Entries categorized as ‘INSPIRATION’
While we spend a great deal of time on the ‘techniques’ of writing, we must never forget that writing is as much an ‘attitude about life’ as it is a set of skills.
Challenge: Pick one of these quotations about writing that catches your eye. Offer a reaction.
Length: 7+ sentences:
Option 1:
“What I don’t write is as important as what I write.” — Jamaica Kincaid
Option 2:
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams
Option 3:
“I have nothing to say / and I am saying it / and that is poetry / as I needed it.” — John Cage
Categories: HOW WE THINK · INSPIRATION · SEM 2 WEEK 3 · WRITER'S QUOTATIONS
Obviously ‘college’ is a word that we hear a lot about on a campus like ours. In some ways, getting into college seems to be the focus for many…but I often wonder what students really want to experience the year after they graduate from high school. And with the upcoming 10th grade trip in a few weeks to visit 2 Texas colleges, I’m even more curious.
Many students across the world take what is called a ‘gap’ year.
This is essentially a year between high school and college where a student pursues something really important to them (traveling, volunteering, working, creating, etc.).
Challenge:
- If you could take 1 year off from ’school’ between HS graduation and starting college — to do something truly meaningful with your life — what would it be? And why?
- For the sake of this assignment, assume the money is limited (or at least something that has to be taken seriously) and that whatever you choose it must be something that will have a significant impact on your adult future.
Length: 7+ sentences
Categories: BIG PICTURE · HOW WE THINK · INSPIRATION · SEM 2 WEEK 3
Back story: In a poem as long and constantly evolving/changing as Wordsworth’s piece (“Tintern Abbey”, for short) that we’ve been reading, there are countless lines/phrases that seem to have a life of their own, that almost seem as if they could be a title for a new poem or story.
This is similar to when we listen to a song and find a lyric that seems to speak to something far deeper in our lives. We write it down so that it never is forgotten. It becomes an anthem for our lives — a shortcut expression that says how we’re feeling and how we see the world around us.
Challenge:
- Find one line from this poem that grabs your attention for any reason whatsoever (and not even because of what Wordsworth is trying to say in his own poem). Ideally the line/phrase has the potential to inspire a piece of writing, be the title of a poem/story, or just be a life anthem/quote for you personally.
- React to the line in one of two ways: 1) Explain why it has such an impact on you or 2) write a short paragraph/poem that is inspired by (or uses) the line/phrase.
Length: 7+ sentences/lines
Categories: BIG PICTURE · HOW WE THINK · INSPIRATION · LITERATURE · POETRY · SEM 2 WEEK 1
Who: All periods
Set-up: See here.
Challenge: Answer the following question:
What does it truly mean to ‘live in the moment’? Have you ever been able to do this in the ‘real’ world (in spite of the pressures of day-to-day life)?
Length: 7+ sentences
Categories: BIG PICTURE · HOW WE THINK · INSPIRATION · WEEK 11
Who: All periods
Set-up: See here.
Challenge: Answer the following question:
Why do we constantly pursue ‘excellence’?
Length: 7+ sentences
Categories: BIG PICTURE · HOW WE THINK · INSPIRATION · WEEK 11
Who: All periods
Set-up: See here.
Challenge: Answer the following question:
If you had the opportunity to ‘travel back in time’, would you do so? If you knew that any ‘changes’ you made would change everything you’ve ever experienced since that moment, would you still go back in time?
Length: 7+ sentences
