We hope to gain a better understanding of, not only who we are, but why we are, so we can celebrate those attributes that make each one of us special.

the first step in the writing process is generating ideas for your topic. amy used a cluster diagram and took some notes to come up with her narrowed topic. in this discussion, you will discuss how you will go about generating topic ideas, not the actual topic of your autobiography. we will choose topics in the next few lessons.

let's read dakota's revised post.

when i think about writing an autobiography, there are so many resources i could choose. i like two resources the best: brainstorming and plot mountain, but would not choose journal writing. i am not much for journal writing, because, honestly, i have never been successful at keeping a journal for very long, although i know other people in my family who do. i prefer brainstorming, where i take a few minutes, set the timer, and just write ideas until the timer goes off. being free to jot down any and all ideas really gets my creativity flowing. one idea usually leads to another and another, and pretty soon, i have a lot of ideas! i will probably use the plot mountain story map, though, because it will me to make sure i have included all of the most important events. sometimes i leave out rising action, because i already lived through the event, and forget to show the reader what really happened. that can make the plot confusing. rising action the reader see the small events that make up the larger story. i think that is a really good idea for planning the details in my story.

create one original post of at least eight sentences in which you:

note: i have color coded the above post to show examples of how to weave the requirements together. you are not required to color code. it is meant to you see the required portions of the discussion.
present a claim: there are many ways to organize prewriting for an autobiography (or similar, in your own words). holds the whole discussion post together. one sentence.
choose two possible resources that you might use (story map/plot mountain, cluster map, brainstorming, journal entry, freewriting) and defend (explain) why you might choose those two. which one are you most likely to choose? at least four sentences.
which resource would you probably not choose? why? at least two sentences.
utilize meaningfully and underline at least two of these writing vocab words in your post (bonus for using more): plot, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
reminder: if you change the font color, use a color that is easy to read (light yellow and bright pink, for example, are

create two response posts of at least three sentences each in which you:

respond respectfully and meaningfully to the post of a classmate. keep the discussion rolling by offering your ideas, agree/disagree with tact. remember to use the guidelines given in the lesson. review them if you forgot.

use the discussion rubric to understand how you will be graded.