WORKOUT

CHART

Trainer Name: Kerry Dirk

Week: 2/29/16 3/4/16
Goals: This week I hope to give your brain the ultimate workout in order to improve
your fitness as a writer. I would like to perfect your technique and possibly push you
to approach writing a different way than usual. I really need you to work on toning
those body paragraphs so that the entire paper has more strength. This week you
will focus on writers block cardio to get ideas flowing and keep your brain in great
running for future draft editing.
Day
Time-
Explanation
Reps
1:Monday
minutes
Brain Stretch 10
Take a minute and just think about your topic.

Close your eyes and reach a place where you feel
confident in yourself to answer the prompt
successfully. If you believe, you will achieve.
Writing can be a stressful activity and very
strenuous on the brain, so try to keep focused
and dont over think too much.
Writers
15
Next you will get your blood flowing and ideas

Block Cardio
going. Take out a piece of paper and write what
comes to mind. Don t over analyze anything;
write as fast as your hand will let you, the goal is
to make your brain winded. The faster it is
thinking, the better. If your hand is cramping,
youre doing the exercise right.
Body
20
Now that you have your brain warmed up its
2 sets
Building-
time to think about building on your body
of 8
Technique
paragraphs, and breaking them into themes. Take min
your all of your ideas and try and group the
(4
related ones together. Really focus on the order
min
in which these themes will go. This is and will be rest)
the foundation for the rest of your paper.
Core Body-
20
Dont give up yet! Youre almost done with your
1 set
Strength
first draft of the week. All thats left is to put it all of 18
Training
together. Write what you think your paper
min
should look like based on the organization
(2
technique you worked on. Build on your selected min
ideas, soon enough you will have developed your rest)
paragraphs. Keep on going until you feel like you
have answered the prompt well enough.
Cool Down
15
Finally you are done! For the time being at least.
Conclusion
Give your paper a quick skim and put it away.
Relax you brain and give it rest for tomorrows
exercises.

The Real Story Behind Peters Elbows

By: Bianca Gomez
One day after recess, Peter went to class and sat in his thinking position. Like
always, he put both his elbows on the desk and rested his face on his hands. This was
something he did everyday to think better in Mrs. Kerry Dirks English class. But there
was something about that warm Thursday in April that felt a little too much like summer.
Peters thinking position just wasnt working. Then the worst thing happened.
The ancient Mrs. Dirk, who hates the thought of summer and all things fun,
decided to assign her students to explain, in an essay, how to navigate through genres.
Peter couldnt think. He pressed his elbows hard against the desk squeezing his face with
his fists trying to think really really hard. It was so bad that he couldnt even think about
what the question even meant.
Mrs. Dirk noticed Peters thinking position was a little different today, almost
painful. She walked over to see if he needed a little help. She explained to Peter that
navigating through genres had nothing to it, he just needed to focus on who his audience
was and what purpose his writing had. She told him that if students before him could do
it, he could do the same because they too were once in the same situation. Then it
happened, Peter thought.
He first thought about what makes a genre, which lead to thinking about writing
poetry, which lead to thinking about tornados, which finally lead to thinking about how
messy his room was at home. Now Peter had a different problem, he couldnt stop
thinking. He was thinking about anything and everything! Till finally he realized it was
time to get out of his thinking position. Taking one elbow off the desk, and resting his
head solely on one hand, he picked up a pencil and started to write. Peter wrote all of his
thoughts down even about his messy room, and picked the best ones to help him explain
how to navigate through genres. But then, when it came down to actually start writing the
assignment on how to navigate through genres, Peter realized there was a little more
thinking to be done. So again he put his elbow back on the desk and went into thinking
about how to organize his essay. He thought to include an introduction, followed by a

few body paragraphs, and finish the paper with a conclusion. But this was just too hard
for him.
Finally Peter was tired of thinking. His brain just couldnt take it anymore. He had
been thinking so much that his brain wanted to throw up every thought he had ever had
on the paper. He just had to get it all out, and that is when he decided to write a really
disorganized and awful rough draft just for the heck of it. Besides, no matter how bad his
brain throw up was, it was still better than any first draft Anne Teacherspet Lomott could
write.
Finally it was time to let his brain throw up so Peter lifted both his elbows off the
desk. But there was yet another problem; Peter had spent so much time in his thinking
position that he couldnt feel his elbows! They had both went completely numb and were
so red that Mrs. Dirk sent him to the nurses office. The school nurse Mr. Scott said,
Peters elbows suffered from all the thinking about navigating genres, but on a brighter
note helped him improve his writing and even his thinking skills.

Reflective Essay

In Writing Project 3 I chose to write a short childrens story, and a workout

plan. Completing the assignment I found writing to an adult audience much harder
than writing to children, and couldnt get as creative as I hoped to. In writing
project 3 I reflected back on the course and really focused on what I learned from
the readings and which authors I agreed with the most, or have changed my opinion
on writing. Doing this made me think of a title I thought was appropriate for a
childrens book, which then inspired my short story. On the other hand, writing a
text for an adult audience was much harder. At first I tried to write a Facebook post
explaining what I learned about the course, and had the comments come from the
different authors I chose, but I didnt feel connected to the idea as much. In the end,

and after reading my peers work, I decided to design a workout plan for writers,
with different brain exercises.

Before actually starting the writing assignment I went on Google to search

for examples of both a daily workout plans, and also childrens books. This really
only helpful for the workout plan I designed, because I had a recommended format
to follow. However, this wasnt as helpful in getting ideas for my short story because
I was navigated towards buying books versus reading examples.

The reason I chose Navigating Genres by Kerry Dirk, Shitty First Drafts by

Anne Lomott, and Two Kinds of Thinking by Peter Elbow, is because those are the
three readings that have changed my perception on writing the most. From what
these authors explained about the writing process and the different aspects that go
into it, I felt as if though I could implement their way of thinking into my writing.
From Peter Elbow I have adopted first and second order thinking, form Anne Lamott
I have become an avid supporter of shitty first drafts, and finally from Kerry Dirk I
now understand what a genre is and what there purposes are.

Implementing these authors and their ideas wasnt as hard as I imagined it to

be into writing project 3. In the childrens short story, I made Peter the main
character and made a play on words of his name by centering the story on his
elbows. Kerry Dirk took the role of the teacher, and Anne Lomott was only briefly
mentioned as a peer of Peters. I focused more on the ideas of the readings in my
short story and organized them in a way that helped Peter discover how to answer
the writing prompt assigned by his teacher.

For my workout plan, I took a different approach. I organized similar ideas

that were incorporated in the short story, but broke them up into different sections
of brain exercises. Theses exercises are what I thought I went through during my
writing process, or used in class. For example the brain storm cardio is meant to
be similar to the loop writing we have done in class a few times. I found this exercise
helpful in the writing processes, because it helps ease the pressure of trying to say
the right thing in the right way.

The specific audience for my short story is a class of fourth grade students. I

imagined that a short story similar to mine could be read by a teacher to help make
student feel more comfortable with writing on a topic they are unfamiliar about. In
contrast, my Workout Plan would be geared toward adults who have been out of
the writing practice for some time. Just like adults often try and get back into being
active, I thought the same concept could apply to a person trying to get back into
being a writer. This workout plan wouldnt apply to those who write or study
writing for a living, or enjoy it as a hobby. To hint at this, I made the workout
trainer an actual writer, Kerry Dirk, who gives the person completing the exercises
goals she wishes them to reach.

Translating what I wrote in PBe I lost some of the clarity in explaining or

trying to express what I learned from the course. Instead of directly stating what I
felt was helpful form the class, I had to be creative and try and work it into my short
story as an aspect to the plot, or incorporate it into a work out plan. By doing so, I
did gain a creative aspect, which was not in PBe, because it added style and gave a
theme to my ideas.

It was interesting to learn about how each of my genres followed a different

format or theme. In writing a childrens short story I knew to limit the amount of
big words I used, and also tired to create imagery to appeal to kids. For the
workout plan, I learned that there is a specific format to the genre, and they usually
start with a goal for the day or week. From doing this writing project, I have learned
that I have adopted many different ideas form the course, which have influenced my
writing. I have also realized that all of the writing projects are centered on the
concept of what makes a genre and have forced me to identify why they make
writers more successful in addressing a situation. This has been difficult for me, but
luckily after week 5, I understood what a rhetorical situation was. This was great
progress for me.
Work Cited
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres, Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. 2010
Elbow, Peter. Teaching Two kinds of Thinking. Embracing Contraries: Explorations
in Learning and Teaching.
New York. Oxford U Press.1986
Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts. Language Awareness Reading for College
Writers. Ed. By Paul Escholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virgina Clark. 9th ed. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2005: 93-96