Syllabus: Famous Last Words

The Famous Last Words assignment is something you will post in your Ning blog. It is kind of a "note to yourself" about how you are doing so far in the class. You can use these weekly blog posts as a way to record your progress and experiences week by week - then you'll have something to look back on at the end of the semester to see how your semester evolved week by week. The semester gets so crazy and hectic... but taking just a few minutes to pause and reflect can really help put things into perspective. Plus, it can be fun at the end of the semester to look back over your "Last Words" to get a sense of how things progressed overall!

Here are some questions to help you get started. You can write a lot about just one question, or write a little bit in response to several questions - it's up to you.

• Your best writing this week. Where did you do your best writing this week? Did you write something this week that you thought was really excellent? Have you discovered some good strategies for getting into the writer's groove when you do the assignments for this class?
• Your writing. Did you experiment with a new creative writing style this week? Would you say the experiment was a success or not? Are you going to work with this style again in the future?
• Other people's writing. Did you read something excellent written by somone else in the class? What made the story successful in your opinion? Is this a writing style you might want to try out yourself in the future?
• Your other classes. How are things going in your other classes? Are there any connections you are noticing between your other classes and stuff you are doing for this class?
• Outside of school. Do you have a item you'd like to share about a topic that is important to you and which appeared in the news this week? A useful website that you discovered? An exciting event you attended on campus? A book or movie or song you want to recommend?

Requirements. Your post needs to be a minimum of 300 words long (maximum of 1000 words). Make sure you do a spellcheck and a word count, and that you proofread your post by reading it out loud. You need to include the words "Famous Last Words for Week ___" in the title you give to the post ("Famous Last Words for Week 2," etc.)

When you are done, complete the Gradebook Declaration.