We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 14, 2014

Focus: Which story am I going to tell for my memoir?

Please turn in your signed class policies and your LWG books.

1. Warm-up: Looking over the Random Autobiography lines posted on yesterday's blog (you'll see ones from all three classes).

FIRST...

• Please comment on five different people's lines.
• Always, always be respectful of each other's writing (we're not critiquing, just commenting and questioning).
• The more specific your comment is, the better.

THEN....

• Use any of the following topics to inspire a good ten minutes of writing:
• Your first day of kindergarten
• Learning to ride your bike
• Learning to drive a car
• Getting into trouble at school
• A time in which your friend was mean to you
• Getting punished by your parents
• The first time you asked someone out
• The first time someone asked you out
• The first time you got dumped
• The first time you dumped someone
• The first time you had to perform something in front of a crowd

2. Setting up your "Clock Peer Editors"

3. Reading a sample short memoir together (by David Sedaris), with two questions in mind:

Which parts of this story grab you and why?
How does the narrator subtly change throughout the story? What brings about these changes?

4. Viewing yourself as a character:

Pretend that you see yourself walking into a room.  What's your first impression of yourself? What stands out about you? Think about what you're wearing, the way you carry yourself, the way you talk to other people, etc.

Optional: Extend this exercise by changing the "room" you are entering. How does this change your impression?


HW: 
1. Finish the exercise above if we did not finish it (or even get to it) today.

2. Walk in tomorrow with a strong idea about which "moment of change" you want to write about.  You will be asked to compose a premise for it, to chart out your plotline, and to start writing.