Project Description
We worked in groups of 5 or 6 people to produce personal narrative non-fiction pieces centered around the question: Where does your power come from? We worked in groups to produce a reading series to take place during the first two weeks of December at The Industry in Chula Vista. The public, HTHCV, and families were invited to attend. The groups were formed around thematic similarities in our writing depending on where our power comes from (for example: family, money, physical power, art, nature, writing, ect.). 2 groups (11 students) performed each night (a total of 5 nights) and we were in charge of producing the show with some professional guidance.
We partnered with the literary nonprofit group So Say We All in order to introduce professional models of narrative writing and reading performances. We were guided through weekly professional workshops, we produced writing, performances and an exhibition worthy of a captive audience. Several professional storytellers visited our classroom and we took field trips to several reading series in San Diego.
We all produced artistic renderings of where our power comes from that were finalized on a painted canvas that were finalized on a painted canvas. Our paintings showcases the biological connection to where our power comes from. These paintings were displayed on the walls of our venue where we performed our writing pieces in tandem with a slide show as our visual component that helped us convey the content and feeling of our writing.
We partnered with the literary nonprofit group So Say We All in order to introduce professional models of narrative writing and reading performances. We were guided through weekly professional workshops, we produced writing, performances and an exhibition worthy of a captive audience. Several professional storytellers visited our classroom and we took field trips to several reading series in San Diego.
We all produced artistic renderings of where our power comes from that were finalized on a painted canvas that were finalized on a painted canvas. Our paintings showcases the biological connection to where our power comes from. These paintings were displayed on the walls of our venue where we performed our writing pieces in tandem with a slide show as our visual component that helped us convey the content and feeling of our writing.
Drafting
Our writing process consisted of writing 5-11 drafts. The first draft I wrote was about my relationship with my Father and how he has pushed my to do well in school. After that draft I realized I wasn´t completely passionate about that topic and didn´t feel like I could continue writing for 5 more drafts. The next draft I wrote I talked about my relationship with my Mother.Again I didn´t feel passionate about the so for my third draft I changed my topic. I wrote about how friendships and relationships have formed me as a person and I was able to continue writing more drafts about that.
Critique
In between each draft we would go through a critique. First we would read our story out loud to a group of 5-7 people and for each critique the 5-7 people would change so we could get many different views from our peers each time. After we read our story out loud we would go around the table saying what we feel the writer could improve on and how they can do that. Then we say what we like about their piece and what we think they should keep in their piece. I really liked that after each draft we worked on there was a group we could go to and get really good input from .
Script and Pictures
Before we performed our writing piece we had to script it and put in cues so when we got on stage and performed we knew what to do. First we had a couple professional writers come into our classroom and talk to us about what they use as cues in their own writing.They brought up a couple of my peers and helped them script the first couple of lines in front of the class. At first I didn't really understand why I had to script my writing but looking back to my performance I don't know what I would have done if my piece wasn't scripted. It took me a while to start scripting my piece because I didn't know how I would incorporate the cues they showed us but once I started I didn't have a problem.
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My Script Key:
Underlined: Look up and make eye contact {Braces}: Image cues <Angle Brackets>: Any actions I needed to do Bold: Emphasize Italic: Speak softer |
Audio Files
After we Scripted our writing pieces we had to make 7 different voice recordings of us telling our storys using our cues.