Monday, December 19, 2011

Post retirement plans


Lots of folks ask me what I plan to do when I retire (less than five months away...)

One thing I might do, based on my many years of teaching writing classes, marking up student writing (and evaluating portfolios) at Winthrop, is to teach/lead "Correct Usage of Comma" workshops.

Winthrop students, by and large, have only the vaguest understanding of when to use and when not to use commas. Many of them, for example, still do not have one iota of understanding of what constitutes a "comma splice" or run-on sentence.

I will of course come up with a sexier name for my workshops.

But this is my thinking at this point.

I have only a few spaces left, so if you're interested in my "Correct Usage of Comma" workshops, get in touch with me.

My fee is yet to be determined, but it will be commensurate with instruction received and results/improvement achieved (on a pre-workshop and post-workshop test of comma usage.) Ability/resources to pay will also be taken into account.

Quick test of your comma knowledge:

Which one of the following is correct punctuation usage? (Got this little teaser challenge from my friend Judy Longshaw.)

A. Eat up, grandmother.

B. Eat up grandmother.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Sign says it all


Knowing I have a soft spot in my heart for dogs, Leah Walker, a student in one of my Media Writing classes, sent me this little sign.

I love it!

Thanks, Leah.