Suggested Generative Writing Activities to be used with “My Self in Words”

Memory Picture Game

I usually do this on the first day of class before I introduce the assignment. I want to get students accustomed to sharing their writing in class, used to talking to each other, and to introduce the idea of context and the way it affects interpretation. So, basically, I scatter a bunch of random pictures/postcards on the floor (the less obvious the “meaning,” the better), and students choose one picture that sparks a memory. For the game students are asked to write a piece about their memory that they will read aloud to the class, using as much detail as possible and not making obvious the relationship between the picture/postcard and the memory. I usually give them 5-7 minutes to write. As each student reads his/her memory aloud, the other students listen and then attempt to guess from which postcard the memory had sprung. If no one in the class can guess correctly which picture/postcard inspired the memory that student wins. If someone correctly guesses that person wins. (Sometimes I bring a bag of candy to use as prizes.) For each postcard I summarize on the board all the disparate memories evoked. This leads to a discussion of how our minds associate memories of the past with present interpretation, and how differing contexts can lead to a different “reading” of a text.

Words as Pictures

This exercise can also be done before the actual assignment is introduced.

I don’t want to scare my students with too much language theory, so I use examples to prove my point that words are also pictures in a sense. I wanted to de-naturalize the relationship between the written word and an “obvious” meaning. I choose a word like “Cancun” and ask the students to write whatever pops into their heads when they read/hear the word. Many students mention things like beaches, margaritas, “Girls Gone Wild” etc. I then pass out an article from a Mexican (English) newspaper that discusses the poverty, low wages, sex industry etc. that has cropped up around Cancun because of the tourist industry. My goal is to emphasize that when someone from Mexico reads the word “Cancun” in a sentence, completely different associations might come to mind. It would also be interesting to discuss where our associations for “Cancun” come from. Why do we, as Americans, and maybe even more specifically college students, think of margaritas when we hear the word Cancun? I use the word “Cancun,” but other words would work too—any word or place where different people would have a different association. For example a variation of this activity would be to ask the students to write about their associations with Cape Cod. Even students within Massachusetts may have different associations with the Cape. For example, students who grew up on the Cape may not see it as the ideal vacation spot that many people do.

For homework, I ask the students do some generative writing in the writer’s notebook that connects the Memory Picture Game Activity to this day’s activity: How are words like pictures?

Looking for a Quotation

In preparation for the essay, I ask the students to find a quotation (doesn’t matter from where!) that they like, sparks a memory, or thinks represents them. To enable students to begin thinking of ways to search out quotations, I ask them to write down all the quotations or “sayings” they can remember and/or have heard. We share these as a class and brainstorm where we have heard them. We also begin the process of looking at these quotations/sayings. What do they mean? Why do we remember them? Where do they come from?

Index Card Close Reading Exercise

Once students have selected their quotations, I do this as a generative writing exercise to help students do a close reading of the words that comprise their quotation. In their writer’s notebooks, I ask students to do a word association (like we did with the “Words as Pictures” exercise) for each word (except for “the” etc.) of their own quotations. When they are done I ask the students to write each word of their quotation on an index card. They then shuffle their cards so the words are no longer in order. In pairs, the students exchange their pack of index cards. Without knowing the meaning of the quotation as a whole, students do a 20 second free-association for each of their partner’s words on the back of the index cards. Once this is done for every word in the pack, the pair then compares and contrasts their associations, discussing the meaning of the quotation as a whole, and why these associations attracted them to that particular quotation. In order to further solidify their thoughts in a different form, I ask the students to also do a cluster. With the cluster and word associations, students are then able to create their first draft guided by the following prompts: