My first day activity in Intermediate Composition is to have the students complete a letter of introduction as a writer. They answer a series of 9 questions on a piece of loose-leaf so I can take them home and read them. The activity gets them writing on the first day of class, shows I am serious about working hard while in class, and allows them to reflect on their abilities and feelings about writing, important as they begin a writing course. There is often a series of repeated phrases, so this time I created a wordle to diagram the repeated words in the students’ responses.
Here are the 9 questions, not to be answered in numbered form but in a cohesive response:
- How do you feel about writing? Include important information about yourself as a writer.
- Why do people write?
- Why do you write?
- What is the best thing you have ever written? Why?
- What is the worst thing you have ever written? What was difficult about it?
- How often do you write?
- What do you think a person needs to be a writer?
- What do you expect from me as a teacher?
- What are your writing goals?
