AP Language
• Find your assigned seat
• Complete the sheet on your
desk. Use your syllabus from
yesterday!
• Unit 1: College Essay, Frederick Douglass,
basics of rhetoric and close reading, analysis
• Six word memoirs could help you brainstorm
ideas for college essay.
• Also think about economy of words, and the
stories behind carefully selected ones.
For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
• Five years on, participants have contributed
more than half a million mini-memoirs. Smith
has published five compilations of the
intensely personal accounts and continues his
online quest to spark the creativity of aspiring
writers.
• "There is inspiration everywhere," he says.
"Even if you don't think you're a storyteller, you
are."
• Samples….
• Read all. Choose one. What’s the story?
Writing a six-word
memoir...
In order to narrow down a life into
six words, a writer needs to begin
with many words and ideas.
Follow these instructions to
complete a six-word memoir.
Start with a list
List as many words, topics, memories,
or personality traits as you can about
yourself – activities you do, items,
belongings, places you like, and
feelings you have. Don’t edit, cross
out, change, or rewrite words. Don’t
worry about spelling – just write. You
are going for quantity, so write as
much as you can in about three
minutes. You should fill at least one
full page.
Example list:
Singer, writer, happy, tired, overworked,
camping, colorful, shoes, sea shore,
dragons, faeries, teacher, Spanish,
Internet, laughing, cartoons, 70s, rock
music, Jeep, teddy bears, church, baths,
jingles, gum, crayons, super heroes,
technology, legos, reading, Saturday
morning, dancing, weight lifting, Ziggy,
more shoes, sunrises, mother,
daughters, snakes, dogs, mythology,
thinking, dreamer, fries…
Now, circle the two or three
words that stand out for you,
the ones that you could say
more about.
Example list:
Singer, writer, happy, tired,
overworked, camping, colorful, shoes,
sea shore, dragons, faeries, teacher,
Spanish, Internet, laughing, cartoons,
70s, rock music, Jeep, teddy bears,
church, long baths, jingles, gum,
crayons, super heroes, technology,
legos, reading, Saturday morning,
dancing, weight lifting, Ziggy, more
shoes, sunrises, mother, daughters,
snakes, dogs, mythology, thinking,
dreamer, fries
Pick one item and freewrite about the
thought. That means you just start writing
about that idea, object, role, or event. The only
rule is don’t stop writing for at least two or three
minutes. Whatever comes to mind is fair game.
mother
Synthesize
As a result of the freewrite, you have
a sense of your topic. Synthesize,
combine the individual elements into an
understandable whole, your writing into a
phrase that captures the essence of what
your topic means to you. The topic of the
previous writer was “mother.”
a 6-word memoir…
Helping them grow ages me daily.
Final effort: Create an image with the sixword memoir. It should be on a blank,
standard piece of 8 x11.5 paper. It should
include the six words as well as your own
images to illustrate. These can be drawings,
photographs, etc.
You also need to attach a one paragraph
explanation of your six word memoir.
Turn in paragraph, and 6 word memoir with
visual representation tomorrow.
Seeking home, balance outside a turbulent world
Final effort: Create an image with the sixword memoir. It should be on a blank,
standard piece of 8 x11.5 paper. It should
include the six words as well as your own
images to illustrate. These can be drawings,
photographs, etc.
You also need to attach a one paragraph
explanation of your six word memoir.
Turn in paragraph, and 6 word memoir with
visual representation tomorrow.
Reminders
• Turn in syllabus quiz today or tomorrow.
• Bring summer assignment and six word
assignment tomorrow
• Bring Strunk and White tomorrow. Also bring
Prose if you have it.
• Make sure you have binder, class notebook.