ENN 198.0922
Creative Spelunking:  Creating the World You Want

Spring I 2009
Mondays:  1:00-3:15 p.m.
Wednesdays:  1:00-2:00 p.m.

Professor: J. Elizabeth Clark, Ph.D.
Office: E-103 H / E-mail: lclark@lagcc.cuny.edu / Phone: 718.482.5665
Office Hours: 
Mondays, 11:45-12:45 p.m.
Wednesdays, 9:00-10:00 a.m.
Thursdays, 12:00-3:00 p.m.

Catalog Description for ENN 198 Creative Writing Workshop

This course introduces students to the elements of creative writing by using New York as a writer’s laboratory. Field trips to city places such as schools, streets, parks will lead to writing that uses these places and the people in them as themes. Students will write a variety of creative pieces_-sketches, brief narratives, poems, dramatic dialogues dealing with this glimpsed New York life. Reading of and visits with New York writers writing on New York themes will complement these activities.

Section Description for ENN 198.0922
Creative Spelunking:  Creating the World You Want

Creative Writing is simultaneously one of the most fun and most challenging classes you will take in your college career.  On the one hand, the course content is primarily determined by your imagination:  every time you approach the page, you will create the world you want by practicing what writer Steven Dobyns calls “the best words in the best order.”  And yet with that freedom, to write what you want and to create imaginary worlds for your readers to encounter, comes the difficult process of becoming a writer.  Anyone can write.  But good writing doesn’t just happen:  good writing takes time, process, craft, and discipline.

One of my favorite words is “spelunking.”  In its original context, the term means exploring caves.  I like to apply that idea to writing.  In spelunking, you need to have a good sense of geography and the land to discover new things; you need a sense of adventure and risk to put yourself in uncomfortable and dangerous situations; you need to know the equipment and safety procedures to get yourself out of a tight situation; and you are seeking caves that haven’t yet been discovered.  While we won’t be doing any urban spelunking this semester, lowering ourselves on ropes into the mighty depths of the New York subterranean jungle, we will be spelunking on the page.

This class is based on four basic principles:  good writers are good readers; good writers take risks and experiment; good writers understand the literary traditions that preceded them, and how to work within and against those traditions; good writers are always open to the creative process.  Over the next fourteen weeks, this course will introduce you to the essential elements of poetry and fiction.  It will introduce you to contemporary poets and writers in the field.  And, it will challenge you to move beyond the expected, the boring, the imitative, and the clichéd, to attempt original and evocative writing that creates the world you want.  Sometimes, that will happen on class field trips. Sometimes it will happen with crayons and fingerpaints.  Sometimes it will happen in pop quizzes. Sometimes it will happen in lectures.  And most often, it will happen on the page, as you create the imaginary world you want. 

Student Learning Objectives

1. To introduce the student to the demands of the creative process and the specific requirements of such genres as the short story, the poem, the play, and the photographic essay;
2. To utilize basic tools of creative writing and to apply this knowledge in oral and written productions in various genres;
3. To explore various experimental approaches to writing such as free writing, and more traditional approaches such as imitation;
4. To learn the editorial process including manuscript form, proofreading, layout, and design;
5. To have each student develop a critical ability by judging the work of his/her peers;
6. To offer intensive practice in various kinds of creative writing, culminating in a major project of acceptable length and quality.

Required Course Materials (Available in the College Bookstore)
**Books are listed in the order in which we will be reading them.

1. A large journal for in-class exercises & assignments.  I recommend one with blank pages, to allow for more creativity.
2. Crayons, markers, and assorted pens & pencils.
3. Cory Doctorow, Little Brother
4. Stefan Mumaw & Wendy Lee Oldfield, Caffeine for the Creative Mind
5. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
6. Bill Moyers, The Language of Life

Grading

I will provide you with a handout detailing each assignment after our class discussion about these papers and projects. Please refer to both the assignment explanation (provided to you as a handout) and the grading rubric (provided to you as a handout) as you write each assignment. Please use my office hours to discuss your work and share drafts with me. I look forward to meeting with you about your works-in-progress.  Your final grade will be configured as follows:

1. 10 pop quizzes (10%)
2. 10 Weekly “Best of” Exercises with a Reflective Statement (20%)
3. Major Project (30%)
4. ePortfolio (30%)
5. Presentation (10%)

**Your final grade will be significantly penalized by absences, lateness, the submission of late work, and failure to adhere to academic etiquette.

Academic Etiquette

I want to make sure that our class is a productive environment for everyone.  I am serious about this class and about students who want to be in class and who want to do the work.  Come to class prepared and engaged and you won’t need to worry about losing points here.  Conversely, if you consistently engage in distracting, immature, and negative academic etiquette, your final grade will be penalized significantly depending on the degree and frequency of the infraction.  If your classroom behavior becomes disruptive to other students’ learning, you will be asked to leave the classroom.  Students who are unable to comply with the academic etiquette requirements are not eligible to participate in extra credit activities.

PLEASE DO:

1. Be in class on time, every time, ready to go.
2. Have your books, notes, & handouts in class.
3. Buy the books for class.  This is non-negotiable. Buy them; open them; read them; write in them; take notes on them; and bring them to class.
4. Be ready to talk about the texts and ideas we are discussing.
5. Be ready to engage in class and contribute your ideas!
6. Study for class and take your education seriously.
7.  Check BlackBoard for course materials, discussion board prompts, and other class-related materials & announcements.
8. Abide by the college’s Declaration of Pluralism.  Find productive ways to engage in conversations about difference.  You can read that declaration on page 230 in the college catalog.
9.  Abide by the university’s Policy Against Sexual Harassment.  You can read that policy on page 229 of the college catalog.
10.  Abide by the college’s Academic Integrity Policy. You can read more about that policy here: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library/academicintegritypolicy.pdf.
11. Let me know if you are registered with the office for students with disabilities, and I will make any accommodations you need.
12. Get notes from a classmate when you are absent.
13.  Hand work in on time.
14.  Stow your cell phones and other electronic devices safely in bags and purses.  Out of sight=out of mind!
15. Ask questions!  In class!  After class!  During breaks!  When you see me in the halls!  Over e-mail! 
16. Visit my office hours!
17. Use the writing center, E-111.
18. Stay in touch via e-mail, phone, and office hours.  Please let me know what you need and how I can help you.

PLEASE DO NOT:

19.  Talk while others are talking.
20.  Use any kind of hate speech.
21.  Use cell phones, pagers, or other communication devices.
22.  Take a cell phone call during class. 
23.  Text during class.
24.  IM, e-mail, or use the computers for non-class related work when we are in the computer lab.
25.  Be rude to me or to other classmates.
26.  Be late.
27.  Miss class.
28.  Ask me if you missed anything when you are absent from class.  Yes, you did.  Always.
29.  Plagiarize.
30.  Cheat.

No Cell Phones Cell phones and other distractions= NO!

Creativity & Critical Thinking = YES! 

Policies

1. You have 3 hours of absence in this course (that’s 1 week).  Use those absences at your discretion:  for illness, for appointments, for court dates, etc.  After 3 hours, I will penalize your final grade by 1/3 of a letter grade for each hour you miss for the following 3 hours.  After 6 hours of absence, you will automatically fail the course.  I do not make distinctions between excused and unexcused absences.  Are you in class?  No?  Then you’re absent.
2. 3 lates=1 hour of absence.  Late=coming to class after we have started.
3. Work is due on the day, date, and time indicated on the course calendar.  Late work will be penalized by 1/3 of a letter grade for each day it is late.
4. If you miss class, the due date does not change for you.  Work is due when it’s due.
5. Please submit all work in paper form.
6.  In order to have a paper counted as “on time,” you may e-mail the paper to me. However, in the next class session, please bring me a hard copy of the paper to grade. 
7.  Students with ePortfolios may submit their work on ePortfolio.  Please enable your ePortfolio to give me permission to view it and send me an e-mail with a link to the paper.  At the end of the semester, the final portfolio review for all students will be on ePortfolio.  I will help you with this during our class time together.
8.  Students may rewrite any of the three papers in this course.  In order to be eligible for a rewrite, please meet with me within 1 week of receiving your graded paper.  Together, we will develop a revision plan for your paper.
9. Except in the case of emergencies, there will be no make-up exams.
10. There are no make-up quizzes or make-up presentations.
11. Work that is plagiarized is grounds for automatic failure in the course;  cheating on exams or quizzes is also grounds for automatic failure in the course.  You can review the college’s academic integrity policy here: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library/academicintegritypolicy.pdf

Please refer to the course calendar for assignments, due dates, and the daily class overview.

Image Credits:
Course Banner:  [http://www.wordle.net];  Brain: [http://www.morphonix. com/software/education/science/brain/game/specimens/images/wet_brain.gif]; Cell Phone:  [http://library.csus.edu/images/news/no-cell-phones.jpg]