Sunday, January 20, 2013

Good Start

The first two sessions of the 2013 have been great fun, very satisfying and fruitful.
In the first session we talked about books that we had read over the holidays and then read and discussed a handout, 'Improve your word power,' which includes some of the ways in which reading can do just that.
Members were asked to look at a wine glass which was  placed on the table, in silence, for a couple of minutes, allowing their minds to drift around whatever thoughts it stimulated.. They all then wrote for about 15 minutes before we shared and discussed responses, thinking about the thrust of each piece, fact, information, opinions and observations that were included and focusing on the differences or similarities in content and style.

We followed this in week two with a second page from 'Improve your word power' and a short quiz on the etymology of words. Then we did a similar writing exercise but with a choice of three objects. We looked at a short extract from Douglas Kennedy: 'The Moment'  in which he describes his main character, a travel writer, revising an essay. A discussion followed in which we thought about what we mean by correcting, revising, editing, proof-reading, before we each spent a short time revising what we had written.
It was such a lovely day that we elected to sit outside, which was very pleasant.
I have finally produced a calendar, using old fashioned cut and paste, ie involving scissors and glue, as I have had no success with any computer programmes to which I have had access! It reveals that we will only manage another five sessions before my next enforced break; apologies as I did say that this would be an eight week term. We will go for quality rather than quantity and to that end we have made a great start.

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