Joe Essid's Road-Trip Project Notes to Colleagues: I have used this assignment twice in my Eng. 216 class, "The Road." It can be adapted to the composition classroom, and it works beautifully if students know from the get-go that they must budget for it! After I first tried this, students suggested that the project would have worked better had it been due at midterm, not at the end of the semester. It is worth 20% of the final grade. Many shorter versions are possible, but note how the assignment balances the experiential and expressive with the analytical and critical: the goal for both a literature class and for all of us in 103. The paper is not an easy A, and many students lost a full letter grade for omitting a part of the essay. Others lost ground for sloppy writing, even though I encouraged a more personal and less academic voice for this project. The Assignment: The requirements are rather simple: you must travel at least 100 miles and spend at least one night away from campus. The nature of the trip is up to you. It can be a trip home, a journey into the unknown, a trip taken alone or with others in the class or not. In your essay, discuss how the trip you make compares to those we've read or seen. Be specific, and use the road-trip essay I wrote to guide you. Just remember that the focus will be on your experience—this is a multi-part project that combines personal experience and literary/film analysis, in which you relate your feelings about your trip and the road to what we've studied. Note carefully: -- Trips for UR such as going to an away game on a plane or by interstate do not count -- Trips with family or friends could qualify, but you must get them to follow my guidelines -- You may make the trip alone or with others. The trip must be in a vehicle that runs on a road: car, truck, horse-drawn wagon, or bus. NO HITCHIKING -- No required meetings with the Fellows; you may contact either Nicola or Kate for an appointment if you wish -- You are adults and adult things can take place on the road. As I have no perverse interest in student-produced porn, keep anything you photograph, film, or write to a PG-13 standard or "cleaner." Format For Your Paper: The paper should be at least six pages, double-spaced BEFORE you paste in any photos. All rules for other papers regarding font size and format apply. You must also include: --A handwritten road diary in which you note experiences and filter them during the trip itself. -- At least 12, and no more than 20, color photographs (digitally tipped into your paper or pasted in scrap-book style) OR -- A documentary film of no more than 5 minutes on VHS, DVD, or uploaded to a server where I can view it. If you are technically able to do this, format your film in Quicktime, Real, or Windows Media formats (I'd prefer Quicktime). Digital cameras may be available for loan through the Technology Learning Center on the 3rd floor of the Boatwright Library. I cannot train you to use any of this equipment, but the TLC staff will provide training. I can provide good tips for photography. Cameras are available one a first-come, first-served basis. Get yours early! How to Really Impress the Teacher: -- Provide clear and detailed parallels between your experience and those from our readings and films -- Stay off the Interstate as much as possible and prove that in your paper -- Provide receipts or take-out menus with your paper to prove that you ate at non-chain restaurants or stayed in a locally owned motel or hotel -- Include souvenirs that you did not steal. Maps, tourist brochures, and other "road kitsch" are fine. Some students in 2003 got very creative, preparing pop-up books and other multi-media materials. I had to haul the projects to my office in two shopping bags, and I still have a bag of sea-shells one student gave me. . . How to Really, Really Impress the Teacher: -- Have fun and be creative with this. If you do a lackluster job, don't expect more than a lackluster grade. Cs are my standard for "average work." 103 home | course goals | faculty policies | sample assignments | texts & reviews | teacher's quick links