Welcome

Week 1 – Freshman Composition

• Welcome and Intros • Who Am I? Who are You?• What’s this Class About?

• Syllabus Review• Icebreakers• Basic Writing Purposes and Elements• Grammar Review

• Parts of Speech• Pronouns

• Characteristics of a Narrative Essay• Go over Assignment Sheet: Narrative Essay• In-Class Brainstorming Session – Narrative Essay• Wrap Up

Who Am I?• Instructor with 18 years experience

teaching and preparing instructional curriculum

• Teaching Experience• Orange County Public Schools• Florida Virtual School• Florida Metropolitan University • University of Florida

• Educational Background• Northwestern University

(Undergraduate)• Rollins College (Master’s Degree)• University of Florida (Doctorate)

Who Are You?

Icebreaker 1• Get into pairs (Find a Partner)• Individually, look in your purse/wallet/backpack and find

something that is significant to you. • Share with your partner why the item is significant to you.

STOP

• When done, you’ll introduce your partner and share something significant about them.

Icebreaker 2Find a different partner

Complete the following sentence: “If I could have dinner with any person, living or dead, it would be____________ because_____________."

Share with your partner.

STOP

• When done, you’ll introduce your partner and share who they would have dinner with and WHY.

What Will I be Doing? Writing and Revising• Personal Narrative• Descriptive Essay • Definition Essay• Comparison and Contrast Essay• Argument

Presenting

Conducting Peer Reviews

Grammar Review and Exercises

What Will I Need to Succeed?TextbooksBullock, Richard and Francine Weinberg. The Little Seagull Handbook. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.

Buscemi, Santi and Charlotte Smith. 75 Readings Plus. Tenth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013.

How Will I Be Graded?

Essays Turned in LateDeduction of 10% per dayFour days late = 0

Basic Writing Elements

Week 1 – Freshman Composition

Parts of Speech

Pronouns

Let’s See What You Know

Review the sentences on the handout. Write the word that is the part of speech indicated in parenthesis

Example:

___________(verb)The Blue Streaks running back exploded off the line of scrimmage.

exploded

4 Writing Purposes

• Expository – provides information or an explanation about a topic

• Narrative – tells a story• Descriptive – describes a subject using sensory details• Persuasive – attempts to change someone’s viewpoint

about a subject

Point of View

Point of View – how the author tells his story • First person – narrator as a major character; narrator as a

minor character – the narrator may be naïve or insane – the narrator uses first person pronouns (I, my, mine, we, our, etc.)

• Second person – narrator involves the reader through the use of second person pronouns (you, yourself, yours, etc.)

• Third person – omniscient, selective omniscient, objective – third person pronouns are used (he, she, him, her, they, them, etc.

First Person Point of View

A story told from the first person point of view involves the narrator as part of the story, and usually features the following pronouns: I, me, mine, our, we, us,

Example: For one whole semester the streetcars and I shimmied up and scooted down the sheer hills of San Francisco. I lost some of my need for the Black ghetto’s shielding-sponge quality, as I clanged and cleared my way down Market Street, with its honky-tonk homes from homeless sailors, past the quiet retreat of Golden Gate Park and along closed undwelled-in-looking dwellings of the Sunset District.

(From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou)

Second Person Point of View

Instructions and directions are usually written from a second-person point of view.

Uses the pronoun “you”

Remember, any tool that you can use against an enemy may also be used against you. Ninjas train on special courses that really mess with their perception of space, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your own mini gauntlet to increase your skills.

The Ninja Handbook

Third Person Point of View

Third person point of view is told by a narrator who is not part of the story and generally uses pronouns such as: he, she, it, they, them, him, her, its, etc. There are three type of third person narration: omniscient and limited.

Third Person Objective

No character’s thoughts are revealed – only their actions and dialogue.

Third Person Omniscient Point of View

“Omniscient” means all-knowing. If a person is all-knowing, he or she knows the thoughts and feelings of everybody. Third person omniscient occurs when a story is told by a narrator who is not part of the story but knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story. In other words, a third person omniscient narrator is inside the hearts and heads of the characters, exposing their thoughts and/or feelings.

Example: The next semester the writing professor is obsessed with writing from personal experience. You must write from what you know, from what has happened to you. He wants deaths, he wants camping trips. Think about what has happened to you. in three years there have been three things: you lost your virginity; your parents got divorced; and your brother came home from a forest ten miles from the Cambodian border with only half a thigh, a permanent smirk nestled into one corner of his mouth.

Third Person Limited Point of View

Third person limited is similar to the omniscient point of view, but it is a limited viewpoint. The narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character.

 

Example: J.K. Rowling uses third person limited in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The reader witnesses what Harry sees and knows his thoughts and feelings but without ever hearing first-person narration from Harry. Check out the excerpt below.

Harry had taken up his place at wizard school, where he and his scar were famous ...but now the school year was over, and he was back with the Dursleys for the summer, back to being treated like a dog that had rolled in something smelly.

The Dursleys hadn't even remembered that today happened to be Harry's twelfth birthday. Of course, his hopes hadn't been high?

In this excerpt from the novel we are able to know how Harry Potter is feeling, what he's thinking, and what is happening.

Let’s See What You Know

Point of View Activity

Basic Organization of Essays

• Introduction (with thesis statement)• Body (Supporting paragraphs)• Conclusion

Introduction

Why bother writing a good introduction?• You never get a second chance to make a first

impression.• Ideally, your introduction will make your readers

want to read your paper.

Source: The Writing Center, The University of N.C. Chapel Hill. http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/introductions/

Introduction

• Your introduction is an important road map for the rest of your paper. It should convey:• What your topic is• Why your topic is important• How you plan to proceed with your discussion• Contains a THESIS

Source: The Writing Center, The University of N.C. Chapel Hill. http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/introductions/

Strategies for Writing a Strong Introduction

• Open with an attention grabber• An intriguing example• A provocative quotation• A vivid ancedote• A thought-provoking question

• Try writing your introduction last.

Thesis

What is it?• a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines

the purpose or point of your paper.• placed at or near the end of the introductory paragraph.

What does it do?• must contain an arguable point. • it should point toward the development or course of

argument the reader can expect your argument to take

Example (in an Argument Paper)

• Poor: Stephen King writes readable books.• Good: Stephen King’s books are so good

because they are about normal people who get into supernatural situations.

Supporting Paragraphs

What is it?• a sentence or group of sentences that support one main idea.

Every paragraph in a paper should be:• Unified: All of the sentences in a single paragraph should be related to a single

controlling idea (often expressed in the topic sentence of the paragraph).• Clearly related to the thesis: The sentences should all refer to the central idea,

or thesis, of the paper (Rosen and Behrens 119).• Coherent: The sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should

follow a definite plan for development (Rosen and Behrens 119).• Well-developed: Every idea discussed in the paragraph should be adequately

explained and supported through evidence and details that work together to explain the paragraph’s controlling idea (Rosen and Behrens 119).

Ways to Organize a Paragraph

• Narration: Tell a story. Go chronologically, from start to finish.

• Description: Provide specific details about what something looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like. Organize spatially, in order of appearance, or by topic.

• Process: Explain how something works, step by step. Perhaps follow a sequence—first, second, third. Classification: Separate into groups or explain the various parts of a topic.

• Illustration: Give examples and explain how those examples prove your point.

Example – Descriptive Paragraph

Description: Provide specific details about what something looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like. Organize spatially, in order of appearance, or by topic.

Piranha are omnivorous, freshwater fish, which are mostly known for their single row of sharp, triangular teeth in both jaws. Piranhas’ teeth come together in a scissor-like bite and are used for puncture and tearing. Baby piranha are small, about the size of a thumbnail, but full-grown piranha grow up to about 6-10 inches, and some individual fish up to 2 feet long have been found. The many species of piranha vary in color, though most are either silvery with an orange underbelly and throat or almost entirely black.

Conclusion

• Should help your reader see why all your analysis and information should matter to them after they put the paper down.

• allows you to:• have the final say on the issues you have raised in your

paper• summarize your thoughts• demonstrate the importance of your ideas, and • propels your reader to a new view of the subject

Strategies - Conclusion

• Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. This strategy brings the reader full circle.

• Synthesize, don’t summarize: Include a brief summary of the paper’s main points, but don’t simply repeat things that were in your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull it all together.

• Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study.

• Do NOT begin with overused phrases such as “in conclusion”, “in summary” or “in closing”

Personal Narratives

Assignment 1: Personal Narrative

• Assignment:• Write an essay about a significant event in your life. • Choose an event that will be engaging for readers and that will, at the

same time, tell them something about you. • Tell your story dramatically and vividly, giving a clear indication of its

autobiographical significance. • Use first-person, singular (“I”) narration for this essay• Structuring your essay using a chronology may also be a good idea, in

many cases.

 

• Rough Draft• Peer Review• Final Draft

What is a Personal Narrative?

• A personal narrative re-creates a specific experience or event in your life.

• To write an effective narrative, select an experience that you feel strongly about.

B a s i c s i n a B o x

Personal Narrative at a Glance

RUBRIC Standards for Writing

A successful narrative should

• focus on a clear, well-defined incident

• make the importance or significance of the event clear

• show clearly the order in which events occurred

Beginning

Introduces the incident including the people and

place involved

End• Tells the outcome or

result of the event• Presents the writer’s

feelings about the experience

Middle

• Describes the event using descriptive details and possibly dialogue

• Makes the significance clear

• use descriptive details that appeal to the senses to describe characters and setting

• use dialogue to develop characters

• maintain a consistent tone

Writing Your Personal Narrative1 Prewriting

Your life, though it may seem average to

you, is a new and exotic world to other

people. Don’t be afraid to write about

your personal experiences .

Joe Hasley, student writer

Your life, though it may seem average to

you, is a new and exotic world to other

people. Don’t be afraid to write about

your personal experiences .

Joe Hasley, student writer

Think about interesting or unusual events that really happened.

Recall personal experiences that have been funny, sad, frightening, or unforgettable.

Brainstorm similar incidents you have heard about from others.

How can you find ideas?

Writing Your Personal Narrative1 Prewriting

Planning Your Personal Narrative

1. Analyze the nature of the incident. What was its significance? Why does it stand out in your mind?

2. Decide on the tone you want to create. How did the incident make you feel when you experienced, saw, or heard about it? What is the main feeling you want to create in your audience?

Planning Your Personal Narrative

3. Make a time line. List all the parts of the

event in time order. For each part, stop and

list who was involved, where it happened, and

some of the significant details. When the list is

finished, decide which parts to include in your

narrative and which parts you can condense

or skip in order to keep the narrative focused

and lively.

Planning Your Personal Narrative

4. Decide which parts of the narrative to

enliven with dialogue or with details that

appeal to the senses. What details could

help you show what happened rather than

simply telling about it? What dialogue would

move your narrative along and make it more

realistic?

Writing Your Personal Narrative2 Drafting

Begin by describing the setting or an

important character.

Give background information or flash

forward to an event further along in the

narrative.

Use your time line to help you remember

the order of events.

Writing Your Personal Narrative2 Drafting

Keep in mind what tone you want to create.

Use dialogue and plenty of descriptive details to help move the narrative along.

End by telling the outcome.

Writing Your Personal Narrative3 RevisingWORD CHOICE

Pay attention to word choice to make your narrative more lively and interesting. Try using

Specific nouns, verbs, and modifiers—words like chuckle, snicker, giggle, guffaw, or roar.

Writing Your Personal Narrative3 RevisingWORD CHOICETry using

Modifiers, like velvety or shrill, that appeal to the senses.

A thesaurus to find specific synonyms for vague words.

A dictionary for the precise meaning of words.

Writing Your Personal Narrative4 Editing and ProofreadingPRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT

In your narrative, make sure each pronoun you use agrees with its antecedent in

number

gender

person

Tips from Little Seagull Handbook (see pages 59-61)

1. Describe the setting• Describe what you remember seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and

feeling• Remember to SHOW rather than TELL

2. Think about the key people • Describe the people (movements, posture, facial expressions)• Try writing lines of dialogue between two people in your narrative.

3. Consider each of 5 Ws (Who? What? When? Where? Why? )

4. Consider the SIGNIFICANCE of the event

Homework - Read

The Little Seagull Handbook• Read W-1 (Writing Contexts), W-2 (Academic Contexts), W-3 (Writing

Process)• Narrating (pages24-25)• W-10 Personal Narratives (pages 58-61)• S-6 Pronouns p. 277

75 Readings Plus Narration• Read Chapter 1: “Narration” (p.1)• Read “Superman and Me” • by Sherman Alexie• George Orwell “Shooting an Elephant”  

Homework –Turn In

• Complete Rough Draft Essay #1 Narrative Essay

• Be Prepared for Quiz on 75 Readings Plus Readings