ENG 306: Tuesday January 25, 2011

Today's guest speaker was Jonathan Miller, Kentucky's Secretary of Finance and Administration. He is the author of  The Compassionate Community: Ten Values to Unite America.

Write up a thorough portfolio entry on Secretary Miller, with follow-up and research on the points that have the most application for your writing path.  Possible items for analysis might include (but are not limited to): what factors make writing a "tough business" (free content? the economic climate? digital factors)?  How might you envision his forthcoming website as a local HuffPo style hub (what would you want to see, as a reader?)? You might discuss his recent article on the Aspen Institute. How do garage door openers damage society? How does he employ Twitter and facebook both in his government role and as an Author? What are the ten universal ideals outlined in his book? What is the one principle that unites religions -- the Universal Moral Principle? Discuss The Most Awful Game in Sports History? Discuss the Y tradition. Discuss RFK's MLK speech referenced in class.

Prepare for Thursday's January 27 guest, Mack McCormick from the University Press of Kentucky.

Follow Five: Select 5 twitter accounts to follow that will enrich your professional and personal development as a Writer. Tweet those to share with the rest of the class. (Tag @ProfessorAceKy in the post.)

Finalize your Research Subject (proposals due Tuesday, February 1). You will share your Proposal in-class on Tuesday February. Prepare your portfolios (in progress) in suitable format to turn in Tuesday, February 1.

Portfolio Entries on our Guest Speakers

Write up each of our Guest Speakers as a portfolio entry.

The portfolio will include analysis and assessment of the Speaker's writing path.  It's not a transcript of the Speaker's class participation (although some summary is expected), it is an exploration of what they said and how you followed up on that information.

Be specific, and focus on segments that are learning opportunities for you. For example, Tom Eblen's presentation touched on: the importance of rewriting; blogging; management vs. editing vs. writing; business writing; photography; his educational background; his employers (Atlanta Journal Constitution; the AP; Lexington Herald-Leader).

He talked about the fact that the HL has more readers online now than the print edition. What are the implications? He discussed social media as a tool. He discussed different audiences for different forms of writing (a blog audience is not the same as a column audience).

He talked about the cinematic style that engages readers today and why. He touched on NPR's This American Life. He listed a few favorite writers: Peter Taylor and James Agee. He talked about Kentucky authors, Bobbie Ann Mason and Silas House. He talked about the process that went into his Martin Luther King holiday observations (and civil rights history). He named a few favorite interviews: Minnie Pearl, Jimmy Carter, Loretta Lynn. How does who you work for impact your choice of subject -- and your access to the subject? How would you resolve these issues?

What is the easiest thing for a Reader to do....? Why do we read our writing out loud? How will curiosity (or being "nosy") serve you as a writer? How could you use a short attention span to your benefit as a writer? Do you have something to say? What is the most compelling way to say it? How is everything "material?"

Your portfolio entry will use the Speaker's discussion as a jumping-off point for additional analysis and research. Be specific. Review your notes. Think. Reflect. Then write.

Twitter How-To

We use twitter for several reasons in this class.

As a communications tool, we use it to share information openly as a group; to share blog posts; to share information about our guest speakers; and to ask and answer class or university-wide questions. (UK's weather alerts are always available via twitter, for example.)

As writers, we can look at writing as a muscle. So we exercise every day. Writing in 140 characters is one skill; writing blog posts is another; writing research reports is another; writing portfolio entries is another; and writing in your notebook, every day, develops a different area entirely.

Twitter also gets us out of the classroom and into a network of millions of writers, editors, and publishers. There are novelists and screenwriters and medical writers and magazine editors, and every other permutation. Choose who you follow. Engage with them.

At a minimum, follow your Instructor and follow your classmates. (There is a list at ProfessorAceKY labeled E306. It is on the right of the screen. Click on that and follow your fellow students.)

Here's a link to a Twitter overview:
http://www.jhische.com/twitter/

 

BOOKS: On Writing, Stephen King

We discussed Stephen King's writing how-to book in class. It turns out, an anniversary edition was released last summer:  On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft.

It's an entertaining book -- half memoir, and half how-to.

You can read Janet Maslin's  New York Times piece here.

ENG 306: Today's Online Reading

Please read David Carr's NYT essay Publishing Without Publishers .

Write an assessment/analysis of this piece for your portfolio (cite in appropriate MLA format).

Discuss the "cutting out the middle man" approach to publishing. What might it mean for Anna Wintour and Vogue? What might it mean for the various career paths we discussed in Tuesday's class?  How does a trend toward putting the Brands in charge of content impact your path as a Writer?

ENG 306: Tuesday January 18, 2011

Today, English 306 students will:

start a blog. (You may password protect your blog if you prefer so that it is readable by your Instructor and your fellow students.)

Open up a Twitter account (a micro-blog). Again, students may opt to "protect" their status updates and password in classmates and instructor.

First online reading for in-class discussion:
Author Michael Chabon blogs for a week for The Atlantic

Analysis/assessment of this reading/discussion should be included in student notebooks/portfolio.
Also: Who has your Dream Writer job?

excerpt from Syllabus 
COURSE OVERVIEW 

Coursework: active engagement/participation in class discussion; daily portfolios; a research project
(shadowing a professional with report); in-class presentations of research.

COURSE FORMAT

Daily online reading. Daily writing. Daily discussion/workshop. Daily summary/assessment/analysis of guest speakers. Major research project (choose a working writer to interview and shadow; submit project proposal; interview and shadow writer; write research report).

RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL:  Due February 1 (the Who/What/Where/When)
RESEARCH REPORT: Due April 5
Presentations of reports are April 7 thru April 28

Portfolio Due April 28
(Portfolio will be a formal presentation/write-up of the entire semester's work.)

*Syllabus provides grading breakdown; class schedule; etc

The Guest Speaker for Thursday, January 20 is:

Herald-Leader columnist Tom Eblen.
Please read all of Tom Eblen's January blogs.
Familiarize yourself with his background.
Prepare 10 questions for Thursday's class -- half should be related to his career path as a writer/editor, and half can be specific to his writing.