Essay 2: A Service Memoir

Transcription

1 Essay 2: A Service Memoir Context At Edmonds Community College, our Center for Service Learning gives students the opportunity to serve the community and learn while they do so. Service at our school means meeting a real world need, connecting action to academic learning, and reflecting on the service one completes. Prompt Write an essay in the memoir genre of a single academic service experience at Edmonds Community College. Follow Writing Today s model of a memoir by describing, evaluating, and resolving a complication that you think existed in your service experience. Elaboration of the prompt There is an example of a student memoir essay in Chapter 4 of Writing Today. We ll discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this sample essay in class, so you can benefit from it but also not find it limiting. We ll read other memoir essays to see more rhetorical strategies within the genre of the memoir essay that you might like to try adapting to your topic. One advantage of the student example, though, is that it clearly develops the idea of conflict, or tension, which is at the heart of memoir. In drafting your own memoir, you ll hunt out the conflict that you resolved, if it s not already obvious, and develop it in your writing. You can image your audience being faculty or administrators who are interested in knowing about students experiences with service or other students who haven t tried service learning yet, but who are wondering what they can get out of it. Service Requirement The service experience must be from the EdCC Center for Service Learning Sponsored Project list of Winter Quarter, 2012, and be completed before May 1. You are responsible for choosing a service event and taking the steps to enroll and attend. This was announced on April 5 on the course blackboard and by . Please visit this announcement, which contains the link to the sponsored project list, immediately if you haven t already signed up. Requirements Length: minimum four pages, double-spaced (five maximum). Printed format: double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with MLA heading and margins. Follow the example of MLA heading and margins with sample instruction is at the following webpage: MLA Sample Paper by Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) File format for online submission (for online peer review and turn-in): a Word document or Rich Text Format (.doc,.docx, or.rtf). If you re using something besides Microsoft Word (which is not the same as Microsoft Works ), you will need to Save As one of the above named file formats. 1

2 Due dates: the paper is due in workshop/prewriting, peer review draft, conference draft, and final forms, and must be submitted in draft and final form for full credit. See course schedule for each of these due dates. Get feedback from the peer reviews in class and online, as well as the instructor conference. You need to bring a printed copy to class on the day of our peer review and be on time for full points. Submit a peer-review draft of the paper at least the day before the online peer review is scheduled and revise based on peer feedback received. Submit a conference draft of the paper on the conference draft due date and revise based on instructor feedback. Use MLA citation formatting and works cited for your research source. Prewriting (Complete the following activities on pages 2-3 and turn in with your final version). Inquiring 1: Journaling Your Experience After your service event, write freely in a journal for 15+ minutes. As the Writing Today textbook advises, freewriting involves writing anything that comes into your mind. Don t worry about making real sentences or paragraphs. If you find yourself running out of words, try finishing phrases like What I mean is... or Here s my point.... (330). If you have trouble getting started, try picking something small. When you re completed, go through your text and mark (underline or highlight) your best ideas, ones you might want to include or focus on for your paper. You can staple your pages to this assignment or, if it s in a bound journal, make a photocopy. Inquiring 2: Mapping, Storyboarding, Podcasting, or Role Playing. Choose one of the forms of inquiring listed on page 40 of Writing Today: mapping, storyboarding, podcast/video, or role playing. Use this second form of inquiry to explore one or more of the ideas you identified by highlighting or underlining from your Inquiry #1, above. You can staple your pages to this assignment or, if it s a podcast/video, me the file or link. Researching Read the directions for researching online, print, and empirical sources and determine one other source that can help your paper. Perhaps it s a piece of information related to the kind of service you performed, the area you performed it in, or the social/environmental issue the service addresses. 2

3 Include in your paper a parenthetical citation (pages in Writing Today) and a works cited list in MLA style ( in Writing Today). Answer the following questions about your research source: --Is it an online, print, or empirical source? --What kind of source does it match on pages ? --What is the source going to add to your essay? Choosing an Appropriate Style (once you have a draft started) Read pages 44-5 of Writing Today and, in the space below, draft a concept map that helps you determine a tone. Follow the example on page 45 in the way it attaches feelings to the details that are emerging from the draft: My Twelfth year is connected to the feeling of relaxing and scary is related to the feeling of kid man. Find at least six details and connected feelings in your mp. 3

4 Organizing On pages 42-44, the textbook gives questions to help shape your memoir into the following parts (paragraph numbers are given by me just as suggestions, but can be varied if needed). Setting the Scene in Rich Detail (Introduction): 1-2 paragraphs Describing the Complication (1-2 paragraphs) Evaluating the complication (1-2 paragraphs) Resolving the Complication (1-2 paragraphs) Concluding with a Point (1-2 paragraphs) Design I am asking for this paper to be printed and using MLA formatting. However, if you have a great photo of your service, you are welcome to include that. Just make sure you adjust for correct page length! =] Checklist for Turning in Final Version Stapled by itself: Final version with correct MLA heading, Works Cited list and a unique title Stapled by itself: Conference Draft with Instructor Comments Stapled by itself: Peer Review Drafts for both in-class and online peer review, with all written comments received (print out comments received online) + Prewriting sheets (activities on pages 2-3 of this assignment packet). Optional: any other feedback or documents you used (extra worksheets, writing center draft, etc.) Put material in order starting with the most recent work (final version) and working back. The whole package fastened together with a moderate sized, but sturdy, paperclip Upload a copy of the final version to the course blackboard (directions on Bb) Congratulations on completing your second paper for English 100! 4

5 Evaluation Rubric for final version Name: Essay #2 Service Memoir Essay Each category worth 26 points: Emerging 0-6; Developing 7-13; Proficient 14-20; Exemplary ) Integrate critical thinking, reading, and writing Essay chooses good persuasive strategies based on adapting course readings in the memoir genre, especially elaborating a complication ; explanations of details and what the writer learned clear and developed; research source is appropriate and the connection explained. 2.) Adapt writing to audience, context, and purpose Essay shows awareness of genre (memoir) and audience expectations; uses appropriate (college level) style, tone, and diction; 3.) Apply composition principles Essay is a unified with a clear, effective purpose, with supporting claims and evidence (details). Essay moves from introduction to analysis to conclusion. Paragraphs are focused with suitable topic/claim sentences. Ideas are presented in a logical order. 4.) Demonstrate writing processes Essay shows evidence of this assignment s invention strategies, writing in multiple-draft stages, refining for clarity and concision (esp. purpose), collaborating constructively with other student writers via peer reading, review, and response, and instructor (conference). Submit all prewriting and drafts with comments (peer review and conference draft). 5.) Use academic sentence-level conventions and style; Essay uses college-level diction, style, and conventions of Standard Written English; it has recognized and corrected common mechanical/grammatical errors and other technical flaws that interfere with clarity, especially those that are part of the grammar units studied in English 100. MLA for sources is correct according to the assignment. # of errors You may regain ½ of lost points by correcting all marked grammar and mechanical errors and resubmitting both copies within one week of return. /26 points possible Points Regained Conference draft submitted by due date If NO subtract 30 points Yes For the final version each draft must be individually stapled and the whole package paper-clipped. Put material in order starting with the most recent work (final version) and working back. Final version submitted by due date If NO subtract 30 points Yes Essay evaluation: / 130 Points possible 5

6 Extra Credit for Essay 2: Discovering Journals The words Journal and Diary both come from the word for day : the Latin dies, for day, and the Old French jornel, for day, time; day's work (Online Etymology Dictionary). The idea is to have some form of daily writing, usually a record of that day s events and/or your own thoughts or reflections. Here are two options for some extra credit points on Essay 2. You can complete one for 5 extra points. Option 1: attend Recycled Journal Making and make your own hand-crafted journal. If possible and/or desired, use the journal for your reflective freewriting for Essay 2. Monday, April 16 th, 2pm 4pm Recycled Journal Making Snoqualmie 203 A key component of service-learning is reflecting on your experiences, and what better way to do that than to create your own journal out of recycled paper! Join the Center for Service-Learning and the English Department as we learn about the art of journaling by making our own journals out of recycled paper and other crafty items. There will be limited space, so please sign-up with Amy Johnson: amy.johnson@edcc.edu. *Please note this is only a reflection opportunity; no service hours provided. Please note, however, that this is not a service event, so it can't be used as your main service learning for Essay 2. Option 2: Locate and read a portion of a published journal from the EdCC library. A list of published journals will be posted online. Visit the library and find one of these journals. Use a separate piece of paper to answer the following questions. Submit this with your final version of Essay 2, with a clear title at the top. From the book jacket or introduction, get answers to the following questions. -Who wrote it? -When and where did they write it? -What were they writing about, generally? Then, read at least ten sequential pages from the journal. You can start anywhere (if the journal entries are arranged by date, try picking today s date on any given year as a starting point). -What are five things that you find interesting or surprising in these entries? Use a separate sentence (minimum) to explain each one. -What can students learn about journal writing from this example? 6