Assignments and Handouts
Piece #3: Blog Post—Historical Athletes
For the third writing assignment, you will research an athlete and write a biographical sketch. We’re going to explore Blogger You will post your writing on there.
The Blog/Blurb:
You're going to choose an athlete to research--and you will find out what you can about her/him. From there you need to write a "why should we care" or a "what we should know" post about your particular athlete.
The post should synthesize your findings. You should write at least a page. You should have links to important websites.
I want to model what I want you to do. My site should serve as an example of what your blog could look like.
After you see what I've done, start looking for information your athlete. Start a blog about him/her and model it after mine. Give us links to go to--you can put them on your site. Write your thoughts on your athlete; synthesize your findings; inform us and make us think.
A web page to start looking for athletes
Start by going to my sample blog on Rubin Carter:
Some student examples from previous classes:
http://sites.google.com/site/sportsblurbs/home
http://pfouts-sportswriting.blogspot.com/ (Scroll down and click athletes)
Get set up on Blogger
Posts from previous class
Sports Writing Piece #2
Based on the Pre-writing we do and your own ideas, need to compose some creative writing. This assignment has two parts: a poem (or poems) and a short story or scene. I always like about three pages of writing for a typical assignment. So if that helps, shoot for at least three pages of writing.
For the poem(s), I want you to give it a whirl. Give an honest effort and I will give you some feedback. For some of you this will be easy and enjoyable—so run with it.
Poetry Possibilities include:
- Something like “Casey at the Bat”
-The Found Poem Warm-up
-A Poem based on a Metaphor—like “The Springboard”
-A poem based on/inspired by one we read
-The Acrostic Warm-up
- A New, Original Poem
For the short story or scene, you need to practice telling stories and showing scenes with your writing. You could watch something and attempt to make a story out of it. You could consider something like, “What drives athletes” and attempt to show it through a story. You could speculate what happens in the lives of athletes and create a fictional version of what you imagine. Look over your warm-ups and see if you can develop any of them into a piece.
Short Story/Scene Possibilities:
-Something like stories we've read:
“The Cyclist of San Cristobal Hill”
"Powder"
"Thrill of the Grass"
-The dialogue passed around
-Change the ending or continue “He Swung and He Missed”
-An idea from first pages of stories warm-up
-A new idea for fiction.
Draft due for Peer Edit: ____________
Graded Draft turned in_____________
Sports Writing Piece #1
Based on the Pre-writing we do and an event you watch, you will compose your first piece. For this assignment, you need to write two short pieces: a column and an article.
For the column, you need to express your opinion on a particular topic. You might need to give some background and you might need to address the opposing argument. You can look at columns in the paper, online or in magazines and use them as models. Consider your audience a typical group of sports fans—people who read, or at least glance at, the sports page regularly.
Column Possibilities include:
-What is Sport Warm–up
-Boulder as a sports town
-What’s your connection to CU
-Your own Manning/Tebow column
-Should college athletes get paid?
-Debatable Sports Topics
For the article, you should watch something and attempt to retell it. Consider the highlights, the turning points and the outcome. You must avoid the temptation of using the newspaper. You don’t need quotes—we’ll do that later. You merely need to recap what happened so that someone who knows the sport would know what happened.
Article Possibilities:
Watch a sporting event on TV
Go to a sporting event
-local
-professional
-little kids
-high school
-college
Advice on writing articles:
http://nazcar.wrytestuff.com/swa144083.htm
http://www.howtodothings.com/hobbies/a4594-how-to-write-a-sports-article.html
Draft due for Peer Edit: 3/23/12
Graded Draft turned in: some time after spring break