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Category Archives: Writing Exercises
New Vidcasts for the OWL at Purdue
I’m happy to share two of my vidcasts that were recently published on the OWL at Purdue’s new YouTube channel. The first vidcast is on the history of rhetoric, and offers students an introduction to rhetoric. The second vidcast offers … Continue reading
Embodied Writing
I fell in love with Rhetoric and Composition upon first reading about the role of embodiment in writing. Writers like Patricia Dunn, Kathleen Blake Yancey, Malea Powell, and Jacqueline Jones Royster (among many others) engaged my attention by linking writing … Continue reading
To the Sound of Elevator Music: Elevator Pitches!
Next week, my business writing students will present elevator pitches for fictional companies, making specific suggestions about how the company should use social media for advertising, gaining client feedback, increasing brand recognition, obtaining internet pull research, or protecting the company … Continue reading
First Day Writing Prompt
My first ENGL 106 class meets in a computer lab–a space with almost infinite possibility! I began by asking them to create a writing sample. I like the benefit of creating samples on computers–where students can type rather than handwrite–because I … Continue reading
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Starting a New Semester
Tomorrow, I start a new semester–my second in the long haul of the PhD program. I am very excited, but also a bit nervous about how I’ll handle the three seminars I just had to sign up for: Archival Theory … Continue reading
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Writing in a Digital Age (Museum Exhibit Idea)
Last week, digital artists Shannon McMullen and Fabian Winkler delivered the last lecture of the 2010 Hutton Series at Purdue. Their artwork is highly interactive—turning traditional art-viewers into art-participants. They encourage this kind of interaction by grappling with the way … Continue reading
How High School English Teachers Can Encourage Revision-Minded Writing
This weekend, I had a rude awakening when I helped a friend–a senior in A.P. Literature–compose a 3 page essay comparing The Heart of Darkness with Apocalypse Now. Beyond the problem of boredom (after all, this particular essay has been … Continue reading
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Writing Literacy Narratives
Rather than ask students to do a writing sample on the first day of class, I asked them to write a literacy narrative by Wednesday. I did this for two reasons: 1) many students don’t write best with pencil and … Continue reading
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The First Day of Class
is always a little thrilling–both in the scary sense, and the excited sense. Today, I met my Purdue ENGL 106 students, went over my syllabus, and assigned a short homework exercise for them. On Wednesday, they’ll bring in their personal … Continue reading
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