Day 70 of 84 Days of 84 Ribbons: Career Day
Tomorrow is Career Day at Cedar Valley Community School. I’ve been invited to join a panel for a second year to speak to writing and being an author. I’ve decided to bring a poster with a skeleton to remind the students that writing needs a framework (skeleton) to give a story shape. My handout will share the other stages of organizing for writing: the skin (problem) and clothing (details). It’s a simple but memorable graphic that I hope will stick with the kids.
If you’d like the details and a copy of my handout, send me a note via a comment to this post and I’ll send it along. It also includes a word search. (The teacher in me just won’t leave my brain in peace!)
Love this idea, Paddy. Have fun.
Great idea, Paddy. Not only a clear metaphor (!) but also a valuable visual approach, which many of us (me, especially) need to reinforce that we GET the message.
Do you need an “after” visual teaching device? If so, as a little P.S. to/for your presentation, I can provide a photo of me, in robe and pjs and typical morning disarray, as a cautionary warning to those who do NOT write enough, who fail to adequately commit to the active writing life. who choose other (less worthy) activities like sitting around sipping coffee and consuming Danish pastries (any nationality of pastry, actually). The resulting overly-cushioned skeleton, pasty skin, and–now, what WAS that 3rd element????–other deficiency (to be identified later) could serve to provide the shocking and painful image of the lazy, slovenly non-writer. (If you can’t entice them positively, try a bit of fear, methinks!)
Hope your Career Day presentation is a dandy…
Tom
P.S. That missing 3rd element–clothing–is adequately covered in the “robe and pjs” description, I believe!
Tom