As we embark on our journey, seventh hour Writ Lit has been reading and critiquing personal narratives. While some of these narratives are by professional writers (Gary Soto, "The Jacket" or Amy Tan, "Fish Cheeks"), others are by teens. Many of us enjoyed sharing our reaction to "How to Upgrade Your Nickname," a personal narrative by Ben Hur, published in the teen digital periodical, Merlyn's Pen *.
Reading and critiquing personal narratives allows us to broaden our strategies for annotating non-fiction texts as well as discovering the link between annotating personal creative narratives and fiction short stories.
As we concluded our reading of prose personal narratives, we watched some digital personal narratives to get inspired. Together, we discussed the possibility of embedding photos or music into our narratives
As well, we spent part of a recent class creating visual representations of elements of us. While we designed and brought our images to life, we refrained from chatting. Amazingly, it was as if the quiet inspired the art. This art, along with short written "mini narratives," will be displayed in the commons area.
* Upon completion of our own personal narratives, we may submit our writings to Merlyn's Pen for possible publication! www.merlynspen.org.
Here at Bloomfield Hills High School, we'd love to share what we've been up to in Learning Community 9A. We look forward to sharing our students' explorations in English, Math, Social Studies, and Science!
