Thursday, October 2, 2008

Personal Essays

I just have a question about our personal essays. I don't really understand what we're supposed to do. Are we supposed to tell stories and then get something moral or something out of it? What type of story are we trying to tell? The essay that we read kind of gave me the impression that we were supposed to pull some sort of lesson from it. But all of the stories that I got were not...really...like that. So, I was just wondering. :)
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1 comment:

Mr. Dye said...

Great question, Lauren. Not many teachers have their students read personal essays, so this type of writing tends to be unfamiliar to us.

You are not supposed to come up with a "moral." That would be too simplistic. Readers don't like it when you try to force moral messages down their throats. Instead, you should reflect on the meaning of the stories you tell. What do they mean to you? Then, you should try to tell a story that complicates your thinking.

Let's talk about it during class or after school. We'll try to come up with some examples so you can see what I mean.

Thanks.

October 7, 2008 at 9:46 AM

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