Reading
Writing
Both / Other
#Potential Topic
Reading to relate to upperclass friends in 9th grade
Finding books I had read or wanted to read in Harvard Coop
The Illiad
reading this book
When my second grade teacher photocopied my story and had me bring it to my first grade teacher
My third/fourth grade “novel”
Essay on quitting in 2nd grade
deciding not to write a creative thesis, even though that was what I planned and wanted to do
discovering that my mom kept a folder of my writing from all of elementary school
The horrible transition from writing safe papers to interesting papers in my first class with Lois
Paul Simon’s Graceland
#Why it Matters
reading as membership in a tribe
Timé
the first of so many giant abandoned projects, convincing Mrs. Zing to take me seriously
Too complicated?
Experimental discipline - writing as punishment vs. writing as processing
discovering a love of critical writing, learning about how to make wise decisions about how I work best
realizing that writing was a real thing, that it mattered
By the end of it, I wrote papers that considered questions worth asking and used academic writing to help me think about things
changing from hating the made up words to appreciating the mystery
#Vivid Scene Ideas
arrival of book during the summer
first week of class
seniors throwing them off library
conversation with Mrs. Zing
vivid description of story and how it changed over time, physically and ideas
Arriving in New Hampshire with a stack of books - my “homework” for the summer week
Dialogue about what I hadn’t read, my eagerness to be included
Print Shop!
Fight with my parents about quitting violin
No TV
??? Will this work?
finding the folder, describing contents
writing Malcolm X paper
first day of Lois’s class
spoof of high school paper
Driving and listening to Graceland as a child and now