• Participation (mandatory) 25%
• Weekly reading responses (4 in total) 20%
• Major workshop assignment 25%
• Final Portfolio 30%

REQUIREMENTS:

Your participation grade will require good attendance, but also informed participation in classroom discussions, thoughtful and constructive comments on the writings of other students, and the demonstration of overall preparedness for each class.  Please be aware that you will fail this class if your participation is not satisfactory.  

Your reading responses will be 250 to 300 words in length and due at the very beginning of each of the classes.  (I will sometimes open a class by inviting you to share your response with the class.)  You will respond in some way to one or more readings for that week, and you may do so by responding as a ‘writerly’ critic (especially attentive to the work of formal devices in the text), or else by creatively imitating/modeling the style of a particular reading.  If you choose the latter option, you should include in your response a short paragraph explaining exactly what stylistic aspect of the reading you are attempting to model or creatively reproduce.  While these assignments are meant to be ‘impressionistic’ and ‘creative’ in nature, they must also be in good prose (creative or critical).  The 4 assignments are each worth 5% of your final grade, for a total of 20%.  You may choose when you would like to respond, but you must ensure that you have completed 4 response assignments by the end of the semester.

Your major workshop assignment must be circulated to the class exactly one week in advance of the next class.  You will do so by emailing it to me as a Word or PDF file, which I will then post to Canvas in order for all to access it.  Your major assignment will be a prose piece of seven to nine pages (no shorter or longer), and you will be asked to present it to the class by first offering a detailed explanation of your process and ambitions when writing the piece, and then by reading aloud a short part of the piece.  Your text itself will be worth 15% of the total assignment grade, and your presentation of your text will be worth another 10% of your grade, for a total value of 25%.  The class will then have the opportunity to offer their thoughtful feedback on your piece.  (All students in the class are expected to bring their own marked up copy of the student’s assignment to the class.)   

Your final portfolio will consist of your weekly reading responses, your revised and possibly expanded major workshop assignment, as well as a five page “self study” of your work and development as a writer in the course.  

Please understand that because of the special time constraints of this seminar course there can be no extensions on assignments, especially in-class presentations.