On Wednesday, September 21st, I took my five Poetry Workshop students to see a Reading by Jenny Johnson and Joy Williams at Princeton University.
Photos from Field Trip to Princeton
“In Medias Res” Writing Exercise for Craft of Prose
In “In Medias Res,” students write and re-write a scene in the three different points of view from a YouTube video of a man texting and running into a wild bear. They likewise create a character profile for their point of view character to navigate Anne Lamott’s suggestion of an “emotional acre.” In doing so, they negotiate the scope, immediacy, and language of each point of view, and consider how “in the middle of things” each point of view feels.
Reading Exercise “Begin Again” for Craft of Prose
In this reading exercise, students are responding to and annotating different literary devices and features—including dialogue, active voice, unique diction, etcetera—in the opening pages of five chapters (13–18) of the class’s icebreaker text, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Writing Exercise “Step 1” for Craft of Prose
In “Step 1,” I’m asking students to develop their skills in the imperative and descriptive moods so that a character and/or narrator can demonstrate or walk through an concept or action. They will base their preliminary discussion on “The Unforgivable Curses” chapter of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the semester’s icebreaker text, as well as read the opening pages of Lorrie Moore’s “How To Be an Other Woman.” In doing so, they will likewise refer to some of the terminology we’ve gone over in previous classes—diction, syntax, dialogue, concrete details, point of view—and demonstrate their understanding of that terminology by relying on those literary concepts to make an effective piece.
On the board, end of Thursday’s Literary Editing & Publishing course
Broad Strokes of Modernism Presention for Literary Editing & Publishing
In this presentation, I’m giving my undergraduate Literary Editing & Publishing a little context of modernism and it’s motivations with the hope that they will make the connections between the advent of modernism and the emergence of little magazines. Prior to this discussion, my students will have read several essays in Paper Dreams about literary magazine publishing in the early half of the 20th century.
Guess Who Reading Discussion Prompt for Craft of Prose
In this reading discussion prompt, students are asked to consider what elements contribute to our understanding of character in this “Guess Who” game in which students draw a character who appears in chapters 3–12 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and then describe them by answering a series of questions. They will use their descriptions to come up with three clues about the character: one is a concrete detail about the character’s appearance, the second is to identify a scene in which they appear, and the third is a literary craft element that helps reveal their character.
Excerpt from reading for Thursday’s Literary Editing & Publishing course
Jayne Marek on the genderedness of modernism, anthologized in PAPER DREAMS, for my Lit Editing & Publishing course:
Field Trip to See Jenny Johnson and Joy Williams Reading at Princeton, 9/21
Next Wednesday, September 21st, my Poetry Workshop is traveling to Princeton to see Jenny Johnson and Joy Williams read at the Berlin Theatre at 4:30 pm. Information about the event can be found at “Award-winning writers Jenny Johnson and Joy Williams open 2016–17 Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series.”
Writing Exercise: “View-master” for Online Prose Workshop
Last week, in ENG 2016OL: Online Prose Workshop, my students read “One Week in Liberia” and “Speaking in Tongues” (pgs. 110–148) of Zadie Smith’s Changing My Mind. Read “Damn Cold in February: Buddy Holly, View-master, and the A-Bomb” by Joni Tevis and Creative Nonfiction Primer on Moodle. They then completed the following writing exercise on a discussion forum.
Writing Exercise: “View-master”
Free-write 250 words about a trip you took to some place that interested you. It could be as dramatic as Liberia (a la Zadie Smith) or as local as your post office.
Emilia Phillips 