Still soaking...

"So...today are we going to start writing?"

Ah, the words of an eager writer. When I pulled the Marley book out, my kids flew to the rug area. They are always eager for the next bit of the story. This memoir plan is coming along nicely...

"Not exactly." 

I can feel their disappointment. It's palpable. Good! I want them to want to write their memoir, really WANT to. I want them to be so eager they almost can't stand it. We are building anticipation akin to the wait for Christmas morning. They almost can't sit still and listen, so great is their desire to write. One more day, I think.

As I read, I can almost hear their wheels turning. Ideas are rolling around inside their head. They listen and sparks of ideas start to flicker in their eyes. We are still soaking ourselves in Marley & Me, letting the words of the author wash over us. The more familiar we get with the story, the more we realize that we have amazing stories to tell also. We have words, lots of them!

The note taking is working out extremely well. The students made a simple two-column chart in their writers notebook. They make note of the date and the chapter in the left column. On the right side, they jot just a few phrases to remind them of what happened. Some jot down words that they hear and really like the sound of. There's nothing like the thrill of taking a new word or an interesting word and trying it on for size when you write. 

I can probably hold them off for one more day of note-writing. We will look back over our notes today and start to ask questions about why John Grogan included specific events. We will try to figure out his theme and what his message might be. We'll definitely write our ideas down so we can check our thinking later, in a week or so. 

On Friday, we will start creating a list of memoir ideas. "My life as a..." Idea generation is always a good working session. So much to do, so little time!