Key learning goals:
- become more articulate
- learn about the language one uses has an impact
- become a more attentive reader
How I plan to spend my time + documentation plan:
The first week of my project will be different than weeks 2-6. For the first week I will be taking one 20 hour course ( https://www.coursera.org/learn/writing-editing-words ), and then 3, 5 hour courses. https://www.masterclass.com/classes/malcolm-gladwell-teaches-writing
https://www.masterclass.com/classes/neil-gaiman-teaches-the-art-of-storytelling
https://www.coursera.org/learn/craft-of-plot. I will take notes from these classes in a document. I will refer to this document when writing my story.
Weeks 2-6 of my project will look different:
Everyday I will spend 3 hours reading and annotating, and 3 hours writing my story. During my annotations, I will specifically focus on word choice, and how that affects my thinking. At the end of the day I will document what I learned that day about language, since my essential question is how does language influence the way we perceive the world. I plan on documenting what I did everyday in about one page of writing on a google doc that I will share with whoever I need to. I will write about how in specific books I read I noticed how language influenced how I perceived the sentence and how I thought about it. I will also write about my story that day and how I used language while writing that day to make an impact. For the books I’m reading, I can make a spreadsheet documenting the book, and how many pages I read that day. I will be working with a professional writer for 2 hours every week that I have already scheduled and they will help me with my story. Each week I will be reading a different book from Oprah’s book club. I plan on reading a book a week, give or take. I will be actively reading the book as well as annotating it. After finishing the book, I will answer the discussion questions I have linked below the book title. I will create a document with the discussion questions and share the document with whoever I need to. After finishing the discussion questions, I will listen to Oprah talk about the book on her show which I can see on Apple tv +.
The books I plan on reading and annotating:
Week 2: One Hundred Years of Solitude –
https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/one-hundred-years-of-solitude-part-one-of-discussion/all
Week 3: East of Eden
Week 4: The Bluest Eye
https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/the-bluest-eye-by-toni-morrison
Week 5: Love in the time of Cholera
https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/reading-questions-for-love-in-the-time-of-cholera-by-gabriel
Week 6: The Road
https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/reading-questions-your-guide-to-the-road-by-cormac-mccarthy