WRIT 121 Week 2 Online Activities/Writing Exercises

Although you want to read this page online in order to explore links, consider printing these instructions and then check each step when completed.

Online Activities/Writing Exercises for Week 2

(Tip: the page links in the table of contents below is to help jump to a specific task in this assignment. I suggest you read through the page first and use the table when you need to review a specific section.)

Introduction

As your Syllabus states, ten percent of your grade is based on the online activities and writing exercises.

For week 2, we're going to include

three writing exercise assignments
Writer's Café
Online Activity letter

Do note that the order I present these may vary from week to week, depending on what we're doing.

Connections between assignments:

busywork: "Activity meant to take up time but not necessarily yield productive results." American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd ed.

I remember a German course in high school where we spent a week stacking toy canned goods on desks. I didn't learn much in that class!

Everything that you do in our course is connected--all for the purpose of making you a better writer.

For example, the reading you do in our texts prepares you for all of the activities--writing exercises, online activities, and letter.
And these activities help prepare for the essay assignments you write during the semester, the first beginning next week.
And the essay assignments prepare you for the portfolio at the end of the semester.

However, if you look at each individual task separately, you might think of them as busywork.

Therefore, I suggest you keep in mind the connections between the assignments to get more out of this learning experience. So that they can "yield productive results" in your writing.

Step 1: Write exercises 1, 2 and 3 as noted below:

Done___

Exercise 1: Answer the two following prompts.
1. What do you find difficult about writing? Do you have a problem finding subjects to write about? Or do you have trouble getting motivated? Or does something about the act of writing itself cause problems for you? Explain in your own words by writing quickly for five minutes without stopping.
2. What kind of writing do you most enjoy doing? What do you like about it: Communicating? Exploring a subject? Playing with words? Something else?*

*From Toby Fulwiler's Working Writer, 4th ed.

Done___

Exercise 2: Compare your own writing attitudes and experiences with writing to what Bauman discusses in chapter 1.

Start by choosing a point that Bauman makes--a sentence or two--and quote it. And don't forget to use "quotation marks" and include the page number where you found the quotation.

Then explain how your experience either supports or counters the quotation.

Be specific with vivid details to back up your point concerning writing. Notice that you are using what Bauman talks about in chapter 2 concerning ideas and details.

Done___

Exercise 3: Respond to Bauman's appendix--"The Real Rules for Writing Classes (and Maybe Life)."

First off, finish the final entries at the bottom of the page. For your professor's rules, you can pick out anything in the syllabus, assignment pages, or take a peek ahead at the virtual lecture on academic essays, Part 1.

Next, choose one of the "real rules" and write nonstop for five minutes about what the rule means. Particularly try to focus on a specific experience that illustrates (or counters) the rule.

Note: You will benefit from completing these exercises early in the week so that you can participate in step 2 below.

See step 6 below about how to submit these to me.

Done___

Step 2: Post a response to the Writer's Café.

Complete step 2 by Thursday midnight.

Please share a point from exercises 1, 2 or 3 in Step 1 above that you think will be interesting for your class members, and explain why you consider the point intriguing.

Please do not copy and paste a full writing exercise.

Rather choose a point you make that you consider significant, interesting, curious, unique, surprising or unusual.

Now some of you might think that nothing in your writing exercises could be described with these adjectives.

Then choose something that comes closest.

Done___

Step 3: Reply in the Writer's Café.

Read what other class members have posted in the Writer's Café and reply to them when you feel you can add to the asynchronous conversation.

You can

point out similarities,
identify differences,
ask questions, or
note insightful points.

You also need to explain why you think so with support from your own experiences and observations, or from Bauman, the author of Ideas & Details.

Note: you can reply

to other class members' initial postings,
to replies to your initial posting,
to replies to other class members' initial postings,
to replies of replies to your initial posting or other
class member's initial postings.

To anything any one of us posts.

You will need to reply at least twice to fulfill attendance requirements. Although you may enjoy replying more times.

And you will likely find yourself writing a stronger letter (and earning more points) with fuller participation.

Done___

Step 4: Write Online Activity letter

Tell me about your experience in discussing writing and the writing process with the whole class in Writer's Café.

What did you learn about your audience, and what did you learn about writing through your participation?

I would like you to include quotations from those you respond to. You should be able to copy text from Netscape or Internet Explorer from the Edit pull down menu.

And make sure to use names, so it is clear whom you are talking about.

Done___

Step 5: Send me your writing exercises and letter

Do not send me the letter and writing exercises through email.

Instead, use the letter drop box found at Pages & Workspaces>Week 2>Letter-exercise drop box.

Attach your letter. And make sure you first save the letter in rich text format (RTF) before sending.

These writing exercises and letter are due by Saturday midnight, 9/8/2007.

It is true that you have a 24 hour grace period for the letter and exercises (see the syllabus about our late policy), but this doesn't extend to the online activities. The Writer's Café initial responses and replies will earn no points if completed past Saturday midnight.

Grading letters/discussions/exercises

Again, as your syllabus states,

Each letter and exercise is worth up to 10 points.

In your letter,

a hundred words expressing your thoughts about your participation in the activities and what you learned will earn you 7 points.

You'll need to write two-hundred words or more with insight and thoughtfulness and you will need to participate beyond the minimum requirements in the online activities to earn the 10 points.

For discussions

7 points if you fulfill the minimum requirements.

8-10 points when your responses are fully developed, make effective use of our texts, present insightful observations, and reply to others well beyond the minimum required.

For your writing exercises,

a 100-word response for each exercise will earn you a maximum of 7 points per exercise.

a more thorough, thoughtful analysis beyond 200 words will earn the 10 points per exercise.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call me or e-mail me. My phone number and office hours are right above the Table of Contents on the Online Syllabus and under faculty information in Angel. I do have voice mail for my phone if I'm not in.

[Calendar] [Syllabus] [Angel] [What's New]

Introduction	Exercise 1	Exercise 2	Exercise 3	Writer's Café posting
Writer's Café Reply	Online activity letter	Send letter/ex	Grading

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Created by Dan Holt 9/2/1997
Revised 05 September 2007 01:43 PM -0400