Lorene Cary teaches fiction writing and non-fiction writing in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Penn’s Department of English.  She received the Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and receives extraordinary comments from students.  An excerpt from her syllabus in Beginning Non-Fiction Writing:

You should expect an extraordinary learning experience and expect to help make it happen.

You should expect fine work of yourself and your peers. I do. I also expect that you will use this class to advance your writing practice, your thinking and discipline, your workshop and critiquing skills, and habits of reading and attending readings and lectures of other writers.

In order to make the class as useful as possible, we’ll work intentionally to create a workshop culture that is tough-minded and generous.  In the first four weeks we’ll read, write, do exercises, and practice the discipline of careful, stylized critique discussion.  I will read what you write, but not comment.  I need to get to know your work before I can figure out how to help you strengthen it. By week five, you shall have written a bunch of new non-fiction, and maybe an essay draft or two, and we’ll begin reading as a whole. Because this is a large class, you will likely only have one essay read and discussed by the entire workshop. Other feedback will come from small groups and from me.  In class, please make a point once, and illustrate efficiently.

Students are required to attend at least one one-hour individual consultation with Cary and to submit one piece for publication.