Tuesday 9:30-10:45 am
The student will sharpen his or her perceptions and ability to express them creatively. Published and peer examples of poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama will be read and analyzed. The student will compose original works within the four genres of creative writing. AAS: Humanities elective.
Appropriate assessment score or ENGL 1422 with a grade of C or better - Must be taken either prior to or at the same time as this course.
General Education Outcomes are the knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and behaviors that students are expected to develop as a result of their overall experiences with any aspect of the college, including courses, programs, and student services, both inside and outside of the classroom. The General Education Outcomes specifically learned in this course are:
- Critical Thinking
- Responsibility
Faculty Contact Information
MTW 8:30-9:30 am + Saturdays 10-12 + by appt
Course Information
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify the genres of creative writing.
- Recognize basic literary conventions.
- Demonstrate methods of invention.
- Demonstrate editorial skills through revision and editing.
- Demonstrate written proficiency in a variety of genres.
- Creative Writing Process
- Poetry
- Drama
- Fiction
- Creative Nonfiction
n/a
Evaluation
Attendance and Engagement 20% of your final grade
Weekly Writing Prompts 30% of your final grade
Feedback provided to classmates 25% of your final grade
Revision of prompts based on feedback 15% of your final grade
Final Reflection 10% of your final grade
The Pace
This is a 16-week in-person writing workshop, which will meet every Tuesday between 9:30-10:45, with the expectation that you will do some reading and writing outside of class since it’s a hybrid.
For the first 10 weeks, you will be introduced to a banquet of writing strategies and modalities and asked to practice them in your own creative way. These practice writings are lovingly chosen, relatively brief, and all located in online links I will provide. My expectations of you at this time:
- Attend class on time and engage in class discussions
- Read the absurdly few pages I assign over the week
- Complete the short writing prompt related to that strategy at your convenience over the week
- Submit to me in Canvas for my first impressions Mondays by 11:59 pm
For weeks 11-15, we will be entering the same space together: the Writing Community (which is, I believe, the larger point to this whole class)
During this time, you will be required to
- Revise any one of your practice assignments based on my first impressions and your own creative reimagining at your convenience during class on Tuesday
- Submit it for new feedback from a classmate (randomly assigned by computer) by Thursday at 11:59 pm
- Engage in the process of feedback and revision by Mondays at 11:59 pm
For your final in Week 16, you will
- Compose a 2-3 page course reflection about your journey as a writer
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Dean, Jennifer Huggins; 815-802-8484; R310; jhuggins@kcc.edu; Division Office- W102; 815-802-8700
Course Policies
Plagiarism
Plagiarism, is defined in section 16.2 of the Code of Conduct: “Representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own. Plagiarism includes claiming credit for assignments completed by someone else.” All instances of intentional plagiarism on any major assignment for this course will lead to the immediate failure of the course with no opportunity for the student to withdraw. The instance of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Student Development. If the student has a second instance of plagiarism reported to the Dean of Student Development, the student may be suspended from the institution.
Let me be super clear here: AI use will not be welcome or allowed in this course. All submissions, sadly, will be run through my computer’s Similarity Check and will reflect both direct plagiarism and close paraphrasing. Evidence of AI usage will result in a zero on the assignment; the second instance will result in a zero in the course. I will be asking you to sign an agreement that you understand this rule.
Technology
Issues like computer crashes, internet problems, faulty email, etc. are not valid reasons for turning in homework or papers late. Problems such as those mentioned can be eliminated if you save assignments to multiple locations and work on assignments in advance to minimize last minute problems. Also, have a backup plan for computer access in the case that your system does go down. Taking these precautions will potentially prevent you from failing class due to bad luck or circumstance.
I do not fix computers for a living and the world is better off for it. Please direct your login, password, and tech problems to the ITS department.
Completing Your Work
Now that we are in college, kindly note that I do not accept partial or late work. Expect partial work or late work to be left ungraded or returned to you. While it is difficult to put word count requirements on creative writing, you will be graded based on how complete your writing product feels in relation to the assignment requirements.
*That being said, I do have compassion for the pressures of your life, and for that reason every student will be granted ONE Free Pass, good for single one-week extension on the due date of any assignment that you may have missed. Please clear it with me ahead of time via email to avoid miscommunication.
Code of Conduct
Students are expected to adhere to the Code of Conduct located in the college catalog.
Expectations for Classroom and Online Behavior: “Showing up” is not the only thing I ask of you. Your success in this class will rely upon stepping out of your comfort zone perhaps, and I will encourage you to take risks in your writing. To ensure an enjoyable, inclusive, and engaging learning environment, you are expected to openly share your ideas and express your opinions; respect the opinions, values, and identities of your classmates, instructors, and authors; and honor the open environment of the class by respecting confidentiality when appropriate.
My creative writing classes in college were unkind at most and wildly unhelpful at least. Do not confuse social media snark with engaging with your very real and human classmates, who are entering this arena with trepidation and optimism. Do not confuse editing with feedback; it’s not your job here. Please nurture other writers by giving them helpful and honest feedback to better their awareness of how their writing comes across. Nobody in this class is the authority on what constitutes “good writing,” including me.
Course Calendar (reflecting the pace above)
| Getting the Lay of the Land | Concentration | Read this | Write this |
Week 1 (Jan. 13-19)
| Introductions and Expectations | See Assignments in Canvas | Reading Response 1 by Monday 1/19 11:59 pm |
No Classes Jan. 19 for MLK Day
Week 2* (Jan. 20-26) | Reading and Annotating Fiction | See Assignments in Canvas | Reading Response 2 by Monday 1/26 11:59 pm |
Week 3 (Jan. 27-Feb. 2) | Narrator and Narrative | See Assignments in Canvas | Reading Response 3 by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 4 (Feb. 3-9) | Form and Style | See Canvas | Reading Response 4 by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 5 (Feb. 10-16) | Setting | See Canvas | Reading Response 5 by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 6 (Feb. 17-23) | Reading Lenses | See Canvas | Reading Response 6 by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 7 (Feb. 24-Mar. 2) | Reading Lenses | See Canvas | Reading Response 7 by Monday 11:59 pm |
| HAPPY SPRING | BREAK THIS | WEEK!!!! | Mar. 3-9 |
Week 8 (Mar. 10-16) | Adaptation and Plagiarism | See Canvas | Reading Response 8 by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 9 (Mar. 17-23) | Film | See Canvas | Reading Response 9 by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 10 (Mar. 24-30) | Feedback and Self-Evaluation | See Canvas | Reading Response 10 by Monday 11:59 pm |
Entering the Writing Community
| Revise this | Submit it | Do this |
Week 11 (Mar. 31-Apr. 6) | Any prompt already submitted for review | In Canvas Thursday by midnight | Provide guided feedback to the classmate assigned to you by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 12 (Apr. 7-13) | Any prompt already submitted for review | In Canvas Thursday by midnight | Provide guided feedback to the classmate assigned to you by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 13 (Apr. 14-20) | Any prompt already submitted for review | In Canvas Thursday by midnight | Provide guided feedback to the classmate assigned to you by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 14 (Apr. 21-27)
| Begin final project | In Canvas Thursday by midnight | Provide guided feedback to the classmate assigned to you by Monday 11:59 pm |
Week 15 (Apr. 28-May 4) | Provide guided feedback to the classmate assigned to you by Monday 11:59 pm | ||
Week 16 (May 5-10) | 2-3 page self-reflection due May 10 by 11:59 pm | Say goodbye to your Amy because she’s going to miss you |
College Policies, Resources and Supports
For information related to the Student Code of Conduct Policy, Withdrawal Policy, Email Policy, and Non- Attendance/Non-Participation Policy, please review the college’s Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations webpage, which can be found at catalog.kcc.edu under the Academic Regulations & Conduct Guide.
KCC offers various academic and personal resources for all students. Many services are offered virtually, as well as in person. Please visit Student Resources - Kankakee Community College to access student resources services such as:
- Clubs and organizations
- Counseling and referral services
- Office of disability services
- Student complaint policy
- Transfer services
- Tutoring services, etc.
The materials on this course are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course. Further information regarding KCC's copyright policy is available at https://kcc.libguides.com/copyright.
|Course syllabus/calendar is subject to change.