writing workshop january 2013
TRANSCRIPT
By
Margo Hernandez
• What kind of writing do you do in your daily life?• Do you write memos or notes at work? • Letters to family and friends?• Emails to co-workers? • Lists to yourself?• More importantly, how do you feel about writing? • Is it something you enjoy or something you dread?
Why?• How are your feelings similar to or different from
your learner's?
• http://youtu.be/L3_xDsGqaXM
Never just sit down and write a whole essay!!! Why not? It doesn't work.
There is a sequence of steps to follow to help you develop and shape your ideas to the point that you can write about them clearly and in a structure that will help show them well and tie them together into a whole answer.
Brainstorming : When we get a question and try to think about it, often our mind goes blank. It's not necessarily because there's nothing in there - often it's because there's TOO MUCH in there! As we can only think and write about one thought at a time, we need to find a writing technique that helps us empty out our ideas.
Think about your favorite movie or TV show. My favorite TV show is Big Bang Theory. Why is it your favorite? It is my favorite because the characters are a
bunch of science nerds. When was the last time you watched it? I watch the show every night before I go to sleep. Who did you watch it with? My children and I enjoy watching Big Bang Theory
together. Did you enjoy it as much as you did the first time? I laugh until I cry each time I watch this show. Would you recommend the movie/show to other
people? I would recommend this show only to people who
I think can relate to being a nerd.
You need to find a way to loosen up and to let your mind start to flow around and over the topic.
Generate ideas you never even knew you had. Often what stops us from coming up with ideas and
finding out what we think/feel is that we get caught up in our own head where we can only think about one idea at a time and may never discover all the other wonderful ones that we have.
Don't worry about organization and correctness. Don't worry about grammar. Don't worry about what anyone else will think;
worrying will just get you stuck! Brainstorming and Free writing are a way of thinking
on the paper, but you need to let your ideas flow, and that way everything gets found, nothing gets lost, and you have lots of material to eventually shape your essay from.
http://youtu.be/-EA0QOWv9sU
Describe the gas you put in your car?Where do you put gas? How much gas
does your car use? Do you have a favorite gas station?
What is your favorite holiday?Why? Do you cook? Do you give presents? Describe a time your played “hooky”
from work.What did you do? Was it planned? Would
you do it again?
Preparation writing is for you. It will help you to find and make ideas. It is not for presentation for a reader, so it
doesn't matter what it looks like! Don't spend any time rereading or proofreading
or correcting when you are actually brainstorming or free writing.
We want to find more and more ideas, not judge and change the initial ones.
It is important to write EVERYTHING down and not to censor yourself.
What might seem like a silly idea now, may turn out to be the seed of your best idea later.
Interpreting the Essay Question Why do you have to pay close attention to
the essay question?
Writing Workshop
February 14th 1 PM – 2 PM or 6 PM – 7 PM
