If you've stumbled upon this page randomly or by accident, this is a collection of my own writing, dating from 1991 to 2020. Much of it was for college or an academic purpose, but there is a wide variety of genres and modes available here.
I created this site as part of a summer class I took called the "Colorado Writing Project." They asked us to create a "Connections Project" to "connect your new understanding of writing with other aspects of your life." The connection I'm making here is connecting myself as a writer, both personally and academically, to my classroom. I hope to use these pieces during mini-lessons, as mentor texts, during conferences, and maybe, just maybe, if students are interested in reading something I've written for their own enjoyment.
Please feel free to use these as an example of what "polished" writing looks like in particular genres/forms, use these as mentor texts to figure out what I did as a writer to craft my pieces, see how I crafted and supported my arguments, find good vocabulary words and transitional phrases, or any other purpose you can think of.
This will be an ongoing product - when I collected all my works together, I had around 250 pieces of writing. I narrowed the work down to just a couple pieces per year, but I will likely add to this page once or twice a year.
1991-05-20 Valedictorian Speech (Academic - Public Speaking - Speech - Non-Fiction)
I was the valedictorian of my 6th grade class, back when 6th grade meant transitioning up to "junior high"
20060301 - Retired - The House Phone (Personal - Narrative - Non-Fiction - Information)
I decided to write a tribute to a phone that I had used for many years, that had a number of silly stories associated with it
20060302 - Scholarship Essay (Academic - Persuasion - Narrative - Non-Fiction)
When I first got into CU-Boulder, there was a scholarship portal that you could click all the scholarships you were eligible for, and write one application and personal essay to apply for all the scholarships. I ended up winning a small scholarship that helped me out for the first three years of college with this essay
20070221 - Thank You Letter (Academic - Narrative - Non-Fiction)
After earning the scholarship, one of the requirements was to write a thank you letter to the person/people/organization who gave the scholarship
20071204 - Concert Write-Up - A Love Supreme (Academic - Narrative - Non-Fiction - Information - Commentary - Analysis - Review)
I was taking a Music Elective class at CU-Boulder about the history of jazz. We were required to attend a certain number of concerts that semester and write-up our experience
20081215 - Short Fiction - Liquid Death (Academic - Creative - Narrative - Short Story - Fiction)
A short story I wrote in a "Creative Writing" class at CU-Boulder. I remember getting inspired for this piece while riding the "Hop" bus up near the cemetery up on "The Hill"
20081103 - Benjamin Paper (Academic - Argument - Non-Fiction - Analysis)
I don't remember much about this piece, beyond it being about Walter Benjamin, and his thoughts on art, paintings, movies, and fascism
20081215 - Poems - Revised (Academic - Personal - Fiction - Poetry)
Another piece created in my "Creative Writing" class. A set of poems that went through the drafting/revision/workshopping process
20081216 - Play - Jocasta (Academic - Narrative - Fiction - Play)
I remember taking multiple classes that covered the play "Oedipus Rex" and I think this was a response to having it in my brain, repeatedly, over several classes
20090220 - Craft of Mystery - Paper 1 (Academic - Argument - Non-Fiction - Analysis - Literature)
In a "Craft of Mystery" class, I wrote a paper arguing that Sherlock Holmes and his associate John Watson were more than friends
20090320 - ENGL 3060 - Housekeeping Paper (Academic - Argument - Non-Fiction - Analysis - Literature)
A pretty typical "Language Arts" paper, in which I make an argument and analyze the novel "Housekeeping"
20090506 - HUMN 3505 - Final Project (Academic - Argument - Non-Fiction - Literature - Analysis)
One of the two papers I'm proudest of in college. The professor took me aside after I wrote this, and said it was the only paper she'd read written by an undergraduate that actually provided her new information about a subject that she was an expert of. I went to the Norlin Library Special Collections department and was able to use a primary source related to Jonathan Swift's political satire essay, "A Modest Proposal"
20100201 - Personal Statement (Academic - Personal - Persusasion - Non-Fiction)
The essay I wrote to go with my application to the School of Education. It answers the question, "Why do you want to be a teacher?"
20100426 - Milton Research Project (Academic - Non-Fiction - Literature - Analysis - Argument)
One of the two papers I'm proudest of in college. I used a resource that the professor, who was an expert on John Milton, had never heard of. They were very grateful for the new avenue of study for their own work
20100731 - CWA Paper - edited (Academic - Personal - Non-Fiction - Persuasive - Information)
I have been a lifelong fan and attendee of CU-Boulder's Conference on World Affairs. In one of my classes, I was given the opportunity to "deconstruct" what the Conference is, and rebuild it from the ground up. I was able to present this paper to the staff of the CWA. Through my lifelong involvement with the CWA, I have seen changes that I have had some part of
20100901 - Composition - Who Am I as a writer (Academic - Personal - Non-Fiction - Information)
How I saw myself as a writer, in 2010. I wrote a new version of this in 2019 when I took the Colorado Writing Project
20110216 - Puck You (Academic - Fiction - Poetry - Literature)
A song parody of Cee Lo Green's "Forget You", using characters from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
20110316 - Captain Squishyfruit (Academic - Fiction - Narrative - Short Story)
Some random nonsense that fell out of my head in one of my classes. I think I was practicing stream of consciousness writing. It's pretty silly
20110812 - Daniel Laman - 2011-08-12 - (Academic - Personal - Non-Fiction - Reflection)
A journal entry from my first week as a student teacher at Boulder High. Look how excited and full of hope I was!
20111012 - Dan Laman - Ravitch Reflection - (Academic - Personal - Non-Fiction - Analysis)
On keeping the spark of creativity alive in students, and our responsibility as teachers to do so
20111216 - EDUC 4513 - Daniel Laman - Final Reflection (Academic - Personal - Non-Fiction - Reflection)
My last week as a student teacher at Boulder High. Can you tell how I've changed in just four months?
20120902 - McDonalds Claim - (Personal - Persuasive - Non-Fiction)
My aunt reached out to me, letting me know that there was "unclaimed money" in my name. It turns out I never got my last paycheck from my high school job at McDonald's. I quit that job back in 1996 or so, and here I was, writing a short persuasive piece, asking them to send that money to me. Because at least three people have asked me already - yes, I did get the money sent to me, but no, I don't remember how much it was
20121014 - Daniel Laman - Journal Entry - 1 - (Academic - Personal - Reflection - Non-Fiction)
A journal entry from my first year as a full teacher. These are interesting to contrast with my student teaching experience
20121216 - Daniel Laman - Journal Entry - 8 (Academic - Personal - Reflection - Non-Fiction)
I didn't have much writing saved from 2012 and 2013, so you get my journal entries from my induction class as a first year teacher
20130120 - Daniel Laman - Journal Entry - 2 (Academic - Personal - Reflection - Non-Fiction)
I didn't have much writing saved from 2012 and 2013, so you get my journal entries from my induction class as a first year teacher
20130401 - Daniel Laman - Journal Entry - 7 (Academic - Personal - Reflection - Non-Fiction)
I didn't have much writing saved from 2012 and 2013, so you get my journal entries from my induction class as a first year teacher
20140504 - EDUC 5255 - Laman - Critical Analysis Paper (Academic - Argument - Analysis - Non-Fiction)
I entered grad school, working on a Master's in Literacy, and I wrote this paper about what is "appropriate" to talk about, write about, and say in the context of a classroom
20141207 - Petition for Transfer of Credit (Academic - Personal - Persuasive - Non-Fiction)
It doesn't look like much, but this short document saved me something like $12,000. If they didn't approve this petition, I would have had to take four full classes again at CU-Boulder, at about $3,000 each
20150217 - Dushanbe (Personal - Poetry - Non-Fiction)
I wrote a poem about the Dushanbe Tea House, one of my favorite places on Earth
20150312 - Remembering Terry Pratchett - (Personal - Non-Fiction - Memoir - Memorial)
When author Terry Pratchett died, I was using a Pratchett novel as our class read-aloud. I wrote this to honor him, and came into school the next day and read it to my students
20150817 - Haiku and Poetry (Personal - Poetry)
I wrote this poetry in a workshop that was offered to Language Arts teachers before the 2015-2016 school year got started
20150624 - 1st and 2nd McGinley Response (Academic - Non-Fiction - Analysis)
I took a summer independent study class with Bill McGinley, completing a text study around the book "Letting Stories Breathe." My responses to the text include two of my favorite stories
20161211 - Daniel Laman - Research Paper - Final (Academic - Non-Fiction - Argument - Analysis)
A paper I wrote examining what Boulder Valley School District considers the "canon" for texts to be taught at middle and high school levels
20160430 - Dear Grandmother - (Personal - Non-Fiction - Memoir - Memorial)
When my grandmother died, I was in a class where we were using "Small Moments" to help brainstorm topics for a persuasive unit we were starting. I decided to write a letter to her as one of my "Small Moments.
20160508 - Spending Memories - (Personal - Non-Fiction - Memoir - Memorial)
A personal piece I wrote while we were writing "Small Moments" in class. It's about the few items I have left of my father, and some regret I have around those things
20170410 - Encyclopedia of Absurdity - (Personal - Fiction - Poetry - Narrative - Reflection)
In the "Language Arts Cohort", we were practicing "Writer's Workshop" in class, and I decided to write an Encyclopedia of poems and wordplay, starting from the letter Z, and going backwards to A. This is unfinished, but I may finish it some day
20170423 - Laman - Tongue-Tied-BookReview - (Academic - Non-Fiction - Review - Analysis)
One of the best books I've been assigned in college, ever. I was asked to do a book review of the book as an assignment for a class I was taking
20170819 - WoL Proposal - (Personal - Non-Fiction - Persuasion)
When the video game "West of Loathing" came out, I had completed approximately 135 hours of volunteer QA work for the company. I was hoping to just help keep them afloat, but when the game received magnitudes of success beyond what they had originally expected, I wrote to them asking if they would pay me for my time. We came to a mutually agreeable arrangement
20171110 - On Closure - (Academic - Reflection - Non-Fiction)
At the end of a tough school year, I wrote a piece about getting closure. I still look at this once a year toward the end of each school year. I sometimes share this with students, and sometimes it is just for me
20180702 - Letter to Glen - (Personal - Non-Fiction - Persuasion)
I wrote a short message to hopefully start a conversation between a man in prison who had a deep impact on my life
20190331 - Letter for Mary Jo - (Personal - Non-Fiction - Memoir - Reflection)
One of the most important mentors in my life retired in 2019, and her daughter was putting together a book for her retirement, asking for people to write letters about her impact
20200405 - On Composting and Grief (Personal - Non-Fiction - Memoir - Reflection)
A couple weeks into the COVID-19 shelter-in-place, I wrote this piece about something little that I was grieving about
20200725 - 7 Minutes 46 Seconds (Personal - Non-Fiction - Poetry)
A poem about time and the death of a man in Minneapolis named George Floyd
20200725 - Writer's Memo about "7 Minutes 46 Seconds" (Academic - Non-Fiction - Reflection)
I was asked to write about my writing in a class - this is a little bit about the poem I wrote (linked above)
20200726 - No! (Academic - Personal - Narrative - Non-Fiction - Memoir - Reflection)
A reflection of my educational philosophy, losing my way, and hopefully finding it again
20200726 - Writer's Memo about "No!" (Academic - Non-Fiction - Reflection)
I was asked to write about my writing in a class - this is a little bit about the educational philosophy piece I wrote (linked above)
20200726 - Annotation of "No!" (Academic - Non-Fiction - Reflection)
I was asked to annotate a piece of my writing during a class - this is my attempt to share my writing process, thinking, and craft moves on the piece "No!"
Brilliant Ideas - (Personal - Brainstorming - Fiction)
Just one of those weird brainstorming documents I have that holds single sentences. Some poetry, some story ideas, some comedy bits
Haiku - (Personal - Poetry)
A collection of Haiku I've written throughout my life
Male Toxicity - (Personal - Non-Fiction - Reflection - Commentary)
Some musings on Male Toxicity, and either distancing a problem or taking it on personally
T-Shirt Ideas - (Personal - Brainstorming)
I guess these could also be bumper sticker ideas, but just a list of dumb one-liners