Tag Archives: Review

Ordinary Girls: Final thoughts and comments

Finishing Ordinary Girls was a bit bittersweet. 

I guess even if I told myself I didn’t have any expectations, I was still waiting for a fairytale ending. I thought the book was great, something I would have not picked out from the shelf on my own, but I did enjoy it. 

At times, it was hard to read. Not in the way that I couldn’t understand it, but there was so much information to process, a lot was going on in a short amount of time and a lot of touchy subjects.

I have never read a memoir before, so I don’t know if it is typical or just Diaz’s writing style, but I feel like I was reading a diary, but not in the correct order. The subtitles helped to put in context her stories, but the jumping around was confusing at times. The book felt personal, as if she was talking directly to me, which I liked.

As mentioned before, I enjoyed the book. 10/10 would recommend, and I understand why it got so many raving reviews. 

Class 07

Good morning, all. Hope you had a chance to enjoy this glorious weekend. Today in class, we’ll review a number of the key concepts from Module 1, go over the expectations we can have for each other when it comes to Essay 1 (due Wednesday), and prepare to sharpen our use of digital tools, academic writing skills, and the richness of our class community as we turn to Module 2: Defining Book Groups.

You’ll want to start in the “Goals and Plans” Doc. There, you’ll see a list of the content and skills we covered this Module. We’ll spend some time writing and talking today about the ways we covered that content–and articulating moment where things “clicked” and questions we still have. Module 1 was quite a lot, but don’t worry, we’ll circle back to most of it in Module 2. That’s one thing about writing: it requires practice, and the more “reps” you get, the better.

After that, I’ll share an example of a student essay from Fall 2020 in response to this same prompt. We’ll look at it as a group, considering where we see its main idea, its evidence, its signs of organization, and the way the writer follows conventions.

With the balance of class, you’ll work on one of three things in independent work:

  1. Give a “shout-out” (do people even say that anymore?) or some “shine” (as they say in my kids’ elementary school) to another person in class who did great work in some way. Post that as a reply to this post by the start of our next class. (So, to be clear, if you don’t finish this in class, it’s OK to finish it as homework.)
  2. Use the “checklist” linked to on the “Goals and Plans” Doc to proofread your essay. There’s also a copy of it in the submission form for this essay. It must follow MLA format or I may ask you to revise it before marking it COMPLETE.
  3. If you’re listed under one of the “housekeeping” tasks, it means you’ve not completed the set-up of one or more digital tools. Please do this first, before the other two activities, and let me know if you need any help. I’ll have some breakout rooms open so we can talk without disturbing others doing independent work.