FCS FLASH! - Six-Word Memoir

November 24, 2009

 

Link to Complete FCS Calendar (Color-coded by discipline for easy reference)
Don’t Miss these 2010 Events!
March 5, 2010: Downey: FCS Fashion and Interior Design Student Event,"Your Design Career: Color it Green" 
March 9, 2010: Westwood:  CCGG Annual Meeting (& Student Bootcamp)
March 11-13, 2010: Napa: Vocational Education Leadership Institute 2010 hosted by the CCC Academic Senate
April 8-10, 2010: Long Beach: CAEYC Annual Conference and Expo

Save these Dates!
March 19, 2010: Santa Ana:  FCS Professional Development Event: Fashion 

April 16, 2010: Downey: Student Culinary/Hospitality Symposium & Competition

 

Just for You!: The new, interactive CCC FCS Program Directory is up on the FCS site. Please check the information for your school and send any updates and/or corrections to Joann Driggers.  Allen Martin, Cal State Northridge, provides us “Resources for a Recession”- great information for difficult times. Melanie Horn Mallers, Cal State Fullerton, writes about the essential role fathers play in a child’s development...play being the operative word. Erin Bianchi reflects on Fashion Week 2009.  Is time running out for the big-ticket runway shows and what might the future hold? Roger Gerard, Shasta College, digs deeper into the fine art of menu creation with an insider’s look at placement, space, and price points. In Carol Lamkins’, CMKBD, CID, latest contribution, she covers the subtle and not so subtle differences to consider when choosing between ceramic and porcelain tile, think durability and slip resistance, with an art history lesson, to boot.

 

FCS FLASH Activity: Six-Word (Course) Memoir
Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Reducing a story to a handful of words is a mighty challenge. In an attempt to capitalize on concise writing, the online magazine Smith asked readers to write the story of their own lives in a single sentence. The result is Not Quite What I Was Planning, a collection of six-word memoirs by famous and not-so-famous writers, artists, and musicians. As it turns out, we can say quite a lot in just six words. As the semester comes to an end, you have an opportunity to get your students to reflect on their experiences in your course in exactly six words. Here is how you might go about it.

Try this:
Introduce the idea of the six-word memoir. You might choose to show a video clip, NPR slides, or read a few examples.
Explain that today you want them to reflect on their experiences in your course in exactly six words.
Give them a few examples:
   Started with questions and got answers.
   Read lots. Thought lots. Did lots.
   So much more than I expected.
   Surrounded by smart and supportive people.
Distribute the Six-Word (Course) Memoir activity sheet.
Give students 5 -10 minutes to complete the exercise.
Share your memoir with the class and ask students to share theirs.
Send us a few of the course memoirs you liked. 

FYI: A great man is one sentence…Clare Booth Luce

We wish you and yours a joyful and blessed Thanksgiving!