• Describe a favorite room or location from your childhood.
• Use details to paint the location vividly for your readers
• Experiment with 5 senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, sound)

Essay 1: Recollection (choose Autobiographical Incident or Memoir)

Recollection is made up of "Écompositions of memories acquired before the intention to write about them" (Moffett, Points of Departure, 163).

• It is retrospective writingÑfrom past hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades
• It includes description and sensory details
• It usually is told in the first person ("I) perspective
• The author provides readers with knowledge of inner life, of specific incidents, and background information

Two types of Recollection are Autobiographical Incident or Memoir É choose one:

An Autobiographical Incident É

• Tells a story of something that has happened in the past
• Focuses on the author, who is the main participant in the past event
• Recounts a time the author underwent the experience s/he describes
• Typically brings a subjectiveness to the telling (i.e., "A & P" by John Updike)
• May weave a lesson into the story (i.e., "First Confession" by Frank OÕConnor and "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams)

A Memoir É

• Tells a story of something that has happened in the past
• Focuses on others, where the author is not at the center of the experience
• Author is an observer or subordinate character
• Usually the author is a confidant of the protagonist(s), an eyewitness to the protagonistsÕ actions, or is a member of some group or community in which the protagonists are generally known
• Some examples of memoir writing include: "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe and "Mademoiselle Pearl" by Buy de Maupassant

Essay 2: Investigation

"A special, conscious purpose motivates investigationÑto find out something one doesnÕt already know, that is, hasnÕt yet acquired memories of. Perhaps we should think of investigation as an effort to supplement recollection, to fill in by choice an area of knowledge that chance has left deficient" (Moffett, Points of Departure, 163).

For this essayÉ

• Research a topic that is based within elementary education
• You may want to focus on a topic related to communication
• As we learn about education journals, peruse them for topic ideas

For instanceÉ

• Discover approaches to genre study
• Learn more about workshop techniques
• Delve into current trend in the writing classroom
• Find out how and when instructors teach grammar
• Look into instructor and/or peer response strategies
• Learn the benefits of a student-centered classroom
• Study the influence of writing gurus such as Nancy Atwell and James Moffett

You must, however, find a topic that interests you, one you are excited to approach

Together, we will further define what elements make a good Investigative essay

Essay 3: Imagination

This is a fun, creative assignment!

• Start with an original piece (i.e., a poem, an episode, a moment in history, an overheard conversation, a newspaper article)
• Try to capture the happening, the core of the original
• Experiment with different perspectives (4 or more); try for variety
• Consider using various modes of discourse (recording, reporting, theorizing, and generalizing)
• "Try on" the voice of a persona which seems especially foreign to you, even repulsive; can you gain enough distance to represent that persona and voice?
• Try to render the new voices with as much authenticity as possible
• Readers should not be able to tell which is the original and which a new "voice"
  

Class Presentation

In groups of three or four, you will create a presentation

• This presentation can take many forms § Involve your colleagues in your topic instead of lecturing to them
• Create a lesson plan that takes into account studentsÕ various learning styles
• Keep the lesson plan simple and narrow § Create a handout for your colleagues § Plan to fill an entire class session
• Your colleagues and I will fill out an evaluation form for your presentation
• Finally, have fun with this project!

Following are ideas for presentation topics:

• Reveal effective journal prompts
• Divulge effective techniques for reading aloud to students
• Discuss ways to teach students how to write dialogue in their recollection essays
• Focus on a specific way students could share/respond to a current draft of a memoir