English Essentials: Writing Workshop

Writing Prompt:
All of last week, we participated in an intensive, collaborative writing workshop. Each of you put copies of your rough draft up on the projector and we discussed your thesis statements, topic sentences, evidence, and ideas.

For today, we will do something a little bit different.  I want you to spend 20 minutes doing the following:

1) Write down your answer to the question, "How does Chris Kyle change?"

Your answer should look like this: "Chris Kyle changes through ___, ___, and ___." Each blank will be one of the arguments you make your body paragraphs.

For example:

Chris Kyle changes through the lessons his father teaches him about protecting those who are weaker than himself, the lessons he learns as the number one sniper for the US military, and the discovery that he can still be a sheepdog protecting his family and military veterans at home.

2) Then, spend the next 15-20 minutes writing quietly. You should focus on making sure you explain how the evidence in each paragraph answers this question.

After your quiet writing, we'll pick a volunteer and put your answers on the board, workshopping for the rest of class.

Port Veritas: Day 4 (9th/10th grade)

Students workshopping their writing with Robin Merrill today.

Today, we broke again into three group (5-6 students and 1 poet each).  Students who shared their work yesterday read the poems they revised for homework and got feedback from their peers.

Here are some of the ideas workshopped today by our student writers:
1) One student wrote about the Greek Titan Atlas, telling the story from the earth's perspective and personifying its feelings.  The earth feels happy to be picked up and have their burdens taken away.

2) Another student wrote from the perspective of his boat and the experiences it has each day.  This topic became a metaphor for a person who works really hard and doesn't get the respect he/she deserves.

Port Veritas: Poetry Workshop Day 3

One of our seniors working with Port Veritas poets Nate and Beau.

Unlike Day 1 and Day 2 of this week's poetry workshops, today we started with a new poet, Beau Williams, and only one student in Period 2!

It was amazing.

How often does a young writer get to work with three professional creative writers workshopping his/her own work one-on-one?

Our lucky senior started by sharing last night's writing prompt (see here).  He chose to write about the smell, feel, and experience of working down at the Vinalhaven Fishermen's Co-Op.

The poem was filled with lovely phrases like "the smell of ocean and pennies" to describe the foulness of bait.

Speared bait bags (photo © by Helana Brigman, 2012.)

Some workshopping tips:
1) Play around with a thesaurus.
2) Circle all of the adjectives in your poem and try another one.  See if you like it more.
3) Beau: "give the words the power they deserve.  Confidence is key."

4) Think about the distinction between words.  What do you mean when you say "life" versus "livelihood?"

5) Trim it up: "Rotten fish may just seem like rotten fish / but to the fishermen it's their livelihood" is much more powerful, punchy, and meaningful when condensed to "Rotten fish may seem like rotten fish / but it's their livelihood."

One definition of a metaphor Beau recently heard at a play: "Trying to say one thing by saying something completely different without lying."

Senior student reading poem.

What was great about today is that our student had a lot more voice in how his poem was workshopped.  Because he was talking with Robin, Nate, and Beau one-on-one, he got really comfortable talking frankly about how he was editing and revising his work.  My favorite moment was when our student writer said, "I don't want to criticize you on my own poem...but..." and told Port Veritas's founder, Nate, that he had made an error when reading his poem.  Of course, Nate was very apologetic, but it highlighted the democratizing effect of a poetry workshop.  Student writers, although growing, really do become poets.

Business Writing: Résumé Rough Drafts

Writing Warmup:
For today, you had to bring in a complete rough draft of your résumé.  Using the standards associated with each question, please answer the following using Apt Specific References (ASR).

1) How did you use your job description to create your résumé?

• Standard: W2, "I can write informative, explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly."
• Standard: W9, "I can draw evidence from informational texts to support my reflection and/or research."

2) What was your method for revising your résumé? How did you revise?

• Standard: W5, "I can develop and strengthen my writing by planning, revising, editing, and rewriting."

3) How did you use parallel structure in your writing?

• Standard: L1, "I can use parallel structure in my writing."