Michael Stubbs
Writing Essays
How do I get started? How do I generate ideas? How do I keep writing? How do I improve what I wrote?
We’ll discuss strategies for writing and organizing essays and practice some habits that writers need for success.
Writing About Nature
How do I write about my experiences in nature? How do I tell a story when nothing exciting happens? How do I describe what I see and experience in a world where everything has been seen and experienced?
We’ll talk about the challenge of writing about nature and experiences in nature.
Environmental Literature
How do other people write about nature? Why do people write about nature? How have different people written about specific places over time: the desert, the forest, the mountains, the river?
We’ll examine some literature about the environment and discuss how different writers have written about specific places. We’ll observe what some of these writers have in common and what sets them apart.
State Standards
These presentations meet the following state education standards for high school students:
English Language Arts/Literacy
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RH.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
RH.11-12.8 Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Text Types and Purposes
W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
Production and Distribution of Writing
W.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
