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            …

“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.

“I Want, I Want”: Writing to Become: Example Annotated Bibliography

Is it worth it to put myself and my writing out there, to risk failure, exposure, ridicule? Am I being like the reckless climbing figure today, or am I the cowering spectators below today? Which should I be?

I Am a Writer: Research Proposal

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 callous: criticisms are blisters that heal and eventually make us stronger. But it hurts in the meantime.

Piece of Me Identity Reflection: I Am A Writer (among other things)

I love the paradoxes of writing, the quiet chaos of writing, the energized calm of writing; I am silent and still and yet my mind is noisy and active.

I Am Not Afraid: Values Reflection

The reality is that I am out here, three miles from the boat ramp, seven miles from the lodge, alone with two kids.

In Medias Res: Don’t Start with Background Information

I had an “Ah-ha!” moment about this when I was working on the rough draft of my Community Reflection, which my students and I started last Friday. I decided I wanted to write about how coming home after my Dad’s surgery and then spending the week with him in the hospital gave me a new…

Crystal Magic: Revised and Developed

This week my students and I worked to revise and develop one of our papers. I chose this one to revise because when he finished reading the other version, my husband said, “I  expected more. It’s not long enough. You need to tell me more about this person.” So I did, and of course it…

I Cried in Front of My Students (And It’s Ok)

I cried a couple weeks ago in front of my students. I did it in both sections of ENGL 1101. I was reading my essay about Barb Chamberlain out loud to the class as an example of the Mentor Reflection assignment. It was Friday and I was tired and the story is emotional so yeah,…

Crystal Magic: A Portrait of My Mentor

Here is this week’s essay. I ask students to write a portrait of their mentor. It is really hard to sum a person up. I encourage my students to find a specific event or experience from their past and use that experience as indicative of the person’s character. This is one of my favorite assignments….