by Sharon Watson | Jan 11, 2015 | High School Prompts, Middle School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let’s get to know King’s most famous speech a little better.
To hear the audio and read the transcript of “I Have a Dream,” click here. To view the speech on YouTube, click here.
This moving speech was originally given August 28, 1963, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. As Martin Luther King spoke of freedom for all Americans, regardless of their color, the statue of the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln was seated behind him. This gave even more meaning to King’s powerful speech.
What was King’s dream? (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Jan 11, 2015 | High School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
Jail probably isn’t the optimal location from which to pen a letter. If I were to write one from jail, it would probably say, “Get me out of here!”
Paul’s Message
However, Apostle Paul writes from jail often and exudes no panic. In Philippians, while chained in a Roman prison, Paul tells the believers in Philippi to rejoice. He doesn’t throw it off as an aside; in fact, he uses the words “joy” or “rejoice” at least twelve times. At one point, he even (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Dec 14, 2014 | High School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
What is your favorite Christmas memory?
Dylan Thomas, a famous poet and author, wrote about his Christmas memories in the memoir essay “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” in which he remembers friends, toys, hijinks, relatives, and traditions of his childhood. His love of words and of the language makes this memoir a delight to read.
Excerpt
Below is an excerpt from it; you can read the whole memoir here and watch a televised rendition of it on YouTube here. For an extra-special treat, listen to the late Dylan Thomas reading his memoir here in his Welsh accent.
Here’s the excerpt from “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”: (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Dec 7, 2014 | High School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
You are probably very familiar with the accounts of Jesus’ birth found in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2:40. They are written in the omniscient point of view. That is, the writers tell us everything about everyone.
What if you read the account from the perspective of one of the Magi? Would the story be filled with curiosity and longing? What if the account were written by the wicked King Herod? How angry would he be that he missed his chance to kill the Christ Child? (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Nov 30, 2014 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
Although author Joseph Conrad was born in Poland as Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, he learned to speak and write in English in his twenties.
The fact that he learned how to write in the English language so late in life makes his command of the language, as seen in his stories, impressive.
Joseph Conrad is famous for his novella Heart of Darkness in which the narrator goes on a voyage to the jungles of Africa in the late 1800s in search of a man named Kurtz.
Below is the narrator’s description of a scene he comes upon. You can tell by the words and items he chooses in this description that what he finds next will not be nice: (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Nov 23, 2014 | High School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
When Corrie ten Boom was arrested with her family in February 1944 for helping Jews escape the Nazis, she and her sister were sent to the women’s section of a harsh concentration camp. There she found infestations of vermin: lice and fleas.
Instead of being angry about the vermin, she decided to thank God for them. Soon, she found out (more…)
