Ever see one of those wooden puzzles for little kids? They have thick wooden pieces that are easy to fit together—unless the person is two-years old! Compare that simple puzzle with a jigsaw puzzle. Some of them have over one hundred pieces. Only when the puzzle is complete can one see the whole picture. For a really difficult puzzle, one might have to work on it in stages, first assembling the edges, for example, and then filling in from there.
What happens if our puzzle-maker gives up? Well, then one just has a lot of puzzle pieces lying around and no pretty picture. The first essay assignment is kind of like that puzzle. The good news is that the class has already created some of the pieces: the in-class writing prompts, the first blog, and the email assignment. Students should also have the notes they've taken on the readings by Langston Hughes, Anne Lamott, and other writers as well as each classmates' peer review workshop feedback on drafts. Respond to this blog post by describing a plan to use those pieces to write the essay. Students probably don’t have the whole puzzle put together yet; we’ll be working toward that goal in the next couple of weeks, but how might one start planning and thinking about what that finished product might look like?
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About this blogA blog is an online conversation. This one is for students of writing and is an extension of our face-to-face classroom. Here is where we can continue a discussion started in class, ask questions, and test new ideas. Archives
March 2020
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