OK, so the semester came, and I had to nail some things down for my Advanced Spanish Grammar and Composition class. You can see the entire syllabus here.
I wrote a few months ago about how I was trying to figure out what the writing equivalent would be to a potter turning 50 pounds of clay, and this is what I've come up with.
On the first day of class I had my students create a blog on Tumblr, and I told them that they would have to write 150 words in that journal EVERY DAY until the end of the semester. I will also have the students work on larger projects throughout the semester. They will write an essay, a short story, and a sonnet. In class we will rotate days. Some days we will talk about the creative process: capturing ideas, planning/outlining, drafting, and publishing. Other days we will talk about grammar. Yesterday was one of those days. I brought a concept (preterite vs. imperfect), and then we had a bunch of time to address questions. We will also have days where we talk about form. Depending on the project on which we are working, we will read and discuss poems, short stories, and essays. These days we will also have “workshop” time in which the students will work in small groups on their projects.
So far we have great energy in class, and I think that students are learning. There is a huge range of levels of Spanish in the class, and it’s a bit tricky trying to find the right balance, but I think we are getting somewhere. It’s going to be a really fun semester.