BRAINSTORMING-What I want to write and how

After reading Root's selection on Collage, Montage, Mosaic, Vignette, Episode, and Segment I began thinking about what I wanted to write in regards to my CNF piece and how I wanted to write it. I came up with a couple of rudimentary ideas, just to get started...Of course I would develop these ideas further, but this is still at the earliest stage of development.

I was intrigued by Root's example of Mike and how he uses vignettes of his past while also talking in the present tense. Of course, I found that segmenting the essay becones an important function and I like how he uses paragraph breaks to do it.

I was thinking of writing about when I was in school and using my experiences in the past to connect witrh the ones I am having now. For example, my mother was a teacher so it would seem like it is embedded in my genes "what I was born to do" and when I lived in the Philippines, my sister and I used to play "school" and even though I was not the teacher, I was intrigued with the idea of vecoming a teacher one day.

However, when I started going to school here, more specifically in high school. The thought of becoming a teacher was far from my mind.I was an athlete, a cheerelader on the varsity cheerleading squad and I wanted to do something with Art, more specifically fashion design. I remember being a freshman in high school and taking fashion design classes and taking art classes all through junior year, when I was finally presented with the opportunity to take an Advanced Placement Art Studio class during my senior year that would count towards college credits. I loved Art, but something made me hold back. I ended up not taking it and looking at where I am now, maybe it was because teaching is what I was always meant to do..what I was born to do.

Of course I would elaborate on my experiences here. Talk about Fashion Design Classes with my instructor, maybe particular experiences being a cheerleader, the experiences to point out that teaching was not on my agenda at this point. Then I would talk about experiences I have now that make me confident that this is what I was meant to do. For example, my nature and its connection with a teacher's character. My experiences as an aunt, a volunteer in schools and a student teacher. In recalling past experiences in these vignettes, I would also tell of how I became a teaching major. How I decided that this was the path I wanted to take.

Like the example of Mike in Root, I would tell of the present and go back to the past, then back to the present, but in a way that it is all connected.

MY SECOND IDEA:
I was also intrigued by Nancy Willard's "The Friendship Tarot" and how she used the the different tarot cards to tell of her different stages in a friendship.

I would write my piece in the different segments of a lesson plan. For example, "materials, objectives, anticipatory set, instructional procedures, formative assessments, closure/summary, and reflections" are examples of different parts of my essay, with each portion relating to my past experiences that serve as preparation of me becoming a teacher or "A lesson plan for becoming a teacher". Ultimately, the final portion would be how these experiences made me the teacher I am now.

This would be a segmented essay with the different parts of the lesson plan being a seperate segment and the final assessment connecting all the parts together.

In our last session Dr. Chandler and I spoke of using children's literature, perhaps Harry Potter to use as a literary piece for the CNF composition, I'm still trying to find a way to connect it. Or trying to find another piece that would work.

These are just beginning ideas, I hope I can refine them to make something great, or maybe more ideas will come, maybe new ones.