Course: Writing Styles and Forms

 

Who should take this course:
Senior or some Junior students who have completed Intermediate Composition and show a strong desire to improve their writing abilities. These students should want to and expect to write everyday in class.

 

Course focus/ umbrella questions:
Students will be able to write for a variety of purposes by planning, drafting, editing, monitoring, and publishing.

 

Non-negotiable assignments required of all students who take this course:

• Journal writing
• How to paper
• Factual narrative
• Childhood memory
• Supporting a generalization based on literature
• Literary analysis
• Poetry study
• Poetry project
• Peer critiquing
• Self critiquing
• Independent Project

 

 Required reading:

• Telling Writing by Ken Macrorie
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

 

Student Expectations:
Students who take Writing Styles and Forms will be expected to write in their journals every day. They will actively participate in the writing process for each writing assignment. They will read two novels, a variety of poems and short stories. They will write about the literature and produce a poetry project. The students will also be responsible for designing and producing an Independent writing project.

 

What makes this class different from other writing courses?

This class is different because, to a degree, the students will decide what they will write about. While they must follow the guide lines for the specific assignment i.e. the childhood memory, they may choose any aspect of the assignment to concentrate on. The students will also participate in a writer’s circle. All students will at one time or another during the semester, submit a piece of writing to the writer’s circle, read it aloud to the group, and listen for comments and criticism from their peers. Perhaps the greatest difference between Writing Styles and Forms and say Essay writing is that Writing Styles and Forms students will have experience with a variety of writing forms not just the essay.

 

Any other relevant and important course related information?
Students who possess the strong desire to improve their writing should take Writing Styles and Forms. Students who enjoy good literature and find pleasure in writing about it should take Writing Styles and Forms. Students who want to share and see the value in peer critique should take Writing Styles and Forms. For the student who is self motivated and can work independently, Writing Styles and Forms is the course for you.