Letter to a Friend

Over the past week you've read two articles, watched a few TED talks, and worked to respond to those texts using your own thoughts and experiences.

At this point, I want you to forget about making the perfect essay.

Today, write a letter to a trusted friend or family member

Some ideas to get you started:

• Ask for advice about your ideas and explain why you need the advice
• Explain why you are prepared for the next stage of your life
• Describe your concerns
• Tell about an even that shows your skills, including strengths and weaknesses
• Write questions you have about the next stage of your life and answer them 

Write without consulting your notes. Write freely. If you feel like you've written all you can about an idea. Try tackling it from another angle. Let yourself get side-tracked. It is a letter to a friend, after all.

The goal is to produce as much as you can. It doesn't matter how good it is. Just push your ideas further.

Don't Stop Writing.

Reminder:

You need to make sure the assignments in your Writer's Notebook are completed.
This includes:

• 9/19 - Letter to a friend
• 9/18 - Reflective Questions about the texts
• 9/16 - Three Truths and Freewrite
• 9/11 - Angel Perez Advice/comments table and description of a time you were "less than perfect."

If you don't know what these are, scroll down to check the blog posts from those days, ask me, or email me.

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There is one change that's going to be made starting Monday.
Each day when you come to class and are waiting for your computers to load, we will take the first ten minutes of class to read.

"For a man to write well, there are required three necessaries: to read the best authors, observe the best speakers, and much exercise of his own style." (Ben Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries, 1640)

I have reserved time for you to go to the library on Monday if you need a book (You will need your ID). You are also welcome to bring one of your own. Either way, you will need to bring a book to class every day starting Tuesday.

Words Matter

Get your computer, log in, open this blog.
12thWritersWorkshop.blogspot.com


We all have different ideas about who we are and what represents us. Today you'll look more closely at the words that you use to define yourself.

But first I need you to Create a Writer's Notebook:

1. Create a new document in Google Docs. 
2. Name it with your Period# name Writer's Notebook  (i.e.  4 Alyssa Black Writers Notebook)
3. Share it with Ms. Black using her gmail address.

You'll be using this almost every day. Unless the internet breaks. But we're going to pretend that won't happen. You'll need to write today's date on your document to signify your first entry.

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Okay. Now let's get to the real work.

Below is a list of words. It is not a comprehensive list, and that's okay. 

Choose the ten words off of this list that best fit your sense of self and write them in your Writer's Notebook.

Now, add 10 more words to your list that describe how you see yourself at this stage of your life. These may or may not come from this list. 

Last, rank those 20 words based on which words are most important to you in your life.

Making Predictions and Asking Questions:

The last thing you're going to do today is to reflect on the language you've chosen to describe yourself with, and to consider the significance of it. This goal is to be able to make predictions and develop ideas about what you'll need to do to best represent yourself in your personal statement. In your Writer's Notebook, answer the following questions:

• Why did you rank your words as you did?
• What do your words tell you about your opinion of yourself in terms of readiness for work or college?
• What would someone who knows you well think of the words you chose?
• Based on your analysis, predict what you will need to do learn more about to achieve your goals.
• Predict how well your words/concepts will work for you as you move into the next stage of your life. For example, if one of your words is "stubborn," how do you think that will work for or against you in the future?

Homework: (It's not that bad, I promise.)

Find someone you trust and show them or share with them your list of words.

Ask them what they think of your choices, and ask them to share their thoughts about how you've defined yourself. 

This may be difficult, and that's okay. Listen (without talking or interrupting), and jot down some notes about how people perceive your words and choices. You may even write down your opinion of what others said.

It's never a bad time to ask for more perspectives on concepts such as these words represent. It is difficult to represent yourself to others if you don't have a solid sense of who you are and what you believe about yourself.