1A
1. Freewrite.
2. Pass in homework. Students passed in the scene they wrote for today. It will be returned on Thursday for our writer’s workshop.
3. Vocabulary notes. Students took notes on #6 and #7 as well as an SAT vocab word, disdain. Look here for the notes if you were absent. We also played a round of Simon Says with our new word parts.
4. Symbolism application. Students read “Storm Warnings” by Adrienne Rich to practice finding symbolism on L6. Here is L6 (both sides): Introduction to Symbol 1, Introduction to Symbol 2. Then, students moved on to side 2 to practice the same strategy. Students recorded their ideas here: Moth symbolism chart.
HW: Write one more scene from your memoir.
Absentees: Copy down the notes for vocabulary onto V1 in your binder. Download the Introduction to Symbol 1 and Introduction to Symbol 2. Follow the directions on side 1. Write your answers on the paper in the margin on both sides. Then, fill out the Moth symbolism chart based on the reading on side 2. Finally, do the homework.
2AB
1. Freewrite.
2. Symbolism planning. I led students through a planning process for incorporating symbolism into their memoirs. First, we spent 4 minutes listing 15 objects or places that are central to their memoir. Then, students explained to their partners each of their objects or places in a minute and the partner told them which five seemed the most interesting. Next, students picked three of those five and listed the characteristics of those objects in a small chart in their writer’s notebooks. Finally, students chose one of those three objects or places and, in a seven-minute focused freewrite, they explained how the object might be turned into a symbol. Hopefully, after this preparation most students had an idea and were ready to write their piece.
3. Symbolism writing. We had a few minutes to begin writing.
HW: Write a description from your memoir using symbolism. 1/2 page minimum. Due tomorrow.
4A
1. Freewrite.
2. Pass in permission slips and scene homework.
3. What’s truth in memoir? continued. We watched an interview with James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces. Here are some segments of that interview with Larry King (watch it all). After watching, students wrote for one minute to this prompt: James Frey says he stands by the “essential truth” of his memoir, even though there were embellishments and difference. What does he mean by “essential truth”? How is that different from just “the truth”? Students then put their name on a sticky note and placed themselves on a continuum of where a memoir belongs in veracity from “fiction” to “newspaper article,” from 0% truth to 100% truth; this is, of course, after we had initially answered that question last Friday. Many perspectives changed after reading “Memory and Imagination.” Here’s what we came up with:
Quite a distribution! I also shared a few stories from my Creative Nonfiction workshop over the summer.
4. Vocab notes. We took notes on #8-10 in our vocabulary.
5. Symbolism application. Students read “Storm Warnings” by Adrienne Rich to practice finding symbolism on L6. Here is L6 (both sides): Introduction to Symbol 1, Introduction to Symbol 2. Then, students moved on to side 2 to practice the same strategy.
6. Symbolism planning. I led students through a planning process for incorporating symbolism into their memoirs. First, we spent 4 minutes listing 15 objects or places that are central to their memoir. Then, students explained to their partners each of their objects or places in a minute and the partner told them which five seemed the most interesting. Next, students picked three of those five and listed the characteristics of those objects in a small chart in their writer’s notebooks. Finally, students chose one of those three objects or places that might be turned into a symbol. Hopefully, after this preparation most students had an idea and were ready to write their piece. You might directly discuss how the object is symbolic or, like Rich in “Storm Warnings,” or Virginia Woolf in the excerpt about the moth, you might not directly state the symbolism. It all depends on the voice you use in your memoir.
HW: Write a description from your memoir or an entire scene from your memoir in which you use symbolism. Due Thursday.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 