1 Week #1 VCS Alternative Assignment (VCSA) Marielena Muench Westcliff University COM 101 - Composition 1 Professor Money VCSA 01/09/2022 2 Week #1 VCSA Assignment Today we had our first class of the spring semester Composition class. Unfortunately I could not attend due to personal reasons but the following VCSA will serve as a summary of today's Wednesday the 5th of January, Education class. Main Class Content Review The class started with an introduction to the GAP portal in general. Mrs. Money told us where to find everything, f.ex. where to find the zoom link, where to find the work that we have to do every week and assignments. On the occasion she also presented this week’s work and explained to us what to do there. She also showed us how to receive help and how we can get in touch with her if we need help. After this part, before the class was having a break, she taught us some things about narrative writing. “Narrative writing is about picking a moment and describing it in detail.” (quote by Ms.Money) The story is told in the first person and is very detailed, with the writer serving as the narrator. The professor showed us many ways that you can do before starting with the writing but most important is definitely the brain storming in advance. The good thing about Narrative essays is that no research work is needed because it is based on a personal story or experience. The important questions you can ask yourself throughout writing might be: “What point am I trying to make?” “What am I trying to say?” “What am I getting at?” 3 But you always have to keep in your mind that the thesis of your essay should reflect more your personal experience rather than a fact or statement. To show us what narrative writing work could look like, Ms. Money then showed us how she would approach such a text. The way she followed was: - Pick a topic that is interesting to me - Brainstorming - Strong imagery (Paint a picture with words, use five senses, strong language and metaphors) - come up your thesis and position yourself on your topic - add supporting detail that is specific and sum everything up with a conclusion. After this the class continued with a ten minutes break Until the end of the class the students were supposed to work on the Entry-Level-Essay Activity. The topic for this activity was: “By overcoming challenges, you demonstrate courage, grit and perseverance. Have you experienced a time when you stood up to others or when your beliefs were challenged? The obstacle that you faced may be large or small, but how was your perspective changed as a result? Be specific, summarize the experience, and reflect on your personal growth.” Ms. Money gave the students 30 minutes to write an essay on the given topic of about 200 words. 4 Conclusion This class session was kind of an introduction to the class “Composition” and served the students to get to know each other a bit. Furthermore we learned a lot about narrative writing like the key facts, what is important and needed in a narrative writing text and how to proceed. The in-class writing also gave me the possibility to try narrative writing by myself. References The information that I have used in my VCS summary was taken from the video-recording of today’s class and quotes from Ms.Money
