What conversation do you want to have?
One of the final tasks I have for my students this semester is to create a project that is both delightful and thought-provoking. We began our brainstorming as we begin each class session: with this simple sentence stem I Am A Writer From… where students are invited to write and share what is heavy on their hearts or minds. Usually that prompt is intended to help us all clear our minds by unburdening, but sometimes those cares and worries can be harnessed to our work and it is always worth exploring the idea with that in mind.
We also returned to I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party by Chen Chen because our emphasis all semester has been on authentic writing and audience, but also because I find so many interesting ideas to respond to in this poem. We then explored High, Higher, Highest by Samuel Hazo because it is always important to remember as a writer that we can zoom in or zoom out on the topics we explore and that problems may appear differently when viewed from a different perspective.
Finally I challenged my students to be fun and creative and take on as much risk as they could afford. It is always worth considering what risky conversations you should have.
Image by Christine Sponchia from Pixabay
