I first conceived of this assignment as a way to get students to truly see the details and inter-connections of the details in everyday surroundings. I wanted to encourage students to examine closely things they normally took for granted or, worse, did not notice at all. By doing so, I hoped students would think about their places in the world (universe, community, physical location, etc.) and see the integral part that they play in the world, as well as the influences and forces that help mold them into the people they are—their bundles of nerves, beliefs, understandings, ideas, emotions, etc. Besides just getting students to notice their surroundings and themselves in it, I wanted the students to practice being closely observant as they gathered details they would use to write an essay that was significant in terms of personal and communal meaning; then, I wanted them to explore/discover the true sense of what they had seen by putting their gathered/observed details into a good, significant, and meaningful order. I wanted the assignment to show students how to organize details into an essay that communicates to their readers an understanding of the visual world made significant through close study. I also, simply, wanted students to synthesize the connections, feelings, thoughts, and understandings of their inner selves with the details they were observing in the real world. Finally, of course, I hoped the students would come to know more about themselves and the world they were a part of through the writing process. I intended that the successful student would use critical reading (of the place visited, themselves, and Annie Dillard’s “Seeing� article), analysis, exploration and discovery through the writing process, and synthesis. Assignment: 1. Read Annie Dillard’s article “Seeing,� 2. Based on your observation of a place, write a (minimum) 750-word essay discussing what you saw. Visit a place of your choosing (or that the class as a whole visits) and take notes as you observe the environment, your relationship to the environment, and your thoughts about your place. Be detailed in your observations and integrate the details into your essay. 3. In your essay, use the statements below to guide your thoughts and your thinking process; you may quote these statements directly or indirectly, or you may refer to them as concepts or as principles--but use their ideas in your essay. These thoughts are taken from Annie Dillard’s article “Seeing� in the Seeing & Writing text: A. It's all a matter of keeping my eyes open (para. 5). B. If I can't see these minutiae, I still try to keep my eyes open (para. 6). C. I see what I expect (para. 7). D. We miss a great deal because we perceive only things on our own scale. E. …sense impressions of one-celled animals are not edited for the brain: “This is philosophically interesting in a rather mournful way, since it means that only the simplest animals perceive the universe as it is� (para. 9). F. I reel in confusion; I don't understand what I see (para. 20). G. I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until that moment I was lifted and struck (para. 38). H. “Still…a great deal of light falls on everything� (para. 15). 4. As you write your essay, make connections between your inner world (of thought, emotion, idea, etc.) and the outer world; consider such things as the time, day, month, year, era, epoch, history, community (personal and public), personal awareness, sense of space, and your own self-awareness; note and record the inferences of your considerations and understandings of their influences on you. Let your sense of understanding of time, place, and self permeate your coming to terms with the meanings you discover. 5. As a way of making connections between you, others, and the outer world, refer to at least one other essay from the Seeing & Writing text. Cite it in MLA style, using parenthetical documentation and a works cited page. 6. As another way of connecting you and others to each other and to the outer world, include in your essay the remarks of another person about what you are observing/discovering/thinking—quote him/her. Using MLA style, cite this person as you would somebody you interviewed.