Ensayo #4, due June 4

Submit here: https://forms.gle/FYJqBLwSkXX29UnK7

Click here for a Google Docs version of these instructions.

The Task: Write a letter (of 500-750 words) addressed both to me and to future students in “Latinx Writers,” that appeals to your experience in the course—your work, your struggles, your discoveries—to articulate what you’ve learned and offer some advice about how to make the most of this course. What were your learning goals at the beginning? What have you actually learned? How, when, or why did this learning happen for you? Which readings, concepts, tasks, discussions, or other activities proved most helpful to you? What surprised you? What did you struggle with? To what degree does what you learned correspond to the formal goals laid out in the syllabus? What do you make of what you’ve learned? What, if anything, seems most valuable to you—and might be worth sharing with future students? 

Submission & Sharing: You may compose your ensayo in a Google doc, Word doc, or blog-style post on a course website (created with WordPress, Google Sites, or another freely available platform). Use this Google Form to submit your document; if you’ve created a blog post, type the URL into an otherwise empty Google doc and submit that. 

B-contract requirements: Make a good-faith effort to meet all the specifications listed below. Although this may require modest revision work (albeit in a very short window), the general expectation is that “good-faith effort” will be clearly recognizable in your initial submission.

  • Complete and submit your ensayo to this linked Google form by the end of the day on Friday, June 4. 
  • Introduce your letter to the instructor and to future students as an effort to recall what you set out to learn, consider what you’ve actually learned (and how) and, in light of your experience, offer those future students some suggestions about how to make the most of this diversity intensive course. 
  • Support your claims (about what you’ve learned and what you suggest) with reference to specific examples from the work you’ve done and/or the texts we’ve read that have proven significant to your efforts and experiences in the course.
  • Relate what you’ve learned to at least one threshold concept articulated in this linked resource. 
  • Organize your letter and craft your prose (words, sentences, punctuation, paragraphs), infused where necessary with metadiscourse, so that your readers can follow (and enjoy!) your thinking and evidence.
  • Conclude by considering the implications of your experiences not only for future students in “Latinx Writers,” but also for yourself. 
  • Document supporting evidence and references to others’ ideas in a way that readers can understand (but still feel like they’re reading a letter). 
  • Write 500-750 words.