fishers

9/18: Free Write-favorite writing assignments

One of the most exciting writing assignments I was ever assigned was in my Art of Fiction class. Throughout the course of the semester we were assigned various short stories of multiple genres and themes. For a final writing assignment at the end of the course we were asked to think of the various themes that were discussed throughout the semester. We were then given the opportunity to create our own anthology, picking the short stories we wanted to include. The catch was we needed to find a linking theme between this set of stories and prove that they were all somehow connected through this theme. It was fun to sit back and think of everything we read and discussed over the course of the semester. As a class we talked about different themes that connected many stories, but that seemed to be too easy. I wanted to find a theme we did not really discuss in class, so I could essentially bring out a different part of these stories that may not have necessarily been thought of. I really enjoyed this writing assignment because it was not something that could be done last minute, it had to be thought through and developed. It forced me to use a lot of creativity and I had a lot of fun tying all these stories together. Another writing assignment I really enjoyed was in my Teaching Writing class. Our final project was to use all that we learned throughout the semester about the process of writing and pick a different technique that could be used in the classroom to possibly enhance and benefit our students’ writing. I chose to write about the use of journal writing. I feel very strongly that journal writing can easily get students involved in the writing process. It was interesting to be able to research something I just had a strong opinion about and find others who felt similarly.