Congratulations on surviving your first week of college! I know this first week has been hectic and perhaps a little overwhelming, but I think you’re doing a wonderful job so far. Our class discussions have been lively and thoughtful, and I hope to see that continue throughout the semester. If you are one of the students who hasn’t been participating in class, please don’t hesitate to jump in—I hope I’ve made it clear that I want to hear from you during class.
Next week, we will focus on the Literacy Narrative assignment, and we will also spend some time talking about the writing process. Please complete the following tasks before you come to class next week:
- For Monday, please read pages 29–37 and 219–225 in the Norton Field Guide. In addition, please print out and read “A Homemade Education,” by Malcolm X, which can be found on the Readings page of the class website. (The password for the Readings page is listed near the top of the printed syllabus I handed out on the first day of class.) Your homework for the weekend is to brainstorm several ideas for your literacy narrative, and you should bring your best three ideas to class on Monday. You don’t need to start drafting your essay, but you should bring some written notes, not just ideas in your head.
- For Wednesday, please read pages 324–332 and 343–351 in the Norton Field Guide, and print out and read “Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tan, which also can be found on the Readings page. By Wednesday, you should have settled on a topic for your literacy narrative, and you should bring a draft of your first paragraph to class.
- We will spend the entire class period on Friday in a peer-review workshop, so you should have a complete rough draft of your literacy narrative by this day. Please bring three printed copies of your essay with you to class.
Last but not least, a few reminders: if you are waiting on the bookstore to get more copies of our textbook, please borrow a copy from someone else in class until your book arrives. If you didn’t submit your one-page response to the Beloit College Mindset List, please slide it under my door (211 Premont Hall) sometime this weekend. The deadline for submitting these responses is Monday morning at 8:00 a.m.
This has been a great first week of class, and I look forward to hearing your ideas for your literacy narratives on Monday. Until then, enjoy your weekend!