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Daily Writing
Every day at the beginning of class you will take a few moments to write on a given topic. This will be a way for you to get in the habit of writing every day. Turning it in will also serve as attendance for the class, which cannot be made up. In order to make 100 in attendance, you must be present for every class and complete the in-class writing assignment sufficiently.
The Ghost Map Reading Quiz
You will be evaluated on whether or not you have successfully read and understood the first-year reader, The Ghost Map. Completion of the text will be proven by success on this evaluation.
The Ghost Map Presentations
Each student will be assigned a chapter of the book to give a short presentation on to the class. Three students will be assigned each chapter and will decide who will take each category.
Essay 1: Literacy Narrative
This essay invites you to explore your role as a writer by describing, analyzing, and reflecting on your experiences as a reader and writer both in and out of school. This assignment also asks you to consider how context and society influence your writing. The purpose is for you to connect how your own reading and writing practices influence the ways you understand and interact with the world (and vice versa).
Essay 2: Mini-Ethnography
Instead of a traditional research project, we’ll be doing a mini-ethnography. Ethnography involves studying and writing about a particular group, community, or subculture. Your role in this assignment is that of a primary researcher. The point of ethnography is to watch, to try to understand what’s going on from the perspective of an insider, and to ask questions to test your observations. You’re the expert on the community—how it works and its relation to society; you’re teaching your peers, and therefore, you’re teaching me.
- Mini-Ethnography Assignment Sheet
- Mini-Ethnography Rubric
- Mini-Ethnography Field Notes Practice
- Mini-Ethnography Interview Questions
Essay 3: Writing About an Artifact
For this assignment you will choose an object in Atlanta, maybe something found at a museum, public site, or something of significance to Georgia State, and write a descriptive paper about it. You will describe the object in detail and also will conduct research on the object, finding and using sources to give an account of its history.
- Atlanta Artifact Rubric
- Atlanta Artifact Assignment Sheet
- Atlanta Artifact – Annotated Bibliography Rubric
- Atlanta Artifact – Annotated Bibliography
- Atlanta Artifact – Citing Sources
- Atlanta Artifact – Finding Sources
- Atlanta Artifact – Rhetorical Précis
- Atlanta Artifact – Writing About Artifacts
Final Essay: Revamp
Your final paper will be a revision of one of your earlier papers of your choosing. As part of this assignment you will also write a reflection on your revision and how you think you’ve improved as a writer.