The music we listen to can influence us in many different ways. In this demonstration, I’d like to take that a step further and talk about the way you can use music to create your writing piece. The writing that you are doing can be influenced by the lyrics, the tempo, and the beat in the music. Let’s practice writing with different genres of music and see what kind of products … [Read more...] about Mixing Modalities: “The Musicality of Writing” by Tiffany Taylor

Learning to use a few, universal copymarking symbols can help writers to quickly edit their own and others’ writings. During this presentation, students will use copymarks along with the presenter to edit two short sections of text. The copymarking demonstration will be videotaped as part of a PowerPoint presentation. While students edit along with the presenter, they will also … [Read more...] about “Copymarks: Shortcuts to Editing Your Writing” by Tracy Dalton

Poems are not puzzles to solve but messages from actual people. But why would someone communicate with a poem? When we seeing poetry as communication, and ask who is talking, and who they expect to be listening, we are in a better position to ‘dissect’ or ‘close read’ a poem. Students in this demo will encounter relevant present-day poetry with these goals in mind. About … [Read more...] about “Beyond Close Reading, or How Poetry Matters” by Dr. Jonathan Newman

During this video, we will visit several sites on Missouri State University campus and through downtown Springfield, MO, using the surroundings as a way to generate our own poetry. In the PowerPoint before the video, I’ll introduce the details of the session and explain two types of poems: the ekphrastic poem and the found poem. You will need paper, a pen, and some time to … [Read more...] about “Writing in the City: A Virtual Writing Marathon” by Sara Burge