DUE: Saturday, September 165h
Choose a story from your life that you would consider a significant event that impacted you or transformed you in your actions, your thinking etc. Describe the story, then spend some time reflecting on its impact on you; think about how you reacted then and how you would react now; what you learned and how that affects they way you do things now. Do you have any regrets; would you change anything?
You may use what you wrote for the diagnostic assignment as a starting point, but it needs to be much more in-depth and sophisticated in terms of structure and syntax. The reflection needs to contain analysis, and you should make connections between who you were and you are today, or between your experiences and a more universal human issue, or current event.
Because you are telling a story, it is important that your language is as elegant and graceful as you can muster, and that your essay is filled with rich detail and sensory experience. Show, don’t tell!
Proper formatting can be found in your syllabus. Make sure you bring 2 copies of your essay to class, one for me and one for peer review.
Essay Checklist
Directions: Before you turn in your essay, use this sheet to check that your essay has or does each of the following. If not, fix it before you turn it in.
____ A compelling opener – a hook – something interesting to get capture the reader’s attention
____ Description – concrete sensory details, specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters
____ One or more of the following: dialogue and/or interior monologue to depict the characters’ feelings/attitudes clear and distinct setting clear and distinct characters a climactic point a resolution
____ Pacing to highlight and enhance conflict, moment or realization, or message
____ A shifting perspective of attitude through mature reflection
____ A clear and distinctive perspective on the subject – the story makes a