Multigenre Life Story Project
Option 1: Please click the "My Dad" button to go to my Multigenre Life Story Project. I've recorded narrations on my presentation that are not compatible with Slide Share. Please click Save, then Open and view the slide show through Power Point. The narrations that I've recorded are an integral part of my project. Please be patient while it loads, it may take a minute.
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Option 2: You can also click here to view the presentation through Power Point.
Reflection
When I first learned that we were going to be creating a multigenre
life story project, I had no idea what I wanted to write about. I brainstormed
a couple of ideas and started to draft pieces of writing based on those ideas.
In the end, I wasn’t satisfied with what I was writing. I wasn’t able to get
the ideas onto paper; it wasn’t personal enough. I had some unresolved feelings
towards my dad and I decided to face those head-on and create the project for
him. Well, mostly for him. I hoped that by doing this, I would be able to confront
and overcome my feelings. There were times that I didn’t want to write because
I knew that I was going have to deal with my feelings. There were times that I
couldn’t wait to write for the same reasons.
I started coming up with different ideas that I thought I could write about. I wanted to face the “bad” stuff but I didn’t want that to be the focus of my project. I started writing all of my ideas down and then I thought about which ones could be the narrative, informational, persuasive, etc. pieces. I made a chart with narrative/informational/persuasive/other as headings and listed my ideas under them. Then I thought about the ones that I wanted to write about.
I decided to draft one piece at a time and that worked for me. For each piece, I wrote the first draft and printed it out. I love the cut and paste revision method and used that for every piece of writing. I was able to add to and extend, delete, and move the different sections of my writing around by cutting and pasting. Also, by printing them out I was able to take them with me wherever I went and when I thought of something new, I wrote it down. My drafts went through a lot of revisions and I actually cut entire pieces and started over because I wasn’t satisfied with what I had written.
When it was time to edit, I printed out the piece of writing that had been revised and I read and reread and reread. I crossed out words and changed tenses, I reworded sentences and fixed spelling errors, and I even had friends read it over so they could check for errors. I was excited to get to a final product that I could be proud of.
Publishing was the part that I looked forward to the most. I found there were a few things that I wanted to add, but these additions didn’t fit well into the written portion of my pieces. I decided to narrate some sections of my Power Point. This allowed me to add a few thoughts and to comment on the reasons why I chose to write what I did. Narrating a Power Point presentation was fairly easy and I enjoyed being able to “talk” to my dad, especially reading my letter. I also enjoyed finding photos of my dad and family and picking the ones that I thought complimented my writing. The only issue with the narration was that Slide Share isn’t compatible with them yet and they didn’t transfer over. I’ve resolved that by asking everyone to save and open it in Power Point.
As a writer, I learned that I am able to get more on the page if I just type or write. However, this is something I have a hard time doing. I like to correct my spelling and grammar errors as they occur instead of just moving on. I find that I lose my train of thought when I try to fix everything and it interrupts my "flow." When I am able to push through, I notice that I'm able to get more on the paper. When typing, I find that I need to ignore Microsoft Word's spell and grammar checks. This is something that I need to continue to work on because I think my writing is much better when I get my thoughts down and then go back to revise and edit.
As a teacher of writing, I learned that there are going to be some types of writing that your students find more difficult to write than others. It’s also easy to write about something personal but it can be hard to face your feelings. You need to be patient with your students as they discover their writing style and voice. I also learned that when you tell someone they need to write a paper/poem/letter/etc it can be a daunting task. The writing process is just that, a process. You need to teach your students to look at it that way; one step at a time. You don’t always get the words right the first time, but if you stick with it, you will be able to create something you’re proud of.
I started coming up with different ideas that I thought I could write about. I wanted to face the “bad” stuff but I didn’t want that to be the focus of my project. I started writing all of my ideas down and then I thought about which ones could be the narrative, informational, persuasive, etc. pieces. I made a chart with narrative/informational/persuasive/other as headings and listed my ideas under them. Then I thought about the ones that I wanted to write about.
I decided to draft one piece at a time and that worked for me. For each piece, I wrote the first draft and printed it out. I love the cut and paste revision method and used that for every piece of writing. I was able to add to and extend, delete, and move the different sections of my writing around by cutting and pasting. Also, by printing them out I was able to take them with me wherever I went and when I thought of something new, I wrote it down. My drafts went through a lot of revisions and I actually cut entire pieces and started over because I wasn’t satisfied with what I had written.
When it was time to edit, I printed out the piece of writing that had been revised and I read and reread and reread. I crossed out words and changed tenses, I reworded sentences and fixed spelling errors, and I even had friends read it over so they could check for errors. I was excited to get to a final product that I could be proud of.
Publishing was the part that I looked forward to the most. I found there were a few things that I wanted to add, but these additions didn’t fit well into the written portion of my pieces. I decided to narrate some sections of my Power Point. This allowed me to add a few thoughts and to comment on the reasons why I chose to write what I did. Narrating a Power Point presentation was fairly easy and I enjoyed being able to “talk” to my dad, especially reading my letter. I also enjoyed finding photos of my dad and family and picking the ones that I thought complimented my writing. The only issue with the narration was that Slide Share isn’t compatible with them yet and they didn’t transfer over. I’ve resolved that by asking everyone to save and open it in Power Point.
As a writer, I learned that I am able to get more on the page if I just type or write. However, this is something I have a hard time doing. I like to correct my spelling and grammar errors as they occur instead of just moving on. I find that I lose my train of thought when I try to fix everything and it interrupts my "flow." When I am able to push through, I notice that I'm able to get more on the paper. When typing, I find that I need to ignore Microsoft Word's spell and grammar checks. This is something that I need to continue to work on because I think my writing is much better when I get my thoughts down and then go back to revise and edit.
As a teacher of writing, I learned that there are going to be some types of writing that your students find more difficult to write than others. It’s also easy to write about something personal but it can be hard to face your feelings. You need to be patient with your students as they discover their writing style and voice. I also learned that when you tell someone they need to write a paper/poem/letter/etc it can be a daunting task. The writing process is just that, a process. You need to teach your students to look at it that way; one step at a time. You don’t always get the words right the first time, but if you stick with it, you will be able to create something you’re proud of.