even PowerPoint presentations into online documents that anyone can read. Once you’ve connected with friends there, you can share your work with them, or discover great works by others and share that with your readers, too."
Week Five : Presentations
March 3-5
Be prepared this week to present to the class the information that you have compiled and researched on a given career in writing arts. Remember the following:
- Create a new link on your web page with your information
- Create a take away for students (typically a handout)
- Plan on no more than 15 minutes to present + time for questions
Final Course Evaluation
Please have all components required for the course posted to your course page by the end of March. Email me when you are ready for me to evaluate your page for your final grade, but please remember that grades for this course will not be posted until the end of the semester.
For the final grade, I will be looking to see that your webpage contains tabs with the following:
For the final grade, I will be looking to see that your webpage contains tabs with the following:
- your blog with all blog entries (about 6-7 total)
- your career tab with your presentation information
- a current CV/résumé
- links to at least three writing social networks you have joined
- a cover letter for an internship or other writing job (can be 'generic' or specific—see Internships page for some inspiration)
- EITHER a personal statement for graduate school OR a query letter for a piece you would like to publish
- Link to your final reflection:
- Please write approximately 500 words (about 2 double-spaced pages) explaining your newfound comprehension of Value 9, listed below. It can be written informally as a letter to me or more formally as if you were writing your analysis statement for Portfolio Seminar (this only applies to WA majors):
Value 9: Writing Arts students will have knowledge of the post-graduate options available to them in professions and/or graduate studies.
Outcome: Students will demonstrate familiarity with professions and/or post-graduate studies involving writing.
• How have you gained knowledge of the post-graduate options (professions, graduate studies, internships) available to you?
• How has the WA Program (or this class in particular) prepared you to work in a variety of fields?
• If you are also in education or another major, how can you apply what you have learned in this classes to your teaching profession?
• If you are also in education or another major, how has this class prepared you for professional options outside teaching?