SPRING, 1998
Computer-Assisted Substantial Writing Component
Jerome Bump FAC 10 Tues &Thurs 3:30-5
Schedule
We will write autobiographical stories about our selves, our feelings, and our experiences. Computer-assisted writing and research will culminate in letters, interviews, vignettes, scenes, dialogue, and/or personal myths which will be the bases for stories about ourselves and our families. All writing assignments can be contributions to the embryonic autobiography due at the end of the semester, to which students are invited to add photographs of self, family, and friends, awards and all kinds of related memorabilia. Students are encouraged to gather these materials together, from relatives if need be, before the course begins. The stories and the autobiography can be computerized multimedia and posted on the course web pages if the student desires.
One of our goals will be expressiveness or emotional literacy: the ability to communicate emotion in writing, the key to a lot of great literature and creative writing. For most students all or almost all of the forty or more courses taken in college focus on thought rather than emotion, the mind rather than the heart. This is one attempt to redress the imbalance.
All students are expected to be supportive and discreet if some students choose to tell difficult truths about themselves (for example, I would say "My mother and three of my four brothers are alcoholics"). However, no student should feel pressured in any way to say, write, or participate in anything that makes he or she feel uncomfortable. Writing need not be about dramatic, traumatic, or difficult personal experiences. It can be, say, a family vignette (as described in Writing the Natural Way in our anthology), or a variation of your favorite story starring yourself (as described in "Top Ten Stories," Keen's Stories We Live By in our anthology), or .... . However, all the writing must be autobiographical rather than "creative," as close to "the truth" as possible.
We will read a few brief lifestories in our text and a few samples of emotional literacy in writing in our anthology. Every third class or so we will use computer-assisted class discussion to generate transcripts which will be the basis of some of the writing assignments. Students will read and comment on the first draft of each other's stories. Revisions of the stories will be due a few weeks later. Each story will be read carefully for form, content, and expressiveness, and returned with written comments, including suggestions for improvement.
Requirements: 40% of the final grade will be determined by the stories [10% for each of the 4 drafts], 35% by the final autobiography, 25% by lifelines, genograms, daily assignments, attendance and class participation. Attendance is required, especially on computer lab and other group days because other people in your group will be depending on you. Class participation consists of showing up in class on time, having read the material assigned for that day, being prepared to talk about it, and handing in some notes about the readings if assigned in the syllabus. Attendance will be taken in the first few minutes after the bell has run. Those coming in after attendance checking has been completed can no longer have their names added to the roster for that day. In addition to being prepared to discuss the readings, class participation means common courtesy and paying attention to whoever is speaking. That means, of course, no talking while someone else is speaking or a presentation is being made, no reading of other materials in class, no sleeping in class, etc.
Required Texts: [1] Turning Memories into Memoirs: A Handbook for Wrtiting Lifestories, by Denis Ledoux; [2] The Gift of by Robert Atkinson, [3] a collection of xeroxes to be purchased at Jenn's, 2000 Guadelupe [473-8669], in the basement of the Church of Scientology.
Required Supplies: at least two 3 1/2", 1.44 Megabyte, High Density Diskettes, preferably already formatted for MAC computers labeled with your name and your instructor's name; a three-ring binder with at least seven subdivisions divided by tabs for your autobiography; and a pocket folder with your name on the outside.
You will also be required to view the movie My Life outside of class. It can be rented or purchased.
updated January 15, 1997