RWS305W Module 4 The Pessimist Student Prompt

RWS305W SDSU Mod 4 The Pessimist Student Prompt Paper

RWS 305W Online Journaling: An Exercise in Revision and Reflection

 This summer we have been journaling twice weekly to push our thinking, explore ourselves and our minds, and make sense of the world around us. In class this term, we have approached various genres in order to understand how “real” world writers write and discern common elements across multiple models of any given text type – letters, profiles, resumes, blogs. Often as writers, we struggle to take our best ideas, our most instinctual writing and make it public.

For this assignment, I want you to select one journal entry and make it “audience ready” by crafting it into a new piece of writing that conforms to the genre of your choice. Your journal entry as it stands now is a starting place, not an end product. It is your job in this assignment to take an idea, issue, prompt or response you like from your journal and transform it into something with a larger meaning an audience will understand.

This field is wide open! You can write for any genre you choose from the list here, or seek approval for an alternate style not listed.

o Profile, photo essay, memoir, manifesto, speech, satire, obituary, news article, advertisement, infographic, a dictionary or encyclopedia entry, character analysis, how-to column, editorial argument, a “This I Believe” statement, letter (any kind – letter to editor, friend, organization), you can even “rewrite” a Kellner prompt and make it your own.

o Creative text like a one act play, poem, short story, comic strip, a myth, fairy tale, song lyrics

o You may choose a more abbreviated or electronic medium to make your statement such as an Instagram post, a Facebook status update, web page, blog, a very creative and thoughtful Tweet or other approved format – but you must also provide proof of publication if you select this shorter format including a screen shot and public link.

Tips:

Formatting should be dictated by the genre you choose (and you will likely have to investigate and research the “rules” of a new genre); you can pick from any prompt in the Hank Kellner’s Write What You See folder or from your own responses, even if they were “off-prompt”; 25% of your grade on this assignment is the reflection. The grading criterion revolves around the success, form, impact and creativity of your writing in the genre you select.

 Journal Revision is due Sunday, July 7, 11:59 pm via the Turnitin link under Module 4.

Writer’s Reflection: 25% of your Module 4 Grade

 In your Turnitin submission, please answer the following questions. You are being evaluated on your thoughtfulness and thoroughness, not on whether I agree with your answers.

Which prompt/week/topic did you select? Why? What about this particular prompt sparked your thinking?

Which genre did you employ for this assignment? Why?

Discuss how your submitted piece evolved; what kind of steps and thinking did you employ to transform your 15 minute journal entry into something new?

Do you think that your attitude toward writing has changed or evolved in these six short weeks? Explain.

What have you learned about writing in 305 -- the process, the product, and what good writing looks like?

Is the piece you submitted today “audience ready?” For whom? What aspect of this piece are you most proud of?