Wednesday, Sept. 24: Personal Essay--First Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)
Thursday, Sept. 25: Quiz, Anglo-Saxon background material
- textbook pp. 23-27 and definitions p. 41
- the hand-out on Anglo-Saxon poetry terms (a longer list than on p. 41)
- the 7-page introduction by David Adams Leeming ((hand-out)
- in-class supplemental lecture notes
Wednesday, Oct. 1: Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)
Catching Up--
Friday in class--
- A bit more cultural information on the Celts (see sliding board . . . material still there)
- The first "invasion"--the Romans--but the bottom line is that though the Romans arrived in Britain by 43 A.D. and stayed until 410, their presence was really an "occupation." I will ask you tomorrow to summarize why that is a plausible claim.
Week-end homework--
To be working on the personal essay; hopefully you were able to churn out some form of draft, however imperfect it may be! Now you have a couple of evenings to make it much better.
TODAY IN CLASS
"The Wanderer" (pp. 108-111) --the second of the three "Exeter Book" short poems in the textbook.
Students read the poem and answered nine study guide questions. Most students turned in in at the end of class. If you didn't finish, here is a link to a PDF file of the Exeter Book poems in the text; you'll have to scroll to "The Wanderer": The Exeter Book Poems
FOR TOMORROW
Yep, keep working on the paper. Here are five dimensions or parameters to keep in mind, whatever your actual topic is:
1) the OPENING.
The essay needs to engage the reader straight from the start. How you do this will vary by topic, but your essay needs to start at a high interest level that genuinely encourages even tired, over-burdened readers of thousands of applications to become focused on yours.
2) ORIGINALITY vs. PREDICTABILITY.
There is a certain "sameness" that goes with various kinds of experience that does become familiar to readers who have read thousands of personal essays written by 18-year-olds. You are unique, but the student accounts of various experiences sometimes sound eerily the same. The best way to avoid that is to focus on small slices of experience; the angle or perspective you choose, and the details you develop, will have a greater chance of being fresh. As advised with the "mission trip essay," for example, don't try to write the entire narrative; select a much narrower focal point to describe and reflect upon--hopefully avoiding the sameness that too often blurs these essays into the fill-in-the blank template we "wrote" together in class.
3) INSIGHT INTO THE WRITER
Whatever the prompt, the most important subject matter is YOU. Readers want to know you better after reading your essay, and this means more than realizing that you had predictable emotions after a certain experience. All strong personal essays amount, in one way or another, to a window into your character and/or "what makes you tick." So one tip I have is that right now, before continuing tonight, you jot down somewhere the 2 or 3 insights that you would hope your reader gains about you. I don't mean that your essay should identify or label explicit character traits, but I do mean that after reading a solid personal essay, the reader should be able to recognize some significant aspects of your make-up. Then make sure your essay contains the material that would help your readers see what you want them to know about you.
4) DETAILED vs GENERIC
This dimension is related to some of the others, but it focuses on the means of achieving interest, originality, insight, etc. Good writing always needs detail, example, illustration, precise description, etc., to be effective, but sometimes people who can write a powerful, well-supported argumentative essays or literary analysis shy away from the specifics that are needed to "personalize" the personal essay.
5) LIVELY, ENGAGING STYLE
Word choice: vivid, precise, rich . . . Don't be a walking thesaurus, and I know you want to keep your own "voice," but stretch yourself a bit!! Sound like you belong in college. :) (But remember the specificity and details mentioned in #4; you can't just dress up flat writing with fancy words.)
Sentence style: Remember that varied sentence length usually relies on varied complexity. Try to balance complex and sophisticated syntax with simpler, incisive, memorable text. Don't overthink this as you write your first draft, but keep it in mind as you revise.
Figurative language: Effective use of occasional figurative language is an asset; strained effort or relying on cliches can backfire. This is also an area to focus on between the first and second drafts more than in the first draft.
FOR TOMORROW
Yep, keep working on the paper. Here are five dimensions or parameters to keep in mind, whatever your actual topic is:
1) the OPENING.
The essay needs to engage the reader straight from the start. How you do this will vary by topic, but your essay needs to start at a high interest level that genuinely encourages even tired, over-burdened readers of thousands of applications to become focused on yours.
2) ORIGINALITY vs. PREDICTABILITY.
There is a certain "sameness" that goes with various kinds of experience that does become familiar to readers who have read thousands of personal essays written by 18-year-olds. You are unique, but the student accounts of various experiences sometimes sound eerily the same. The best way to avoid that is to focus on small slices of experience; the angle or perspective you choose, and the details you develop, will have a greater chance of being fresh. As advised with the "mission trip essay," for example, don't try to write the entire narrative; select a much narrower focal point to describe and reflect upon--hopefully avoiding the sameness that too often blurs these essays into the fill-in-the blank template we "wrote" together in class.
3) INSIGHT INTO THE WRITER
Whatever the prompt, the most important subject matter is YOU. Readers want to know you better after reading your essay, and this means more than realizing that you had predictable emotions after a certain experience. All strong personal essays amount, in one way or another, to a window into your character and/or "what makes you tick." So one tip I have is that right now, before continuing tonight, you jot down somewhere the 2 or 3 insights that you would hope your reader gains about you. I don't mean that your essay should identify or label explicit character traits, but I do mean that after reading a solid personal essay, the reader should be able to recognize some significant aspects of your make-up. Then make sure your essay contains the material that would help your readers see what you want them to know about you.
4) DETAILED vs GENERIC
This dimension is related to some of the others, but it focuses on the means of achieving interest, originality, insight, etc. Good writing always needs detail, example, illustration, precise description, etc., to be effective, but sometimes people who can write a powerful, well-supported argumentative essays or literary analysis shy away from the specifics that are needed to "personalize" the personal essay.
5) LIVELY, ENGAGING STYLE
Word choice: vivid, precise, rich . . . Don't be a walking thesaurus, and I know you want to keep your own "voice," but stretch yourself a bit!! Sound like you belong in college. :) (But remember the specificity and details mentioned in #4; you can't just dress up flat writing with fancy words.)
Sentence style: Remember that varied sentence length usually relies on varied complexity. Try to balance complex and sophisticated syntax with simpler, incisive, memorable text. Don't overthink this as you write your first draft, but keep it in mind as you revise.
Figurative language: Effective use of occasional figurative language is an asset; strained effort or relying on cliches can backfire. This is also an area to focus on between the first and second drafts more than in the first draft.
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