332 W22 Jonahs

Instructor:            Dr. Andrea Jonahs

Email:                   ajonahs@uwaterloo.ca     

Office Hours:      By appointment

This seminar and workshop course introduces you to creative nonfiction, an expansive and somewhat contested term that includes personal essay, lyric essay, literary journalism, food writing, memoir, meditation, profile, travelogue, and their many imbricating subgenres.  You will read, examine, and discuss texts that will, hopefully, inspire and inform your own writing. You will develop your craft through an iterative writing practice that includes regular in-class writing, workshopping, revision, and reflection. 

Course Outcomes

• Gain knowledge about creative nonfiction and its subgenres.
• Develop a shared vocabulary to talk about craft and style.
• Develop your confidence, voice, and skills as a writer.
• Create a writing community that is safe, supportive, and respectful.

Course Materials
All required readings can be found on LEARN as PDFs and/or web links. Recommended Text:  Tell It Slant, (3^rd ed.) by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola

As part of the University of Waterloo community, we acknowledge that we occupy the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometers on each side of the Grand River.  For more information, see Six Nations Lands & Resources website. 

As part of my commitment to reconciliation, you will be introduced to contemporary Indigenous writers.  This course also adopts many principles of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop, by Felicia Rose Chavez.

The following table outlines major course activities and assignments:
 

Assessments	Weight %	Due
Participation: You will evaluate your participation three times over the term.	15	Jan. 31 Feb. 28 April 3
Reading Responses (250-500 words) You will write written responses to all the required readings.  Submit these to dropbox on their specified due date. You will also write written responses to three creative nonfiction essays of your choice. These responses will be shared on the discussion board. You may only submit one a week, and they must all be submitted by April 4th.	15	Mondays by 2:30pm See schedule for specific dates.
Essay #1: Memoir Tradition (1250-1500 words) + Artist Statement (approx. 500 words) For this assignment, you will write an essay that draws its energy and shape from a specific memory.	12.5	Due on your workshop day or by Feb. 14.
Essay #2: Literary Journalism/Sketch/Portrait Tradition (1250-1500 words)  + Artist Statement (approx. 500 words) For this assignment, you will write a personal essay that engages meaningfully with research of some kind (e.g., scholarship, interviews, immersion, observation etc.).	12.5	Due on your workshop day or by March 28
Workshop: Writer’s Role You will have your essay (#1 or #2) workshopped once over the term. Artist Statement + draft submitted on time Writer reads out loud from their work (1-2 mins) Writer guides their workshop Writer schedules post-workshop conference with instructor and prepares an agenda for the meetings	5	Workshop draft submitted to the instructor by noon on the Wednesday BEFORE workshop
Workshop: Responder’s Role Responders have read the draft, provided marginal ‘?’ and ‘P’ marks, as well a 250-350 word paragraph response to questions the writer has asked. Submit your written feedback to the writer as well as to dropbox. Participate in workshop in a respectful and thoughtful manner.   Attending workshop (3pts) + written response (3pts) = 6pts.  The number of points that make up the 15% in this category depends on the number of registered students.	15	varies
Conference You must schedule a conference to discuss your draft of Essay #1 and Essay #2.  Your post-workshop conference will count as one and the other conference can be about the essay that was not workshopped. These conferences must be initiated by you and require you to prepare an agenda.  2.5% x 2	5	varies
Essay #3: Revision (1250-1500 words) + Artist Statement (approx. 500 words) Pick one of your essays that you think would benefit from a substantial revision.  Your Artist Statement should provide a discussion about your revision process and goals.	15	Friday, April 15
Final Reflection (approx. 750-1000 words) Reflect on how you’ve developed as a writer. Ares you might reflect on include: How did your peer feedback shape your writing? How has your daily writing practice shaped you as a writer? What have you learned from reading your peers’ writing? What was the most beneficial and/or challenging aspect of workshopping? What have you learned from the published essays you read? What areas do you want to continue to develop as a writer?  What are your goals as a writer?	5	Friday, April 15

Participation

Building a writing community and writing practice is central to this course.  Whether we are meeting virtually or in-person, it is necessary that students in this class show up and show commitment towards creating an environment that safe, encouraging, and supportive.  Here are some ways to demonstrate your participation:

• Attend class
• Come prepared i.e., complete the readings and the responses before class
• Participate in class discussion
• Demonstrate active listening
• Complete in-class writing prompts
• Volunteer to read your work out loud
• Commit to a self-directed writing practice (e.g., I’m going to write every day for 10 mins) 
• Participate on discussion boards
• Volunteer to take notes or update students who might not be in class
• Email the instructor with questions/comments about the reading before class
• Other ways?  You tell me.
   

You will evaluate your participation three times over the term.  NOTE: If you have three unexcused absences, you will receive a 10% penalty on your final participation mark. Every subsequent unexcused absence will receive an additional 5% deduction.

Reading Responses

For this ongoing requirement, you will write 250-500 words responding to the week’s assigned readings. Your response should briefly answer the following questions of each essay assigned and should include quotes/concrete examples from the text in your discussion. 

1. What ideas/emotions do you think the writer was struggling with or trying to “work out” on the page? What do you think the writer came to the page to say?
2. Comment on one or more of the following elements: Character, Description, Tone, Analogy, Structure, Research, or Gaps/Weaknesses.
3. What aspect of the essay can you draw inspiration from? What would you like to borrow for your own writing?

Responses are 3 points each and graded lightly; if you meet the above criteria and your writing is mostly clear and error free, you will earn full marks.  
 

How Essays are Evaluated

Collaboration, self-assessment, and reflection are significant aspects of your essay grade.  As a class, we will develop some criteria for evaluating our drafts.  I will provide a structure for self-assessment and reflection.  I will review your self-assessment, comparing it to my own assessment of your work (taking into account your specified goals and our collaborative criteria).  If there are significant discrepancies in our respective assessments, I will meet with you to discuss the discrepancies and your final grade. 
 

Workshop

The workshop method in this course is adapted from Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process (CRP) and Felicia Rose Chavez’s, The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop.  Unlike typical workshops, the writer is not a silent and passive recipient of any and all feedback.  Instead, the writer is prepared to dialogue with responders and takes an active role in shaping the feedback process.

Role of the Writer

The writer being workshopped prepares their Artist Statement and draft—submitted in this order as one Word document— by noon on the Wednesday before their workshop date (see schedule). The instructor will distribute the essays for workshop to the rest of the class.
 

File Name Format: [First Name Last Name]_Workshop_[Date]
e.g. Andrea Jonahs_Workshop_February 21

Workshop is an opportunity for the writer to present their draft for feedback, having taken care to introduce their work in the form of a written Artist Statement—a 1-page letter from the writer to the workshop participants that initiates the dialogue about their work. 

The Artist Statement

 Submitted along with your draft, your Artist Statement should follow a standard letter format i.e., friendly greeting, message, complimentary close, and signature. Your artist statement should include responses to the following:

• Summary of your project in 1-3 sentences. Please provide a content warning for potentially sensitive material.
• What surprised you while working on this project?
• What aspects of the project posed the greatest challenge for you?
• What success resulted from the writing process?
• What is your goal and/or vision for this project? You may discuss works that you were inspired by or trying to emulate in some way.
• To focus your revision goals, provide three craft-based questions about your project to guide the workshop discussion.  What do you need help sorting out?  Questions should not be too narrow or too broad.

Preparing your draft

Your draft should be between 1250-1500 words.  Although drafts are works-in-progress, they must be cohesive, developed, and “finished,” to the extent that workshop participants can respond to a complete essay.

Post-Workshop Conference with Instructor

You are expected to schedule a meeting with your instructor to discuss how your workshop went. The meeting should take place by the Friday of the week you were workshopped.  You will meet with the instructor for 20-30 mins to debrief about the workshop experience, discuss the feedback you received, and talk about your draft moving forward. You will prepare an agenda with specific items to discuss.  Be prepared to discuss the following areas:

• Summary of how you thought the workshop went
  • How would you evaluate the quality of your workshop experience?
  • What aspects of your peers’ feedback would you like clarity on?
• How are you feeling about your draft and yourself as a writer?
  • How might you deepen your understanding of a particular craft element you are working on in your draft
• What does your draft need right now?  What feedback do you need from your instructor?  What specific questions do you have?  If possible, share these ahead of the scheduled meeting time.
• What is your plan of action going forward?

Role of the Responder

Responders in the workshop engage in dialogue with the writer, showing commitment to the writer’s intent and goals. 

Responders identify what they found meaningful, evocative, interesting, and/or striking in the draft by putting a check mark (‘P’) in the margins. Areas where responders are confused are identified with a question mark (‘?’).  In-text comments regarding the check marks and question marks are optional. 
Responders prepare 250-350 word written response guided by the questions asked in the Artist’s Statement. 

 A note about difficult subject matter
Writing in this genre often means mining aspects of your lived experience that are deeply personal and emotionally difficult. I encourage you to go there, to write about the thing that is hard to write about as modeled in many of the essays we read.  That said, this course may not be a suitable venue for all subject matter you wish to write about.  You should not submit writing for workshop that you are not prepared to have discussed in the writing community.

If there is any potentially sensitive or triggering content in your essay, please let your readers know.

If for any reason you do not think you can engage with a text we are reading, please reach out to me. We will discuss an alternative means of completing the activity.  

As the instructor, I will work hard to ensure that you can develop your writing practice and voice in an environment that feels safe and gives you agency and respect. While my role is not to police the boundaries of artistic and creative work, I do control what we read as a class, and I will not accept writing that contains graphic violence, sex, hate speech or anything else I deem inappropriate for the class.  If you have questions about whether your work is appropriate for this course, please reach out to me well in advance of your workshop.

A Note About Instructor Feedback
You will receive oral feedback during your two consultations with me.  For your final revision, you will receive written feedback based on areas you’ve identified in your Artist Statement.  If you would like more feedback on your work at any point, you are welcome to schedule a meeting with me.

If for any reason we cannot meet in-person, or must pivot between in-person and online learning, then our course will take place on MS Teams at our regularly scheduled time: Mondays, 2:30-5:20pm.  Attendance for online synchronous class time will be required.

Late work receives a 50% grade deduction if submitted within 24hrs of the deadline, and an additional 10% grade deduction for every subsequent 24hr period.  

Late Submission	Grade Deduction
< 24 hours	50%
24-48 hours	60%
48-72 hours	70%
72-96 hours	80%
96-120 hours	90%
120-144 hours	100% (assignment receives a zero)

Unexcused Absences: If you have three unexcused absences, you will receive a 10% penalty on your final participation mark. Every subsequent unexcused absence will receive an additional 5% deduction.

Missing your workshop:  Rescheduling a workshop is very challenging, so please do not miss your workshop date.   If you wish, may find another student to switch your workshop date with, as long as the student agrees and it’s before the Wednesday deadline to distribute workshop materials.

Accommodations: If you require an accommodation for any aspect of the course, please reach out to me as early as possible.  Accommodation requests concerning your ability to complete course requirements as specified will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  In some instances, official documentation, such as a verification of illness form or communication from AccessAbility Services, may be required.

Grading Scale: Grading in this course is done predominantly through self-reflections, self-assessments, and completing assignments according to their criteria and deadline (i.e., grading for completion). 

The following table provides a description of what the letter grades typically represent.

Letter grade	Percentage ranges	Description
A+	90-100	“A” range is exceptional.  Work exceeds expectations by being creative, comprehensive, persuasive, and mostly error-free.  “B” range meets expectations. Work demonstrates competency but is limited in originality and depth.  Occasional errors do not undermine the overall integrity of the work.  “C” range meets minimal expectations.  Work tends to be underdeveloped in some areas. Errors may undermine the overall integrity and/or comprehension of the work.  “D” or “F” ranges do not meet expectations.  Work is underdeveloped in several areas.  Errors tend to be frequent and undermine the overall comprehension of the work The passing grade is 50%.
A	85-89
A-	80-84
B+	77-79
B	73-76
B-	70-72
C+	67-69
C	63-66
C-	60-62
F	0-59

Link to UWaterloo’s Grading Policies

Course Copyright & Intellectual Property

Students should be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of their instructor, the University of Waterloo, and possibly other students enrolled in the class. Intellectual property must only be downloaded and stored for personal use related to the course and must not be shared, copied, broadcasted, or adapted in any way without explicit permission from the owner of the property.  A failure to abide by these terms is a violation of intellectual property rights.

Intellectual property includes items such as: Lecture content, spoken and written (and any audio/video recordings); lecture handouts, presentations, and other materials prepared for the course (e.g., PowerPoint slides); and content created by students in the course (video, discussion responses etc.)

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. Visit the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.

Grievance

A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for their actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Appeals

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.

AccessAbility Services

AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.
 

Student Wellness & Counselling Services

University can be a challenging environment. Meeting with an experienced and friendly counsellor can help students address their questions and concerns, set goals and develop strategies and skills to manage stress or other concerns.  Information is available online at Campus Wellness https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/counselling-services and UW MATES peer counselling https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/counselling-services/uw-mates-peer-counselling

Writing and Communication Center

The Writing and Communication Center works with students as they develop their ideas, draft their work, and revise their work. Writing and communication specialists offer one-on-one support on all aspects of this course, and you can make multiple appointments during the term.  Please see their website to schedule appointments. Note that you can schedule group appointments for our team-based projects, presentations, and papers as well as sign up for various workshops and writing groups.

Student Success Office

The mandate of the Student Success Office (SSO) is to provide and facilitate strategic student support for academic and personal success. Information available online at

https://uwaterloo.ca/student-success/about-student-success.

See weekly schedule document posted on LEARN.

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