First off, here is the schedule!
Week 1 – May, Marna, Ismael, Emily, Mary
May 13-14 These people will email their workshop piece to Bruce at (see email address in Slack page)
May 16 Their critiques begin. Everyone reads their work and leaves a critique (Except the authors. The authors do not comment yet.)
May 19 The authors join in, asking any questions they might have.
May 22 This week's workshop ends.
Week 2 Dilyana, Rika, Uwaraa, Pia, Kelly, Gaby
May 20-21 These people will email their workshop piece to Bruce at (see email address in Slack page)
May 23 Their critiques begin. Everyone reads their work and leaves a critique (Except the authors. The authors do not comment yet.)
May 26 The authors join in, asking any questions they might have.
May 29 This week's workshop ends.
Week 3 Mita, Jesse, Matthew, Karina, Leigh, Amelia, Martyna
May 27-28 These people will email their workshop piece to Bruce at (see email address in Slack page)
May 30 Their critiques begin. Everyone reads their work and leaves a critique (Except the authors. The authors do not comment yet.)
June 2 The authors join in, asking any questions they might have.
June 5 This week's workshop ends.
And now, a few notes about how workshops function, how to get the most out of them and how to moderate them so they go well for everyone.
Okay, let's start off by talking about the mechanics of an online workshop works.
When a piece is first posted, everyone (except that author) reads it and posts their thoughts. The author does NOT respond for several days. The readers can interact, expanding on each other's comments, but the author cannot defend or explain the piece.
Then, after a few days, the author can join in to ONLY ask questions. Once again, the author can't defend or explain, but can ask for clarification or ask about issues that no one brought up.
This is important. For many reasons.
First, when an author gets to directly engage with people who are offering critiques, things can go wrong. Now, everyone participating in this test has gone through Ambassador training, so you all already know how to say things gently. That's a given. But, we authors can get sensitive about people saying things about our work.
But, when the author has to sit there and just listen, and not get the chance to say, "But," things stay more calm and the advice starts to sink in. The author gets to a place where she starts to see the piece the way the readers do, and this distance is a huge help in rewriting.
Also, this process leaves the reviewers feeling more free to speak their minds. This means better feedback. In general, having the author hold back creates a better environment all around and the author gets more out of it.
And, after a few days, when they author is able to ask questions (and it should really only be questions), he does so with a cooler head. The author is less defensive and is actually seeking clarification and further insight.
VOCÊ ESTÁ LENDO
The Textbook
DiversosHere is the basic textbook. Even if you have an extensive writing background, we are going to go through this very quickly for the beta test so we can all have a common set of terms.
