Wednesday, January 15, 2014

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 15, 2014

Focus: How can I start to put this draft together?

1. Warm-up for 1st and 3rd hours: Finish reading Sedaris' story with the following questions in mind:

a. What do you think makes this story work? In other words, what did you like and why?
b. How does the narrator subtly change throughout the story, and what instigates these changes?

1. Warm-up for 6th hour:
  • 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. Writing your premise:

a. Please read over the examples together and then compose your own (feel free to compose a few if you're not yet sure what to write about).
b. Publish your premise on today's blog.

3.  Starting that first draft...

a. Read back over the memoir overview to remind yourself of the purpose of this writing.
b. Read over your object writing, your random autobiography, any other warm-ups we have done in class to figure out what event (or series of small events) you'd like to write about.
c. Just start writing!  Silence that overactive, self-editing critic.  You'll have plenty of time for critiquing later.
d. Remember the two rules:
  • It must be quiet.
  • You must use the entire time to write.  Just write.

HW:
Finish at least the first two pages of your draft (typed, double spaced). This is a must.


22 comments:

  1. Getting into trouble at school, the punishment that follows, and the affects it has on a young boy’s future.

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  3. Today is the day I change, the day I change for the better.

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  4. The cultural shock of moving back to the U.S.

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  5. Given a chance not a choice about coming into the world and how it will shape life.

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  6. I am legally an American but America has never felt like a home to me.

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  7. Seeing how others live less fortunately, can really change someone’s perspective.

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  8. Finding love in all the right places.

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  9. The tragic death of a friend, but recovers from strong faith, love and strength.

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  10. Being introduced to new perspectives can open a mind to many possibilities.

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  11. By noticing the ways that some people have lived their lives, others can easily shape new perspectives on how to go through their lives.

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  13. Understanding that in the end, what matters is who you are and when you get there.

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  14. Figuring out friendships while starting a new chapter in life.

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  15. Looking poverty in the eye can reveal how lucky most people are

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  16. My family's two week journey through three countries in Europe made me realize how big the world really is and opened my mind to different ways and cultures.

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  17. A summer camp that changes lives: A place where you come to find yourself and reflect the real you.

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  18. My memoir: The journey to safety. Choosing how these moments of darkness will follow you.

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  19. A young boy’s first experience with loneliness changes the way he views his friends and family.

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  20. The girls who lost the world.

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  21. Finding Faith. A young girl who found God through a hard experience that changed how she lived.

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  22. A story of adventure, hope, and experience throughout Kenya

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