Out-of-class Writing

THE WRITER’S NOTEBOOK OR JOURNAL

The term “Writer's Notebook” implies a working document.  “Journal,” to some people, suggests a private, personal account.  Whatever we call it, the notebook should be a place for students to glean and recreate significant intellectual, perceptual, and emotional experience.  The Writer's Notebook is a place to explore, reflect, and collect material for future use in writing.  In the writing program, it is also a place where students document their growth as readers and writers.  We may ask students to include any of the following:

1)      response to reading or class discussion

2)      ideas for writing topics or future exploration

3)      ideas related to class readings and class discussions

4)      accounts of particular writing experiences or writing

5)      questions about writing, the class, the university

6)      collections of clippings and observations

Most teachers try to create a balance in the Writer's Notebook between assigned topics and student choice.  Even when I allow students choice, I give suggestions for those who are stymied.  I usually write topics on the board during class and tell students whether these are optional or required.  Students who already conceive of themselves as writers will use the Writer's Notebook for their own ends.  Others will need inspiration.

Usually I ask students to write three or four entries per week.  (These include frequent in-class writings.  For a notebook kept entirely outside class, two one-page entries per week would be reasonable.)  When notebooks are due, several students usually ask, "How many are we supposed to have?" I do ask students to date and number their entries, so that they can keep track of their own progress.  Many instructors ask students to bring the Writer's Notebook to every class session, so that they can have students read pieces to the rest of the class.

Responding to the Writer's Notebook: Most English 1 and 101 instructors collect the Writer's Notebook three or four times during the semester.  Some instructors collect them more often.  Some collect them spontaneously at the end of a class, or a few at a time.  Many first-year students will not write consistently and faithfully in notebooks without regular reminders, encouragement, and feedback.  I don’t correct or "mark" the notebook, but I write responses to entries that ask a question, comments that seem particularly important (angry, excited), and entries I think are well done or interesting.  If students have written something they don’t wish me to read, they fold over the page, and I honor their privacy.

Some instructors simply give credit for the number of entries.  I usually give students a check, a check +, or a check -, on their Writer's Notebooks.  Good journals are easy to spot, tough to describe.  Your criteria might include completeness, depth of thought, engagement with ideas, willingness to explore with detail and care, etc.  The Writer's Notebook "counts" when I give the final grade in my writing classes.  I include the percentage of the grade in my policy sheet.

Some suggested topics for Notebook or Journal Entries:

Of course, different instructors use Notebooks differently.  Some allow students to choose all their topics; some assign all the topics.  Some assign more entries than others; some give it greater weight in the final grade than others.  Any use of the Notebook that encourages exploration and discovery seems valid for our CWP courses.

In English 101, students discuss and write about experiences and issues having to do with identity, their expertise, values, and ways of knowing.  They will also be asked to reflect on their writing.  These suggestions for the Writer’s Notebook can fit well with those areas.

¨       Describe a place that no longer has the strong effect on you it once had.  You might choose a hospital, the neighborhood "haunted house," an attic or basement, a sports field, an auditorium.

¨       Describe your most frightening physical challenge or threat: an illness, an athletic episode, an accident, an amusement park ride.

¨       Describe an experience of insecurity or difficulty that you feel has contributed to your growth.

¨       Write about overcoming a fear or an aversion: fear of the dark, of riding a bike, of the neighbor's dog, of a parent's anger, of city traffic, etc.

¨       Describe a place that was important to you as a child or young person.

¨       Write about an incident or series of incidents that changed your outlook on human nature, or school, or your parents.

¨       Write about a food episode from your childhood: a time you over-ate; a public situation in which you were served food you disliked; a time when you were forced to finish everything on your plate; your ideal meal.

¨       Describe a situation or a series of situations in which someone responded to you on the basis of your physical self without knowing the "real" you.  How did you respond?

¨       Describe your view of health and fitness. Compare your view to that of a friend or family member.

·         Where are you in the "birth order" in your family? How does that affect how you are regarded? How you are treated? How you are expected to behave?

·         What do you see as the major sources that define your identity? Your physical appearance? Your ethnicity? Your hometown? Your parents' job? Your job? Your school activities? Your religion? The place you live or the places you visit? Your hobbies?

¨       Write about an incident that helped you take a different course of action--career plans, college plans, relationship commitments, etc.

¨       Write a character sketch of yourself from another person's point of view: an enemy, a rival, a parent, a sibling, a grandparent, a teacher, a principal, a coach, an employer, etc.

¨       Are you more like your mother? Your father? Neither? Explain.

¨       Characterize your most admirable qualities.  How have they served you?

¨       Characterize your most negative qualities.  How have they affected you?

¨       Describe some "types": teachers, weight watchers, athletes, "brains," music lovers, fitness advocates, feminists, bosses, business people, gamblers.  On what basis have you developed your description of these groups' traits? Have you met people who are not true to "type”?  What impact, if any, do these people have on the categories you’ve established?

¨       Describe various types of consumers.  How do people you know choose to buy? What sort of research or information gathering do they do? What influences their choices?

¨       Describe your pet.  What are the characteristics that distinguish your pet from other animals of its species? How is your pet like all others of its kind?

¨       Describe your workplace.  What makes it tick? Who are the "workers" and who are the "slackers"? How do jobs get accomplished? If you ran the place, how would things be different?

¨       Based on your personal experience either as a worker or a customer dealing with workers, do you agree or disagree that most people have little or no pride in their work?

¨       Describe a group that you've participated in that's worked well; describe one that's worked badly (religious group, club, team, drama, band, etc.) What's the difference? Why did one work and one not?

¨       If you ran the university, how would it be different?

¨       Describe contemporary American popular music for someone who does not know anything about it (a parent, a person from another culture, etc.)

¨       Describe contemporary sexual values to someone who does not understand them.

¨       How has television programming changed during your youth?

¨       Recreate an encounter in which you failed to give help or sympathy to someone who needed it.

¨       Some say Americans have become materialistic and selfish, that they have little sympathy for the poor and downtrodden.  Give examples that support your view of Americans' generosity or selfishness.

¨       Recreate a situation in which you felt alienated from a group. Explain why you think this occurred.

¨       Describe friendship. What are your expectations for friends? Are there limits to what you will tolerate from friends? Are there limits to what you will confide in friends? How do friendships end?

¨       What do you consider to be an ideal marriage? Describe a marriage that approaches that ideal.

¨       A high percentage of divorces occurs among young people.  Why do you think this is the case?

¨       What is it like to grow up male/female? How are boys and girls treated differently? Why?

¨       What is it like to grow up Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, etc.?

¨       What is it like to grow up poor, middle class, rich, etc.?

¨       What is it like to grow up as a member of your racial or ethnic group?

¨       Identify a strong bias or prejudice you have.  Relate it to a particular incident that you feel caused it.

¨       Describe what you think your life will be like ten years from now.

¨       List your goals--both personal and professional.

¨       Write a letter to the editor about a current issue in the news.

¨       Write a critical review of a campaign speech or tactic.

¨       Write a letter to a politician whose views you agree or disagree with.

¨       Write a critical review of a film, a TV show, a book, a piece of art, a piece of music.

¨        Write a satire: of a TV show, of politicians, of education, of music culture, etc.

¨       Write a recommendation for reform—of the schools, of health care, of environmental policy, of campaign financing, of the party system in government, etc.

¨       Describe a prejudice you’ve observed in individuals or in groups you know well.

¨       Describe the most extreme disagreement you’ve ever had with anyone.  What was the source of the disagreement?  Represent the two sides as fairly as possible.

On Writing:

·  Describe your history as a writer.  At what grades in school did you write most? Least?  What kind of writing did you do?  Essays, stories, poems, tests?  Do you write on your own?  What sorts of things?  Do others read your writing?  What do they say about it?

·  What advice have you been given about writing?  What rules have teachers asked you to follow?  On the basis of your past experience, what suggestions do you have for writers? 

·  Make a list of the characteristics of good writing, as you see it.

·  What helps you write? A good topic? Help from the teacher? Help from friends or family?  Someone to read your drafts?  Someone to talk to about your ideas?  Plenty of time to write?  A tight deadline?  A good critic?  Written response from experts?

·  Describe your most successful piece of writing.  What made it successful?  Describe the biggest struggle you’ve ever had with a piece of writing.  Why was it so hard?

·  What are your goals as a writer?  What do you hope to accomplish with your writing?

Writing from and about Readings:

¨       Summarize the essay or article.  What is the writer’s main claim?  What are the ideas or major points that support that claim?  What is the writer’s evidence?

¨       How convincing is this writer to you?  What makes him or her convincing or unconvincing?  Is the writer convincing because you already agree?  Because the evidence appears so solid?  Because you like the writer’s attitude or the way the writer has written about this subject?

¨       Often readers respond to the author’s attitude or tone.  What is it that makes this author come across the way he or she does?  Point to specific parts of the essay that suggest the writer’s attitude.

¨       How do you think someone in your family would respond to this piece of writing?  Would your parents appreciate this?  Your grandparents?  A brother or sister?  Explain why.

¨       Have you ever had an experience like one of those described in the piece? How did you respond differently from the author?

¨       Would you like to be able to write like this writer?  Why or why not?

¨       Characterize the writer of this piece.  Does she or he seem sophisticated? Stuffy? Lighthearted? Angry? Compassionate?  How does the writer’s style influence your sense of him or her?  What is there in the language of this piece of writing that reflects character?  Are character and style the same?

¨       Write a letter to the author reacting to the essay or article.  Or write a letter to a family member or friend describing this piece of writing and your reaction to it.

¨       Write a short story or poem based on this article. Or write a “take-off” or satirical version of this piece.

¨       If you disagree with the writer’s argument or stance, write a diatribe in response to it.  Now write a reasoned critique of it.  What is the difference?

¨       If you have a very strong reaction to this piece of writing, try to figure out why.  What makes you have such an intense feeling?  If you have no reaction at all to the essay—it “leaves you cold”—try to figure out why.