Day 17 - Thursday

Day 17 - Thursday

 

I. Housekeeping

  • sign-in; please note your availability so that I can assign conference times
  • papers returned in box tomorrow afternoon; apologies
  • new due date for third paper: Tuesday, April 3rd

 

II. Character/Action Review: Kemp Translations

Volunteers share their Kemp translations as class follows along.

 

III. Car recall letter

  • Who do you think wrote this letter? What is its purpose?
  • Why is it unethical?

 

IV. Dynamic Actions/Appropriate Characters

A. Comparing versions of the resume letter (handout)

  • How do these different versions compare? How do they differ in their action/character choices?
  • Which is more memorable? Why?
  • Which is more professional-sounding? Why?

B. Writing dynamic sentences

Students describe what happens in Shakespeare in Love, using as many different action verbs as possible.

 

Homework: Bring to next class 2-3 paragraphs from third essay. Any paragraphs -- we'll be analyzing them at the level of the sentence.

 

Compare these two cover letters.

 

Dear Ms. Jones:

 

I write to call your attention to my résumé. Yesterday, I had an interview with Carson's campus recruiter, Mr. Tortorici, who noticed that I have qualifications he had not seen in my résumé. Mr. Tortorici told me to write you about them.

 

Mr. Tortorici said that it is more important to Carson that management trainees have leadership skills than that they have good grades. He could see from my résumé that I did well in the University of Illinois's demanding program in accounting. But he did not notice that my experience as a volunteer leader gave me the kind of leaderhip skills that Carson is looking for.

 

 

***

 

Dear Ms. Jones:

 

I write hoping that I can persuade you to give my résumé a second look. Carson's campus recruiter, Mr. Tortorici, was impressed by some of my qualifications that he did not expect to find after reading my résumé. Mr. Tortorici suggested that I write to alert you to some of my experiences that Carson might particularly value.

 

According to Mr. Tortorici, Carson needs management trainees who can lead and motivate people, and Carson values those qualities far more than grades or other academic achievements. My résumé highlights my success as a student in the University of Illinois's demanding program in accounting. But it does not emphasize that I have proven myself as a volunteer leader who can organize and coordinate complicated tasks and who can motivate volunteers and contributors to achieve more than they thought possible.