Friday, November 28, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
English 10H Students!!! Please refer back to this passage while writing, and especially while revising, your memoir. Do not just write a summary of an "important" event in your life. It is about YOU!
William Zinsser: Excerpt from interview on writing memoirs
Most people embarking on a memoir are paralyzed by the size of the task. What to put in? What to leave out? Where to start? Where to stop? How to shape the story? The past looms over them in a thousand fragments, defying them to impose on it some kind of order. Because of that anxiety, many memoirs linger for years half written, or never get written at all.
What can be done?
You must make a series of reducing decisions. For example: in a family history, one big decision would be to write about only one branch of the family. Families are complex organisms, especially if you trace them back several generations. Decide to write about your mother's side of the family or your father's side, but not both. Return to the other one later and make it a separate project.
Remember that you are the protagonist in your own memoir, the tour guide. You must find a narrative trajectory for the story you want to tell and never relinquish control. This means leaving out of your memoir many people who don't need to be there. Like siblings.
My final reducing advice can be summed up in two words: think small. Don't rummage around in your past — or your family's past — to find episodes that you think are "important" enough to be worthy of including in your memoir. Look for small self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you still remember them it's because they contain a universal truth that your readers will recognize from their own life.
William Zinsser: Excerpt from interview on writing memoirs
Most people embarking on a memoir are paralyzed by the size of the task. What to put in? What to leave out? Where to start? Where to stop? How to shape the story? The past looms over them in a thousand fragments, defying them to impose on it some kind of order. Because of that anxiety, many memoirs linger for years half written, or never get written at all.
What can be done?
You must make a series of reducing decisions. For example: in a family history, one big decision would be to write about only one branch of the family. Families are complex organisms, especially if you trace them back several generations. Decide to write about your mother's side of the family or your father's side, but not both. Return to the other one later and make it a separate project.
Remember that you are the protagonist in your own memoir, the tour guide. You must find a narrative trajectory for the story you want to tell and never relinquish control. This means leaving out of your memoir many people who don't need to be there. Like siblings.
My final reducing advice can be summed up in two words: think small. Don't rummage around in your past — or your family's past — to find episodes that you think are "important" enough to be worthy of including in your memoir. Look for small self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you still remember them it's because they contain a universal truth that your readers will recognize from their own life.
English 12: Read the introduction to the Canterbury Tales prologue and discuss the purpose and general background. For Monday's vocabulary test, each of your 5 written sentences needs to be about one of the characters from the CT prologue. The focus of the sentence needs to be about what element of that character is being made fun of or is different than you would expect. For instance, we talked about the knight in class and how he is the opposite of Beowulf. He doesn't brag or boast or think highly of himself. Instead, he is humble and chivalrous and he even "lowers" himself socially by mingling with the other pilgrims.
English 10H: Individual meetings regarding memoir. Read this article about writing titles for Monday. We will discuss it then. "I am..." statement portion of memoir assignment due Monday Nov. 24. For Monday, bring 3 potential titles for your memoir.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
English 12: Vocabulary 7- abstain, lobby (verb), scrutinize, suppress, recluse, prudent, emulate, digress, camaraderie, aesthetic. Read and discussed the Human Nature satire piece from yesterday. Vocabulary test 7 will be Monday Nov. 24th.
English 10H: Vocabulary test 6. Discuss source material for sentences after test. Discussed memoir (Due Monday the 24th and Monday Dec. 1st) so check the assignment sheet.
English 10H: Vocabulary test 6. Discuss source material for sentences after test. Discussed memoir (Due Monday the 24th and Monday Dec. 1st) so check the assignment sheet.
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