These goals describe specific goals associated with the course learning objectives. You should expect to deepen your knowledge, acquire new skills, and become more confident and creative in each of these areas over the course of the semester.
I. WRITING
This course introduces students to writing as an embodied, material process. As such, we will focus on writing in relationships to context, genre conventions, and how writing affects a reader. When we approach any written work, it’s always important to acknowledge (as a reader or writer) how that text functions, the goals of its writer, and how the text might impact a variety of audiences. As will be made clear in the other course goals, we will be taking up writing as both an independent creative act, and a deeply collaborative and iterative process.
II. REVISION & RE-VISIONING
Again, writing is a process. The writing process includes a range of activities that often include idea pre-writing stages (idea generation, brainstorming, researching, journal entries/note-taking, outlining, sketching, etc.) through drafting to revision and re-visioning.
Revision is a crucial part of the writing process in which writers evaluate their work, identify changes they wish to make, and even re-conceptualize or re-vision the creative work in response to new information, ideas, or circumstances. The “creative” part of any writing task is often cultivated through both revision and re-visioning. As such, students should demonstrate a sense of creative re-visioning in their revisions as well as an awareness of how the re-visioning takes its final creative shape.
III. WORKSHOPPING
If writing is a process, workshopping is the collective lens through which we discuss our creative works in-process. As such, students should be capable of working collaboratively with their peers in a workshop environment to discuss written work. This necessary part of the class includes composing helpful, specific, critically constructive feedback, and sharing that feedback in a thoughtful manner.