writing students at a midwestern community college (and postcards)

This summer term, I've asked my online writing students to think of why they do what they do, express it in haiku form, and send it to me via surface mail. I gave them blank stamped postcards, so they have what they need.

The cards are due next week; I look forward to seeing what they see, and write, and send.

Our course blog is password protected, but the assignment is:

Another assignment this week: the Postcard Prompt.

In your surface mailed packet, you received two blank stamped addressed postcards. This week, use ONE of the postcards to do this:
think about why you do what you do. What is at the center of your life, of all of your activity? What matters most to you? What do you hope your life will mean or be? What drives you?
Then, write a haiku about that motivation or center or driving force.
Write that haiku on the non-address side of your postcard. You can draw pictures, too, if you'd like. Up to you.
Then, mail the postcard to me at the address I gave you.

Want more information on the WDYDWYD project? Please take a look at what people all over the world are doing and hoping.

Peace.

Trish

I love this, Trish!!! Thanks so much for sharing how you're doing it. You know, it would be cool to invite students who are interested in sharing their answers publicaly to post them here. And, you could offer them another option, which would be to post a scan of their postcard (minus the name). It might be easier just to type them in a list, but it could also be a nice way to feature each answer by scanning their postcards (besides... handwriting has a great visual vernacular to it).

Tony

For others' benefit, here is the text above which seems invisible b/c it is black font on black.

Our course blog is password protected, but the assignment is:
Another assignment this week: the Postcard Prompt. In your surface mailed packet, you received two blank stamped addressed postcards. This week, use ONE of the postcards to do this:

think about why you do what you do. What is at the center of your life, of all of your activity? What matters most to you?

What do you hope your life will mean or be? What drives you?

Then, write a haiku about that motivation or center or driving force.

Write that haiku on the non-address side of your postcard. You can draw pictures, too, if you'd like. Up to you.

Then, mail the postcard to me at the address I gave you.

Want more information on the WDYDWYD project? Please take a look at what people all over the world are doing and hoping.

Peace.

Trish

Replies

Tony Deifell July 26, 2010 at 6:06pm
I love this, Trish!!! Thanks so much for sharing how you're doing it. You know, it would be cool to invite students who are interested in sharing their answers publicaly to post them here. And, you could offer them another option, which would be to post a scan of their postcard (minus the name). It might be easier just to type them in a list, but it could also be a nice way to feature each answer by scanning their postcards (besides... handwriting has a great visual vernacular to it).

Tony

For others' benefit, here is the text above which seems invisible b/c it is black font on black.
Our course blog is password protected, but the assignment is:
Another assignment this week: the Postcard Prompt. In your surface mailed packet, you received two blank stamped addressed postcards. This week, use ONE of the postcards to do this:

think about why you do what you do. What is at the center of your life, of all of your activity? What matters most to you?

What do you hope your life will mean or be? What drives you?

Then, write a haiku about that motivation or center or driving force.

Write that haiku on the non-address side of your postcard. You can draw pictures, too, if you'd like. Up to you.

Then, mail the postcard to me at the address I gave you.

Want more information on the WDYDWYD project? Please take a look at what people all over the world are doing and hoping.

Peace.

Trish
- trish harris > Tony Deifell July 26, 2010 at 6:18pm
  
  Actually, here is the scan of her card:
  https://wdydwyd.ning.com/profile/Beth608
  
  And others were just as stunning.
  
  See what you did? Genius. Love. It.
- Tony Deifell > trish harris July 26, 2010 at 6:55pm
  
  That's awesome... embedding it here too.
  
  Folks ARE often shy about this. That's cool. The goal is to spark reflection, and that happens for many more people than just the ones who end up creating something for the site.
  
  You know, that's partly why I suggested the idea of offering them another option that would be more anonymous... that is you upload them through your profile on this site and you can just say under each one that it is from a student in your class. That could be cool. Then, I can show you how you can put them all in a gallery that will run as a slideshow on another site (like your course platform). Just an idea.
  
  Love that you did it this way!
- trish harris > Tony Deifell July 26, 2010 at 6:13pm
  
  They did send in the postcards, which were thoughtful and spectacular and wow. I encouraged the students to contribute, linking from the course blog.
  One of my students did submit her scan, but it went to the actual larger site rather than this course area. The rest were, maybe, shy. Who can explain or understand the reluctance of others?
  So thank you for the spark -- it really did inspire some new thinking, and the boundaries of both your question and the haiku form served as a sort of launching pad rather than a limit. Will do it again in the fall with new students. :)

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Teachers & Educators

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