This document provides an overview of the syllabus and expectations for the first class of a hybrid creative writing course. It introduces the instructor and their background. It explains that the class will meet in-person twice a week for 1.5 hours each, with an additional hour of online content to complete independently. Key topics covered include an explanation of a hybrid class format, how to access the online course website and submit homework, attendance policies, assignment weights and due dates, academic honesty policies, and an introduction to the concept and writing of haikus as the first in-class writing assignment.

1. Week 1 Class 1

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• The Hybrid Class
• Syllabus/Green Sheet
• Website
• Terms
• In-class writing

3. Dr. Kim Palmore
Full time, Tenured Faculty at De Anza College
Education
Ph.D. English: University of California, Riverside
MA English: California State University, Long Beach
BA English: California State University, Long Beach
AA Liberal Arts: Long Beach City College, Long Beach
408-674-3005
Email: palmorekim@fhda.edu
Office F1-1L
Phone 408 674 3005

4. What is a Hybrid Class?
• A hybrid class meets both in the
classroom and electronically. For this
course, it means that we will meet
twice a week for 1 hour and 50
minutes each time, and that you will
complete the remaining 1 hour of this
five unit course on your own, via
presentations on the website. I
repeat: we will not meet together;
rather, you will simply go to the
online presentations and work
through them on your own. I will
answer questions by email. These
presentations must be completed in
a timely manner each week.

5. Using Canvas
We will use Canvas to communicate, see grades,
access course documents and assignments, and submit
homework.
Our class is published on Canvas. You should be able to access this
course by logging into Canvas and using your college credentials.
Go to https://deanza.instructure.com
Use your college credentials to log in.
You will be taken to the Canvas dashboard where you should see
our course: EWRT 30 (Creative Writing).
If you do not have access to this course via Canvas, please let me
know as soon as possible.

6. Homework
There is writing homework due before
each meeting.
In order to earn an A on your homework,
you must do the following:
 Complete all of the posts.
 Post them on time.
 Be thoughtful in your writing.

7. Posting Homework
• Click on the icon for “Week 1” on
the home page
• Click on the icon for “Class 1” on
the next page
• Click on the link to “Post #1”
• Click on the “Reply” button to post
your homework

8. The Green Sheet: Part One of
The Syllabus
• What you will find here
– Course Requirements
• Assignments and values
• Participation
– Required Materials
– Class Policies
• Plagiarism
• Conduct and Courtesy

9. Texts and Suggested Materials:
• Reading
assignments will
be posted on the
course website.
There is no text
book for you to
buy.

10. Course Requirements:
• Active participation in class
discussions and regular
attendance. You will earn real
points for your participation in
activities.
• Keeping up-to-date on the
assignments and reading.
• Formal writing: a poetry project,
two fiction projects, and a drama
project (small groups).
• A series of creative writing posts
to the class website
• Terms tests, reading quizzes,
and in-class assignments.

11. Your grades will be available
via canvas

13. Class Policies

14. Attendance:
 Success in this course depends on regular
attendance and active participation.
Participation points will be part of our
daily activities. If you are not in class, you
cannot earn these points. You should save
absences for emergencies, work conflicts,
weddings, jury duty, or any other issues
that might arise in your life.
 It is your responsibility to talk to me your
absences or other conflicts. Work done in
class cannot be made up. Also, please
arrive on time, as you will not be able to
make up work completed before you
arrive, including quizzes.

15. • Tests:
– We will have three terms
tests during the quarter. I
will offer one opportunity
late in the quarter to retake
(or make-up) one of the
first three terms tests.
• Late Work
– I do not accept late work
except in the case of
extreme emergencies.
Please talk to me as soon
as possible if you find
yourself in this situation.

16. Conduct, Courtesy, and Electronic Devices:
• In this class, we will regularly engage in the
discussion of each other’s work. Because writing
is so personal, I ask each of you to be both kind
and honest. Do share helpful critiques so each
writer may grow. Courtesy will allow each person
to have the opportunity to express his or her
ideas in a comfortable environment.
• Courtesy includes but is not limited to politely
listening to others when they contribute to class
discussions or while they give presentations, not
slamming the classroom door or walking in front
of classmates giving presentations if you do
arrive late, and maintaining a positive learning
environment for your fellow classmates. To help
maintain a positive learning environment, please
focus on the work assigned, turn off all cell
phones and iPods before class, and do not text-
message in class. If your behavior becomes
disruptive to the learning environment of the
class, you may be asked to leave and/or be
marked absent.

17. Academic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism includes quoting or
paraphrasing material without
documentation and copying from
other students or professionals.
Intentional plagiarism is a grave
offense; the resulting response will
be distasteful. Depending upon the
severity, instances of plagiarism may
result in a failing grade for the paper
or the course and possible
administrative action. All
assignments will be scanned and
scrutinized for academic dishonesty.
Please refer to your handbook for
more information regarding
plagiarism.

18. The Syllabus: Part 2
The Course Calendar

19. Syllabus
• The syllabus is a tentative schedule.
• It may be revised during the quarter.
• Use it to determine how to prepare
for class.
What we
will do in
class 
Current
Project
Week and
Days  Homework due
before the next
class  

20. Suggestions
• Your homework for this class is worth 160
points because it requires significant
work. Take this part of the course very
seriously. It is easy to skip a few
assignments, and then a few more, but
failing the homework section of this class
will be detrimental to your grade.
• Make a word document for your
homework. Write the assigned work
there. Date it and record the post #.
Revise and edit before you post. Post
your homework in a timely manner. This
will keep you on track by reminding you of
how many you have done or missed.
• At the end of the quarter, I will ask you to
assess your work, so make sure you stay
on top of what you have accomplished!

21. Is this class
too hard?
Is this class
History 10?
Will I be the
teacher’s
favorite?

22. TERMS

23. Haiku
The haiku is composed of 17 sound units divided into three
parts - one with 5 syllables, one with 7 syllables and
another with 5 syllables.
Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the
beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose,
off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy.”
Assonance
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a
line of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my
woe." Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"
contains assonantal "I's" in the following lines: "How soon
unaccountable I became tired and sick, / Till rising and
gliding out I wander'd off by myself."

24. Convention
A customary feature of a literary work, such as the use of a chorus in Greek tragedy, the
inclusion of an explicit moral in a fable, or the use of a particular rhyme scheme in a
villanelle. Conventions of the Haiku include the line and syllable count, the use of a word that
marks a season, and the “phrase and fragment” style.
Onomatopoeia
The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe. Words such as buzz and crack are
onomatopoetic. The following line from Pope's "Sound and Sense" onomatopoetically
imitates in sound what it describes:
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors, and the words move slow.
Most often, however, onomatopoeia refers to words and groups of words, such as Tennyson's
description of the "murmur of innumerable bees," which attempts to capture the sound of a
swarm of bees buzzing.

25. Let’s get ready
to write!
Haiku

26. “Haiku show[s] us the world in a water drop,
providing a tiny lens through which to glimpse the
miracle and mystery of life” (National Endowment
for the Humanities).

27. • It is a traditional form of
Japanese poetry
• It describes nature, every
day life, or the human
condition
• It is based on personal
reflection
• Its value is in sudden
discovery or revelation
What is Haiku?

28. The moment two bubbles
are united, they both vanish.
A lotus blooms.
-Kijo Murakami (1865-1938)

29. Why Haiku?
• It is a great mode of self-
expression
• It demands both brevity and
clarity in writing
• It captures one moment and
its emotions perfectly
• It expresses complex ideas
through simple observations

30. • A Haiku traditionally has three lines with seventeen syllables:
– Five --Three
– Seven --Five
– Five --Three
• This form is strict in Japanese
• Sometimes it varies in other languages or in translation. Endeavor to
be traditional—even in English!
Writing Haiku: Form

31. • A haiku consists of two parts: The description and the
reflection.
• Each part depends on the other for meaning.
• In Japanese Haiku, the break is marked by a “cutting word.”
In English, the break is often marked by punctuation (e.g.
colon, long dash, ellipsis)
• A haiku usually includes a kigo, a word that indicates a
season. This does not have to be a traditional season like fall
or winter. It could be baseball season or voting time; the
reader just has to be able to determine when the event takes
place.
Writing Haiku: Structure and Language

32. English Haiku
1991 Charles B. Dickson International Haiku
Contest--winners

33. old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water's sound
Matsuo Bashô
(1644-1694)Billboards . . .
wet
in spring
rain . . .
Eric W. Amann open boxcar doors:
the evening sun slips
into a swarm of gnats
• James Chessing
the rhythm
of her old brown hands
weaving thin wet reeds
Elizabeth St Jacques

34. Write Your Own Haiku
– Try the five, seven, five
syllable form
– Try the three, five, three
syllable form
– Include a kigo to indicate the
season
– Use both a description and a
reflection.
– Remember to identify the
break between the two
with punctuation.

36. • Natural Endowment for the Humanities. EDSITEment. Can You
Haiku? May 2002. 10 October 2009.
<http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=250>.
• Toyomasu, Kei Grieg. HAIKU for PEOPLE. 10 Jan. 2001. 10
October 2009. <http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku>.
• Herrlin, Jackie. HA-KU. 2004. Internet Archive. 10 October
2009. <http://www.archive.org/details/cie_haku>.
(Attribution, Non Commercial, No Derivatives)
• Russo, Dave. North Carolina Haiku Society. Unknown. 10
October 2009. <http://nc-haiku.org/haiku-misc.htm>.
Works Cited

37. Homework
• Post #1: 2-3 Haiku
• Bring a copy of your work to
our next meeting.
• Reading: Blank Verse-All (on
the website under “course
readings,” “poetry,” and
“blank verse”).
• Study Terms 1-5