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.
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.
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.
“All in Good Sport”: A Writing Exercise for Craft of Prose
In this exercise, I ask my Craft of Prose students to think about the ways in which one element of their worlds—sports—can reveal a great deal about cultural values in addition to demonstrating some of what’s possible. With the class having just read about the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and been introduced briefly to other examples of games popular fiction, they will create their own sport, have a partner demonstrate, in a charades-like fashion, how that sport works, so that the writer m then ask themselves if they effectively described the sport in “All in Good Sport.”
Writing Exercise: “Dursleyish: Writing Unlikeable Characters” for Craft of Prose
As an icebreaker for my worldbuilding-themed Craft of Prose class, a Harry Potter text provides the inspiration for this exercise in creating unlikeable characters. Students start this “Dursleyish” writing exercise by drawing their character and then freewriting about that character’s day-to-day routine.
Writing Exercise: “Of Violins and Violence” for Poetry Workshop
With a subscription to Poetry magazine as one of the required texts for my Poetry Workshop class, students will have read “Violins” by Rowan Ricardo Phillips prior to completing this exercise, “Of Violins and Violence,” based around the tension between similar sounding words.
“Reasons for Creating a New Literary Magazine” Assignment for Literary Editing & Publishing Class
My students read a number of excerpts from the text Paper Dreams: Writers and Editors on the American Literary Magazine (Atticus Books, 2014) in preparation for today’s class, and one of those excerpts was of Jill Allyn Rosser’s “Reasons for Creating a New Literary Magazine.” In class, I’m asking students to come up with their own reasons for creating a literary magazine in the “Reasons for Creating a New Literary Magazine” in-class writing assignment, and I’m giving them the freedom of being sincere or tongue-in-cheek in their tone.
“How to Become a Writer” Exercise
For the second day of class in ENG 2031: Craft of Prose, students will begin the day by reading an excerpt from Lorrie Moore’s piece “How to Become a Writer” and then write directions for themselves about becoming a writer in this “How to Become a Writer” Exercise on Google Drive.
Emilia Phillips 