Express Yourself

Be who you are and say how you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
--Dr. Seuss

Friday, March 13, 2015

Memes and Writing

As I worked with some young writers the other day, I shared a writer's secret with them.  I shared the use of thoughts shots.  The idea of thought shots comes from Barry Lane.  You can look him up on YouTube and go to Discover Writing to find out more. He has a wide variety of books about teaching writing and writer's craft.Thought Shots PDF  http://www.discover-writing.com/

I showed these young writers how I can add thought shots to my writing to make it better.  By adding thought shots readers are allowed into the mind of the writer or character.  What was I thinking?  What was going on in my mind or the character's mind?  I gave them a few examples from other student produced writing and asked them to listen for it as I read my first draft the second time.  I highlighted it each time that they said that they heard a thought shot.  I also added a few more thought shots as I plodded along.  I then invited the students to add some thought shots of their own.  It was quite amazing to see them in deep thought.  You could hear a pin drop in the room as revised their writing.

What does this have to do with memes?  I thought about memes the previous day.  What if I began a lesson on thought shots and I started it out with memes? The memes are a kind of thought shot.  You have to read the character's face and read the thoughts of the character.  It is a kind of thought shot.  Then I thought I would bridge it over to my writing by asking, "How can I show what I am thinking in my personal narrative?"  Then I would show them the use of thought shots.  

Last night, I googled memes and how to make them. I found a website where you could upload a photo and then add captions to the photo. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator This website also had some examples of what people has previously created.  I played around with a few. Here is what I came up with: (please keep in mind that I am an amateur at this):









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