“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ― Stephen KingStephen King “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ― Anaïs NinAnaïs Nin

1. Imagine a simple scene with three elements:  A desert  A sky  A horizon line 2. Cube 3. Ladder 4. Flowers 5. Horse 6. Storm

 1. The cube is how you see yourself.  2. The ladder is your friends or social support group.  The flowers are children or family.  The horse is your lover.  The storm is trouble.  There are two components to interpreting each element:  A. The item itself and its relationship to the other items  B. the relationship of the items to the overall picture(size, position, location).

1. Do you think writing is easy or difficult? 2. When your teachers gave you a writing assignment were you excited or anxious? 3. Do you think that you are a good writer? 4. Do you think that you are an excellent writer? 5. Can you express yourself better by speaking or writing?  What is difficult about it?  What makes you nervous?  What makes you think you aren’t excellent?

 What if to teach our Ss speaking, we asked them to only record a speech for homework and hand it in to be graded? Would their speaking improve? Why not?  NO COMMUNICATION  Can’t correct errors  Is writing a form of communication?  So….is it good to ask our students to write a piece one time and just hand it in for a grade?  Why not?

1. Prewriting Brainstorming motivation 2. Writing 1st Draft 3.Revising/Responding Peer edit Teacher conference (clarification, organization) 3. Editing Teacher edit (grammar) 4. Writing 2 nd Draft 4. Publishing Bulletin board Website

Prewriting Brainstorming motivation Writing 1st Draft Revising/Responding Peer edit Teacher conference (clarification, organization) Editing Teacher edit (grammar) Writing 2 nd Draft Publishing Bulletin board Website COMMUNICATION

 Internal monologue(talking yourself into doing something)- show gun debate  1. Put in hats: historical figures,, pop stars, children’s characters, and superheroes then pick to and write a dialogue between them.  3. Items in bag= character, place, verb or object  2. Write around(article on Guatemala – happy)  Imagine yourself as an object in a room  Starting with a sentence or paragraph “beginning or end?

 Form groups of 4  Write the name of a famous historical figure  Write the name of a superhero  Write the name of a famous entertainer popular now  Write the name of a childhood book/story character

 Write for 1 minute(thoughts, reactions, questions, or feelings about the article)  Pass the paper  READ all the entries on the page BEFORE you write. You can respond to one or all of the above entries, ask questions, or raise a new topic.

 Form groups  Write the name of a person(famous, in the class, imaginary, etc.)  Write the name of a place  Write the name of an object  *Can also use an active verb

 Good Me: Okay let’s go running!  Bad Me: Sure, but I have to finish this workshop PowerPoint first. I will go at 6pm  Good Me: 6 is too late, you know it starts to get dark and then you’ll decide not to go.  Bad Me: I can go tomorrow.

 Internal monologue(talking yourself into doing something)- show gun debate  1. Put in hats: historical figures,, pop stars, children’s characters, and superheroes then pick to and write a dialogue between them.  3. Items in bag= character, place, verb or object  2. Write around(article on Guatemala – happy)  Imagine yourself as an object in a room  Starting with a sentence or paragraph “beginning or end?

 Narrative  Personal Narrative(nonfiction)  Short Story(fiction)  Descriptive  Describing an experience  Sensory  Expository  Newspaper writing  How to….  Persuasive  Letter to the editor

Graduat ed universi ty Went to Yemen with Peace Corps to teach English Evacuated Transferre d to Namibia to teach English and Math Taught English and Math in Namibia Traveled through Africa Went to New York City and taught ESL in the Bronx Moved in with boyfrie nd taught ESL in the Bronx Broke up with boyfriend Moved to Harlem with PC friend taught ESL in the Bronx Starte d Maste r’s progr am taught ESL in the Bronx Contin ued Master’ s progra m 1 st student s in ESL progra m get accepte d to colleges taught ESL in the Bronx Finishe d Master’ s taught ESL in the Bronx Voted “Teacher of the Year” in school Father Died

 Exchange with a partner and have them circle the 3 events that THEY think are the most interesting.  Take what they say into consideration and narrow it to one topic.

 Ask the person questions about that event in their lives:  Who?  What?  Where?  When?  Why?  How?  What are you interested in about this event?

 Different kind of memoir- different point of view – omniscient with a little 1 st person(“I” thrown in  You can do whatever for your homework assignment

 It has to be about one moment in time- one memory  The first paragraph should “Grab” the reader  There should be descriptive words that appeal to the 5 senses  There should be an emotion Bring us there with you

 Write or type personal narrative one page – 1- 1/2  Bring in something that has a deep memory for you(can be from childhood)