Writing101 Feature

New Video Library Online

2007-07-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

Check out the new video library. You will find a collection of tutorial videos on writing-related topics, as well as some tutorials on online learning. The files are in flash video format (.flv) and are, on average, ten minutes long. They make an excellent resource for self-study or as a supplement for a teacher to use in the classroom setting. The collection is growing, so check back often.

New Writing101.net Guestbook

2006-12-28T14:48:00.000-06:00

Please sign the new Writing101.net guestbook. The old book has been discontinued due to spam infiltration, but the new book is spam proof (I hope). Drop a line in the book to let me know what you think of the site.

Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential

2006-09-12T21:31:00.000-05:00

"The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is the result of an ambitious effort, since 1972, to collect and present information on the problems with which humanity perceives itself to be confronted" (from the site). This is a fascinating resource of categorized and linked problems across the globe. It's something one could get lost in, but it is also an excellent starting point for problem based learning, which is how I plan to use it with my students.

Community in the Online Classroom

2006-01-20T11:14:00.000-06:00

A veteran online teacher offers a tip sheet for colleagues teaching online, providing strategies for fostering a healthy community in the online classroom. Strategies touch on effective use of discussion boards, chatting, blogging, and other collaboration tools. Online group work, presentations, and interconnected assignments are also discussed.

Memory and the Automobile

2005-08-29T00:12:00.000-05:00

This major paper assignment asks students to write about a significant personal life experience where an automobile played a role. An interesting first assignment for a composition course contextualized for automotive students. (They do exist. I'm teaching one.)

The Knowledge Quest Project

2005-04-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

This collaborative research project sends teams of students on a quest for knowledge where they are asked to engage in serious inquiry and inductive research to explore answers to a broad topical question regarding the complexities of art. Students work as active participants in an academic community, truly moving beyond the sometimes artificial constraints imposed by the classroom.

Race: The Power of an Illusion

2005-03-22T11:37:00.000-06:00

This PBS web site is an excellent and compelling resource that explores the notion of race. It challenges the notion of race as a biological trait and reaffirms the power of race as a social construct. The site is rich with documentary video clips, developed writings on the subject, and interactive activities to help make some surprising points. It offers some interesting possibilities for use in a classroom setting.

Strategies for Writing Under Pressure

2005-03-09T14:49:00.000-06:00

This student handout offers some tips and strategies for writing in a timed setting as when taking an essay exam. This is especially appropriate as midterm time is upon us. Writing in a timed setting is challenging, but some basic preparation and practice of skills including understanding the question, actually answering the questioning, and managing your time can help. A corresponding PowerPoint presentation is available with this handout.

re/imagination, re/discovery, re/vision

2005-03-02T13:28:00.000-06:00

This major essay assignment forces students to significantly revise (make gut-wrenching changes to) one of their earlier works in the course given some specific obstructions/requirements while simultaneously documenting the process of revision itself that they are going through. This assignment is nicely paired with the von Trier and Leth film, The Five Obstructions.

Literature and Creative Dramatics

2005-02-02T23:50:00.000-06:00

These in-class activities offer three ways for students to become actively engaged with specific works of literature by working in groups and by playing with form and performance. The three works include Plath's "Daddy," McNally's Andre's Mother, and Wilson's Fences.

Reflections on Literature and Family

2005-01-22T16:41:00.000-06:00

This major essay assignment encourages students to make connections between their family lives and the literature they are reading. It is a good first major essay assignment for the semester as it allows students to write from a more personal place and to use personal narrative as a writing strategy, both of which students seem to welcome.

First Day Orientation and Ice Breakers

2005-01-16T02:02:00.000-06:00

This slide presentation can be customized to fit your specific class. It provides a useful framework for facilitating first day orientatation activities and includes several effective ice breakers.

My Experience w/ Portfolio Assessment

2004-12-30T11:24:00.000-06:00

This past semester I tried portfolio assessment in my composition course for the first time. The success we all enjoyed was eye-opening even if it was a lot of work.

Holiday Upgrades - New Guestbook

2004-12-27T23:51:00.000-06:00

I'm using my winter break to catch up on some long needed updates and upgrades to the site. To start, a new look to the guestbook. Take a minute it to sign it now and let me know what you think. Happy holidays!

Scissors, Tape, and Flashlights

2004-10-22T08:38:00.000-05:00

These PowerPoint slides offer students three specific strategies/activities for editing their work. The focus is on creating strong leads, organization, and removing word clutter. The three activities presented in these slides can be done in class during the final editing stages of draft preparation. The activities are engaging and useful.

It's Fallacy Face-Off

2004-09-16T16:22:00.000-05:00

This interactive, PowerPoint-driven game is designed to immediately engage students with logical reasoning in a fun and dynamic way. Modeled like a game show, Fallacy Face-off has two teams compete against one another for points. It feels kind of like Family Feud meets Jeopardy meets Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - eh - sort of. Anyway, students have a good time and they learn a thing or two about what makes good logic and what doesn't. Enjoy.

Look and Then Look Again

2004-09-06T11:54:00.000-05:00

This PowerPoint presentation is a useful jumping off point for a discussion on revision in the writing process. It offers some interesting images to setup useful instructional anecdotes for teachers to explain the process of revision as an act of both re/seeing beneath the surface and seeing that which is right in front of your nose. While emphasizing revision as both an internal process of discovery and an external act of audience awareness, it also offers students some practical strategies with which to approach revision.

Descriptive Responding Guide

2004-08-30T15:02:00.000-05:00

This student handout provides a set of guidelines for students to engage in a peer review writers workshop. The emphasis is on readerly feedback given in a noncritical, "descriptive" manner. Students are required to work with their peers' writing as a text worth reading, worth analyzing, and worth interpreting. While engaging in this descriptive exchange of feedback, students practice their skills of "close reading" and immerse themselves in a text, thereby possibly gaining insight into their own writing while assisting their peers in the process.

Intro by Way of Word and Image

2004-08-23T13:32:00.000-05:00

This first day assignment creates an interesting writing situation whereby the student engages in the reading of an image as text in order to introduce something about him or herself. The assignment provides an opportunity for an early writing sample, a chance to facilitate further introductions (if the writing is shared in class), and a start for working with images as text in a composition course that touches on visual rhetoric.

We're just getting started

2004-08-17T23:55:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the brand new writing101.net. Look here for regular features of new content on this site. This feature box will have a link to what's new at and cool at writing101.net so you don't miss anything. Stay tuned.