Welcome back! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing winter break!
This week we are working on "Six-Word Memoirs" (http://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/schools/). Legend has it that when Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a six-word story, he came up with, "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn." It is amazing how much six words can convey. Students came up with a wide variety of potential backstories for these six words.
Today we looked at Six-Word Memoirs written by students, mostly teens, from all over the US. Crafting Six-Word Memoirs forces us to focus on purposeful and precise writing. They also allow us to examine the power of particular words and the importance of punctuation. One comma, moved to a different part of the sentence, can change the entire meaning. And, most importantly, it lets students share a story from their own life in a creative and meaningful way.
We will be working on these memoirs in class and there is no homework this week in LA/Lit so that students can focus on completing their C-SPAN projects. Independent Novel Project #3 is due on Friday, January 16th. Here is the assignment sheet:
Independent Novel Project #3
Next week, we will start To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I am excited to share it with my classes. We will examine life in the Jim Crow-era South, prejudice and racism, judgement and justice, and many other important themes. Students will have short, nightly reading assignments two to three nights a week during this unit.
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