This week, the students just need to write a paper in which they 1. define their chosen piece of identity in their own words, 2. write a little bit of what they already know about their chosen piece of identity, 3. ask some questions to help guide their research, and 4. identify some keywords and…
I Am a Slow Poke
This is the first assignment in the identity research paper called “Piece of Me: Identify Reflection” in which students list the various categories that they identify with and then pick one to look at in more detail. I’ve written about being a writer and a collector in the past. I Am a Slow Poke …
Love the Sinner: Revision
I decided to “revise from scratch” the essay I wrote a long time ago about my experience “meeting” Fred Phelps. Everything about my feelings towards the Westboro Baptist Church is complicated. They are my biggest weakness, where the blackest hole in my heart lies. I wanted to take the original piece and make it a…
Keep Rocking: Values Reflection
Every other time I have written an essay about my values with my students, I have started the process by identifying one of my values and then finding an experience to illustrate that value. Last night, I had the experience described below and I knew I had to write about it. I never would have…
Naked Silence: Mistake Essay
I had an eye-opening experience this morning. I had already posted about it to Facebook when realized I really needed to write about it for my mistake essay. Sometimes our mistakes emerge things we do, but other times, our mistakes emerge from the things we don’t do. I’m always grateful that part of the confessional…
A Doubter, a Believer, and a Person of Faith: Community Reflection
Sometimes these essays are really hard. Sometimes they come spilling out of me as though they’ve been inside of me, waiting for the chance to escape. Today was one of the easy days. Thanks to all my friends at Trinity. A Doubter, a Believer, and a Person of Faith I breathe in deeply and…
The Circle of Life: Mentor Reflection
I told my students that they can think outside the box about who to pick to write their mentor papers about. I was thinking about how Steve Harrington in Stranger Things is such a great mentor to Dustin, and how I would encourage Dustin to write about Steve if he were taking my class. People…
Bittersweet: Childhood Reflection
A word that always had a lot of power for me and my sister as kids was “bittersweet.” We threw that word around with wild abandon. Everything we liked the most seemed to be poignantly sad yet beautifully joyful at the same time. “Bittersweet” has been coming up a lot for me lately as I deal with grief for my Grandpa.
Swingin’ On a Star: Photo Reflection
I’m tingling with giddy anticipation. Everything we do to prepare for the dinner seems to have a tinge of shining electricity.
“I Want! I Want!”: I Am A Writer
People talk about how you need to develop a thick skin if you want to be a writer, but I think of it more as a kind of scarred callous: criticisms are blisters that heal and eventually make us stronger.
Taking My Own Freshman Composition Class 