Post date: Sep 8, 2014 12:36:30 AM
We have already accomplished so much. We wrote and shared the "whys and wherefores" about why we love lit and writing. I explained and modeled the "2 Stars and a Wish" critique model for sharing your own writing, as well as commenting on that of others.
Wednesday was a typical get to know you day, including handing out the supplies list, contact info, and in-class behavior expectations (green, pink, and yellow sheets - respectively). We started right in on a memoir helper, in the form of a childhood neighborhood map. This is a tool that I learned from Bill Roorbach's book "Writing Life Stories." It is helpful in that as we start to draw our childhood neighborhood, memories flood back. Memoir is all about memory, after all.
Friday we had a ten-minute free write/automatic write to start the class, followed by a "2 Stars and a Wish" sharing. More fantastic writing was crafted and shared! Next, we moved on to our neighborhoods, moving to the writing when people felt ready.
Lastly, I provided manila folders to students, explaining that one effective strategy for collecting scraps of one's writing - regardless of where the genius strikes - is to keep your writing in themed file folders. That way, scraps, napkins, restaurant receipts can serve as memoir triggers that do not need to be transcribed to "real paper."
No homework thus far.