Generative Writing Activities for Contexts That Make Me

Prior to assigning essay

Begin generative writing for first essay in WN with some of following prompts:

• Describe a "typical" member of your hometown; share
• Rewrite description for a travel brochure for your town
• Rewrite for a magazine on a "typical day in X town"
• Share in small groups and discuss differences in 3; generate a list of qualities that change
• Discuss qualities, highlighting influence of context (this class, town itself, writer's feelings about town, etc.) and audience (intended readers, change in purpose, etc.)

OR

• Generate a list of qualities of men v. women
• Share for larger list on board of qualities
• Write on how you think you "fit" the list and where you do "not"
• Explain the reasons or influences on why you don't and share; discuss influence of context
• Rewrite description from perspective of opposite sex-i.e. how would a member of the opposite sex describe how you fit or don't fit the list?
• Rewrite description of yourself from your parents' or caregiver's perspective of how you fit or don't fit the list
• Discuss what changed with change in perspective

Generative Writing Sequence

after essay introduced

Part I:

• Brainstorm a list of the different contexts that influence who we are; generate as long a list as possible on board and discuss possible influences on aspect of self (e.g., personality, choice of school, foods like to eat, anything small or large)
• Pick one that everyone shares and have class write about its influence and share results
• Do generative writing in writer's notebook using list as prompts:
• Pick one that you think has the most influence and write a page on how it influences you
• Choose one that you think has no relevance and write about how it influences you (pretend for the moment that it is significant)
• Write about one other that intrigues you

Part II:

• Brainstorm new lists in writers' notebook to following prompts: * What are my best and worst personality characteristics? * What is my favorite thing to do? * What irks me more than anything else about other people? * What's my most firmly held belief or ethic? * What activities are very important to me?
• Choose one characteristic and do a cluster on "where do I think I got this from?" Encourage them to use list as relevant but to try and cluster out to the various influences on this aspect of how they define themselves. (Perhaps do one yourself on board to illustrate)
• Do a second cluster with a different characteristic/belief.
• Share all six writings in pairs; discuss which the writer might develop further and why (include writing from Tuesday on gender and/or hometown)
• Write a final Process note in writers' notebook:
  • Why did I pick this context to highlight? What can I learn from exploring it further about myself?
  • What will I have to describe about this context so the reader understand it?
  • How can I show the influence it had on me? Are there examples of conversations, actions, events, etc. that can illustrate its effect?