Writing
In the first term, the students will be expected to write short pieces each week to practice using evidence to make a point, to reflect on your learning and to explore topics raised in class. The key to academic success is practice – especially practicing writing. Writing is hard for everyone, especially when a genre is unfamiliar or the expectations are unclear.
I'll try to make the expectations clear and over time the expected norms of writing will become familiar to you. Above all I just want you to get used to writing without worrying to much about being perfect at it. Many weeks you will need to write a "reflection". This is a catch-all term given to writing assignments that ask you to "reflect" on (or think about or meditate on) the learning you accomplished that week.
At the beginning of the year, I will distribute a list of topics intended to help you focus your writing (which you get to choose from). I am suggesting you to write these reflections not as you, the Carleton student, but as your character attending "The Academy". They can be as creative as you choose: a letter home, an entry from your diary, a page of notes from your Academy classes, a photo of your recreated "dorm room" bulletin board... They can also be very typically academic writing if you prefer.
The initial topics will be:
After the initial weeks you will have more leeway in choosing what specifically you wish to write about.
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