Memories Papers

Feel free to post paragraphs from your Memories papers for comment.

Effective Conclusions - Theory

Read this for background information on creating a conclusion for tomorrow's lesson.

Strategies for writing an effective conclusion

 

Here is a brief list of things that you might accomplish in your concluding paragraph(s).* There are certainly other things that you can do, and you certainly don't want to do all these things. They're only suggestions:

• include a brief summary of the paper's main points.
• ask a provocative question.
• use a quotation.
• evoke a vivid image.
• call for some sort of action.
• end with a warning.
• universalize (compare to other situations).
• suggest results or consequences.

 

Play the "So What" Game. If you're stuck and feel like your conclusion isn't saying anything new or interesting, ask a friend to read it with you. Whenever you make a statement from your conclusion, ask the friend to say, "So what?" or "Why should anybody care?" Then ponder that question and answer it. Here's how it might go:

 

You: Basically, I'm just saying that education was important to Douglass.
Friend: So what?
You: Well, it was important because it was a key to him feeling like a free and equal citizen.
Friend: Why should anybody care?
You: That's important because plantation owners tried to keep slaves from being educated so that they could maintain control. When Douglass obtained an education, he undermined that control personally.

 

You can also use this strategy on your own, asking yourself "So What?" as you develop your ideas or your draft.

 

• Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. This strategy brings the reader full circle. For example, if you begin by describing a scenario, you can end with the same scenario as proof that your essay is helpful in creating a new understanding. You may also refer to the introductory paragraph by using key words or parallel concepts and images that you also used in the introduction.
• Synthesize, don't summarize: Include a brief summary of the paper's main points, but don't simply repeat things that were in your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull it all together.
• Include a provocative insight or quotation from the research or reading you did for your paper.
• Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study. This can redirect your reader's thought process and help her to apply your info and ideas to her own life or to see the broader implications.

 

Memories- Thinking Out of the Box

Make me laugh...
Make me cry...
Make me smile ...
Make me sigh...
Show me what deeply moved you...
Show me how you truly grew...

How will you create a special theme? - AMAZE ME!!!.. please?

e.g. Caroline Swimmer is writing her memories paper as a letter to her younger brother... (DON'T COPY THIS!)...What will you do???
e.g. Survival Guide for Charlotte latin Lower School...
e.g. How to Impress your next teacher...


How will you make your paper 'unique'?

Treasures in a Box  by Pamela Harazim
(NO, you cannot write a poem.. but you could quote some poetry)
Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people;
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.


I wonder what their lives were like.
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.
If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where, when,


These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?


The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away?
Make time to save your pictures,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.

What will your memories 'sound' like?

Show don't Tell - Week II

Showing not telling - Week II starts on Monday. You will be paired with a classmae for 4 more days of  10min writing challenges.  Can you do better than last time?

Washington Portrait

Go to the website below to read more about our lesson today on the symbolism behind the Washington portrait
http://www.georgewashington.si.edu/portrait/flash.html