Remember the questions Margaret used in 620 to help us brainstorm for our literacy narratives? For instance, she asked us to think of a maxim we associate with literacy, about our first reading experiences, our teachers, even objects that correlate with our literacy experience. I don't know about all of you, but I often have trouble brainstorming for an assignment, especially a less research-oriented assignment like that, so those questions really helped me to get some ideas for my paper.
Hence, I have used this as a prewriting strategy for my 110 students. First, I asked them questions for their memoir, including "What did other people say about that moment?" and "Who should have been there that wasn't?" Essentially, I asked similar questions one by one, and they wrote comments about each one. They seemed to find that quite helpful.
Then, today, I asked similar questions about the character sketch assignment they are working on. "What kinds of mannerisms does this person have?" "What motivates/drives him or her?" "Does this person remind you of anyone else? A movie character, for instance?"
Anyway, if you haven't used this technique to help students who are stuck on papers, you might want to try it out. I also sometimes have them talk in pairs to brainstorm or draft a sketchy outline or perhaps freewrite on a topic. I'm sure you all do other good things. Let me know what has worked for you.
free birds: Perchy and Kiwi
3 comments:
Hannah,
I've also tried the "topoi" or brainstorming questions Margaret used in our 620 class. My problem was that I wasn't very good at coming up with questions! Do you have a list of questions, and if so, would you care to share it?
I used topoi to help my students get started on their memoirs as well, and I got some really excellent memoirs this term. I agree. It's a good method for creative writing types of assignments.
Tag, you're it!
http://niki603.blogspot.com/2008/04/six-word-meme.html
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