Reading

2. Reading • “Memoir is the intersection of narration and reflection, of storytelling and essay writing. It can present its story and consider the meaning of the story.”

3. Inquiry 3 Assignment • Proposal : • Write a “shitty first draft”-500 words • Indicate which genre you are planning to revise this draft into. • Provide 3 sources with a summary of how they relate to your memoir. What larger themes do they touch on? What other conversations does this apply to? Who is your audience and how does your research illuminate your audience’s concerns?

4. Creative Component : You will adapt your first draft into one of the following: • Written memoir (750-1000 words minimum) • Comic book • Children’s book • Google commercial • Video/photo essay

5. Reflective component • (500 words minimum) • Provide a close/critical of your own work. Reflect how your project functions as memoir and how it relates to outside research. Write a close/critical reading of your own texts, analyzing effectiveness in reaching the intended audience and discussing decisions concerning craft/style/genre. Provide textual examples/ specific quotes in your

6. Extra Credit • Present your project in class and briefly discuss surrounding issues that it illuminates. • Share with the class your creative component—i.e., read an excerpt from written memoir, show book, show a clip or video of memoir. Each presentation should be approximately 3-5 minutes. (Worth 5-10 points added to final Inquiry 3 grade)

7. Due dates: • Ideas posted to BB – 2/29 • Proposal due—4/5 • Rough draft (creative version) – 4/12 • Final due (Creative & Reflective component) –4/19 • * No writer’s memo for this assignment

8. Creative examples • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsBQZ0yesDQ • http://www.themoth.org/listen • What changes hearing this story vs. just reading it on the page? • How would it be different in you just read it? How does meaning change? • http://www.amazon.com/Persepolis-Story-Childhood-Marjane-Satrapi/dp/037571457X#reader_037571457X

9. Once I was; now I am. Once I was a frightened stranger in a new land; now I am a bold American. • Once I was a depressed housewife; now I am a happy student. • Once I was a laid-back young girl from the islands; now I am a sophisticated city woman. • Once I was an angry, rebellious teenager; now I'm a father with teenage sons of my own. • Once I was a smoker and a drinker; now I'm a health food nut. • Write as many of your own as you can in the next five to ten minutes.

10. Choose one of the sentences you have written and use it as the first sentence of an essay. • As you write” • a) put all the "Once sentences" in one part of the essay and all the "Now sentences" in another part, and • b) keep both parts positive - each part should focus on what you were and are, respectively, not you were not/are not. If you aren’t satisfied with your sentences, take a few minutes more to come up with sentences you want to use. When students have finished writing, ask a few of them to volunteer to read their essays to the class.

11. Homework • Read Collin’s poem “The Fish,” “The Squeamish American,” & “The Absolutely No-Anything Diet.” • Do a mini-close reading of one of the stories or poem, citing examples from the text (around 250 words) • Post tentative ideas for inquiry to BB. Identify story and potential genre