Wordfest 2009 Final

8/14/2019 Wordfest 2009 Final

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Well-Chosen Words About Well-Chosen Words About

Slices of Real LifeSlices of Real Life

Stacey Shubitz

Thursday, October 22nd , 2009

Capital Area Writing Project

WordFest 2009: A Celebration of Writing



Workshop Overview

• Part I: Anecdotal/Slice of Life Writing

– Strategies for Generating

• Part II: Independent Writing

• Part III: Conferring

• Part IV: Sharing

• Part V: Q & A



Personal Anecdotes

• A brief piece of personal writingthat illustrates a big idea.

– Often written:• In chronological order

• With vivid language

• Purposes:

–Stand-alone writing

– To be used in a larger work inorder to illustrate a point.



Generating Anecdotal Writing

• Five Strategies

– Identify Issues

– Meaningful Place

– Study a Photograph

– Think of a Person

– Look at an Object



Identify Issues

• “We know the truth of ordinary lifeevents. Everything doesn’t end with ‘happily ever after’.”

--Georgia Heard• One way we can get started with

anecdotal writing is by brainstorming issues we care

about (Ehrenworth, TCRWP August Writing Institute, 2009). – Creating an “Issue Wall.”



Meaningful Place

• Think of a meaningfulplace.

– It could beanything fromthe kitchen

table in thehome where you grew up toa landmark that holdsmeaning or

value to you.

• List moments relatedto that place.

• Write an anecdoteabout one of themoments you

listed.



Study a Photograph

• Study the photograph.

• Think about:

– Who or what ispictured?

– Where was thepicture taken?

– When was thepicture taken?

– Why did youchoose this

photo to bringin today?

• Write an anecdoterelated to thephotograph.



Think of a Person

• Think about aperson who isimportant to you (living ordeceased).

• List as many smallmoments as youcan about thatperson.

• Write an anecdote

about one of themoments yourecall withhim/her.



Look at an Object

• Examine the objectclosely.

– When did youget it?

– Where did you buy or acquireit from?

– Who gave it to you?

– Why is it

important?• List everything!

• Write an anecdoterelated to thisobject.



Slice of Life Stories

• According to Wikipedia:• A slice of life story is a category

for a story that portrays a "cut-out" sequence of events in acharacter's life. It may or may not

contain any real plot, and oftenhas no exposition, action,conflict, or denouement, with anopen ending. It usually tries todepict the every-day life of ordinary people. The term slice of life is actually a (more or less)dead metaphor: it often seems asif the author had taken a knifeand cut out a slice of the lives of some characters, without concernfor narrative form.

• (Retrieved on 2/18/08 fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slice_of_life_story )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_(narrative)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denouement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_metaphor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slice_of_life_story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slice_of_life_story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_metaphor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denouement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_(narrative)



A slice of my life

• Pancakes for Breakfast

•When I transferred the pancake mix into an airtight container last month, Iforgot to cut out the directions from the side of the box before I threwout the box. Oops!

•This morning I made pancakes for the first time since I threw out thedirections. I started thinking ‘one cup of mix + one cup of milk + oneone cup of mix + one cup of milk + one

cup of water = delicious whole wheat pancakescup of water = delicious whole wheat pancakes.’ Well, once I goteverything into the mixing bowl, I quickly realized that was not therecipe. Therefore, I started throwing in handfuls of mix to thicken up the batter. Then I put in the chocolate chips in hopes that would thicken itup (it didn’t). Finally, I cracked and egg and added a splash of canolaoil, which made the batter thicker.

•I began placing scoops of batter on the griddle. The first four chocolate chip pancakes looked lovely. Maybe it had worked!

•I asked Marc, “How do they taste?”“I’m still chewing,” he replied. (Oh, that can’t be good!)I waited patiently and asked, “Do they taste okay?”“Yes, they’re delicious!” he said.

•Whew! My little bit of this and little bit of that idea had worked.

• Posted on Two Writing Teachers, 2/17/08,

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/slice-of-life-story-pancakes-for-breakfast/.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/slice-of-life-story-pancakes-for-breakfast/






Another slice of my life

• Was The Bear Cold?

•“Proceed to the first landing,” I told my Assembly Line Managers once I saw that my classwas ready to leave the lunch room.

•I saw a big bump under one of my student’s coats, which she was holding in her arms, anddecided to stay at the back of the line. What could she have under there? I wondered.

•As the children passed me I saw a bit of fur sticking out from the top of the coat. Then, I

saw two ears and two eyes peeking back at me. I saw them for just a second becausethis student quickly replaced the hood over the item inside of her coat. I grinned.

•Once the kids stopped at the first landing, I came up behind this student and whispered,“Was the bear cold?” in her ear. She giggled, as did two of her classmates who were

beside her. She was caught with the bear, but I think she knew as well as I did that Iwas NOT about to take it away. (I’m a sucker for teddy bears!)

•When we got upstairs to the classroom, I said, “Put your coats away. When you get tapped,come in and check your mail.” However to this student I said, “C’mon in here with

your coat.” She didn’t come right away, since I don’t usually tell my kids to bring their coats inside. However, a few students realized what I was up to once they saw mycamera. I just had to capture to this moment. Hence, she held up her coat, with the bear still inside, so I could photograph this moment.

•Anyway, we came inside after that… the bear stayed outside ’til the end of the school dayat which point it reappeared, though not inside of her coat.

•Posted on Two Writing Teachers, 3/5/08, http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/staceys-slice-of-life-story-day-5/,.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/staceys-slice-of-life-story-day-5/





A third slice of my life•I was in my home office, talking on the phone, when I heard the doorbell ring. I stood up

from the chair, slipped-on my Naot Sandals, and headed to the front door with the

phone still to my ear. The person on the other end of the line was still talking, sayingsomething quite important, so I didn’t want to interrupt. I looked to see who it wasand discovered it was my neighbor’s daughter. I wanted to open the door right away,

but needed to break through the conversation to say “hold on,” but couldn’t.

•Then, she started knocking. I tensed up, wanting to open the door, but still couldn’tinterrupt. Finally, she rang the doorbell again (she probably saw my office light onand knew I was home). How could I keep her waiting? I finally interrupted my caller and said, “Would you hold on one second, my neighbor’s daughter is at the door?”

•

Once I opened the door, I was greeted by a smiling girl holding the most enormous carrotI’ve ever seen. She greeted me and I greeted her. I was perplexed by what she washolding and told the caller I’d have to call her back in a few minutes. Once I got off of the phone, I said, “What’s that?”

•“It’s from our garden. Do you want it?”

•“Whoa!” I said inspecting it as I invited her inside. “It’s huge!”

•“It’s the biggest carrot we’ve ever had,” she replied.

•I placed it on my kitchen counter and spent a couple of minutes talking about how schoolwas going with her when I saw her mom and brother (who was carrying two morelarge, though not quite as large, carrots) heading up the sidewalk. We headed outsideand I found out they’d been pulling a lot of carrots out of their garden. My neighbor invited me to pick some myself, but I declined, since I was already set with dinner for tonight.

•I cannot believe what grows in people’s gardens! The size of those carrots — all three of them — were unreal!

•



•Slice of Life Stories as daily notebook entries work wellfor:

• Stamina-building

• Reluctant writers• Children who think that nothing interesting ever

happens to them

• Young writers who are trying to get into the habit of writing daily

••

•

SLICE OF LIFE STORIES AREESSENTIALLY ANECDOTES

THAT GET KIDS IN THEHABIT OF WRITING DAILY!



Independent Writing

• Now it’s your turn to try it! – Take 20 minutes to write an

anecdote about a real slice of yourlife.

• Challenge yourself to includedialogue, detail, inner thinking,and setting details as you write.

– If you finish early, then startanother anecdote.

• You’ll confer with a partner about your entry once the 20 minutespasses.

• Okay, let’s begin!



Conferring

• Phrases We Like to Hear AboutOur Writing

– I like the part where you…

because… – I want to know more about what

you’re saying…

–

Your writing reminds me of … because it…

– What are some others?



Sharing

• What did you like?

• What were you moved by?

• What were you reminded of?



Questions?Thoughts?Feedback?

• Would you like tolearn more aboutthe Slice of Life

Story Challenge? – If so, point your

browser tohttp://twowritingt

.

•

If you’d like an electronic copy of this PowerPoint Presentation,then e-mail me [email protected].

•

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/challenges/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/challenges/

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Wordfest 2009 Final