I am grateful to Kristine who reached out to ask for clarification.  I am posting our email exchange below.  Usually, if one person has a question, others have it too.  I appreciate the opportunity to make the plan more clear.  Communication win!

initial email:

For Thursday’s class, the weekly schedule says you should bring a “compost heap.” I have posted instructions for the assignment that the compost heap is a part of, and I want to explain what we are aiming for…

Instead of assigning a rough draft, what I am asking you to do is to really slow down your writing process.  Please read the assignment page to get the big picture of the essay topic. In class today, you created the beginnings of a compost heap for a particular man’s story.  For Thursday, decide what memoir story you want to focus on to write a full essay—it does NOT have to be the one you did in class today.   Begin a compost heap for that essay.  This might include: the page numbers of the pieces of that story; some quotes that stand out for you; a sentence or two about what you think might be interesting you about this particular memoir story.

You are not turning this in for a grade.  You will be using the heap for class discussion. The goal of Thursday’s class will be to sharpen your understanding of the kind of analysis that should make up your essay.

Do not stress over this.  Think about which story you want to spend more time with, and come to class having written out a few quotes and a few thoughts.  It should take about the same amount of time as a regular prep note would take.

Let me know if you have questions.

 

From Kristine:

Hello,

I was wondering if we have to make an additional prep note along with this compost heap assignment. Also, do we post the compost heap to the blog?

Thank you,

Kristine Nguyen

 

Reply:

Hi Kristine,

The compost heap is in lieu of a prep note.  It is basically what you need to do to prepare to engage fully in class on Thursday, and it is starting the process of writing your own essay.

I suggest that you put this compost heap into your “private space” or Google folder for the class.  You do not need to post it to the blog, but make sure you have it someplace you can find again.  You will continue to work with what you write in the compost heap.

td