Life in Six Words: You Can Say a Lot in 6 Words. - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Life in Six Words:

You Can Say a Lot in 6 Words.

What Do

Y

ou

H

ave to Say?Slide2

Author Ernest Hemingway

(1899-1961)

Father of the 6-Word Memoir

Legend has it that in the 1920s, author Ernest Hemingway

said

that he could write a complete story in just six words. He wrote:

“For

sale, baby shoes, never

worn.”Slide3

Memoir Defined:

a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation

(Merriam—Webster Online)a personal story about a significant moment in the author’s life (E. Peters)Slide4

Memoirs

are. . .

true

written in the first persona reflection

of the author´s point of view

a description of

one

important

moment

,

event

,

lesson

,

or

beliefSlide5

The

Memoir

Is a Popular Genre

As a young girl, Malala Yousafzai defied the Taliban in Pakistan and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived.Slide6

Many Memoirs Top

the

Bestseller Lists

Subtitled

Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

, this book is one person´s account of a year-long attempt to discover what leads to true contentmentSlide7

Memoirs

can be

deeply personal, such as this account of a descent into

mental illness.

The author

describes how she crossed the line between sanity and insanity after an unknown pathogen invaded her

body, causing

an

auto-immune

reaction that jump-started brain inflammation, paranoia, and seizures.Slide8

During a

year of physical

recovery from self-inflicted burns, the author questions what he’d done, undertaking

the complicated journey from near-death back to high school. It is a compelling book about teenage despair and recovery.

. . .

or

this

account

of a

young

boy’s

desperate

attempt

to

avoid

his

troublesSlide9

This is a well-known memoir that many high school

students

readSlide10

But your memoir will be teeny tiny!

6 words…

Just

six words!Six

MEANINGFUL

wordsSlide11

What would theirs be?

Malala

Yousafzai

: Author of I Am MalalaGretchen Rubin: Author of The Happiness Project

Susannah

Cahalan

: Author of

Brain on Fire

Brent Runyon

: Author of

The Burn Journals

Elie

Wiesel: Author of

Night

Slide12

Malala

Yousafzai

Stronger than fear, I am Malala.Slide13

Gretchen Rubin

True happiness is finding peace inside.Slide14

Susannah Cahalan

Love and faith can conquer anything.Slide15

Brent Runyon

I was wrong. Reality doesn’t burn. Slide16

Elie

Wiesel

Love’s opposite isn’t hate; it’s indifference.Slide17

Examples from the book

Not Quite What I Was Planning

Beginning, gurgly. Middle, sombre. End,

gurgly.- Roger Noble Jennie, Emma, Jane, Sophie, Rose, happiness.- Peter Graham

Slow

lane. Fast lane. Hard shoulder.

- Alex

Hansen

Unravelled

career reknitted as baby blankets.

- Clare

Hobba

Head

in books, feet in flowers.

- Heather ThomsonSlide18

More Published 6-Word Memoirs

“Get

o

ver it.” Impossible three words.Inside suburban mom beats urban heart.

Went to war; never came back.

In prayer my true colors show.

I’m a Muslim, not a terrorist.

It’s

easy: be who you are.Slide19

What will your six words be?

In order to reduce something significant into just six words, those words must be very carefully chosen. This is a great time to really think about what words

mean.It is also a great time to consider what it means to truly revise written work. Slide20

Start with a list

List as many words, topics, memories, or personality traits as you can about yourself – activities you do, items, belongings, places you like, and feelings you have. Don’t edit, cross out, change, or rewrite words. Don’t worry about spelling –

just write

. You are going for quantity, so write as much as you can in about three minutes. You should fill at least one full page.Slide21

Example list:

Introvert, gardening, reading, content,

tired, overworked, cooking, baking, colorful, shoes, daisies, irises,

wife

, teacher

, daughter, literature

,

singing, laughing

, word jumbles, memory games, Indie music, rock music, old country, cats, dog, goat, bubble baths, orange T

ic

Tacs

, Junior Mints, crayons, Hello Kitty, naps, swimming, yoga, Saturday morning, sunrises, sunsets, beach, mountains, mother, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, Nick, thinking, dreaming, chocolateSlide22

Now, circle the two or three words that stand out for you, the ones that you could say more about

.Slide23

Example list:

Introvert, gardening, reading, content,

tired, overworked, cooking, baking, colorful, shoes, daisies, irises,

wife

, teacher

, daughter, literature

,

singing, laughing

, word jumbles, memory games, Indie music, rock music, old country, cats, dog, goat, bubble baths, orange T

ic

Tacs

, Junior Mints, crayons, Hello Kitty, naps, swimming, yoga, Saturday morning, sunrises, sunsets, beach, mountains, mother, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, Nick, thinking, dreaming, chocolateSlide24

Pick one item and

freewrite

about

it.

That means you just

start writing

about that idea, object, role, or event. The only rule is

don’t stop writing

for at least two or three minutes. Whatever comes to mind is fair game

.

introvertSlide25

Being an introvert is not easy. People think that I’m snotty, or cold, or prickly. I have trouble talking to strangers, I dislike going anywhere or doing anything by myself, but I also hate going someplace that might have a large group of strangers that I potentially have to converse with. Parties, new situations, crowded places fill me with dread. Why am I a teacher, then? Good question! I haven’t always been this introverted...

Freewrite

example…Slide26

It started in my mid-twenties, after I’d been teaching for a few years, so I had already learned teaching is what I’m supposed to do. I just needed to find a way to deal with anxiety and panic. Somehow, I found a “switch” to turn off the introvert and bring out the extrovert. It’s exhausting! New things and people still create anxiety, but I can handle it. Most of the time. I need a lot of down time for myself, and, fortunately, my husband gets it.

Freewrite continued

…Slide27

Synthesize

As a result of the

freewrite

, you

will gain a

sense of your topic.

The next step is to synthesize (

combine

the individual elements into an understandable

whole)

your writing into

six words

that

capture

the essence of what your topic means to you.

I attempted to capture

the struggle of

being an introvert in an extroverted career. It’s pretty complicated, so I’m going to brainstorm some phrases before I write my 6-word memoir.Slide28

Related phrases…

No defenses

Heart pounding

Need an

escape

readingSlide29

Leading to a

6-word memoir…

Scared introvert looking for solitude.

Scared introvert seeking peace and tranquility.Slide30

Scared introvert needs peace and tranquility

.Slide31

Now create a final

six-word memoir

by

following

these steps:

Create a “you” list –

freewrite

as many words about you

as you can.

2. Pick

2 – 3 items that inspire you to say more

. Circle them.

3. From

those items you circled, select one.

4

.

Freewrite

about your idea for

ten minutes.

5

. Brainstorm short phrases that help to describe your topic.

6

. Develop

a 6-word

memoir

that captures a sense of your

writing. . .

and you!

7

. Self-Edit

: Make at least one type of

change—word choice

,

varying sentence structure, or

punctuation.

8

. 2nd

Draft: Conference with another student or

an adult.

9. Create

your 6-word memoir final

draft.

10. Final

effort: Create a

Publishe

r or Word

with

the

six-word memoir and personally relevant background

picture(s

), which can come from Google images or personal photos.

Save your

presentation and print it out using the color printer in the library or at home.

11. Turn

your six-word memoir on Monday.