Phill's WRA 150 notes from 9/13/10

2. TODAY Icebreaker How’s it going? Where do we want to go next? Project 1: Brainstorming (free writing) Discussing the readings Activity (leading into homework) Making project: examples/discussion The big send-off

3. ICEBREAKER Put these on your Tumblr as an extra quick post. Tell us the first piece of music you bought with money you made yourself. Also post a photo of yourself to your Tumblr, unless that makes you uncomfortable. And no fair judging Phill because his was Please, Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘em by MC Hammer.

4. CHECKING IN Let’s take a quick chance to touch base.How is everyone doing? Any concerns? Any questions about how class functions/will continue to work?

5. RELATED TO THAT I wanted to take some time to ask how you’re feeling about the readings and resources so far. Do you, as a group, like the tone of the readings? Would you prefer stuff that is more scientific, or more something else? Is the rhythm of the blogging and posting to forums making sense to everyone?Do you like working in pairs?

6. PROJECT 1 What I’d like for us to do is spend some time free-writing to develop some ideas. This is a method of brainstorming/invention that you can use for any piece of writing. The prompts start on the next slide. Write in response to each prompt for 5 minutes. Do not stop writing, even if you end up repeating yourself. Don’t stop to go back and correct errors. Just write for five minutes while thinking about the question.

7. ASSIGNMENT REMINDER The goal of this first unit is to talk about ourselves, and I’ve given you the very loose theme of making lists of things we like. So here’s what I want you to do for your first project. You are to write a narrative (which is a chronological story, basically, we’ll talk more about this in class) about a time that you used a list in some educated way to achieve some goal/do some sort of work.

8. PROMPT 1 I know many of you have chosen a tentative list to use, but even if you have, go ahead and do this part (you can then sub in the list idea you have in mind): Make a list, writing as fast as you can, of all the lists you can think of that you have made, times when you have used a list, times when you have been given a list, or times when you have encountered a list.

9. TRANSITION Look at your list of lists. Feel like you’re in the Matrix.Okay, now pick the three lists– or list situations– that you find most interesting. Mark them somehow (bold, put a start by them, underline, whatever).

10. PROMPT 2 Copy the first thing you designated as a potential idea.Write for five minutes about how that list or set of lists impacted you personally.

11. PROMPT 3 Now copy/paste the second thing you chose from your list.And for five minutes, write about how that list or set of lists impacted you personally. Remember, this is about placing yourself in the writing.

12. PROMPT 4 You will never guess the pattern. Copy the third thing you designated as a potential idea.Write for five minutes about how that list or set of lists impacted you personally.

13. TRANSITION 2 Look at your three chunks of writing. Which do you find most compelling? Somehow mark it for yourself.

14. PROMPT 5 And now: Write an introduction, and as much additional text as you can, starting an essay based on the chunk of writing you chose in the last stage. Remember– don’t stop, don’t fix errors, etc. You can do that later if you choose to use this for more than just brainstorming. The idea here is to see where your mind goes as you write. It’s process based.

15. FREE-WRITING Some people hate free-writing, but I personally swear by it. It ends the “blank page” problem that can sometimes give us writer’s block.You can mimic what we just did with any writing task you have. Just start by listing ideas, pick a few, write for a while about them, and keep refining until you have one idea you really like.

16. AND to the READINGS We have two week’s worth of readings. So here’s what I’d like to do. Let’s pair off again into groups of two (if you wish– since we’re doing this virtually, solo is fine, too). I’m going to have you respond to a question about each reading. I would like you, as well, to ask a question about each reading. We will then use the results of this as a launch for our forum posts this week.

17. From the art of list making The author writes: “Psychologists say that obsessive compulsive list makers (I guess that includes me) are trying to create an illusion of control in otherwise chaotic lives. “ Do you feel this is part of what motivates you when you use lists in your own life? What might it give you control over?

18. From 10 reasons This author says: “Lists can keep us from procrastinating. We put this one off until the end. Making a list enables us to get our heads around really big tasks — and helps us tackle the work one aspect at a time. “ Do you find this to be true, or do you disagree? Can you offer a concrete example?

19. From my list project I know it might feel weird to talk about a teacher’s writing (I want you to think of my work like your own– in progress). So instead of asking a specific question, just tell me something that stuck out to you about it. Anything, really.

20. From shitty first drafts Lamont writes “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it.” Do you believe her? Does that stance toward your own writing “feel” okay?

21. ALSO… Normally we will devote some time before I ask you questions seeing if YOU have questions about the readings. I am hopeful that those will all come out in your responses, but if any of you have lingering questions about the readings, please ask them. I will post the response to any/all questions about the readings on my blog by Wednesday night (so ask before then).

22. MAKING PROJECTS Many of you have talked to me about your making projects. You have some great ideas (I won’t volunteer anyone’s in particular– I don’t want you to feel weird). But what I wanted to do today is get a start and sort of look at what can be done there. Unfortunately, we have to make that work in this format, so I’m going to do some describing.

23. THE KEY… The key to the project is to not just make a picture of yourself. The easy way to prevent that was for me to make you build from found objects. So the most obvious idea, I think, the one I didn’t want to give you in class because I didn’t want to limit your thinking, is to make a collage. You can do this by taking pieces of pictures and pasting them together to make something that looks akin to a face/person, or you could make a collage that isn’t at all like a face.

24. ONE EXAMPLE I decided to play with the pop culture thing. I went here: http://celebrity.myheritage.com/FP/Company/try-face-recognition.php And I decided I’d use photos of the celebs it says I look like. It gave me a weird mix, from Sophia Vergara(what?) to John Belushi (that I can see). The result:

25. AHHHHHHH!

26. OR YOU COULD… Just make a collage of images. Or a less specific representation. You can also make something non-digital, of course. You could craft just about anything (someone once made a quilt– that’d take a lot of time). You could build yourself from Legos. Or Play Doh. Or Pipe cleaners. Whatever works for you will work for the project.

27. NEXT WEEK… When these are due in class, we will have a show/tell portion of class for you to display your work. If you’re doing something digital, send it to me before class and I can add it to the PowerPoint for the day. Otherwise, just bring it along.

28. AND in CLOSING I was going to have you fill out exit 3x5 cards expressing any concerns and asking any questions you have. When I do this, I answer the questions on my blog (and they are anonymous if you wish, so you can ask questions you might not want to ask face-to-face). Clearly we can’t do 3x5 cards. So….

29. @ Phill150.tumblr.com I have enabled “ask anonymously” on my “ask me anything” link on the right side. If you wish to ask a question that you want me to answer to everyone/don’t want me to know who asked, click the “ask anonymously” box. Otherwise, you can ask with your login if you wish and I’ll answer you privately. What I want you to do is ask any questions you have about class/share any concerns or comments you have.

30. An Apology And I am very, very sorry I couldn’t meet with you face-to-face today. My illness is quickly passing, but the doctor told me not to risk another flare up this close to the end, and standing for 2 hours to teach two weeks ago totally re-invigorated the swelling (I was a mess that evening and most of the next week). I will, no matter what, see you next Monday. If you need to talk in the meantime, we can set up voice chat or phone convos.

31. In The Meantime Carry on with your work. I will send out an email and Twitter reminder of what is due, and based on your feedback, I will let you know ASAP what will be happening in the next few weeks. Have a good week, all. Again, sorry I’m not able to be there face-to-face.

32. As Soon As Possible Please email me your responses to the questions on slides 4-5. Please get your responses to the questions about the readings to me by Wednesday at noon (you can group up if you wish or do them solo). I will then post the question for your forum response.Let me know if you need anything else.