We’re going to start our time in the lounge this month with a writing prompt. Pen and paper at the ready!
Word of the Month
CONTEXT
noun: the situation and circumstances that help us fully understand something, such as an event, statement, or idea.
Example: When you take something out of context, it’s meaning can be misunderstood or altered to form new meaning.
Take a look at this close-up of a human eye and write for five minutes, exploring the following questions:
What emotion is this person experiencing? Why do you think this? What’s their imagined story? What are they looking at? Where are they? Are they alone? With friends? What action have they taken, or are about to take?
If I was able to read your responses (and I’d love to, so please share in the comments!), I bet everyone’s responses would be different. Why? Because this image lacks context. We can’t see the face the image is attached to, or the setting in which they find themselves. Whatever context we apply to their situation comes from our own context, and our context is limited to our experiences. To expand our context, we must expand our knowledge and experiences.
In the throes of election season, it’s even more important to teach the concept of context to students. It’s a critical thinking skill that leads to informed, logical, and creative thinking.
In addition to sharing images like this eye close-up, it’s a wonderful exercise to have students bring their own images to the classroom and have others guess at the context, whether through verbal or written discussion. It’s a way to bring relevancy to an otherwise daunting wor(l)d.
Context can also be taught through the study and creation of cento poems. By placing another person’s words in another context (your cento poem), the connotative meaning changes. More on this in the Writing Activity below!
A note about how I write these newsletters
A reader asked me recently how I decide what I’m going to write for these monthly newsletters. Where do I get my ideas?
I’m delighted to share that I approach the content organically. I usually don't know what I'm going to write until days before I publish. Because I have a type-A personality and am prone to ruminating, these newsletters are great practice for me in the art of finding inspiration in the moment.
This month’s newsletter inspiration came while I was reading
’s breathtaking memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful. I highly recommend you read it; it was my favorite book this summer (thank you for the reading rec, ).Literary Trivia
Did you know…
A cento poem is a kind of Found poem. To create a cento poem, you pull full lines from existing poems (or other texts) and arrange them together to create an entirely new poem.
Crediting the source of each line is important! To do so, add the author/poet’s name at the end of the poem, in the order their work appears in the poem. It’s especially helpful to include which work the lines are from so readers of your cento poem can explore the authors you were inspired by more fully.
Bonus: you’ll find a cento poem in Maggie Smith’s memoir. 😉
Writing Activity
I’ve added a new activity to the Teacher Goody Bag: it’s a school year cento poem! Here’s the concept:
Have students keep a journal of their favorite lines from what they read throughout the year. These can be recorded daily, weekly, or monthly.
Students can keep a log of their favorite lines in a notebook, but I also have a Google Doc template that can be copied, modified, and reused for them to collect their favorite lines.
It’s helpful to build this into your classroom routine and to model the process for students. For example, every time you are reading aloud to the class, you can stop at a favorite line and then write it down before continuing. Every Friday, you might ask for volunteers to read aloud their favorite lines from the week.
The lines can come from what they read in class, as well as what they read outside of class. If it’s a creative writing class, it could be fun to have students pull favorite lines from each other’s writing.
To keep students motivated, it’s helpful to have students share lines aloud and make mini cento poems along the way.
Tie this ongoing activity to the concept of context, having discussions about how the lines from the poems change meaning when placed alongside other lines.
By the year’s end, they’ll have a cento poem that captures their reading experience from the school year! They can keep the poem in chronological order, or you might have them rearrange the order to make new meaning, or pull just a few favorite lines from their existing list to make a smaller poem. The possibilities are endless!
Love this Line
“Context is everything.”
~ This expression was first coined by sociologist Alvin Ward Gouldner in the 1950s.
Novel Manuscript Update
I’m still working towards my goal of having a novel manuscript “beta reader ready” by sometime in August. Realistically, it will be in September (maybe even October) now, and that’s okay! The business of writing a novel is hard work, but I’m loving it!
This past month, I’ve been making substantial updates to the first 20% of my book. I’ve also virtually met some incredible critique partners using Julie Artz’s free CP Meet Cute program.
But my favorite moment? Giving a short scene with teenage dialogue to my teenage son to read and then hearing his genuine laughter, not because the scene was cheesy, but because the dialogue was spot-on.
His feedback will keep me fueled in the weeks and months to come.
Exit Ticket
Don’t forget to answer the question before you leave the lounge.
And do share in the comments your freewriting about the eye image above, as well as your favorite read from this summer!
I keep a journal, but I write in it sporadically. I have a box full of journals that date back to third grade, and they are fascinating (and funny) to read.
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Let’s Stay Connected!
Let’s keep the conversation and creativity going over on Instagram and Facebook! Here are a few fun items to enjoy over in those spaces.
Literary Trivia: I post one-question quizzes on my Instagram story. Test your literary knowledge!
Manuscript Updates: Watch in-the-moment updates on my novel-writing process and share your own writing experiences. Together, we can keep each other motivated!
Book Recommendations: Looking for a good book to read? Check out my recommendations. I love talking about books!
I'd not heard of cento poems before! What a fun idea, Miranda. I'll need to try my hand at one. :)