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discussiontopics

Page history last edited by Laura Gibbs 9 years, 6 months ago

 

Essay Topics: Thinking about Reading, Writing, Learning

 

You can choose any of these topics in any order, and some of the assignments can be repeated as often as you want, too. The prompts below are meant to help you as you write your essay; don't feel obliged to answer each and every question that is included in the prompt. Instead, go with what feels useful and important as you write your essay, and use those questions if you are not quite sure about what kinds of topics you might want to include.

 

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Orientation Week Proofreading Assessment. Reflect back on the proofreading assessment from the Orientation week (the little stories you chose and corrected... and please wait to do this topic until you've gotten my comments back). How easy/hard was that assignment for you? Did the results surprise you? Were there some types of errors where you knew the rules but did not apply those rules as you proofread? Were there some rules of spelling or punctuation that were new to you? As you formulate your writing goals for the semester, what are your priorities? Do you have a sense yet of what kind of writing you will be doing in your other classes? When you are unsure about spelling, punctuation or some other writing question, where do you look for answers? Based on your past college courses, what advice would you give to yourself about your writing this semester? 

 

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Learning, Grading, Schooling. If you did not do this back in Week 1, please read through my own philosophy of learning, grading and schooling. Then, write up something like that for yourself based on your own experiences of school. Also, think about your own experiences as a teacher (teaching formally in a school or just trying to teach somebody something, informally, in any setting), or imagine what you would do if you were a teacher. If you have children, or if there are children in life (relatives, children of friends, children you know), think about what kind of education you would like for them to have. Education should be one of the most important discussions that we are having in this country, so take this opportunity to formulate your own thoughts about education, thinking back on your own past and imagining education in the future.

 

 

Cartoons about Language & Writing (click the link for instructions). These are some cartoons about language and about writing for you to analyze and ponder. If you enjoy this assignment, you may repeat it as often as you want!

 

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The Technology of Writing and Ease of Reading (click the link for instructions). This is an essay about how you use the "technology" of written language in order to decode a written text.

 

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Invent Your Own Punctuation Mark (click the link for instructions). Prerequisite: Technology of Writing. Punctuation marks were all invented by somebody, and that means you can invent a punctuation mark, too! If you enjoy this assignment, you may repeat it as often as you want!

 

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Future of Written Media. You could take this essay in all kinds of directions, depending on what you are interested in: you could talk about books (and ebooks) and the future of reading, the future of newspapers and magazines, the future of how writing will be taught in schools, the use of texting and other forms of writing for personal communication, etc. You can write about the ways you think language itself will change, and the way changing digital technologies will affect what we read, when, and where, and how. In addition to writing about changes you expect to see in the future, you can also write about changes you have seen in your lifetime, too! 

 

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First Memories of Reading. This is an essay about your earliest memories of reading. What are your first memories of reading? Is it a memory of being read to? of learning to read? Please be as absolutely specific as you can be, bringing in whatever kinds of memories you can summon - visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, any kinds of vivid details you can recall. In addition, you might see what connections you can make between those first memories of reading and your reading experiences now as an adult.

 

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First Memories of Writing. As in the previous essay about your first memories of reading, try to conjure up your first memories of writing and learning to write. Can you remember things you wrote for school? Outside of school? You might also look at the stages of writing: what are your memories of learning cursive? or learning to use a keyboard? You might also want to write about any connections you can see between your memories of learning to write as a child (again, be as detailed and vivid in the details as possible!) and your experience now as an adult writer.

 

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Your High School & College Writing Experience. Write an essay where you describe your writing experiences, in school and out of school, during your high school and college years. What classes helped you the most in your writing, and why were those classes so productive for you? What  kinds of writing assignments did you enjoy the most? What kinds of writing assignments did you really dislike and why? What kinds of writing are important in your major now, and what kinds of writing do you think you will use most in your future professional career? In what ways do you use your writing skills outside of school? If you were teaching a college class, what kind of writing assignments would you want for your students to complete and how would you evaluate your students' writing? 

 

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Visiting the Writing Center. After you have made a visit to the Writing Center (either for this class, for another class, or just to improve your writing), write an essay where you discuss your experience. What were your goal(s) for the session and what did you do in order to prepare for the session? What are the strongest impressions you took away from the session? What were the tutor's strengths and weaknesses? Did the session meet your goals? Did you get some benefit(s) from the session that you had not expected? Overall, was the session a good use of your time? Is there anything you could have done differently to prepare for the session that would have made it more productive? Do you think you will be using the Writing Center's services again in the future? What recommendations would you make to the Writing Center about the services that they provide? NOTE: Feel free to repeat this assignment each time you visit!

 

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Your Writing & Proofreading Strategies. For this essay, write out a kind of "Personal Guide to Writing & Proofreading," listing all the strategies that are the most helpful for you based on the different kinds of writing you do for school and outside of school, too, if applicable. Provide any kind of advice you find useful for the entire writing process: choosing a topic, brainstorming, research, planning, drafting, writing, proofreading, revision. It will be especially useful if you can include links to online resources that you find useful, along with any software - web-based or desktop - that are helpful to you in your writing and proofreading.

 

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